Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
  • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
  • G05B19/00—Program-control systems
  • G05B19/02—Program-control systems electric
  • G05B19/04—Program control other than numerical control, i.e. in sequence controllers or logic controllers
  • G05B19/042—Program control other than numerical control, i.e. in sequence controllers or logic controllers using digital processors
  • G05B19/0426—Programming the control sequence
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
  • D06F34/00—Details of control systems for washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
  • D06F34/28—Arrangements for program selection, e.g. control panels therefor; Arrangements for indicating program parameters, e.g. the selected program or its progress
  • D06F34/32—Arrangements for program selection, e.g. control panels therefor; Arrangements for indicating program parameters, e.g. the selected program or its progress characterised by graphical features, e.g. touchscreens
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
  • D06F2105/00—Systems or parameters controlled or affected by the control systems of washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
  • D06F2105/58—Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
  • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
  • G05B2219/00—Program-control systems
  • G05B2219/20—Pc systems
  • G05B2219/26—Pc applications
  • G05B2219/2613—Household appliance in general

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an input device for inputting information into a control unit, in particular a device for inputting a setting and / or control information into a central control unit of a household appliance. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a household appliance, a method for entering information and for creating an input device, and a computer program product.
• an input device is designed in the form of a user interface with a switch, button, rotary control, etc. and a corresponding label.
• the access of a user to a household appliance or the use of a function of a respective household appliance is newly defined for each model.
• Control information about a respective input device is to be entered in a rigidly predetermined manner. This complicates the development of such household appliances, as well as their use, application and operation by a user. In this situation, the use of user interfaces with a display field or display in the form of liquid crystal displays and associated input elements does not make any significant improvement.
• an input device for inputting information into a control unit in particular as a device for inputting control information and / or settings into a central control unit of a household appliance, the device having a user interface which comprises a display and input elements, characterized in that the input device comprises a device which is designed for external input and / or output of signals and / or internal states of the control unit.
• the device is designed as a standardized interface.
• the term interface is understood to mean both a physical object and a type of tap for signals or program structures. It is consequently only necessary to connect an input device according to the invention if necessary, ie an input device according to the invention can be designed separately in an adapted form to reduce the costs of the household appliance.
• the device used for communication is designed as a serial interface.
• a serial interface is a relatively common interface in computer and measurement technology, through which a sufficiently high data transfer rate with adequately high data security can be guaranteed even in an electro-magnetic environment, such as in particular in a production facility or a test bench. In addition, an operation or input via the control panel is still possible.
• the input device for advanced programming is preferably connected to an external service computer via the device for input and / or output of signals from the control unit.
• the performance of modern computers with their now largely mature possibility for displaying graphically prepared user interfaces is sufficient for a purpose according to the invention.
• a computer program product according to the invention is advantageously designed to run under a widespread operating system for personal computers or PCs or small computers, in particular computers based on the IBM standard.
• a laptop is preferably used as the small computer.
• a Windows operating system from Microsoft such as Windows 95, Windows NT version 4.0 or a higher successor version, is provided as the operating system.
• Prepared measures of the standardized infrastructure of the operating system can also be used by a computer program product according to the present invention, for example a help function which is in particular keyword-oriented or context-based.
• the help function is preferably configured in a situation-related manner, ie when the help function is called, detailed help based on a representation of a current screen display is offered, which can then be selected, for example, by clicking on a complex on the screen etc.
• a library and / or a database is provided in the input device, in which functions and graphic elements are contained.
• the content can in turn be changed via an interface according to the invention.
• the elements of the database can be used to set up and / or design a user interface on the domestic appliance itself, as well as to design an external monitoring, input and user interface on the input device. Scales, labels, menu forms and sequences of submenus can thus be defined and adapted to an application.
• an end user of a household appliance according to the invention is given the possibility of directly and individually adapting a user and user interface.
• a memory for securing the configuration and function is preferably provided in the input device and / or on the central control unit of the household appliance.
• the user interface has at least one form of feedback to a user.
• the signals are preferably uniquely assigned to a particular function, key position or menu, etc. Due to the type of feedback, the operation of an input and a verification of its correctness can be quickly learned by a user.
• a household appliance advantageously has an input device according to one or more of the features described above, the household appliance being subdivided into an operating part and a power part.
• the power unit is thus largely provided independently of the control unit and its programming centrally in the respective household appliance, which means that, conversely, the control unit can be constructed and configured independently of the device.
• a converter for control commands issued by a central control unit is provided in the power section of the household appliance.
• the central control unit is adapted to the converters in such a way that the level required by a functional part within the household appliance is always reached and signal forms are output.
• an interface of an input device according to the invention can also be designed for the parallel operation of several, preferably up to eight, household appliances.
• a universally applicable user program has thus been presented above, which can be used not only for one type of household appliance, but for all household appliances which have a standardized interface.
• This interface can be uniformly defined according to an internal standard and can be designed for service interventions by customer service and / or intervention by a user.
