Laundry Appliance Touchscreen Interface for Mid-Cycle Garment Addition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Laundry treating appliances lack an intuitive and user-friendly mechanism to determine when a garment can be added during a cycle, often requiring separate pause buttons and complex user interfaces.
Innovation Solution
A touchscreen interface that determines when a garment can be added, providing an 'Add Garment' button and automatically pausing the cycle when selected, eliminating the need for additional pause buttons and simplifying the user interface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a separate pause button and complex user interface are used to allow users to add garments during a cycle, then users can add garments during operation, but the user interface becomes more complex and less intuitive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the pause function and add garment function into a single user interface element. When the system determines that a garment can be added, it presents a unified interface that simultaneously handles pausing the cycle and enabling garment addition, eliminating the need for separate pause buttons and reducing interface complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically determines whether a garment can be added during the cycle and dynamically updates the user interface accordingly. The controller monitors cycle conditions and autonomously decides when the add garment option should be available, reducing the need for complex user judgment and simplifying the interaction model.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the lock mechanism remains locked during the entire cycle to ensure safety, then safety is maintained, but users cannot add garments during operation
Solution Approach 1:
The lock mechanism transitions from a static locked state to a dynamic state that can temporarily unlock when specific conditions are met. The system dynamically adjusts the lock status based on cycle phase and safety criteria, allowing temporary unlocking for garment addition only when it is safe to do so, while maintaining locked state during unsafe phases.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary safety checks before allowing the lock mechanism to unlock. The controller evaluates cycle conditions in advance and only permits unlocking when predetermined safety criteria are satisfied, ensuring that the transition from locked to unlocked state occurs only under safe conditions.
3Ease of operation
If the cycle continues without interruption to maintain productivity, then operational efficiency is improved, but users cannot add garments when needed
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a partial pause that suspends only the specific operations that would be affected by garment addition (such as high-speed spinning or high-temperature phases) while maintaining other cycle functions. This selective pausing minimizes the interruption to overall productivity while still enabling convenient garment addition when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
A laundry treating appliance includes a treating chamber provided for receiving laundry for treatment, a controller having a memory in which is stored a set of executable instructions including a set of cycles of operations. The laundry treating appliance also includes a user interface operably coupled with the controller and having a touchscreen configured to provide an input and output function for the controller.