Consumer Appliance with a Detachable Tablet
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorSteven Keith Root
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tablet for use with a consumer appliance is provided. The tablet may be removably attachable to the consumer appliance, which may charge the tablet through an integrated USB charger. The tablet may be in wired or wireless communication with the appliance and/or a remote server. In this manner, the tablet may provide the user with timely information related to operation of the consumer appliance or directly from the internet.
Claims20
A tablet for providing a user of a consumer appliance with information, the tablet comprising:
- a display for providing information to a user;
- a user interface configured for receiving user input;
- and
- a communication module enabling communication with a remote server and an appliance controller,
- wherein the tablet is removably mounted to the consumer appliance and may selectively display information received from the remote server and the appliance controller in response to the user input.
A consumer appliance, comprising:
- a main body;
- an appliance controller;
- and
- a tablet removably mounted to the main body, the tablet comprising:
- an energy storage device;
- a display for providing information to a user;
- a user interface configured for receiving user input;
- and
- a wireless communication module enabling the tablet to communicate wirelessly with both the appliance controller and a remote server,
- wherein the information provided to the display may be user selected from information received from the remote server and the appliance controller.
A method for communicating information to a user of a consumer appliance, the method comprising:
- providing the user with a tablet that is detachably mounted to the consumer appliance, the tablet comprising a display and a wireless communication module in wireless communication with both a remote server and an appliance controller;
- receiving information from the remote server and the appliance controller;
- selectively displaying the information on the display in response to a user selected display configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.