초록 ▼

A home appliance, such as a laundry washing machine or refrigerator including a buzzer designed to sound an alarm or provide an audible indication of a certain condition is disclosed. The appliance may transmit information (such as diagnostic or fault codes and appliance usage information) to a remo

A home appliance, such as a laundry washing machine or refrigerator including a buzzer designed to sound an alarm or provide an audible indication of a certain condition is disclosed. The appliance may transmit information (such as diagnostic or fault codes and appliance usage information) to a remote service center without the need for a physical connection to a telephone line. The buzzer may be controlled to produce audible tones in a predetermined format which can be transmitted from the appliance, through the air and down a telephone line through a telephone handset to the service center. The signal is recorded at the service center and the data extracted. The data is then analyzed to obtain the fault and/or usage information.

대표청구항 ▼

[ We claim:] [1.] An appliance comprising:sound generating means adapted to, upon appropriate energisation, produce audible tones ordinarily provided as a warning and/or verification signal to a user,user input means to allow a user to enter instructions to said appliance,data storage means which st

[ We claim:] [1.] An appliance comprising:sound generating means adapted to, upon appropriate energisation, produce audible tones ordinarily provided as a warning and/or verification signal to a user,user input means to allow a user to enter instructions to said appliance,data storage means which stores information on the operation of said appliance,control means which stores a program which causes the controller to:i) receive said instructions from said user input means,ii) enter a special operating mode in response to said user input, andiii) energize said sound generating means to issue audible tones in a predetermined sequence corresponding to information stored in said data storage means.