Home appliance and method of operating a home appliance

Abstract

A home appliance having a treating chamber for receiving an article for treatment according to an automatic cycle of operation, a treating chamber having an open face, a door for selectively closing the open face of the treating chamber, a sensor configured to sense a user at a predetermined location with respect to the home appliance and provide a signal based thereon, an actuator operably coupled with the door and a method for operating a home appliance.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of operating a home appliance having a treating chamber for receiving an article for treatment according to an automatic cycle of operation stored in memory of a programmable controller operably controlling one or more actuators to implement the cycle of operation and where the treating chamber has an open face selectively closeable by a door, the method comprising:
 sense, by a sensor, a presence of a user at a predetermined location with respect to the home appliance; and   automatically initiate movement of the door from a closed position to an opened position based on the sensing.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the sensing the user comprises sensing a body part of the user at the predetermined location. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the sensing a presence of the user at the predetermined location comprises sensing a gesture made by the user at the predetermined location. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the sensing the gesture comprises sensing a movement of the user between two or more predetermined locations on a housing of the home appliance. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the home appliance comprises a clothes washer, clothes dryer, refrigerator, dishwasher, or oven. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the sensing the presence of the user at the predetermined location comprises sensing a touch made by the user on the home appliance. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the sensing the touch comprises sensing the touch on a predetermined portion of the home appliance. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the sensing the presence of the user comprises sensing the presence of an inanimate object indicative of a presence of the user. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the sensing the presence of the inanimate object comprises sensing an IR chip in a laundry basket or dish. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving an input signal from the user and disabling the automatic initiating of the movement based thereon. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the initiating movement of the door comprises partially moving the door to the opened position. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the initiating movement of the door comprises fully moving the door to the opened position. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the initiating movement of the door from the closed position to the opened position comprises pivoting the door vertically, pivoting the door horizontally, or vertically sliding the door. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the predetermined location is within a distance range from the home appliance. 
     
     
         15 . A home appliance for treating an article according to an automatic cycle of operation, comprising:
 a treating chamber having an open face;   a door for selectively closing the open face of the treating chamber;   a sensor configured to sense a user at a predetermined location with respect to the home appliance and provide a signal based thereon;   an actuator operably coupled with the door to move the door from a closed position of the door to an opened position of the door; and   a controller for controlling operation of the home appliance and wherein the controller receives the sensor signal and actuates the actuator based thereon.   
     
     
         16 . The home appliance of  claim 15  wherein the actuator is a spring configured to move the door to an opened position including that of a partially opened position. 
     
     
         17 . The home appliance of  claim 15  wherein the actuator is a motor. 
     
     
         18 . The home appliance of  claim 17  wherein the motor is configured to move the door to an opened position where the door is fully open. 
     
     
         19 . The home appliance of  claim 17  wherein the motor is configured to move the door from the opened position to the closed position. 
     
     
         20 . The home appliance of  claim 19 , further comprising a button operably coupled with the controller that when activated by a user initiates the automatic closing of the door by the motor.