Importance

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Abstract

A control system for a device, such as an appliance, is designed by storing software representations of pre-existing control panel components (2005) and pre-existing control processes (2010) on a computer, using the computer to develop a control panel for the device by selecting and placing software representations of pre-existing control panel objects in a software representation of the control panel (2015), and using the computer to develop control software for the device by selecting software representations of pre-existing control processes and associating the selected control processes with the selected control panel objects (2020). The control software then is downloaded from the computer to control hardware to be included in the device (2025). Finally, the device is tested using the control software running on the control hardware and under the control of the computer (2030). A system (2100) for designing a control system for a device (2105) includes a computer (2110) having an input unit (2115), an output unit (2120), a processor (2125), a storage device (2130) on which the software representations (2140) are stored, and a display (2135) on which a representation of the control panel is presented. The system also includes control hardware (2145) connected to active components (2150) of the device (2105) and operable to receive data from the output unit (2120) of the computer (2110). The processor (2125) is programmed to generate the control system in the manner discussed above.

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First Claim