One or more commercial appliances for handling food and/or one of more subsystems of commercial appliances for handling food are linked to a master controller for controlling the operation of the commercial appliance(s) and/or its subsystem(s) via one or more CAN modules and a CAN bus.

A control system is described for synchronizing food processing steps performed by a multi-function cooking apparatus with food processing steps performed by one or more remote kitchen appliances, includes a recipe program interface for accessing a recipe program on a data storage device wherein the recipe program is configured to be executed by the cooking apparatus and has internal instructions configured to control functions of the cooking apparatus for performing food processing steps thereon, and has at least one external instruction for a remote food processing step performed by a particular remote kitchen appliance.

A control system, method and computer program product for controlling food processing steps performed by a multi-function cooking apparatus and food processing steps performed by one or more remote kitchen appliances for preparing a food product. A recipe program interface is configured to access on a data storage device a recipe program for preparing the food product wherein the recipe program is configured to be executed by the cooking apparatus and to synchronize food processing steps performed by the cooking apparatus with food processing steps performed by the one or more remote kitchen appliances. A validation component is configured to check if the one or more remote kitchen appliances are registered with the cooking apparatus in an appliance registry, and is further configured to check if technical specifications of registered remote kitchen appliances comply with control parameters in respective recipe program instructions.

The need for a more readily usable interface for programmable devices is widely recognized. The present invention relates to programmable sequencing devices, or, more particularly, the remote controls for consumer electronic devices. The present invention provides an enhanced interface for facilitating human input of a desired control sequence in a programmable device by employing specialized visual feedback. The present invention also relates to a new interface and method of interfacing with a programmable device, which is usable as an interface for a programmable video cassette recorder.

Controlling a consumer electronic applicant through a mobile terminal to execute functionality appropriate for processing a consumer product is performed by obtaining a device specification of the consumer electronic device and product information on the product to be processed, and generating a command that controls the consumer electronic device to execute the appropriate functionality for processing the product.

A mobile device for communicating with a smart appliance and the Internet is disclosed. The mobile device includes a sensing element for detecting a current value of an operational features of the smart appliance. A memory including relationships between other values and operational features is provided. A processor is also provided for accessing the memory and comparing the current and other values to determine whether there is a match. If the values do not match, the process generates and sends instructions to the smart appliance to adjust its settings so as to bring the current and other values into alignment. The mobile device is also in communication with the Internet where the mobile device may draw upon online resources to perform or support performing any of the above steps.

A method for data communication with a domestic appliance by a mobile computer device. The domestic appliance and the mobile computer device are interconnected or interconnectable via a wireless data connection. The wireless data connection is adapted for transferring signals between the domestic appliance and the mobile computer device. Further, the present invention relates to application software for the mobile computer device. Moreover, the present invention relates to a domestic appliance. Additionally, the present invention relates to a mobile computer device including a display or touch screen.

A trash can includes an induction actuated cover being actuated to move between an closed position and an opened position in response to an object, an actuation module being activated at one of an operation mode and a setting mode, and an adjustable detection distance arrangement. At the operation mode, the induction actuated cover is moved from the closes position to the opened position when the object is detected above an induction window within a detection range at a preset detection distance. The adjustable detection distance arrangement is arranged to store a desired detection distance at the setting mode. The desired detection distance is selectively adjusted from the induction window and is defined as a distance of the object placed above the induction window. The desired detection distance is stored to replace the preset detection distance for actuating the induction actuated cover at the operation mode.

A circuit arrangement for controlling a plurality of loads of an electrical appliance has a main control module, arranged in a first voltage range and configured to generate control data for controlling a plurality of loads, which are arranged in a second voltage range. A galvanic isolation unit transfers the control data via a galvanically isolated connection from the first voltage range to the second voltage range. At least one auxiliary control module has a plurality of control outputs for the loads and an LED driver for operating a corresponding plurality of LED arrangements via the of control outputs, and/or a general-purpose input/output expansion circuit with programmable control outputs. Based on the control data, the auxiliary control module identifies a first control output for controlling the first load and causes the first load to be controlled via the first control output.