The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 20, 1994
Filed:
Dec. 26, 1991
Jesse S Head, Louisville, KY (US);
General Electric Company, Louisville, KY (US);
Abstract
A microprocesser-based controller for an appliance such as a microwave oven is able to control a number of different models having different cooking characteristics. The user-operable keypanel is unique to each model, and a scanned matrix keyboard on the keypanel is encoded in a manner consistent with conventional scanned matrix keyboard techniques to identify to the controller the particular model. A scanned matrix keyboard includes a set of drive lines and a set of sense lines intersecting the drive lines. In one embodiment disclosed herein, one or more sense lines are added that are uniquely connected to the existing drive lines depending on the particular model being encoded. The added sense lines are read to determine the model. In another embodiment, one or more drive lines are added, similarly connected to existing sense lines depending on the particular model being encoded.