COMPONENT, DOMESTIC APPLIANCE, SYSTEM AND METHOD

Abstract

A component for use with a household appliance includes an optical indication element arranged in a non-detachable manner on the component and comprising coded information relating to the component. The optical indication element is designed for detection by an optical detection facility.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A component for use with a household appliance, the component comprising an optical indication element arranged in a non-detachable manner on the component and comprising coded information relating to the component, said optical indication element designed for detection by an optical detection facility.

17. The component of claim 16 for use with a household cooking appliance as the household appliance.

18. The component of claim 16, wherein the optical indication element is manufactured using a laser engraving method, a stylus, needle or dot-matrix method, an embossing method, an inkjet printing method, a screen printing method and/or a cutting method.

19. The component of claim 16, wherein the component is manufactured at least partially in a casting method, said optical indication element being produced by a corresponding negative impression in a cast mold for manufacturing the component.

20. The component of claim 16, further comprising a metal sheet, said optical indication element being arranged on the metal sheet.

21. The component of claim 16, further comprising a plastic element, said optical indication element being arranged on the plastic element.

22. The component of claim 16, further comprising a glass element, said optical indication element being arranged on the glass element.

23. The component of claim 16, wherein the component is embodied as a replacement part for the household appliance.

24. The component of claim 16, wherein the component is embodied as an accessory part for the household appliance.

25. The component of claim 16, wherein the coded information comprises a reference to a data record stored in an external storage facility.

26. A household appliance, comprising: a component; and an optical indication element arranged in a non-detachable manner on the component and comprising coded information relating to the component, said optical indication element designed for detection by an optical detection facility.

27. The household appliance of claim 26, embodied as a household cooking appliance

28. The household appliance of claim 26, wherein the component and the optical indication element are arranged on the household appliance such as to be visible from outside of the household appliance.

29. The household appliance of claim 26, wherein the component is arranged movably between at least two positions on the household appliance, wherein in a first position of the least two positions of the component the optical indication element is not visible and in a second position of the least two positions of the component the optical indication element is visible.

30. The household appliance of claim 26, further comprising a further component, which is movably arranged between at least two positions on the household appliance, wherein in a first position of the least two positions of the further component the optical indication element is not visible and in a second position of the least two positions of the further component the optical indication element is visible.

31. A system, comprising: a household appliance comprising a component and an optical indication element arranged in a non-detachable manner on the component and detectable by an optical detection facility; and a storage facility for storing a data record relating to the component, wherein the optical indication element comprises coded information, which comprises a reference to the data record stored in the storage facility, and wherein the storage facility is designed to provide the data record relating to the component as a function of a request comprising the reference.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the household appliance is embodied as a household cooking appliance.

33. A method, comprising: detecting by an optical detection facility an optical indication element which is arranged in a non-detachable manner on a component used with a household appliance and which comprises coded information relating to the component; decoding the coded information contained in the optical indication element as a function of the detected optical indication element; requesting information material as a function of the decoded information; and providing the requested information material to the user.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the household appliance is a household cooking appliance.

Description

[0077] Further advantageous embodiments and aspects of the invention form the subject matter of the subclaims and of the exemplary embodiments of the invention that are described below. The invention is described below in greater detail on the basis of preferred embodiments with reference to the attached figures,

[0078] FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a household appliance with a plurality of components;

[0079] FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of an exemplary embodiment of a component with an optical indication element;

[0080] FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of an exemplary embodiment for a system comprising a component and a storage facility; and

[0081] FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a method for providing information material relating to a component of a household appliance.

[0082] In the figures, elements that are identical or have the same function have been provided with the same reference characters unless otherwise stated.

