Toaster shade control display
AssigneeConair Corporation
InventorsDavid Wanat, Roger Letso
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved toaster includes a user control panel for receiving and displaying user selections corresponding to a desired toast darkness setting. A toaster shade display displays a user selected toast darkness setting and includes a linear array of LEDs (LED bar), horizontally arranged on an exterior portion of the toaster body. The LEDs are sequentially turned on and off to indicate the user selected toast darkness setting, lighter or darker toast. The user control panel also contains preprogrammed custom settings for one-slice, two-slice, bagel, defrost and reheat mode of operation. A user can select a custom setting or any combination of custom settings thereof.
Claims12
A toaster for toasting bread to a desired darkness, said toaster comprising:
- heater means for toasting bread;
- and
- control means including:
- (i) input means for receiving a user input corresponding to a desired toast darkness;
- (ii) display means comprising a linear array of indicators;
- and
- (iii) processor means:
- (a) for causing said heater means to toast said bread to said desired toast darkness, and
- (b) responsive to said input means, for activating a selected, sequential number of said indicators corresponding to said desired toast darkness.
A toaster for toasting bread at a desired toaster setting corresponding to a user selection, wherein a user can select from a plurality of custom settings, said toaster comprising:
- heater means for generating heat over a toasting cycle corresponding to a length of time;
- lever means for activating said heater means and initiating a toasting cycle;
- and
- control means including:
- (i) input means for receiving a user input corresponding to a single custom setting or combination of custom settings;
- and
- (ii) processor means, responsive to said user input, for determining said length of time based on said user input, wherein said processor means, responsive to said lever means, causes said
- heater means to generate heat over said length of time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.