Oven Timer Interface With Changeable Expiration Functions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing domestic appliance timers lack flexibility in allowing users to adjust functions upon expiration, particularly in situations where user circumstances change during the preheating or treatment period, leading to potential overcooking or undesired extended treatment.
Innovation Solution
A user interface for domestic appliances that includes a timer, display, and user input components, allowing users to set both treatment time and expiration functions, which can trigger alerts or shut-off operations upon expiration, enabling flexible control over the appliance's treatment elements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the user sets a fixed timer function before treatment begins, then the appliance can automatically perform a predetermined function at expiration, but the user cannot adapt the expiration function if circumstances change during the treatment period
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the expiration function changeable during the treatment period. The user interface allows the user to modify which function occurs at timer expiration even after treatment has begun, transforming a static predetermined function into a dynamic adaptable one. This resolves the contradiction by enabling both automatic execution (reliability) and user modification (adaptability).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses preliminary action by allowing the user to set the treatment duration in advance while reserving the option to change the expiration function later. The timer is pre-configured with the duration, but the function selection remains open for modification, combining advance preparation with flexible adaptation.
2Ease of operation
If the user is required to predict availability at timer expiration, then the timer can be set in advance, but the user cannot respond to changing circumstances during preheating or treatment
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains ease of operation through advance timer setting while adding dynamic adaptability by allowing function changes during treatment. The user can initially set everything in advance for simplicity, then later modify the expiration function if circumstances change, without requiring reprediction of availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The appliance serves itself by maintaining the predetermined treatment schedule while allowing the user to self-adjust the expiration function as needed. The timer continues its predetermined counting without user intervention, but the user can independently modify the end-function without disrupting the treatment timeline.
3Device complexity
If the timer performs a fixed function at expiration, then the control logic is simple, but the appliance cannot prevent overcooking when user availability changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this by making the expiration function dynamic rather than fixed. The control logic remains relatively simple but gains the capability to adapt the end-function based on user input at different times. This allows prevention of overcooking (reliability) while maintaining manageable complexity through a straightforward interface for function selection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of the expiration function from fixed to variable. The timer control logic handles both predetermined and user-modified functions through a unified structure, using parameter changes to enable flexible function selection without significantly increasing overall system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A domestic appliance with timer control for the treatment of contents, the domestic appliance comprising a timer configured to track a treatment time period, a display configured to display a plurality of screens, at least one user input component programmed to receive a treatment time input corresponding to a treatment time and receive an expiration function input corresponding to an expiration function subsequent to receiving the treatment time input, and a controller programmed to set the timer with the treatment time in accordance with the received treatment time input and set the expiration function.