	US 7,571,553 B2
	Control user interface for laundry appliances
Steven John Joerger, Ames, Iowa (US); Michael Paul Ricklefs, Webster City, Iowa (US); and Sean Florian Myers, Ames, Iowa (US)
Assigned to Electrolux Home Products, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio (US)
Filed on Dec. 01, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/566,095.
Prior Publication US 2008/0127999 A1, Jun. 05, 2008
Int. Cl. F26B 7/00 (2006.01)

U.S. Cl. 34—378 [381/526; 381/528; 381/534; 381/535; 381/549; 381/89; 381/595; 34/381; 34/600]

18 Claims

11. A method for controlling the operation of laundry appliance, comprising:

detecting a first manipulation of a control element on the laundry appliance;

identifying a current primary operating mode of the laundry appliance, wherein the laundry appliance has a plurality of primary operating modes, and wherein at least one of the primary operating modes has an associated plurality of secondary operating modes;

determining whether the current primary operating mode has a plurality of associated secondary operating modes;

if the current primary operating mode does not have a plurality of associated secondary operating modes, changing the primary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a next primary operating mode in a predetermined sequence of primary operating modes; and

if the current primary operating mode does have a plurality of associated secondary operating modes:

identifying a current secondary operating mode;

determining whether the current secondary operating mode is a last in a predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes associated with the current primary operating mode;

if the current secondary operating mode is the last in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes changing the primary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a new primary operating mode; and

if the current secondary operating mode is not the last in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes, retaining the same current primary operating mode and changing the secondary operating mode of the laundry appliance to a next secondary operating mode in the predetermined sequence of secondary operating modes.