Household appliance with luminary communication interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11898288-B2
Application number	US-202217843007-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2022
Priority date	Sep 27, 2019
Publication date	Feb 13, 2024
Grant date	Feb 13, 2024

Abstract

A household appliance for performing a cycle of operation according to a cycle of operation. The household appliance includes a cabinet defining a treating chamber, a tub located within the cabinet interior and defining a tub interior and having an access opening, a rotatable drum located within the tub interior, a user interface carried by the cabinet and coupled to a controller to provide data communication between the controller and a user, a pedestal for supporting the cabinet and comprising a liquid recirculation system for recirculating liquid to the treating chamber, at least one consumable received in a dock positioned in the pedestal for use in performing the cycle of operation, and, a luminary communication interface physically separated from the user interface and configured to emit at least one of colored light motion or light intensity patterns to illustrate a status of the at least one consumable.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A household appliance for performing a cycle of operation, the household appliance comprising:
a cabinet defining a treating chamber;
a tub located within the cabinet interior and defining a tub interior and having an access opening;
a rotatable drum located within the tub interior for rotation about a rotation axis;
a user interface carried by the cabinet and coupled to a controller to provide data communication between the controller and a user;
a pedestal for supporting the cabinet and comprising a liquid recirculation system for recirculating liquid to the treating chamber;
at least one consumable for use in performing the cycle of operation, the at least one consumable received in a dock, the dock positioned in an annular port in the pedestal; and
a luminary communication interface physically separated from the user interface and configured to emit at least one of colored light motion or light intensity patterns to illustrate a status of the at least one consumable and wherein at least one of the luminary communication interface is ring shaped and circumscribes the annular port or further comprising a door overlying the annular port and the luminary communication interface.

2. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the luminary communication interface is physically associated with the at least one consumable.

3. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the controller is programmed with the cycle of operation and controls at least the rotatable drum.

4. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the at least one consumable comprises multiple consumables and the luminary communication interface emits unique combinations of colored light motion and light intensity patterns for each of the multiple consumables to uniquely illustrate the status of each of the multiple consumables.

5. The household appliance of claim 4 , wherein the luminary communication interface is physically associated with only one of the multiple consumables while the unique combinations of colored light motion and light intensity patterns provide directional indicia for at least one of the other multiple consumables.

6. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the luminary communication interface circumscribes the at least one consumable.

7. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the at least one consumable is at least one of a filter cartridge, softener cartridge, or fluid treatment cartridge.

8. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the door is transparent or semi-transparent for allowing a user to view the luminary communication interface.

9. The household appliance of claim 1 , further comprising a second port in the cabinet spaced from the annular first port and spaced from the user interface.

10. The household appliance of claim 9 , wherein the second port comprises a second internal dock for receiving a second consumable.

11. The household appliance of claim 10 , wherein the at least one consumable is a filter cartridge and the second consumable is a softener cartridge.

12. The household appliance of claim 10 , wherein the second internal dock comprises a drawer that slides in/out of the second port.

13. The household appliance of claim 12 , further comprising a non-opaque cover overlying the second port.

14. The household appliance of claim 1 , wherein the luminary communication interface comprises at least 2% of the total surface area of a front panel of the cabinet.

15. A household appliance for performing a cycle of operation, the household appliance comprising:
a cabinet defining a treating chamber;
a tub located within the cabinet interior and defining a tub interior and having an access opening;
a rotatable drum located within the tub interior for rotation about a rotation axis;
a user interface carried by the cabinet and coupled to a controller to provide data communication between the controller and a user;
a pedestal for supporting the cabinet and comprising a liquid recirculation system for recirculating liquid to the treating chamber;
at least one consumable received in a dock positioned in the pedestal for use in performing the cycle of operation; and
a luminary communication interface physically separated from the user interface and configured to emit at least one of colored light motion or light intensity patterns to illustrate a status of the at least one consumable and wherein the luminary communication interface circumscribes the at least one consumable.

16. A household appliance for performing a cycle of operation, the household appliance comprising:
a cabinet defining a treating chamber;
a tub located within the cabinet interior and defining a tub interior and having an access opening;
a rotatable drum located within the tub interior for rotation about a rotation axis;
a user interface carried by the cabinet and coupled to a controller to provide data communication between the controller and a user;
a pedestal for supporting the cabinet and comprising a liquid recirculation system for recirculating liquid to the treating chamber;
at least one consumable received in a dock positioned in a first port in the pedestal for use in performing the cycle of operation;
a luminary communication interface physically separated from the user interface and configured to emit at least one of colored light motion or light intensity patterns to illustrate a status of the at least one consumable; and
a second port in the cabinet spaced from the first port and spaced from the user interface.

17. The household appliance of claim 16 , further comprising a door overlying the luminary communication interface.

18. The household appliance of claim 16 , wherein the luminary communication interface circumscribes the at least one consumable.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Carpenter Scott E
• Fischer Marcus R
• Fytczyk Joli A
• Hammond Richard L

Classifications

• D06F33/00 Primary

  Control of operations performed in washing machines or washer-dryers  (D06F31/00 takes precedence; details of control systems therefor D06F34/00; control of operations performed in domestic laundry dryers D06F58/32) · CPC title

• D06F34/22

  Condition of the washing liquid, e.g. turbidity · CPC title

• G08B5/36

  using visible light sources · CPC title

• D06F39/02 Primary

  Devices for adding soap or other washing agents · CPC title

• D06F39/022

  in a liquid state (D06F39/024 takes precedence) · CPC title