Patent ID: 8003046

Claim:
A method for operating a cleaning device or a cleaning system, the cleaning device being set up for carrying out a process of cleaning an article with a germicidal action, the method comprising: receiving information on a target germ with which the article could be contaminated; selecting at least one process parameter of the cleaning process according to the identified target germ such that the target germ is killed with a high degree of probability during the cleaning process; and performing the cleaning process based, at least in part, on the selected process parameter, wherein a temperature with which the article is acted upon and a time of action in which the article is acted upon with the temperature is measured during the cleaning process, and wherein the information on the target germ is assigned an experimental value of a target thermal equivalent, corresponding to the target germ, at which the target germ is killed with a high degree of probability, wherein said selecting selects the at least one process parameter such that the cleaning process is carried out such that the article is acted upon at least with the target thermal equivalent.