MOBILE HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE WITH A DISPLAY

Abstract

A mobile household appliance has an appliance housing, a display that forms part of an outer shell of the appliance housing, a detection device for detecting an operating parameter that characterizes an operating mode of the household appliance, and an evaluation and control unit for determining the operating mode and for depicting at least one piece of information concerning the current operating mode on the display. The evaluation and control unit varies a depicting direction of the displayed information depending on the determined current operating mode of the household appliance. The detection device has a sensor that is designed for detecting a relative orientation of a handle of the household appliance, which can be adjusted relative to the appliance housing, or a contact sensor for detecting mechanical contact of the household appliance with a service station, or an accumulator monitoring device for detecting charging or discharging of the accumulator.

Claims

1. A mobile household appliance comprising: an appliance housing, a display that forms part of an outer shell of the appliance housing, a detection device configured for detecting an operating parameter that characterizes an operating mode currently carried out by the household appliance, and an evaluation and control unit configured for determining the operating mode based on the operating parameter and for depicting at least one piece of information concerning the current operating mode on the display, wherein the evaluation and control unit is designed for varying a depicting direction (r) of the information depicted on the display depending on the determined current operating mode of the household appliance, and wherein the detection device has a sensor that is selected from the group consisting of: a sensor that is designed for detecting a relative orientation of a handle of the household appliance, which can be adjusted relative to the appliance housing; a contact sensor configured for detecting mechanical contact of the household appliance with a service station; and an accumulator monitoring device that is designed for detecting charging or discharging of the accumulator.

2. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation and control unit is designed for deducing in dependence on the operating mode a spatial orientation of the household appliance and/or a viewing direction of a user at the household appliance during the operating mode.

3. The household appliance according to claim 1, further comprising a data memory, which is communicatively linked to the evaluation and control unit and in which a plurality of potential operating modes of the household appliance and depicting directions (r) of information on the display allocated to the operating modes are stored.

4. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the operating mode is selected from the group consisting of: a working mode, in which the user utilizes the household appliance as intended for carrying out a household task, particularly a floor treatment task; a charging mode, in which the household appliance is connected to a charger or a charging station in order to charge an accumulator; a service mode, in which the household appliance is docked with a service station in order to receive a service; and an idle mode, in which the household appliance is parked outside of a working mode, charging mode and service mode.

5. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the depicted information depends on the determined current operating mode of the household appliance selected from the group consisting of: information on a charge state of the accumulator; information on the operating mode of the household appliance, and information on an accessory connected to the household appliance.

6. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation and control unit is designed for only selecting at least one piece of information, which is defined as relevant for the current operating mode of the household appliance, from a plurality of available pieces of information and for depicting the at least one selected piece of information on the display.

7. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the display is a separable or inseparable component of the appliance housing or a separable or inseparable component of an accumulator of the household appliance.

8. The household appliance according to claim 7, wherein the accumulator is a separable or inseparable component of the household appliance.

9. A method for operating a mobile household appliance, comprising the following steps: detecting an operating parameter that characterizes an operating mode currently carried out by the household appliance, determining the current operating mode based on the detected operating parameter, depicting information concerning the determined current operating mode on a display of the household appliance, wherein a depicting direction (r) of the information depicted on the display is varied depending on the determined current operating mode of the household appliance, wherein the detection device has a sensor that is selected from the group consisting of: a sensor that is designed for detecting a relative orientation of a handle of the household appliance, which can be adjusted relative to an appliance housing; a contact sensor for detecting mechanical contact of the household appliance with a service station; and an accumulator monitoring device that is designed for detecting charging or discharging of the accumulator.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.

[0018] In the drawings,

[0019] FIG. 1 shows a mobile household appliance during a first operating mode; and