[0083] FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a household appliance 100 with a plurality of components 101-109. In this example, the household appliance is embodied as a cooking appliance, in particular as an oven. The components 101-109 are by way of example a control element 101, which is arranged on a front of the oven 100, a door 102, which can open and close with a mechanism (not shown) and thus ensures access to a cooking chamber of the oven 100, wherein the door 102 is shown in its closed position in FIG. 1. The component 103 is a handle which is provided for opening and closing the door 102. The component 104 is a window in the door 102, which enables visual control of the item to be cooked in the cooking chamber. The components 105-108 are a side wall, a rear wall, a base and a ceiling of the oven 100. The component 109 is an accessory part which is arranged in the cooking chamber of the oven 100. The accessory part 109 can be removed in particular from the cooking chamber.

[0084] The components 101-109 can have in each case an optical indication element 110 which is connected in a non-detachable manner to the component 101-109. In the example in FIG. 1, the control element 101, the door 102, the handle 103, the window 104, the side wall 105 and a flange (without reference character) of the cooking chamber of the oven 100 have in each case an optical indication element 110. When the door 102 is closed, the optical indication element 110 of the flange is not visible and is therefore shown with a dashed line. The different optical indication elements 110 are designed differently in particular, wherein this can relate both to the manufacture of the respective optical indication element 110 and also to the coded information 112 (see FIG. 2) included therein.

[0085] A respective component 101-109 is determined for use with the household appliance 100. As apparent from the cited examples, this can be components 101-109, which are used during the manufacture of the household appliance 100 and are installed in or on the household appliance 100. The components 101-109 can be connected here in a detachable or non detachable manner with the household appliance 100. Furthermore, the components 101-109 can be replacement parts or accessory parts for the household appliance 100. By way of example, the control element 101 or also the door 102 is available as a replacement part. An example of an accessory part is the baking tray 109.

[0086] The control element 101 of the oven comprises for instance a glass plate, which is arranged on a dark metal sheet. The indication element 110 of the control element 101 can therefore be integrated both in the dark metal sheet, since it remains detectable despite the glass plate arranged in front. The indication element can be pressed and/or stamped, embossed, milled and so on and so forth onto the metal sheet. The indication element 110 can additionally or alternatively be integrated into the glass plate. Possibilities of this are screen printing, laser engraving, selective grinding and so on and so forth. In particular, in this regard the indication element can be embodied as a hologram.

[0087] The indication elements 110 of the further components 101-109 can be embodied according to the material of the respective component 101-109 and the desired or required robustness. Possibilities for manufacturing the optical indication element 110 are for instance a laser engraving method, a stylus, needle or dot-matrix method, an embossing method, an inkjet printing method, a screen printing method and/or a cutting method such as milling, grinding, boring, sawing. Furthermore, the indication element 110 can be manufactured at least partially in a casting method, providing the respective component 101-109 is suited to the manufacture. In this regard, the optical indication element 110 is manufactured by means of a corresponding negative printing in cast form, in particular an injection molded form, for manufacturing the component 101-109.

[0088] The coded information 112, which comprises the optical indication element 110, is in particular a reference to a data record, which is stored in an external storage unit 300 (see FIG. 3), in particular a server which can be reached by way of a data network. The coded information can further comprise an item of registration information, if a corresponding authorization or legitimation is requested for access to the data record.

[0089] The coded information 112 of different indication elements 110 is in particular different. For instance, different indication elements 110 contain different references which refer to different data records.

[0090] FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of an exemplary embodiment of a component 104 with an optical indication element 110. By way of example, the window 104 of the door 102 is shown here. In this example, the optical indication element 110 is permanently attached to the window 104 by means of screen printing. In this example, the optical indication element 110 is embodied as a QR code, such as is shown schematically in the detailed view. The optical indication element 110 can alternatively be embodied as a bar code or as another code. The optical indication element 110 can further comprise different code variants, for instance a bar code and a QR code.

