Patent ID: 7181291

Claim:
A method for controlling a household appliance including at least one device for receiving physical goods and being operable to change the condition of the goods within the household appliance, which comprises: connecting the household appliance to a local area network, the household appliance having an internal control unit for controlling the household appliance; sending a message from the household appliance to the local area network to request control information concerning the change of condition to be performed on the goods, the message containing a basic information item including a new request from a user for a control program, the control program being at least one of a new control program, an improved control program, and an extended control program, the control information having at least one of low-level control commands, subprograms, and programs; receiving, with the household appliance, the control information from the local area network following a request by the user; and controlling the household appliance by at least one of evaluating and converting the control information at a location of the household appliance.