Laundry Machine Rinse-Stop Interface With Guided Spin or Drain Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of household washing machines face confusion when a program sequence is stopped after the rinsing phase, leading to uncertainty about how to proceed, particularly at the rinse stop, which can cause irritation and incorrect decision-making.
Innovation Solution
A method where the display clearly indicates 'Rinse stop' and provides self-explanatory softkeys for user interaction, offering instructions like 'Select spin or drain and press start' to guide the user on how to continue the program sequence, with options displayed in plain text and potentially accompanied by acoustic cues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the program sequence is stopped at the rinse stop to allow user decision-making, then the user has the opportunity to influence the program progress, but this causes user confusion and irritation due to lack of clear guidance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary information display system that mediates between the program stop condition and the user's decision-making process. The display presents structured options (e.g., 'remove laundry', 'continue program') with clear explanations, acting as a mediator that translates the complex program state into user-friendly guidance, thereby resolving the contradiction between providing decision opportunities and ensuring ease of understanding
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides self-service guidance by automatically presenting relevant options and explanations based on the current program state. When the rinse stop is reached, the display autonomously generates and presents the appropriate decision options without requiring the user to search for information or understand complex program mechanics, thus improving ease of operation while maintaining adaptability
2Loss of information
If multiple program options are displayed in detail, then complete information is provided to the user, but the display content becomes difficult to understand and categorize
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the program options into distinct, clearly categorized groups. Each option is presented as a separate, self-contained element with its own explanation, rather than as a continuous block of text. This segmentation allows the display to provide complete information while maintaining comprehensibility through structured presentation
Solution Approach 2:
The display employs local quality by providing detailed explanations specifically for the relevant options at the rinse stop, rather than uniformly detailing all possible program options. The information density and level of detail are locally optimized based on the user's current decision context, improving comprehensibility while maintaining necessary information completeness
Data Source
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AI summary
The method for selecting and entering at least partially prepared program combinations for performing wet or dry laundry treatments by machine under the control of programs on the basis of basic programs and program data that are stored in a memory device (4) and that can be selected from an order (Table 7) at a level, which basic programs and program data can be displayed on at least one display (10), can be entered by means of at least one selection control (8, 12, 13, 23 to 28) and from an order of options of basic program variants that can be selected at a lower level, and can be activated in total by a start control (16), should make the procedure for stopping the treatment program even easier for the operating persons without extensive considerations of individual steps having to be made. For this purpose, clearly understandable instructions about how to proceed should be provided. This desire is met according to the invention in that, after the stop has been reached after the rinsing phase of the program sequence has been carried out, a display (10) indicates that the rinsing stop has been reached and a further selection of options can be made, and in that the options are displayed as self-explanatory soft keys (24), "Spin-dry"; (25),"Pump out" on the display (10) and can be triggered by touching the soft keys (24, 25). In an operating device designed according to said method, the display (10) has a display region (11) in which information and instructions can be presented in plain text.