Domestic appliance having improved operability of an operating device constructed as a touch screen

Abstract

A domestic appliance for treating objects includes a control device and an operating device being an external or internal touch screen. The control device displays a display field within a screen display having an operating element and a display element setting and displaying a control variable of the appliance settable by touch. The operating element contains a sensor element having segments. A lowest value of the control variable or an OFF function deactivating the control variable is associated with a first segment and different values of the control variable are associated with further segments. The control device displays at least two display elements after and/or simultaneously with touching the sensor element. The first display element displays lowest settable value of the control variable or OFF function and the second display element displays highest settable value of the control variable. A method for operating the appliance is also provided.

Claims

1. A domestic appliance for treating objects, the domestic appliance comprising: a) a control device and an operating device constructed as an external or internal touch screen, said control device being configured to display a display field on at least a part of said touch screen within a screen display, said display field containing at least one operating element and at least one display element for setting and displaying a control variable of the domestic appliance being settable by a touch; b) said at least one operating element containing an elongate, flat sensor element with a first segment and at least two further segments, a lowest value of said settable control variable or an OFF function for deactivating said control variable being associated with said first segment and different values of said settable control variable being associated with each of said at least two further segments; c) said control device being configured to display at least first and second display elements, at least one of after or simultaneously with a touching of said sensor element, said first display element displaying said lowest settable value of said control variable or said OFF function and said second display element displaying a highest settable value of said control variable; and d) said at least two further segments defining a spacing therebetween, and said first segment and said at least two further segments being separated from each other and defining a spacing therebetween being larger than said spacing between at least two further segments.

2. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein said sensor element is a capacitive sensor element.

3. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein said operating device is constructed as an external touch screen.

4. The domestic appliance according to claim 3, wherein said external touch screen is a tablet computer or smartphone configured for controlling the domestic appliance.

5. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, which further comprises a sound generator and a loudspeaker for generating and reproducing acoustic signals in relation to setting said control variables.

6. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, which further comprises a light sensor for sensing a brightness in an installation area, said control device being configured to control a brightness of said touch screen depending upon a measured brightness in the installation area.

7. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein said control device is configured to block a use of said touch screen following a time span (t.sub.Block) during which no touch signal generated by an external input unit has been registered and to free said touch screen again only after a security input by a user.

8. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein the domestic appliance is a water-using domestic appliance selected from the group consisting of a washing machine, a washer-dryer, a dryer and a dishwasher.

9. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein the domestic appliance is a washing machine or a washer-dryer.

10. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein said control device is configured to at least one of display operating elements or display elements with a higher validity emphasized with at least one of color or high contrast and to display the at least one of operating elements or the display elements with a lower validity having at least one of a suppressed color, a lower contrast or a different form.

11. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein said settable control variables include at least one of treatment programs, program parameters or additional options.

12. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein said control device stores dependencies for said settable control variables and said control device is configured to block at least one of a disadvantageous or damage-causing setting of said control variables based upon said dependencies.

13. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein said control device is configured to enable a direct start of a treatment program by touching a sub region of an operating element.

14. The domestic appliance according to claim 1, wherein said control device is configured to enable a change between one screen display and another screen display by touching a sub region of an operating element.

15. A method for operating a domestic appliance for treating objects, the method comprising the following steps: i) providing a control device and an operating device constructed as an external or internal touch screen, the control device being configured to display a display field on at least a part of the touch screen and to display at least one operating element and at least first and second display elements on the display field, the at least one operating element being used to set a settable control variable of the domestic appliance by a touch, the at least one operating element being an elongate flat sensor element including at least three segments, the settable control variable including a value scale with at least three values, the value scale having a respective value being associated with each segment for setting a value by touching an external input unit, the sellable control variable changing continuously or in jumps, at least one of a lower settable value or an OFF function being associated with a first segment, the control device being configured to display at least the first and second display elements, at least one of following or simultaneously with a first touch of the sensor element, the first display element displaying at least one of a lowest settable value of the value scale or the OFF function, and the second display element displaying a highest settable value of the value scale; ii) providing a spacing between at least two further segments, and providing a spacing between the first segment and the at least two further segments being larger than the spacing between the at least two further segments; iii) displaying a display field within a screen display, locating the elongate, flat sensor element with the first segment and the at least two further segments in the display field as at least one operating element, associating the lowest value of the settable control variable or the OFF function for deactivating the control variable with the first segment and respectively associating different values of the settable control variable with the at least two further segments; iv) displaying at least first and second display elements for the display of a control variable of the domestic appliance to be set by touch at least one of following or simultaneously with a touching of the sensor element, displaying the lowest settable value of the control variable or the OFF function with the first display element, and displaying the highest settable value of the control variable with the second display element; v) modifying the sellable control variable corresponding to touching the sensor element; and vi) carrying out a treatment program with the modified control variable.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(1) FIG. 1 shows a touch screen 1 of a non-restricting embodiment of an inventive domestic appliance which, in this embodiment, is configured as a washing machine. In touch screen 1 in FIG. 1, the whole surface zone of the touch screen 1 is touch-sensitive. Furthermore, the touch screen 1 corresponds here to a screen view, that is, the whole view for a user. The touch screen 1 has three display fields 2, 4 and 6, which subdivide the touch screen into three differently sized parts. The display field 2 is here configured only as an edge region, although it can also represent information, for example, in relation to a higher-level treatment program previously selected by a user, in the form of display elements. The display field 4 has a display element image of a thermometer 3 and an operating element text Temperature 5. By means of the operating element 5, a user can open the display field 6 to set the control variable Temperature and, following setting, close it again. It is possible, however, that by touching an upstream screen display (not shown here), the downstream screen display designated touch screen 1 here and thus simultaneously the display field 6 can be opened. In such a variant, therefore, the display fields 4 and 6 would be opened simultaneously. Finally, it would also be possible that only the display field 6 is opened for the modification of a control variable.

