Cooking Appliance Maintenance Display Using Color-Coded Status Bars

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing cooking appliances lack an effective and easy-to-read graphical display for maintenance status, specifically for soiling, calcification, and corrosion, which complicates timely maintenance and cleaning processes.

Innovation Solution

A display device with a graphical display field showing the maintenance status through a combination of bars that light up based on soiling, calcification, and corrosion levels, along with bonus or penalty points for operator cleaning behavior, providing a clear indication of when maintenance is needed.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If a display device shows maintenance status using text or simple indicators, then the device complexity is low, but the ease of reading and understanding maintenance status is poor

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveease of reading maintenance statusVSAvoiddisplay device complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses color-coded bars (red, yellow, green) to represent different maintenance status levels. The display field shows graphical bars that change color based on soiling, calcification, and corrosion levels, making the maintenance status immediately recognizable without requiring complex text or numbers. This resolves the contradiction by providing intuitive visual feedback while keeping the display structure relatively simple.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #32Color changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent transitions from one-dimensional text-based status indicators to two-dimensional graphical bar displays with color dimensions. The display field presents maintenance status as visual bars with varying lengths and colors, adding spatial and chromatic dimensions to the information representation. This enhances readability and comprehension while maintaining acceptable display complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Measurement precision

If the display shows detailed maintenance data including soiling, calcification, and corrosion separately, then the measurement precision is high, but the ease of operation decreases due to information overload

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemaintenance status measurement precisionVSAvoidease of reading maintenance status
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the maintenance status into three distinct graphical bars, each representing a specific aspect: soiling level, calcification level, and corrosion level. Each bar is separately displayed and color-coded, allowing operators to quickly assess each maintenance dimension without being overwhelmed by a single complex indicator. This segmentation provides precise measurement information in an easily digestible visual format.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses a color-coding system where different colors represent different maintenance status levels for each parameter. The graphical bars change color based on the severity of soiling, calcification, and corrosion, enabling operators to immediately grasp the maintenance needs without reading detailed numerical data. This resolves the contradiction by encoding precise measurement information in intuitive visual signals.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #32Color changes

3Loss of information

If the display device provides comprehensive maintenance information, then the loss of information is reduced, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemaintenance status information completenessVSAvoiddisplay device complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments comprehensive maintenance information into three distinct graphical representations corresponding to soiling, calcification, and corrosion. Each segment is displayed as a separate bar with its own color-coding system, ensuring that all critical maintenance information is conveyed without requiring a single complex display mechanism. This segmentation approach maintains information completeness while using relatively simple display components.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent employs a universal color-coding system that can represent multiple maintenance parameters (soiling, calcification, corrosion) using the same visual language. The same color scale and bar representation method are applied across all three parameters, allowing the display device to convey comprehensive information through a consistent, simple graphical interface rather than requiring different display mechanisms for each parameter.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP2048443B1Display device for displaying the care state of a cooking device
Publication Date: 2015.11.18 RATIONAL AG
  • EP2048443B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2048443B1 patent drawingFigure 2a~2c
  • EP2048443B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The device (3) has a displaying field with a displaying area for displaying bad maintenance of a cooking device (1), where the displaying field is not changeable or changed after authentication. Another displaying area of the field is provided for characterizing a delivery state of the cooking device. A third displaying area of the field displays good maintenance of the cooking device. The areas are provided with a set of bars. The device stays in effective connection with a control device of the cooking device.