METHOD FOR OPERATING A DOMESTIC APPLIANCE, COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT AND ARRANGEMENT COMPRISING A DOMESTIC APPLIANCE AND AN EXTERNAL OPERATING DEVICE

Abstract

In a method for operating a household appliance, a communications connection is established between an external operating facility and the household appliance. An application is executed on the external operating facility and configured so as to receive data from and/or to transmit data to the household appliance via the communications connection. An interaction of a user with the application of the external operating facility is detected and the communications connection between the external operating facility and the household appliance is terminated in dependence upon an expiration of a predetermined time interval since a last detected interaction of the user with the application of the external operating facility.

Claims

1-14. (canceled)

15. A method for operating a household appliance, said method comprising: establishing a communications connection between an external operating facility and the household appliance; executing on the external operating facility an application that is configured so as to receive data from and/or to transmit data to the household appliance via the communications connection; detecting an interaction of a user with the application of the external operating facility; and terminating the communications connection between the external operating facility and the household appliance in dependence upon an expiration of a predetermined time interval since a last detected interaction of the user with the application of the external operating facility.

16. The method of claim 15 for operating a water-conducting household appliance.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein termination of the communications connection between the external operating facility and the household appliance comprises placing the household appliance into an energy saving mode in which an energy consumption of the household appliance is below a predetermined upper limit.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the household appliance is placed into the energy saving mode in dependence upon a command that is transmitted by the application of the external operating facility to the household appliance.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the energy consumption of the household appliance in the energy saving mode is at most 2 Watts.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein detection of the interaction of the user with the application on the external operating facility comprises a detection of eye contact of the user with the application on the external operating facility.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the predetermined time interval comprises at most 15 minutes.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising: waking the household appliance from an energy saving mode so as to establish the communications connection; and placing the household appliance into a data query mode in which exclusively components of the household appliance that are required for the transmission and/or receiving of data by the application on the external operating facility are activated.

23. The method of claim 15, further comprising transmitting a push notification from the household appliance to the application on the external operating facility.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the push notification is periodically transmitted or is transmitted in the case of a change in state of the household appliance.

25. A non-transitory computer program product with commands that execute a method set forth in claim 15 when the commands are executed on a computer.

26. An arrangement, comprising: a household appliance; an external operating facility; a communications connection configured to couple the household appliance and the external operating facility; and an application executable on the external operating facility and configured to receive data from and/or to transmit data to the household appliance via the communications connection, to detect during execution of the application on the external operating facility an interaction of a user with the application, and to terminate the communications connection between the external operating facility and the household appliance in dependence upon an expiration of a predetermined time interval since a last detected interaction of the user with the application on the external operating facility.

27. The arrangement of claim 26, wherein the application or the household appliance is configured to place the household appliance after termination of the communications connection into an energy saving mode, in which an energy consumption of the household appliance is below a predetermined upper limit.

28. The arrangement of claim 26, wherein the external operating facility comprises an image capturing facility for capturing an image of a surrounding area of the external operating facility, said application being configured to detect in dependence upon the captured image an eye contact of the user with the application on the external operating facility and in dependence upon the detected eye contact to detect the interaction of the user with the application on the external operating facility.

29. The arrangement of claim 26, wherein the application on the external operating facility is configured to wake the household appliance from the energy saving mode and to place the household appliance into a data query mode in which exclusively components of the household appliance that are required for transmission and/or receiving of data by the application are activated.

Description

[0054] FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an exemplary method for operating a household appliance;

[0055] FIG. 2 shows an arrangement comprising a household appliance and an external operating facility; and

[0056] FIG. 3 shows a further arrangement comprising a household appliance and an external operating facility.

[0057] In the figures, identical or functionally identical elements are provided with the same reference numerals provided that nothing different is stated.

[0058] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an exemplary method for operating a household appliance 100 (cf. FIG. 2 or 3). The household appliance 100 can be coupled to the external operating facility 200 (cf. FIG. 2 or 3) by means of a communications connection LINK (cf. FIG. 2 or 3).

[0059] In a first step S1, the communications connection LINK is produced between the external operating facility 200 and the household appliance 100. The communications connection LINK is produced for example by means of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, mobile communications or the like, wherein the communications connection can be produced via exchanges, such as a router or a server.