(2) Furthermore, the display element 3 and the operating element 5 also serve to inform the user by means of the control variable to be set, in this case, the program parameter Temperature. The display field 6 has three display elements 7, 8, 9 and an operating element 10. The operating element 10 is an elongate, flat sensor element made here of seven segments 23, 24, each signal being associated with a particular temperature value for its setting and, in particular, the first segment 23 is shown delimited and the lowest settable value of the temperature scale is associated with this segment. The first segment 23 thus has a recognizable separation from the second and further segments 24. In this embodiment, the black region 11 shows a user the setting generated by touching, in this case 60 C. The display element 7, the text 60 C. provides to a user information regarding the set temperature. The display element 7 is herein displayed enlarged in order to enable better clarity. The display elements 8 and 9, the text Cold and the text 90 C. provide information to a user regarding the lowest value, in this case cold, and the highest value of the temperature value scale. Preferably, the display elements 8 and 9 are shown simultaneously with or directly following a first touch of the sensor element 10. In this way, the complexity of the representation can initially be kept clearer, since for a particular operating time point, relevant information, in this case the region of the temperature value scale, is only displayed if it is important to a user.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a touch screen 1 as it is used in a second embodiment of an inventive domestic appliance. The touch screen 1 which here also corresponds to a screen view, has two display fields 12 and 18 in this embodiment which subdivide the touch screen into two different sized parts. The display field 18 has the display element image of a spiral 20 and the operating element text Rinse 19, which fulfil the same functions as described above in relation to FIG. 1. By means of the operating element 19, a user can open the display field 12 to set the additional option Rinse and, following setting, close it again. Furthermore, the display element 20 and the operating element 19 also serve for the information of the user by means of the settable control variable, in this case, the program parameter Rinse. The display field 12 has three display elements 14, 15 and 16, as well as an operating element 17. The operating element 17 is configured as an elongate, flat sensor element with four segments. By means of a touch, the user can thus select an additional rinsing process by means of the operating element 17 or can switch off this additional option. For this purpose, in particular, the first segment 23 is represented delimited, i.e. with a separation, from the further segments 24 and the function OFF is associated with it as an indication of the deactivation of the control variable Rinse, which in this embodiment comprises OFF and three additional rinsing processes. The black region 13 herein denotes the setting OFF made by a user, which is also shown by the display element text OFF 14. The display elements 15 and 16, text OFF and text +3 display, in particular, the deactivation state and the highest value of the value scale Rinse. However, these display elements are preferably shown simultaneously with, or directly following, a first touch of the operating element 17.

(4) FIG. 3 shows a touch screen 1 as it is used in a third embodiment of an inventive domestic appliance. In this embodiment, the touch screen 1 again has three display fields 2, 4 and 6. As described in relation to FIG. 1, the display field 4 has a display element image of a thermometer 3 and an operating element text Temperature 5. By means of the operating element 5, a user can open the display field 6 to set the control variable Temperature and, following setting, close it again. Furthermore, the display element 3 and the operating element 5 also serve to inform the user by means of the control variable to be set, in this case, the program parameter Temperature. The display field 6 again has three display elements 6, 7, 8 and the operating element 22. The operating element 22 is also configured as an elongate, flat sensor element of seven segments. Of these seven segments, however, only four can be set by a user and the setting of the other three is blocked by the control device. Thus the three blocked segments have a lower validity G2 for a user than the settable four segments, which have the validity G1. Accordingly, in this embodiment, the segments with a lower validity are represented with a changed form, in this case, reduced in height, so that for a user, the blocking of the setting is visually easy to detect. The black region 21 denotes here also the setting made by the user, which is further indicated by the display element text 60 C. 7. The two display elements text Cold 8 and text 90 C. 9 accordingly again show the lowest and highest value of the value scale Temperature, the lowest value being associated with the first segment 23 of the operating element 22, which is displayed spaced from the remaining segments 24.

REFERENCE CHARACTERS

(5) 1 Touch screen 2 Display field 3 Display element image Thermometer 4 Display field 5 Operating element text Temperature 6 Display field 7 Display element text 60 C. 8 Display element text Cold 9 Display element text 90 C. 10 Elongate, flat sensor element 11 Generated set region 12 Display field 13 Generated set region 14 Display element text OFF 15 Display element text OFF 16 Display element text +3 17 Elongate, flat sensor element 18 Display field 19 Operating element text Rinse 20 Display element image spiral 21 Generated set region 22 Elongate, flat sensor element with partially blocked input 23 First segment 24 Further segments; second and further segments