Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.

Haitian Hu

Hairong Li

John Ouseph

James Quentin Pollett

Adam Christopher Hofmann

Steven Keith Root

Kyran Patricia Hoff

John Michael Todd

A method of operating a domestic appliance including a water supply inlet, an ice maker, and a water storage tank fluidly connected with each of the water supply inlet and the ice maker includes receiving information from one or more remote sources relating to a quality of water from a municipal water supply to the water supply inlet; determining a health advisory has been issued regarding a geographical location of the domestic appliance in response to receiving the information; and initiating at least one responsive action within the domestic appliance in response to determining that the health advisory has been issued, the at least one responsive action including adjusting a primary supply source of water to the ice maker from the water supply inlet to the water storage tank.

Methods for operating domestic appliances including municipal water supplies

A washing machine appliance includes a wash tub positioned within a cabinet, a water inlet fluidly coupled to a water supply for receiving wash fluid, a wireless communication module, and a controller operably coupled to the wireless communication module. The controller is configured to obtain an event notification of a water discoloration event associated with the water supply and implement a responsive action in response to obtaining the event notification of the water discoloration event, such as stopping an operating cycle and providing the user with an issue rectification guide for mitigating effects of the water discoloration event.

Method for detecting and addressing discolored water issues in a washing machine appliance

A washing machine appliance includes a wash tub positioned within a cabinet, a wash basket rotatably mounted within the wash tub, a blower operably coupled to the wash basket, a motor assembly mechanically coupled to the wash basket for rotating the wash basket, and a controller. The blower is configured to introduce air into the wash basket. The controller is configured to initiate a wash cycle for cleaning the load of clothes, determine that air dry conditions are satisfied, and perform an air dry operation after completion of the wash cycle in response to determining that the air dry conditions are satisfied. The air dry operation may include operating the blower to circulate the air within the wash basket and operating the motor assembly to tumble the load of clothes. A method of operating a washing machine appliance is also provided.

Automatic wash and dry process in a washing machine appliance

A method of using a remote server to operate a first appliance of a plurality of appliances connected to an external network includes receiving one or more images from a second appliance of the plurality of appliances, analyzing the one or more images to detect a hand gesture, identifying a responsive action associated with the hand gesture, and instructing the first appliance to implement the responsive action.

Method for operating an appliance using hand gestures

A method may include detecting one or more insertion actions for a loading one or more articles into the dishwashing appliance and directing, subsequent to the detected insertion actions, a dishwasher cycle within the dishwashing appliance. The method may also include detecting, subsequent to the dishwasher cycle, one or more removal actions for unloading the one or more articles from the dishwashing appliance. The method may further include evaluating the detected removal actions against the detected insertion actions and directing a user interface of the dishwashing appliance based on the evaluation.

Methods of monitoring the load state of a dishwashing appliance

A method of operating a washing machine appliance. The washing machine appliance is configured for communication with an external device. The method includes monitoring, from the external device, a new wash cycle activation. The method also includes measuring a load weight of the washing machine appliance and identifying a time of day of the new wash cycle activation. The method further includes comparing a cycle history of the washing machine appliance to the new wash cycle activation and suggesting an operation mode of the washing machine appliance in response to the load weight, the time of day, and the cycle history.

Methods for suggesting operation of a washing machine appliance

A method of operating a household appliance includes installing a multi-source mechanical component in the household appliance. The method also includes storing an identity of the multi-source mechanical component in a local memory of the household appliance. The method further includes connecting the household appliance to a remote computing device. The method also includes storing the identity of the multi-source mechanical component in the remote computing device.

Household appliances component tracking systems and methods

A method of operating a first domestic appliance associated with a user account and a second domestic appliance associated with the user account may include receiving a parameter signal including a parameter value from the first domestic appliance. The method may also identifying the parameter value as corresponding to a sharable parameter. The method further include recording the parameter value within a sharable field set of a pre-constructed table, after which the parameter value may be shared or analyzed further.

Methods of coordinating operations of multiple domestic appliances

An item-management system is provided having a household appliance, a camera assembly, and a controller. The household appliance may include a cabinet. The camera assembly may be directed at the cabinet to capture an image of the cabinet. The controller may be in operative communication with the camera assembly. The controller may have access to an item list of one or more stored items. The controller may be configured to direct an item-management operation. The item-management operation may include receiving the image from the camera assembly, identifying, automatically, based on the received image, a stored item from the item list, determining, based on identifying the stored item, an unsuitable status of the identified stored item to indicate the identified stored item is inappropriate for the household appliance, and directing, based on determining the unsuitable status, a responsive action at the household appliance.

Item management system for connected appliances

A refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet defining a food storage chamber with a door movably coupled to the cabinet whereby the door is movable between a closed position and an open position. A method of operating the refrigerator appliance may include, or the refrigerator appliance may be operable for, receiving an intentional door open input and disabling a door alarm of the refrigerator appliance in response to the intentional door open input. Such methods or operations may further include automatically re-enabling the door alarm after disabling the door alarm.

Refrigerator appliance with smart door alarm

A method of coordinating engagement with a laundry appliance may include receiving one or more table conditions from an owner account for a notification table. The method may also include receiving a communication request from a remote user device of a guest user and recording a guest account to the notification table based on the received communication request. The method may still further include receiving a status signal from the laundry appliance and transmitting a notice signal to the guest account based on the status signal and the one or more table conditions.

Methods of coordinating engagement with a laundry appliance

A system and method for user interface development and appliance data transmission is provided. The method includes generating, at a controller at an appliance, a core control module configured to perform operations corresponding to a first operating function at the appliance; obtaining, at a network computing device, a user input corresponding to a second operating function; building, at the network computing device, a user-specific control module comprising the second operating function; transmitting, to the controller at the appliance, the user-specific control module; and combining the user-specific control module to the core control module.

Network based appliance controller system and method

Household appliances and methods of testing are provided. The household appliance includes a mechanical component and a controller in operative communication with the mechanical component. The controller has a partitioned memory. The partitioned memory includes a testing partition and a control partition. The controller is configured for and/or the method includes authorizing a user of the household appliance and verifying a personality of the a household appliance. Testing software is loaded into the testing partition of the memory of the controller. The testing software is executed from the testing partition, whereby the mechanical component of the household appliance is operated. The method also includes and/or the controller is also configured for exiting remote testing mode after executing the testing software and deleting the testing software from the partitioned memory when exiting the remote testing mode.

Secure remote testing of household appliances

A system and method for data transmission and performance improvement for an appliance is provided. The system includes an appliance including a controller operably connected to a network computing device. The controller is configured to transmit a packet to a network computing device. The packet includes genealogical data for the appliance encoded in a positional numeral system. The network computing device is configured to receive the packet and decode the genealogical data for the appliance. Decoding includes translating the positional numeral system to an appliance configuration.

System and method for data transmission for appliance

A method of operating an oven appliance, where the oven appliance includes a camera assembly operable to obtain an image, is provided. The method includes downloading a protected user detection software from a remote computing device to the oven appliance. The method also includes initiating a cooking operation of the oven appliance. The method further includes detecting, with the camera assembly, a user at the oven appliance after initiating the cooking operation and using the protected user detection software to determine that the detected user is a protected user.

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Louisville, KY, United States of America

Haitian Hu