Methods of determining a load size in a laundry treating appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9416479-B2
Application number	US-201313908020-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 3, 2013
Priority date	Jun 3, 2013
Publication date	Aug 16, 2016
Grant date	Aug 16, 2016

Abstract

Methods of determining a laundry load size in a laundry treating appliance comprising a rotatable drum at least partially defining a treating chamber for receiving laundry for treatment in accordance with a treating cycle of operation, at least one imaging device, and a controller having a processor, the method includes generating multiple images and determining, by the controller, a load size based on the multiple images.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of determining a laundry load size in a laundry treating appliance comprising a rotatable drum at least partially defining a treating chamber for receiving laundry for treatment in accordance with a treating cycle of operation, at least one imaging device, and a controller having a processor, the method comprising:
generating multiple images of a static laundry load located within the treating chamber, where the generated multiple images are from different viewpoints of the load wherein generating the multiple images comprises moving a single imaging device to generate the multiple images from different angles within the treating chamber; and
determining, by the controller, a load size based on the multiple images.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the multiple images comprises generating the multiple images at different predetermined rotational positions of the drum.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the predetermined rotational positions of the drum are not equidistant.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining the load size based on the multiple images comprises determining a 3D model of the laundry load based on the multiple images.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the 3D model of the laundry load is determined utilizing a computer algorithm.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising determining a load type based on the determined 3D model of the laundry load.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the imaging comprises taking at least one of a still image and a moving image.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the multiple images comprise two images.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining the load size comprises determining multiple heights of the laundry load based on the multiple images.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the determining a load size further comprises estimating a volume of the laundry load based on the determined multiple heights.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the multiple images comprises taking at least one of a visible light image, an ultraviolet light image and an infrared image.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising setting at least one parameter of the treating cycle of operation based on the determined load size.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the at least one parameter is a cycle time, an air flow rate in the treating chamber, a wash liquid fill level, or an amount of treating chemistry.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising indicating the set cycle time on a user interface of the laundry treating appliance.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising indicating the determined load size on a user interface of the laundry treating appliance.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Leitert Andrew
• Mcallister Karl David

Classifications

• D06F34/18 Primary

  Condition of the laundry, e.g. nature or weight · CPC title

• D06F39/003 Primary

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic

• D06F34/28

  Arrangements for program selection, e.g. control panels therefor; Arrangements for indicating program parameters, e.g. the selected program or its progress · CPC title

• D06F2105/58

  Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user · CPC title

• D06F2103/06

  Type or material · CPC title