• the device communicates with the respective household appliance via the interface in order to read in and / or read out memory contents, prepare internal states in a variety of predeterminable ways and also display them. Furthermore, the memory contents can be freely changed or rewritten and saved externally. This creates a new tool for designing an individual user interface on a household appliance.
• a device using a corresponding program product, enables a user interface to be created and / or subsequently changed or adapted, with which a respective device can be quickly learned and operated, programmed or controlled as intuitively as possible. It is therefore also possible for the user as an end customer within predetermined limits, which are specified by the manufacturer of the household appliance for safety reasons, to create his own display by subsequent changes, which in one embodiment of the invention is also user-guided. Database elements and default formats are used, so that selection, adaptation, arrangement and / or linkage can be carried out in a simple manner, in particular using input elements such as pointer, mouse, keyboard, touchpad or touchscreen. An adaptation of design, arrangement and also a function according to your own taste is just as easy as a development of controls of any household appliances and their testing. An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing, with further advantages being mentioned:
• FIG. 1 the single figure shows a schematic representation of an input device according to the invention.
• a portable small computer or a laptop L and a household appliance HG are shown as larger functional blocks, which in an application a are connected to one another via an interface S under the supervision of a developer or customer service representative E. Data is transferred from the laptop L into the household appliance HG via the interface S.
• these are primarily data and program parts for the construction and display of a graphical user interface BO on the household appliance HG, which are used in a control unit or graphic unit GE identified as a box with dashed lines separately in the drawing using a Graphics processor GP is built out of a graphics memory GS.
• the graphical user interface BO comprises, in the form of a central display and operating part, a graphical screen or a graphical LCD, which is not shown in further detail.
• the user interface also has an interactive operation or command input using a touch-controlled graphic interface or a touchscreen.
• Alternative or additional operating elements in the form of a switch, button or rotary knob can also be provided, in which case they are then arranged close to or even surrounded by the touch-controlled graphic surface, so that they can be labeled depending on a particular context in more complex programming steps. Complete and fixed labeling is therefore no longer provided. Adaptations to different languages are therefore also very easy to carry out.
• the user interface BO is designed to output feedback signals R, which are also output here as optical, acoustic and tactile signals: a selected setting or function changes its color, flashes, an acknowledgment tone sounds and, in addition, the actuated control element swings in contact with the finger of one person entering at a clearly noticeable frequency. Even under adverse circumstances, knowledge of a positive or negative receipt is taken as a conclusion or confirmation of an input action.
• the incoming and outgoing signals of the user interface BO are received centrally by the graphics processor GP and from there possibly forwarded to a central control unit SE. These elements form the control panel, which is also standardized with regard to its physical structure.
• a structural and also a logical separation level T is thus arranged between the control unit and a power unit.
• the transition from an essentially software-based signal processing to a shaping and processing adapted to a particular hardware is used as control commands SB for various drivers for adaptation to a respective electrically driven or controlled functional element F in a machine area MB.
• An electrically driven and electronically controlled opener O, a pump P, a heater H and a motor M are only shown as examples here as functional elements F for a household appliance HG in the form of a laundry treatment appliance.
• Various sensors and / or emergency switches are also to be added to each of the functional elements F in a known manner, which are also connected to the control unit SE via signal lines. Therefore, the signal paths drawn between the respective functional elements F and the central control unit SE are always designed as double arrows.
• control unit SE is connected to a non-volatile memory or a fixed memory FS, in which programs and routines for the control unit SE are stored.
• a customer service representative E in application case a can also be loaded into the fixed memory FS for a renewal and / or extension of programs of the machine operation, commonly referred to in technical parlance as an update of the firmware.
• the permanent memory FS but also logs for long-term and / or short-term error analysis are also recorded at this point, reading out the permanent memory FS is also very useful in the development and maintenance of the household appliance.
• the logs within the fixed memory FS remain a is history of the operation in each case, but can be overwritten or partially deleted by the customer service representative E via the interface S.
• a laptop L specially equipped with diagnostic tools and preparation and evaluation programs is connected via the interface S in order to test a newly developed household appliance HG and finally to be able to analyze a behavior in a simulated and actually caused error case.
• This additional function therefore does not have to be carried out separately in every HG household appliance. Rather, it is available via the interface S in an adapted manner with little effort if required.
• a selection of the respective programs is made individually depending on the respective household appliance.
• the advantage of the household appliance HG for the end customer in daily use must be considered separately from application b.
• the end customer or user A can make individual adjustments and changes to the shape, structure and content of menus on the graphical user interface BO using the household appliance HG.
• the entire operation and handling of the household appliance HG is no longer rigidly defined: it is much more customizable in terms of shape, design features, content and scope by user A.
• macro documents can also be created as templates which contain a plurality of command series.
• the macro documents are saved and can be called up again at any time.
• the following commands are possible as macro commands: Wait realizes a waiting time in milliseconds,
• Send security code sends the security code so that write access is enabled
• Read memory reads out the indicated value and displays it

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• User Interface Of Digital Computer (AREA)
• Selective Calling Equipment (AREA)
• Control By Computers (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=30469267

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

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• 2002
  • 2002-07-31 DE DE10234922A patent/DE10234922A1/de not_active Withdrawn
• 2003
  • 2003-07-23 EP EP03766265A patent/EP1529131A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2003-07-23 PL PL03373696A patent/PL373696A1/pl unknown
  • 2003-07-23 CN CNA038183315A patent/CN1671909A/zh active Pending
  • 2003-07-23 WO PCT/EP2003/008054 patent/WO2004013745A2/de not_active Ceased
• 2004
  • 2004-12-22 US US11/020,884 patent/US20050104872A1/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (2)

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