Notification control for connected appliances
AssigneeHaier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.
InventorThomas Allen Bailey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An appliance including an instruction confirmation device and a method for controlling the confirmation device are provided. The appliance comprises a controller configured to communicate with a user input device and to communicate wirelessly with an external device. The confirmation device is adjustable by the user input controls and the external device to generate a confirmatory signal in response to receipt of an instruction or to not generate such a signal.
Claims20
An appliance comprising:
- a cabinet defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction, each of which is mutually perpendicular;
- a control panel positioned on an exterior of the cabinet, the control panel including a user input device;
- and
- a controller in operative communication with the control panel and in wireless communication with an external device through a network, wherein the controller is configured to adjust a confirmation device at the control panel to selectively produce a confirmatory signal in response to an instruction received by the controller from one of the user input device and the external device.
A method of controlling an appliance comprising a cabinet, a control panel positioned on an exterior of the cabinet, the control panel including a user input device and a sound generator in a first condition and adjustable between a second condition and a third condition, and a controller, the controller in operative communication with the control panel and configured to communicate wirelessly with an external device through a network, the method comprising:
- receiving at the controller an instruction from one of the user input device and the network to adjust the sound generator to one of the second condition and the third condition;
- and
- adjusting the sound generator to one of the second condition and the third condition based on the received instruction from the controller;
- and
- wherein in the second condition, the sound generator does not generate a sound in response to a subsequently received instruction from the control panel or from the network and in the third condition, the sound generator generates a sound in response to a subsequently received instruction from the control panel and does not generate a sound in response to a subsequently received instruction from the network.
A method of controlling an appliance comprising a cabinet, a control panel positioned on an exterior of the cabinet, the control panel including a user input device and a sound generator in a second condition, the condition adjustable between a third condition and a first condition, and a controller, the controller in operative communication with the user input device and configured to communicate wirelessly with an external device through a network, the method comprising:
- receiving an instruction at the controller to adjust the condition of the sound generator;
- determining a source of the instruction to be one of the user input device and the network;
- setting a first control permission of the adjustable sound generator corresponding to the user input device as the instruction source and a second control permission corresponding to the network as the instruction source;
- and
- adjusting the condition based on the instruction source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.