Method of operating a household appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10271708-B2
Application number	US-201615228296-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 4, 2016
Priority date	Aug 28, 2012
Publication date	Apr 30, 2019
Grant date	Apr 30, 2019

Abstract

A household appliance having a treating chamber in which is received an article for treatment, a treating chemistry dispenser configured to receive a unit dose container for the treating chemistry, and a controller for executing at least one cycle of operation and a method of operating the household appliance to physically alter a unit dose container in conjunction with a cycle of operation and sensing same.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a household appliance having a treating chamber in which is received an article for treatment, a treating chemistry dispenser configured to receive a single unit dose container of treating chemistry, and a controller for executing at least one cycle of operation, the method comprising:
physically altering the single unit dose container in conjunction with a first cycle of operation to define a physically altered single unit dose container;
sensing, by a sensor, the physically altered single unit dose container in conjunction with the first cycle of operation;
executing a remainder of the first cycle of operation after the sensing of the physically altered single unit dose container;
determining a presence of a physical alteration of the physically altered single unit dose container, in conjunction with a second cycle of operation; and
when the presence of the physical alteration of the physically altered single unit dose container is determined, providing an indication of the determination via a user interface.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to determining the presence of the physically altered single unit dose container, refraining from executing the second cycle of operation, refraining from executing a remainder of the second cycle of operation, or ceasing execution of the second cycle of operation.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein providing an indication of the determination via the user interface comprises providing an indication that the physically altered single unit does container was not replaced.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the presence of the physically altered single unit dose container, in conjunction with the second cycle of operation comprises determining whether the physically altered single unit dose container has been replaced with a new and unused single unit dose container.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein physically altering the single unit dose container comprises cutting a portion of the single unit dose container.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein cutting the portion of the single unit dose container comprises forming a less stiff portion of the single unit dose container and sensing the physical alteration comprises sensing the less stiff portion.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein sensing the less stiff portion comprises contacting the less stiff portion with a pressure switch when the single unit dose container is received within the treating chemistry dispenser.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein determining the presence of the physically altered single unit dose container comprises determining a state of the pressure switch.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein cutting the portion of the single unit dose container comprises cutting a top of the container.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein sensing the physical alteration comprises sensing a cutting force.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein determining the presence of the physically altered single unit dose container comprises comparing the sensed cutting force to a predetermined cutting force.

12. The method of claim 5 wherein cutting the portion of the single unit dose container comprises severing an electrical conductor provided on the single unit dose container.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein sensing the physical alteration comprises applying an electric potential between the two ends of the electrical conductor.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein sensing the physical alteration comprises sensing an electrical current through the electrical conductor produced by the electric potential applied between the two ends of the electrical conductor to sense a conductance between the two ends of the electrical conductor.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein determining the presence of the physically altered single unit dose container comprises comparing the sensed conductance to a reference conductance.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein physically altering comprises reducing a structural integrity of at least a portion of the single unit dose container.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein physically altering comprises altering a conductance of at least a portion of the single unit dose container.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein physically altering comprises dispensing at least a portion of the treating chemistry through the physical alteration.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein sensing the physical alteration comprises sensing a rigidity of at least a portion of the single unit dose container.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein sensing the physical alteration comprises sensing a conductance of at least a portion of the single unit dose container.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the indication comprises providing at least one of a visual indication or an aural indication via a user interface.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Alexander Benjamin E
• Black Brian A
• Latack Thomas A
• Rhodes Matthew D

Classifications

• A47L15/4285

  Water-heater arrangements (steam generating arrangements A47L15/4234) · CPC title

• G06F3/0481

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title

• A47L15/4219

  Water recirculation (A47L15/0078 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A47L15/4463

  Multi-dose dispensing arrangements · CPC title

• A47L15/4409

  by tipping containers or opening their lids, e.g. with the help of a programmer · CPC title