Patent Publication Number: US-10767869-B2

Title: User interface for a cooking hob

Description:
The present invention relates to a user interface for a cooking hob. Further, the present invention relates to a cooking hob comprising at least one user interface. 
     A conventional cooking hob comprises a timer display and power level displays. Usually, the timer display is provided for all cooking zones of the cooking hob. However, it is often difficult for the user to recognize, to which of the cooking zones the timer display currently relates. 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a user interface for a cooking hob, wherein the user can easily recognize the correlation between the timer display and the corresponding cooking zone. 
     According to the present invention a user interface for a cooking hob is provided, wherein
         the user interface or at least a portion of said user interface is subdivided into partitions,   each partition corresponds with a cooking zone of the cooking hob,   each partition comprises a digital display, at least one power input device and at least one timer input device,   the digital display includes at least two seven-segment digits, and   the digital display is provided for indicating a current cooking parameter, in particular a current power value, of the corresponding cooking zone and a current timer value relating to said corresponding cooking zone.       

     The indication of the current timer value by the digital display arranged within the partition for the corresponding cooking zone allows a clear correlation between said current timer value and said corresponding cooking zone. A dedicated digital display is provided for each cooking zone, wherein said digital display indicates at least temporarily the current timer value. 
     According to a preferred example, the digital display is provided for an alternating indication of the current cooking parameter or current power value, respectively, of the corresponding cooking zone and the current timer value relating to said corresponding cooking zone. 
     In particular, the digital display indicates standardly the current cooking parameter or current power value, respectively, of the corresponding cooking zone and, if the timer input device has been operated by a user, the current timer value relating to said corresponding cooking zone, wherein preferably the power input device becomes invisible, when the current timer value is indicated. 
     Further, the digital display may indicate the current cooking parameter or current power value, respectively, of the corresponding cooking zone again, if the timer input device has been operated by the user again or automatically after a predetermined time interval. 
     According to another example, the digital display is provided for a simultaneous indication of the current cooking parameter or current power value, respectively, of the corresponding cooking zone and the current timer value relating to said corresponding cooking zone. 
     In this case, the digital display may include at least three seven-segment digits, wherein at least one seven-segment digit is provided for indicating the current cooking parameter or current power value, respectively, of the corresponding cooking zone and at least two seven-segment digits are provided for indicating the current timer value relating to said corresponding cooking zone. 
     Preferably, the power input device and/or the timer input device includes touch-sensitive elements. 
     According to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the power input device is formed as a linear or circular slider. 
     For example, the timer input device includes at least a timer-select button, a rising button and a lowering button, wherein preferably the timer-select button is provided for activating and/or deactivating the indication of the timer value on the digital display, the rising button is provided for increasing the timer value and the lowering button is provided for decreasing the timer value. 
     According to one embodiment, the partitions are arranged side-by-side on the user interface. 
     According to another embodiment, the partitions are arranged as a matrix on the user interface, wherein preferably the partitions are arranged in positions according to the positions of the corresponding cooking zones on the cooking hob. 
     Additionally, the partition may include a cooking zone indicator, wherein preferably said cooking zone indicator is a symbol representing the position of the corresponding cooking zone on the cooking hob. 
     Further, the present invention relates to a cooking hob with at least one user interface, wherein the cooking hob comprises at least one user interface mentioned above. 
     For example, the at least one user interface is an integrated part of the cooking hob. Alternatively, the at least one user interface may be arranged separately from the cooking hob. 
     At last, the user interface may form one or more physical units. Said more physical units of the user interface may be arranged in such a way that the user recognizes the correlation between the partition and the corresponding cooking zone. 
     Novel and inventive features of the present invention are set forth in the appended claims. 
    
    
     
