Laundry washing machine color composition analysis during loading

A laundry washing machine, comprising:

• a wash tub disposed within a housing;
• a color detection sensor positioned to capture color composition data of a load of articles as the load of articles is added to the wash tub;
• a weight sensor operatively coupled to the wash tub to sense a weight of the load of articles as the load of articles is added to the wash tub;
• and
• a controller coupled to the color detection sensor and configured to initiate the capture of the color composition data with the color detection sensor as the load of articles is added to the wash tub, the controller further configured to initiate a color decision algorithm to characterize the captured color composition data by assigning each of a plurality of pixels in the captured color composition data to one of a plurality of color categories, and to characterize the load of articles based upon the characterized color composition data;
• wherein the controller is further configured to set one or more operational settings for a wash cycle based upon the characterization of the load of articles by the color decision algorithm;
• wherein the controller is configured to initiate the capture of the color composition data with the color detection sensor as the load of articles is added to the wash tub by initiating a plurality of color composition data captures with the color detection sensor responsive to detected weight changes sensed by the weight sensor as the load of articles is added to the wash tub;
• wherein the controller is configured to initiate the plurality of color composition data captures in response to detecting an open door, and to determine that all articles in the load have been added to the wash tub in response to detecting a closed door;
• and
• wherein the controller is further configured to:
• initiate an additional capture of color composition data after detecting the closed door, and delete the additional capture of color composition data if a weight change sensed by the weight sensor is less than a predetermined constant;
• or
• initiate an additional capture of color composition data after detecting the closed door if a weight change sensed by the weight sensor is greater than a predetermined constant.

A laundry washing machine, comprising:

• a wash tub disposed within a housing;
• a color detection sensor positioned to capture color composition data of a load of articles as the load of articles is added to the wash tub;
• a weight sensor operatively coupled to the wash tub to sense a weight of the load of articles as the load of articles is added to the wash tub;
• and
• a controller coupled to the color detection sensor and configured to initiate the capture of the color composition data with the color detection sensor as the load of articles is added to the wash tub, the controller further configured to initiate a color decision algorithm to characterize the captured color composition data by assigning each of a plurality of pixels in the captured color composition data to one of a plurality of color categories, and to characterize the load of articles based upon the characterized color composition data;
• wherein the controller is further configured to set one or more operational settings for a wash cycle based upon the characterization of the load of articles by the color decision algorithm;
• wherein the controller is configured to initiate the capture of the color composition data with the color detection sensor as the load of articles is added to the wash tub by initiating a plurality of color composition data captures with the color detection sensor responsive to detected weight changes sensed by the weight sensor as the load of articles is added to the wash tub;
• wherein the controller is configured to initiate the plurality of color composition data captures in response to detecting an open door, and to determine that all articles in the load have been added to the wash tub in response to detecting a closed door;
• wherein the controller is configured to start a sleep timer in response to detecting the open door, to reset the sleep timer in connection with each color composition data capture, to put the laundry washing machine in a sleep state in response to expiration of the sleep timer, and to awaken the laundry washing machine and initiate a color composition data capture in response to detection of a weight change by the weight sensor while the laundry washing machine is in the sleep state.