[0060] In a second step S2, an application 202 (cf. FIG. 2 or 3) is executed on the external operating facility 200 that is configured so as to receive data from and/or to transmit data to the household appliance 100 by means of the communications connection LINK.

[0061] It is to be noted that the order of the steps S1 and S2 can also be exchanged, in particular if the application 202 triggers the production of the communications connection LINK.

[0062] In a third step S3, an interaction of a user with the application 202 of the external operating facility 200 is detected. For example, the external operating facility 200 is provided as a mobile telephone and is held by the user in the hand, which is detected by means of an acceleration sensor and which is detected as an interaction of the user with the application 202. It is preferred that an eye contact of the user with the application 202 is detected as the interaction, wherein for this purpose for example a camera is provided.

[0063] In a fourth step S4, the communications connection LINK between the external operating facility 200 and the household appliance 100 is terminated in dependence upon an expiration of a predetermined time interval since a last detected interaction of the user with the application 2020 of the external operating facility 200. It is preferred that the household appliance 100 is simultaneously placed into an energy saving mode if this is possible at the respective point in time.

[0064] FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic perspective view of a household appliance 100, which is provided as a household dishwasher, in an arrangement with an external operating facility 200. The external operating facility 200 in this case is provided as a mobile telephone. The mobile telephone 200 comprises a touch sensitive display apparatus 201 and a camera 203 that is configured so as to capture an image. An application 202 is executed on the mobile telephone 200, and said application is configured so as to monitor and preferably also to control the household dishwasher 100. For this purpose, a communications connection LINK with the communications facility 116 of the household dishwasher 100 is produced by the application 202 by means of an antenna (not illustrated) of the mobile telephone 200. For example, status data and configuration data are transmitted via the communications connection LINK. In the present case in an exemplary manner four items of information are displayed on the display apparatus 201 by the application 202. This illustration is not to be understood as limiting, in other words it is neither necessary for the application 202 to display the illustrated information nor is the application to be limited to this information. On the contrary, the application 202 can be configured so as to display a plurality of different information and/or images by means of the display apparatus 201.

[0065] The household dishwasher 100 comprises a dishwasher cavity 102 that can be closed, in particular in a watertight manner, by a door 103. For this purpose, a sealing facility can be provided between the door 103 and the dishwasher cavity 102. The dishwasher cavity 102 is preferably cuboid. The dishwasher cavity 102 can be arranged in a housing of the household dishwasher 100. The dishwasher cavity 102 and the door 103 can form a dishwasher interior 104 for washing items that are to be washed.

[0066] The door 103 is illustrated in FIG. 2 in its opened position. The door 103 can be closed or opened by pivoting about a pivot axis 105 that is provided on a lower end of the door 103. With the aid of the door 103, it is possible to close or open a loading hatch 106 of the dishwasher cavity 102. The dishwasher cavity 102 has a base 107, a ceiling 108 that lies opposite the base 107, a rear wall 109 that is arranged lying opposite the closed door 103 and two side walls 110, 111 that are arranged lying opposite one another. The base 107, the ceiling 108, the rear wall 109 and the side walls 110, 111 can be produced for example from a stainless steel sheet. Alternatively, for example the base 107 can be produced from a plastic material.

[0067] The household dishwasher 100 moreover has at least one receptacle 112 to 114 for items to be washed. It is preferred that multiple, for example three, receptacles 112 to 114 for items to be washed can be provided, wherein the receptacle 112 for items to be washed can be a lower receptable for items to be washed or a lower basket, the receptacle 113 for items to be washed can be an upper receptacle for items to be washed or an upper basket and the receptacle 114 for items to be washed can be a cutlery drawer. As FIG. 2 furthermore illustrates, the receptacles 112 to 114 for items to be washed are arranged one above the other in the dishwasher cavity 102. Each receptacle 112 to 114 for items to be washed can be selectively shifted into the dishwasher cavity 102 or out of said dishwasher cavity. In particular, each receptacle 112 to 114 for items to be washed can be slid in or pushed into the dishwasher cavity 102 in a direction of insertion E and can be pulled out or slid out of the dishwasher cavity 102 opposite the direction of insertion E in a direction of extraction A.