       The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawing, in which 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic top view of a user interface for a cooking hob according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic top view of the user interface for a cooking hob according to second embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
       FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic top view of a user interface  10  for a cooking hob according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The user interface  10  is provided for a cooking hob. 
     The user interface  10  includes four partitions  12 . Each partition  12  corresponds with one cooking zone of the cooking hob. In general, the number of partitions is adapted to the number of cooking zones of the cooking hob. The four partitions  12  of the user interface  10  are arranged side-by-side. In this example, the four partitions  12  of the user interface  10  are identical to each other. Alternatively, the single partitions  12  may be adapted to special properties of the corresponding cooking zones. 
     Each partition  12  comprises a display device  14  and an input device  16 . The display device  14  and the input device  16  of the same partition  12  are arranged in a row. The display device  14  includes a cooking zone indicator  18  and a digital display  20 . The cooking zone indicator  18  is a symbolic representation of the cooking hob and indicates the cooking zone corresponding with the partition  12 . The digital display  20  of each display device  14  includes seven-segment digits. In this example, each digital display  20  includes two seven-segment digits. In general, the digital display  20  includes two or more seven-segment digits. The input device  16  includes a power input device  22  and a timer input device  24 . In this example, the power input device  22  and the timer input device  24  are touch-sensitive elements. 
     The digital display  20  of each display device  14  is provided for indicating a current cooking parameter, in particular a current power level, and a current timer value of the same cooking zone. In this example, the digital display  20  indicates alternately the current cooking parameter or the current power level, respectively, and the current timer value. Alternatively, the current cooking parameter or the current power level, respectively, and the current timer value may be indicated simultaneously by three or more seven-segment digits. 
     The power input device  22  is formed as a touch-sensitive linear slider. The possible power levels of the corresponding coking zone are activatable by touching an analogous position on said touch-sensitive linear slider. When the user activates a certain power level, then said power level is indicated by the digital display  20 . In a standard state, the digital display  20  of each display device  14  indicates the current power level of the corresponding coking zone, while the timer value is not indicated currently. 
     The timer input device  24  is provided for setting the cooking time of the corresponding coking zone. In this example, the timer input device  24  includes a timer-select button, a rising button and a lowering button. The timer-select button is arranged in a central position of the timer input device  24 . The rising button is represented by a plus sign, while the lowering button is represented by a minus sign. When the timer-select button of the timer input device  24  is touched by the user, then the digital display  20  changes from the current power level to the current timer level. Preferably, the digital display  20  indicates the residual cooking time of a cooking process. The rising button and the lowering button are provided for setting a timer value by the user. The timer value may be increased by the rising button. In a similar way, the timer value may be decreased by the lowering button. Preferably, the power input device  24  becomes invisible, when the current timer value is indicated by the digital display  20 . In this situation, the power input device  24  does respond to any operation by the user. 
     The digital display  20  indicates the current timer level, until the user touches the timer-select button again or automatically after a predetermined time interval. Then, the digital display  20  indicates the current power level again. 
     Moreover, the user interface  10  may include a common partition, which is not shown in  FIG. 1 . Said common partition may include an input and/or display device relating commonly to the cooking hob, but not to the single cooking zones. The common partition and the user interface  10  may form either a common physical unit or two or more separate physical units. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic top view of the user interface  10  for a cooking hob according to second embodiment of the present invention. This user interface  10  is also provided for a cooking hob. 
     The user interface  10  includes four partitions  12 , wherein each partition  12  corresponds with one cooking zone of the cooking hob. The four partitions  12  of the user interface  10  are arranged as a two-by-two matrix. The four partitions  12  of the user interface  10  are arranged in a similar way as the corresponding cooking zones on the cooking hob. Thus, the cooking zone indicators  18  of the first embodiment are non-essential for the user interface  10  according to the second embodiment. 
     Each partition  12  comprises the digital display  20 , the power input device  22  and the timer input device  24 . The digital display  20  includes two seven-segment digits. In general, the digital display  20  includes two or more seven-segment digits. The digital display  20  is provided for indicating the current cooking parameter, in particular the current power value, and the current timer value. In this example, the digital display  20  indicates alternately the current power value and the current timer value. Alternatively, the current power level and the current timer value may be indicated simultaneously by three or more seven-segment digits. 
     The power input device  22  is formed as a touch-sensitive circular slider. The possible power levels of the corresponding coking zone are activatable by touching an analogous position on said touch-sensitive circular slider. After the user has activated a certain power level, the current power value is indicated by the digital display  20 . In the standard state, the digital display  20  of each display device  14  indicates the current power value of the corresponding coking zone, while the current timer value is not indicated at the same time. 
     The timer input device  24  is arranged within the power input device  22  formed as touch-sensitive circular slider. The timer input device  24  is provided for setting the cooking time of the corresponding coking zone. Also in this example, the timer input device  24  includes the timer-select button, the rising button and the lowering button. The rising button is represented by the plus sign, while the lowering button is represented by the minus sign. When the timer-select button of the timer input device  24  is touched by the user, then the digital display  20  changes from the current power level to the current timer level. Preferably, the digital display  20  indicates the residual cooking time of the cooking process. The timer value may be increased by the rising button. In a similar way, the timer value may be decreased by the lowering button. 
     The digital display  20  indicates the current timer level, until the user touches the timer-select button again or automatically after a predetermined time interval. Then, the digital display  20  indicates the current power level again. 
     Additionally, the user interface  10  includes a common partition  26 . In this example, said common partition  26  includes an on-off switch  28  for activating and deactivating the cooking hob. In general, the common partition  26  includes input and/or display elements relating commonly to the cooking hob, but not to the single cooking zones. In this example, the user interface  10  with the common partition  26  forms a common physical unit. Alternatively, the user interface  10  and the common partition  26  are formed as two separate physical units. 
     The user interfaces  10  shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  are formed as one physical unit in each case. Alternatively, the user interface  10  may be formed as two or more physical units, wherein each physical unit includes one or more partitions  12 . For example, a first physical unit of the user interface  10  is arranged on a left front corner of the cooking hob and includes the partitions  12  corresponding with the cooking zones on the left hand side of said cooking hob. In a similar way, a second physical unit of the user interface  10  may be arranged on a right front corner of the cooking hob and includes the partitions  12  corresponding with the cooking zones on the right hand side of said cooking hob. 
     The arrangement of the digital display  20 , which indicates at least temporarily the current timer value of the corresponding cooking zone, within the partition  12  for said cooking zone allows a clear correlation between the current timer value and the corresponding cooking zone. For each cooking zone, an own digital display  20 , which indicates at least temporarily the current timer value, is provided. 
     In the embodiments mentioned above, the current cooking parameter is the current power level of the corresponding cooking zone. Further, the current cooking parameter may be a cooking step or broiling step of an automatic cooking function, for example. 
     Although illustrative embodiments of the present invention have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to those precise embodiments, and that various other changes and modifications may be affected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. All such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 
     LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 
       10  user interface 
       12  partition 
       14  display device 
       16  input device 
       18  cooking zone indicator 
       20  digital display 
       22  power input device 
       24  timer input device 
       26  common partition 
       28  on-off switch