System for controlling a domestic device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional household appliances, particularly laundry care appliances, face high manufacturing costs due to the need for powerful processors and extensive memory to accommodate numerous program options, yet they can only reproduce a limited selection of program variants, leading to suboptimal user experiences.
Innovation Solution
A system that decentralizes the generation of control programs using a control module connected via network connections to both the input device and the appliance, allowing for the creation of individually tailored programs based on user input parameters, reducing the computational and storage requirements on the appliance itself and enabling the use of specialized control modules for generating control programs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the household appliance is equipped with a powerful processor and extensive memory to accommodate numerous program options, then the available program options increase, but the manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the program generation functionality from the household appliance itself and relocates it to an external control module. The appliance controller only needs to communicate program requests and receive generated programs, while the computationally intensive program generation is performed externally. This extraction eliminates the need for expensive local processing power and memory, directly resolving the contradiction between program versatility and manufacturing cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary control module that acts as a mediator between the user/input device and the household appliance. This control module generates customized programs based on user parameters and communicates them to the appliance controller. The intermediary handles the complex computation externally, allowing the appliance itself to remain simple and cost-effective while still providing extensive program options.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the household appliance is equipped with a powerful processor to generate numerous program variants, then the program customization increases, but the energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The energy-intensive program generation process is extracted from the household appliance and performed externally by the control module. The appliance controller only executes lightweight communication and program execution, avoiding the high energy consumption associated with real-time program generation. This resolves the contradiction between program variant diversity and energy consumption.
3Speed
If the control program generation is centralized on the appliance, then the program execution is fast, but the appliance complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the control system into two distinct parts: a simple appliance controller that handles communication and execution, and an external control module that handles program generation. This segmentation allows the appliance itself to remain simple while the complex generation function resides externally. The appliance controller executes programs quickly once received, maintaining speed without increasing appliance complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a system (200) for controlling a household appliance (100), wherein the system (200) comprises the household appliance (100) with a device controller (101), a control module (205) with a module controller (219), and an input device (201) operable by a user of the system (200), wherein the control module (205) is connected to the input device (201) via a first network connection (203), and wherein the control module (205) is connected to the household appliance (100) via a second network connection (207), wherein the input device (201) is configured to transmit at least one input parameter to the control module (205) via the first network connection (203) based on the input of the user of the system (200), wherein the module controller (219) of the control module (205) is configuredto generate a control program for the household appliance (100) based on the transmitted at least one input parameter, wherein the control module (205) is configured to transmit the generated control program for the household appliance (100) to the household appliance (100) via the second network connection (207), and wherein the device control (101) of the household appliance (100) is configured to activate the generated control program for the household appliance (100) in order to execute the generated control program on the household appliance (100) based on the input of the user of the system (200).