Laundry treating appliance with bulky item detection

Abstract

A laundry treating appliance and method for controlling the operation of a laundry treating appliance having a rotatable drum at least partially defining a treating chamber for receiving laundry for treatment in accordance with a treating cycle of operation by determining the presence of a bulky laundry item based on image data of the laundry within the treating chamber.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A laundry treating appliance for treating laundry in accordance with a treating cycle of operation, comprising:
 a treating chamber configured to receive laundry;   at least one imaging device configured to generate image data, the image data representative of laundry in the treating chamber; and   a controller operably coupled to the imaging device and configured to determine a at least one characteristic of the laundry from the image data by processing the image data with computer software stored on the controller to define at least one determined characteristic and control the treating cycle of operation based on the at least one determined characteristic.   
     
     
         2 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1  wherein the controller configured to control the treating cycle of operation includes controlling at least one of a start of cycle condition, an end of cycle condition, a start of cycle step condition, or an end of cycle step condition. 
     
     
         3 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a rotating drum operably coupled to a motor that is operably coupled to the controller and wherein the treating chamber is formed within at least a portion of the rotating drum and wherein the controller configured to control the treating cycle of operation includes controlling at least one of a rotational speed of the rotating drum or a direction of rotation of the rotating drum. 
     
     
         4 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a dispensing system configured to dispense a treating chemistry into the treating chamber and wherein the dispensing system is operably coupled to the controller and wherein the controller configured to control the treating cycle of operation includes controlling at least one of a type of treating chemistry dispensed by the dispensing system and an amount of treating chemistry dispensed by the dispensing system. 
     
     
         5 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a heater operably coupled to the treating chamber and wherein the heater is operably coupled to the controller and wherein the controller configured to control the treating cycle of operation includes controlling operation of the heater to control a temperature in the treating chamber. 
     
     
         6 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 5 , further comprising a fan fluidly coupled to the treating chamber and wherein the fan is operably coupled to the controller and wherein the controller configured to control the treating cycle of operation includes controlling operation of the fan to control an air flow through the treating chamber. 
     
     
         7 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising an agitator located within the treating chamber and the agitator is operably coupled to a motor that is operably coupled to the controller and wherein the controller configured to control the treating cycle of operation includes controlling operation of the motor to control at least one of a rotational speed of the agitator or a direction of rotation of the agitator. 
     
     
         8 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a fan fluidly coupled to the treating chamber and wherein the fan is operably coupled to the controller and wherein the controller configured to control the treating cycle of operation includes controlling operation of the fan to control an air flow through the treating chamber. 
     
     
         9 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1  wherein the imaging device comprises a digital camera. 
     
     
         10 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1  wherein the imaging device captures at least one of a visible light image, an ultraviolet light image, or an infrared image. 
     
     
         11 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1  wherein the at least one characteristic of the laundry includes at least one of size of the laundry, color of the laundry, a bulky item in the laundry, an absence of a bulky item in the laundry, or fabric type of the laundry. 
     
     
         12 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 11  wherein the controller configured to control the treating cycle of operation based on the at least one determined characteristic further comprises the controller configured to set at least one parameter of the treating cycle of operation based on the determined size of the laundry. 
     
     
         13 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 12  wherein the at least one parameter of the treating cycle of operation is one of a rotational speed of a drum, a direction of rotation of a drum, a temperature in the treating chamber, an air flow through the treating chamber, a type of treating chemistry dispensed by a dispenser, an amount of treating chemistry dispensed by a dispenser, a start of cycle condition, an end of cycle condition, a start of cycle step condition, an end of cycle step condition, a rotational speed of an agitator, a direction of rotation of an agitator, or a wash liquid fill level. 
     
     
         14 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 12  wherein the controller configured to control the treating cycle of operation based on the at least one determined characteristic further comprises the controller configured to select the treating cycle of operation based on the determined size of the laundry. 
     
     
         15 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1  wherein the controller configured to determine at least one characteristic of the laundry from the image data comprises determining multiple load characteristics. 
     
     
         16 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 15  wherein the multiple load characteristics include at least two of the group including: size of the laundry, color of the laundry, a bulky item in the laundry, an absence of a bulky item in the laundry, and fabric type of the laundry. 
     
     
         17 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 16  wherein the controller configured to control the treating cycle of operation based on the at least one determined characteristic further comprises the controller configured to at least one of set at least one parameter of the treating cycle of operation or select the treating cycle of operation based on at least one of the multiple load characteristics. 
     
     
         18 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1  wherein the at least one imaging device is configured to generate multiple images of the laundry to define the image data representative of laundry in the treating chamber. 
     
     
         19 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 18  wherein the controller configured to determine at least one characteristic of the laundry from the image data comprises the controller configured to determine at least one characteristic of the laundry from the multiple images by processing image data from the multiple images to define a determined characteristic. 
     
     
         20 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 18  wherein the at least one imaging device comprises multiple imagining devices generating images of a same area of the treating chamber.