[0020] FIG. 2 shows the household appliance during a second operating mode.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0021] FIG. 1 shows a mobile household appliance 1, which in this example is realized in the form of a household appliance 1 that can be pushed over a floor surface to be treated by a user. For example, the household appliance 1 is a vacuum cleaner, a mop or a combined vacuuming-mopping appliance. The household appliance 1 has an appliance housing 2 and a handle 10 that is pivotably mounted on the appliance housing. A display 3 is flushly integrated into the surface of the appliance housing 2 and separably or inseparably connected to the appliance housing 2. The household appliance 1 furthermore has an accumulator 8 that serves for supplying energy to electrical consumers of the household appliance 1. These electrical consumers may consist, for example, of electric motors that serve for operating a drive system of the household appliance, a cleaning device or the like. As an alternative to an integration into the appliance housing 2, the display 3 may also integrated into a surface of the accumulator 8, in which case the appliance housing 2 has a recess or a viewing window, through which the display 3 can be read from outside. An evaluation and control unit 5 of the household appliance 1 controls a depiction of pieces of information 6, which are useful for the user during the utilization of the household appliance 1, on the display 3. The depiction of the pieces of information 6 takes place with a depicting direction r, which based on the viewing angle of the user corresponds to a reading direction from “top left” to “bottom right.” A data memory 7 containing a plurality of data on different operating modes of the household appliance 1, particularly the pieces of information 6 for the user concerning the operating modes, is allocated to the evaluation and control unit 5. Furthermore, the data memory 7 contains—as described in greater detail further below—information on normal viewing directions n of the user at the household appliance 1 during the respective operating mode and therefore also on a spatial orientation of the household appliance 1 during this operating mode, wherein said normal viewing directions and spatial orientations are respectively allocated to the different operating modes.

[0022] In this case, the household appliance 1 has several possible operating modes such as, for example, a working mode, in which the household appliance 1 carries out a floor treatment (FIG. 1), a charging mode, in which the accumulator 8 of the household appliance 1 is charged by means of a charger 9 (FIG. 2), and an idle mode, in which the household appliance 1 is turned off and stored, for example, in a closet. It would also be possible to provide other operating modes such as a service mode or multiple service mode modes, in which the household appliance 1 receive a service from a service station, for example a transfer or maintenance of an accessory 11 connected to the appliance housing 2. For example, such an accessory 11 may be a vacuum nozzle, a rotating floor treatment brush, a mopping plate, a polishing attachment or the like.

[0023] In order to determine an operating mode currently carried out by the household appliance 1, the household appliance 1 has a sensor system that in this example comprises a total of three individual detection devices 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3. In this case, the detection device 4.1 is allocated to a joint 12 between the appliance housing 2 and the handle 10 and designed for detecting a current position of the variable handle 10 relative to the appliance housing 2. For example, the detection device 4.1 may be a contact sensor or an optical sensor that can detect a positioning of the handle 10 in a defined pivoting position. In this example, the detection device 4.2 forms part of an accumulator monitoring device, which can detect whether energy currently is drawn from the accumulator 8 or fed to the accumulator 8. The accumulator monitoring device may form part of a charge control. For example, the detection device 4.3 is a position sensor that can measure an orientation of the household appliance 1. It is particularly preferred that the position sensor is a gyroscope or an acceleration sensor. Consequently, the detection device 4.3 can determine, for example, if the household appliance 1 stands upright as illustrated in FIG. 1, is held horizontally in order to treat surfaces above the floor or held overhead in order to treat a ceiling area of a room such that the accessory 11 is located above the user.

[0024] In order to further elucidate the invention, FIGS. 1 and 2 show a comparison between two different operating modes of the household appliance 1. In FIG. 1, a user pushes the household appliance 1 over a floor surface to be treated during a working mode, wherein the user respectively pushes and pulls the household appliance 1 in front of himself in the form of regular or irregular movements. In this case, the appliance housing 2 of the household appliance 2 usually is positioned essentially upright (referred to a longitudinal extent). The user is located behind the household appliance 1 while holding the handle 10 in order to displace the household appliance 1. In this operating mode, the user looks at the display 3 in a viewing direction n that essentially corresponds to a viewing direction at the display 3 from above. This viewing direction can generally also be referred to as “six o'clock viewing direction.” In this viewing direction n, the evaluation and control unit 5 of the household appliance 1 controls the depiction of pieces of information 6 on the display 3 in such a way that the pieces of information 6 are viewed from outside “upside down” as illustrated in FIG. 1. In this way, the user looking at the display 3 from above can read the pieces of information 6 in the usual manner.