[0068] The household dishwasher 100 moreover has a control apparatus 115 that is configured so as to implement a washing program from a plurality of washing programs. It is possible by means of the communications facility 116 for a user to exchange data with the control apparatus 115. For this purpose, it is preferred that the application 202 is used, wherein the data is transmitted via the communications connection LINK. The application 202 of the mobile telephone 200 is configured so as to terminate the communications connection LINK if a predetermined time interval since the last detected interaction of the user has expired. If the household dishwasher 100 at the point in time is not currently fulfilling another function, for example a washing program, then the household dishwasher 100 is preferably simultaneously placed into an energy saving mode.

[0069] For example, the user monitors the current consumption values of the household dishwasher 100 by means of the application 202. For this purpose, the user places the mobile telephone 200 in front of themselves on a table. At the same time they read the newspaper, wherein they regularly look at the development of the consumption values that are displayed in the application 202. The camera 203 of the mobile telephone 202 detects the viewing direction of the user and identifies therefore if the user is looking at the display apparatus 201 of the mobile telephone 200. This is detected as an interaction of the user with the application 202. The communications connection LINK consequently remains active and the household dishwasher 100 is not placed into the energy saving mode. If the user leaves the mobile telephone 200 on the table after some time for example and performs another activity without further monitoring the consumption values, but the application 202 is furthermore executed, then the camera 203 will not determine an eye contact of the user with the application 202. If the predetermined time interval, which in this case is 15 minutes, has expired without an interaction of the user with the application 202 being detected, the application 202 terminates the communications connection LINK and simultaneously transmits a command to the household dishwasher 100 to transfer if possible into the energy saving mode.

[0070] FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an arrangement of a household appliance 100, which in this case is provided as a fridge, and an external operating facility 200, which in this case is provided as a mobile telephone. The user of the mobile telephone 200 holds this mobile telephone in their hand and is for example currently shopping. In order to learn what is missing in the fridge 100, the user starts an application 202 (cf. FIG. 2) on the mobile telephone 200 that produces a communications connection LINK to the fridge 100 via the internet WWW. For this purpose, the fridge 100 is placed for example from a resting mode into a data transmitting mode. The resting mode in the case of the fridge 100 is for example an operating mode in which it is ensured that an interior temperature in the fridge 100 is within a predetermined interval, such as for example between 2° C.-6° C. In this case, in particular a cooling facility (not illustrated) can be at least temporarily activated. In the data transmitting mode, the fridge 100 can transmit current state data to the application 202, in the present case for example an image of the fridge interior, which was captured after the last closing of a fridge door. Other components of the fridge 100 however remain inactive, which saves energy (the cooling facility can be exempted from this in order to ensure a constant fridge interior temperature). After the application 202 has received the image, the application displays the image on the display apparatus 201. After the user has taken the image into consideration, the user can for example return to shopping. If the user terminates the application 202 the communications connection LINK to the fridge 100 is also terminated and the fridge 100 is again placed in the rest mode. If the user forgets to terminate the application 202 but no longer interacts with this application, then after the expiration of the predetermined time interval the communications connection LINK to the fridge 100 is automatically terminated and the fridge 100 is again placed into the rest mode. It is thereby ensured that the fridge 100 does not consume energy unnecessarily.

[0071] Although the present invention has been described with the aid of exemplary embodiments, the invention can be modified in diverse ways.

REFERENCE CHARACTERS THAT ARE USED

[0072] 100 Household appliance [0073] 102 Dishwasher cavity [0074] 103 Door [0075] 104 Dishwasher interior [0076] 105 Pivot axis [0077] 106 Loading hatch [0078] 107 Base [0079] 108 Ceiling [0080] 109 Rear wall [0081] 110 Side wall [0082] 111 Side wall [0083] 112 Receptacle for items to be washed [0084] 113 Receptacle for items to be washed [0085] 114 Receptacle for items to be washed [0086] 115 Control apparatus [0087] 116 Communications facility [0088] 200 External operating facility [0089] 201 Display apparatus [0090] 202 Application [0091] 203 Camera [0092] A Direction of extraction [0093] E Direction of insertion [0094] LINK Communications connection [0095] S1 Method step [0096] S2 Method step [0097] S3 Method step [0098] S4 Method step [0099] WWW Internet