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US 2012/0055091 A1Published application
Household appliance without a handle
AssigneeMiele & Cie. KG
InventorsVolker Backherms, Dominic Beier, Stefan Tiekoetter
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A household appliance includes a door, an opening drive configured to move the door from a closed position into an at least partially open position and a door-opening sensor coupled to the door. The door opening sensor is configured to recognize an acoustically expressed door-opening command and includes a three-axis sensor.
Claims12
1:
- A household appliance comprising:
- a door;
- an opening drive configured to move the door from a closed position into an at least partially open position;
- and
- a door-opening sensor coupled to the door and configured to recognize an acoustically expressed door-opening command, the door-opening sensor including a three-axis sensor.
2 more elements
2:
- The household appliance recited in claim 1, wherein the appliance includes a dishwasher without a handle.
3:
- The household appliance recited in claim 1, wherein the appliance includes a refrigerator without a handle.
4:
- The household appliance recited in claim 1, further comprising a decorative panel, wherein the door-opening sensor is mechanically uncoupled from the decorative panel.
5:
- The household appliance recited in claim 4, wherein the decorative panel is connected to the door by a fastener.
6:
- The household appliance recited in claim 4, wherein the decorative panel includes a metal.
7:
- The household appliance recited in claim 1, wherein the door-opening sensor is a three-axis acceleration sensor.
8:
- The household appliance recited in claim 1, wherein the door-opening sensor is a three-axis vibration sensor.
9:
- A method for operating a door-opening mechanism of a household appliance, the method comprising:
- providing a first signal using a door-opening sensor;
- providing a second signal using the door-opening sensor;
- providing a third signal using the door-opening sensor;
- and
- calculating a total signal based on the first, second and third signals so as to determine a spatial direction from which a signal source originates.
3 more elements
10:
- The method recited in claim 9, wherein the first, second and third signals are filtered so as to provide a limited frequency band.
11:
- The method recited in claim 9, wherein a spectral analysis of the first, second and third signals is calculated or evaluated.
12:
- The method recited in claim 9, wherein acceleration integrals of the first, second and third signals are calculated or evaluated.