[0025] In contrast, FIG. 2 shows the household appliance 1 in an operating mode that differs from FIG. 1 and in this case is a charging mode, in which the accumulator 8 of the household appliance 1 is charged by means of a charger 9. In this example, the charger 9 is a mobile charger. During the charging mode, the household appliance 1 likewise is in an upright position and the user usually looks at the display 3 head-on such that he reads the pieces of information 6 depicted on the display 3 in the usual manner from top left to bottom right. This viewing direction n of the user corresponds to a so-called “12 o'clock viewing direction.” Accordingly, the depicting direction r of the pieces of information 6 on the display 3 essentially is oriented in the opposite direction.

[0026] In order to enable the evaluation and control unit 5 of the household appliance 1 to arrange and depict the pieces of information 6 on the display 3 in such a way that a user can read the pieces of information 6 on the display 3 in the usual manner, namely from “top left” to “bottom right” referred to the viewing direction n, in dependence on the operating mode currently carried out by the household appliance 1, the evaluation and control unit 5 is designed for initially determining the current operating mode of the household appliance 1 and for deducing the current spatial orientation of the household appliance 1 or of the display 3 in dependence on the determined operating mode. Furthermore, the evaluation and control unit 5 of the household appliance 1 determines which of multiple available pieces of information 6 are advantageously depicted on the display 3 for the user because not all available pieces of information 6 are actually relevant for the operating mode currently carried out by the household appliance 1.

[0027] In the operating mode according to FIG. 1, namely the working mode, the detection device 4.1 detects as a first operating parameter that the handle 10 is oriented on the household appliance 1 in extension of the longitudinal extent of the appliance housing 2. Based on this position of the handle 10, the evaluation and control unit 5 deduces that the user probably is located behind the household appliance 1, namely on the side of the handle 10. The evaluation and control unit 5 carries out an evaluation by accessing the data memory 7 of the household appliance 1, in which detection signals of the detection devices 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 corresponding to the respective operating mode of the household appliance 1 are stored. In the embodiment according to FIG. 1, the additional detection device 4.2 detects as a further operating parameter that energy currently is drawn from the accumulator 8. In addition, the detection device 4.3, namely the position sensor, detects that the household appliance 1 stands upright, namely such that the accessory 11 is located underneath the appliance housing 2 and the handle 10. The evaluation and control unit 5 now compares the operating parameters detected by the detection devices 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 with operating parameters that are stored in the data memory 7 and characterize defined operating modes. It is then determined that the household appliance 1 currently carries out the operating mode “working mode” with the aid of the data stored in the data memory 7.

[0028] Based on the information of the thusly determined current operating mode of the household appliance 1, the evaluation and control unit 5 subsequently retrieves the viewing direction n of the user that corresponds to the determined operating mode from the quantity of data stored in the data memory 7. In this case, the viewing direction n of the user illustrated in FIG. 1 is allocated to the operating mode “working mode” of the household appliance 1. Furthermore, the data memory 7 also contains the useful pieces of information 6 for the user to be depicted on the display 3 during the respective operating mode. During the working mode, these pieces of information 6 are, for example, a selected or chosen power stage of a fan or cleaning element. The stages “stage 1,” “stage 2” and “stage 3” preferably can be selected by the user by touching the display 3. Furthermore, a runtime, for which the household appliance 1 presumably can still operate with the residual energy remaining in the accumulator 8, is depicted for the user in minutes.

[0029] In contrast, different pieces of information 6, particularly information 6 on the current charge state of the accumulator 8, are relevant for the user in the operating mode of the household appliance 1 according to FIG. 2, namely in the charging mode for the accumulator 8. However, other pieces of information 6 that basically can be retrieved, namely the pieces of information 6 on selectable power stages of the household appliance 1 illustrated in FIG. 1, are not selected by the evaluation and control unit 5 for the depiction on the display 3. The evaluation and control unit 5 can detect the charging mode of the household appliance 1 based on the operating parameter that is detected by the detection device 4.2 and indicates that energy is fed to the accumulator 8. However, the remaining operating parameters, namely the position of the handle 10 and the orientation of the household appliance 1, essentially are identical to those in to FIG. 1.

[0030] Although only a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

[0031] 1 Household appliance
2 Appliance housing

3 Display

[0032] 4.1 Detection device
4.2 Detection device
4.3 Detection device
5 Evaluation and control unit

6 Information

[0033] 7 Data memory

8 Accumulator

9 Charger

10 Handle

11 Accessory

12 Joint

[0034] n Viewing direction
r Depicting direction