[0091] FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of an exemplary embodiment for a system 400 comprising a component 109 and a storage facility 300. The component 109 is a baking tray for an oven 100 (see FIG. 1) for instance. The baking tray 109 has an embossed optical indication element 110. The optical indication element 110 can be detected by means of an optical detection facility 200, which is embodied here by way of example as a mobile telephone. To this end, the optical indication element 110 is photographed for instance with an integrated camera of the mobile telephone 200 and thus detects an image 110* of the optical indication element 110. It should be noted that in this example the optical detection facility 200 is shown as not belonging to the system 400, in further embodiments however it can likewise be an integral part of the system 400.

[0092] The mobile telephone 200 decodes the coded information contained in the optical indication element 110 on the basis of the detected image 110*. The information comprises a reference, for instance a link, to a data record DATA relating to the baking tray 109 and stored in the storage facility 300. Using this reference, the mobile telephone 200 establishes a communication link to the storage facility 300 and requests the data record DATA herefrom. The data record DATA relating to the baking tray 109 comprises for instance references to the correct use of the baking tray 109, such as a list of compatible household appliances, cleaning instructions and/or cooking recipes, which have a preparation step using the baking tray 109. This counting is only exemplary for the baking tray 109. With other components 101-109, the data record DATA can comprise other information, in particular indications with regard to repairing or cleaning the respective component 101-109. The data record DATA can comprise text, tone, images, such as an exploded drawing and/or videos, such as an animation and suchlike.

[0093] The storage facility 300 is embodied in particular as a server, which can be reached by means of a data network, such as a LAN, the Internet and/or a mobile radio network. By way of the data network, the storage facility 300 receives the request to provide the data record DATA and also transfers the data record DATA to the respective device, for instance to the mobile telephone 200, which outputs the information contained in the data record DATA and relating to the component 101-109 on an integrated display apparatus 205 for instance. In this regard, the request can be transferred by way of a first data network and the data record DATA can be provided and/or transferred by way of a second data network (not shown). Furthermore, the facility which receives the data record DATA may be different to the facility which has made the request or has requested the data record DATA.

[0094] Optionally, a separate display apparatus 210 can be provided, which in this example is embodied as smart glasses. The smart glasses 210 can receive the data record DATA directly from the storage facility 300 or also from the optical detection facility 200. It should be noted that in this example the display apparatus 210 is shown as not belonging to the system 400, in further embodiments however it can likewise be an integral part of the system 400.

[0095] FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a method for providing information material relating to a component 101-109 (see FIGS. 1-3) of a household appliance 100 (see FIG. 1), in particular a household cooking appliance, to a user of the component 101-109 and/or the household appliance 100, wherein the component 101-109 has an optical indication element 110 arranged in a non-detachable manner on the component 101-109, which comprises coded information 112 (see FIG. 2) relating to the component 101-109. In a first step S1, the optical indication element 110 is detected by means of an optical detection facility 200 (see FIG. 3). In a second step S2, the coded information 112 contained in the optical indication element 110 is decoded as a function of the detected optical indication element 110. In a third step S3, the information material is requested as a function of the decoded information and in a fourth step S4 the requested information is provided to the user.

[0096] The method is preferably carried out with a system 400 as explained on the basis of FIG. 3. The component 101-109 and the household appliance 100 is embodied for instance as on the basis of FIGS. 1-3.

[0097] Although the present invention was described on the basis of exemplary embodiments, it can be modified in a variety of ways.

REFERENCE CHARACTERS USED

[0098] 100 Household appliance [0099] 101 Control panel [0100] 102 Door [0101] 103 Door handle [0102] 104 Window [0103] 105 Side wall [0104] 106 Rear wall [0105] 107 Base [0106] 108 Ceiling [0107] 109 Accessory [0108] 110 Optical indication element [0109] 110* Detected image [0110] 112 Coded information [0111] 200 Detection facility [0112] 205 Display apparatus [0113] 210 Display apparatus [0114] 300 External storage facility [0115] 400 System [0116] DATA request, data record [0117] S1 Method step [0118] S2 Method step [0119] S3 Method step [0120] S4 Method step