Methods of operating dishwasher with illuminable user interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9955844-B2
Application number	US-201615065194-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2016
Priority date	Mar 9, 2016
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

A method of operating a dish treating appliance includes a user interface disposed along the top edge of a door for selectively opening and closing access to a treating chamber. The user interface can be illuminated and operating the user interface can include operating a user input mode when the door is open and a status mode when the door is closed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a dish treating appliance, the method comprising:
operating an illuminable user interface, which is located along a top edge of a closure movable between an opened and closed condition, in a user input mode when the door closure is open including selectively illuminating at least one portion of the illuminable user interface; and
operating the illuminable user interface in a status mode when the closure is closed controlling the illumination of the illuminable user interface to provide a predetermined animation for a corresponding status condition wherein the predetermined animation comprises at least one of sweeping to indicate progress, random to indicate a rinse phase, or pulsing to indicate completion.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user input mode comprises controlling illumination of the illuminable user interface based on user selections via the illuminable user interface.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein controlling illumination of the illuminable user interface comprises illuminating at least one of a user-selected: cycle, cycle option, or start/stop condition.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein controlling the illumination of the illuminable user interface comprises illuminating at least one of an available for use: cycle, cycle option, or start/stop condition.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the closure is a door.

6. A method of operating a dish treating appliance, the method comprising:
operating an illuminable user interface, which is located along a top edge of a closure movable between an opened and closed condition, in a user input mode when the closure is open including selectively illuminating at least one portion of the illuminable user interface; and
operating the illuminable user interface in a status mode when the closure is closed controlling the illumination of the illuminable user interface to provide a predetermined animation for a corresponding status condition;
wherein at least one of: a speed of the illumination is increased to indicate an end of a phase of a cycle or a color of the illumination is changed to indicate a change in a phase of a cycle.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the predetermined animation comprises at least one of: sweeping, random, or pulsing.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein:
sweeping comprises sequentially illuminating in a predetermined direction a series of lights on the illuminable user interface;
random comprises randomly illuminating a series of lights on the illuminable user interface; and
pulsing comprises turning on/off in unison a series of lights on the illuminable user interface.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising an intensity of the illumination.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the sweeping indicates progress, the random indicates a rinse phase, and the pulsing indicates completion.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein the color of the illumination indicates a temperature within the dish treating appliance.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Fletty Joel
• Hill Eric A

Classifications

• H05B45/00

  Circuit arrangements for operating light-emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• H05B47/10

  Controlling the light source · CPC title

• A47L15/4285

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

• A47L15/4261

  Connections of the door to the casing, e.g. door hinges · CPC title

• A47L15/502

  Cutlery baskets · CPC title