Household appliance having an ambient light detection unit and method for operating a household appliance
AssigneeBSH Hausgeräte GmbH
InventorsMartin Schimmele, Armin Weber
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A household appliance includes an ambient light detection unit that has a sensor housing and a brightness sensor that detects the brightness of the light in the environment of the household appliance. The brightness sensor is disposed in the sensor housing. The household appliance has a housing having a front strip and a door fastened to the housing. The ambient light detection unit is disposed on a front strip or on a door closure strip of the door. A method is disclosed for the specific setting of the brightness of an illuminating apparatus for a household refrigeration appliance.
Claims14
An integrated household appliance, comprising:
- a housing having a front strip;
- a door fastened to said housing, said door having a door leaf with a front side;
- a separate design plate disposed on said front side of said door leaf;
- an ambient light detection unit disposed on said front strip, said ambient light detection unit having a sensor housing;
- said front strip having a hole formed therein through which said ambient light detection unit detects ambient light;
- said hole overlapping said design plate in a height direction of the household appliance, and said hole and said design plate defining at most a minimum distance therebetween in a depth direction of the household appliance, resulting in said hole being at least shaded by said design plate;
- and
- a brightness sensor disposed in said sensor housing, said brightness sensor detecting a brightness of light in an environment of the household appliance.
A method for operating an integrated household appliance, the method comprising:
- providing a housing having a front strip;
- opening a door of the household appliance, the door having a door leaf with a front side and a separate design plate disposed on the front side of the door leaf;
- automatically setting a base illumination scenario for illuminating a receiving compartment of the household appliance being opened by the opening of the door, the base illumination scenario being independent of a brightness in the environment of the household appliance;
- using an illuminating apparatus of the household appliance to illuminate the receiving compartment;
- providing an ambient light detection unit disposed on the front strip, the ambient light detection unit having a sensor housing:
- using a brightness sensor disposed in the sensor housing of the ambient light detection unit of the household appliance to detect the brightness of the environment of the household appliance, and starting the detection automatically by the opening of the door;
- using the ambient light detection unit to detect the ambient light through a hole formed in the front strip, the hole overlapping the design plate in a height direction of the household appliance, and the hole and the design plate defining at most a minimum distance therebetween in a depth direction of the household appliance, resulting in the hole being at least shaded by the design plate;
- using an evaluating unit of the household appliance to evaluate the detected brightness of the environment;
- generating an end illumination scenario for the receiving compartment in dependence upon the detected brightness;
- and
- illuminating the receiving compartment by using the end illumination scenario when the door is in an opened state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.