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:
Nov. 13, 2007
Filed:
Jul. 02, 2002
Jonathan D. King, Lexington, TN (US);
Jonathan D. King, Lexington, TN (US);
Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor, MI (US);
Abstract
A universal controller is employed in a domestic appliance including a user interface. In order to determine the particular user interface utilized and, correspondingly, the available cycles, features and options of the appliance, a scan of a keypad matrix associated with the user interface is performed to determine the presence and/or absence of shorts used to reflect the existence of permanently closed keys of the matrix. In accordance with the invention, the shorts can be indicated individually, in sequence and/or in combination in order to indicate to the controller which firmware to execute for a particular user interface.