Laundry treatment appliance slider-based user interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10988882-B2
Application number	US-201816020493-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2018
Priority date	Jun 27, 2018
Publication date	Apr 27, 2021
Grant date	Apr 27, 2021

Abstract

A laundry treatment appliance, program product and method utilize a slider-based user interface to facilitate user selection of settings for a laundry treatment cycle. A slider-based user interface, for example, may include a fabric slider control that receives user input that selects from among a plurality of fabric selections and a cycle modifier slider control that receives user input that selects from among a plurality of cycle modifier selections capable of increasing and/or decreasing various default settings associated with various fabric selections.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laundry treatment appliance, comprising:
a container rotatably disposed within a housing;
a drive system configured to rotate the container;
a controller coupled to the drive system and configured to perform a laundry treatment cycle on a load disposed in the container; and
a processor in communication with a user interface through which user input is received to configure a plurality of settings for the laundry treatment cycle performed by the controller;
wherein the user interface includes:
a fabric slider control configured to receive user input that selects from among a plurality of fabric selections, wherein each of the plurality of fabric selections is associated with a default combination of setting values for the plurality of settings; and
a cycle modifier slider control configured to receive user input that selects from among a plurality of cycle modifier selections, the plurality of cycle modifier selections including one or more cycle increase selections and one or more cycle decrease selections defined across a range of positions for the cycle modifier slider control, at least a subset of the plurality of cycle modifier selections configured to modify setting values for multiple settings among the plurality of settings; and

wherein the processor is configured to, in response to selection of a first fabric selection from among the plurality of fabric selections and a first cycle modifier selection from among the plurality of cycle modifier selections, select a combination of setting values for the plurality of settings for use in performing the laundry treatment cycle, the selected combination of setting values including multiple setting values that are modified relative to the default combination of setting values associated with the first fabric selection based upon selection of the first cycle modifier selection;
wherein the plurality of settings includes an agitation duty cycle, a water fill level, a wash time, a first rinse time, a second rinse time, and a spin time;
wherein the one or more cycle increase selections are each identified in the user interface by a positive percentage value, and each of the one or more cycle decrease selections are each identified in the user interface by a negative percentage value; and
wherein the processor is configured to, for at least two settings among the agitation duty cycle, the water fill level, the wash time, the first rinse time, the second rinse time, and the spin time, modify setting values in the default combination of setting values associated with the first fabric selection by a percentage that corresponds to a percentage value identified in the user interface for the first cycle modifier selection.

2. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 1 , wherein the default combination of setting values for the plurality of settings for each of the plurality of fabric selections is optimized for treating an associated fabric.

3. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 2 , wherein each of the one or more cycle increase selections and each of the one or more cycle decrease selections is associated with, for each of the plurality of fabric selections, a modified combination of setting values that differs from the default combination of setting values.

4. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of cycle modifier selections further includes a default selection, and wherein the processor is configured to, when the first cycle modifier selection is the default selection, use the default combination of setting values for the first fabric selection as the selected combination of setting values to use when performing the laundry treatment cycle.

5. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 4 , wherein the processor is configured to, when the first cycle modifier selection is one of the one or more cycle increase selections, use a modified combination of setting values as the selected combination of setting values to use when performing the laundry treatment cycle, and wherein the modified combination of setting values includes at least one setting value that is increased relative to a corresponding setting value in the default combination of setting values for the first fabric selection.

6. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 5 , wherein the modified combination of setting values includes a plurality of setting values that are increased relative to corresponding setting values in the default combination of setting values for the first fabric selection.

7. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 4 , wherein the processor is configured to, when the first cycle modifier selection is one of the one or more cycle decrease selections, use a modified combination of setting values as the selected combination of setting values to use when performing the laundry treatment cycle, and wherein the modified combination of setting values includes at least one setting value that is decreased relative to a corresponding setting value in the default combination of setting values for the first fabric selection.

8. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 7 , wherein the modified combination of setting values includes a plurality of setting values that are decreased relative to corresponding setting values in the default combination of setting values for the first fabric selection.

9. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 4 , wherein each of the one or more cycle increase selections and each of the one or more cycle decrease selections is associated with a modifier value that, when the associated cycle increase selection or cycle decrease selection is the first cycle modifier selection, scales one or more setting values in the default combination of setting values for the first fabric selection.

10. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to select the combination of setting values for the plurality of settings for use in performing the laundry treatment cycle by accessing a table of setting combinations indexed by fabric selection and cycle modifier selection.

11. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 1 , wherein the laundry treatment appliance is a washing machine, and wherein the plurality of settings further include one or more of an agitation setting, a wash repeat setting, a rinse repeat setting, a spin repeat setting, a spin speed setting, a steam setting, a sanitize setting, a temperature setting, and/or a soak time setting.

12. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 1 , wherein the processor is disposed in the controller, wherein the user interface is disposed on the housing, and wherein the processor further performs the laundry treatment cycle on the load disposed in the container.

13. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 1 , wherein the processor is disposed in an external device in communication with the controller, wherein the user interface is disposed on the external device, and wherein the processor is further configured to communicate the selected combination of setting values to the controller.

14. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 13 , wherein the external device is a mobile phone or tablet.

15. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 1 , wherein the user interface comprises a touchscreen display.

16. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 1 , wherein each of the fabric slider control and the cycle modifier slider control includes a touch-sensitive strip.

17. The laundry treatment appliance of claim 1 , wherein each of the fabric slider control and the cycle modifier slider control includes a mechanical slider.

Assignees

• Midea Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hoppe Christopher G
• Snook Bryan T

Classifications

• D06F34/32 Primary

  characterised by graphical features, e.g. touchscreens · CPC title

• D06F2105/00

  Systems or parameters controlled or affected by the control systems of washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers · CPC title

• D06F34/30

  characterised by mechanical features, e.g. buttons or rotary dials · CPC title

• D06F34/08

  Control circuits or arrangements thereof · CPC title

• D06F2101/00

  User input for the control of domestic laundry washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers · CPC title