The present invention relates to a control method for a laundry treatment apparatus, and a related laundry treatment apparatus implementing such control method. In particular, the invention relates to a method for pausing a laundry treatment procedure.

A laundry treatment apparatus such as a washing machine and a drying machine generally may pause a procedure during a running process, to add a piece of laundry to a laundry treatment drum or perform another operation. After the action of adding laundry or else is completed, a user presses a pause button again to make a laundry treatment procedure continue to run. At this time, because laundry needing to be washed or dried increases, if any parameter required for procedure control and a related control condition is kept unchanged, and the laundry treatment procedure continues to be executed from where it is paused, many defects might be generated, for example, for a washing procedure, because the newly added piece of laundry is washed for a part of the washing procedure only, or even, the washing procedure may already be close to the end of a main washing stage or may already enter a rinsing stage, the laundry is not washed sufficiently, and even the laundry is soaked with insufficient liquid detergent, so that a desirable washing effect cannot be obtained. Moreover, materials of the newly added laundry may belong to fabric sensitive to a temperature or washing strength, so that the laundry may be damaged by directly following, without detection, an original procedure for washing. For a drying procedure, because the laundry needing to be dried is newly added, if the control condition is unchanged, for example, a drying time set by an original procedure is unchanged, the laundry cannot be dried sufficiently; and moreover, materials of the newly added laundry may belong to fabric sensitive to a temperature, so that the laundry may be damaged by directly following, without detection, the original procedure for drying.

An objective of the present invention is to provide an improved control method for a laundry treatment apparatus having a pause function, to overcome the foregoing problems existing in the prior art. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a laundry treatment apparatus, which can overcome the foregoing problems existing in the prior art. For the foregoing objectives, the technical solutions used by the present invention are: in a control method for a laundry treatment apparatus having a pause function, during a process in which a laundry treatment procedure is paused, if a control apparatus detects that a pause button is triggered again, the laundry treatment procedure detects again a parameter required for procedure control, recalculates a control condition, and controls the laundry treatment procedure according to the parameter required for procedure control that is detected again and the recalculated control condition.

The laundry treatment apparatus may be a washing machine, a drying machine, or a washing and drying machine having both a washing function and a drying function.

By using the foregoing control method, the laundry treatment procedure may make a corresponding adjustment after the laundry treatment procedure is paused and is added with laundry needing to be treated, to adapt to the newly added laundry, so that laundry in a drum may be washed or dried better.

As a further improvement of the present invention, during the process in which the laundry treatment procedure is paused, if the control apparatus detects that the pause button is triggered again, the laundry treatment procedure starts running from the begin- ning.

The laundry treatment procedure may include a washing procedure.

The control condition may include a condition to be satisfied for ending the laundry treatment procedure.

The laundry treatment procedure may include a drying procedure.

As a further improvement of the present invention, during the process in which the laundry treatment procedure is paused, if the control apparatus detects that the pause button is triggered again, the control apparatus determines which procedure is the paused laundry treatment procedure, and if the paused laundry treatment procedure is a drying procedure, the laundry treatment procedure detects again the parameter required for procedure control, recalculates the control condition, and controls, according to the parame- ter required for procedure control that is detected again and the recalculated control condition, the laundry treatment procedure to continue to run; or if the paused laundry treatment procedure is a washing procedure, the laundry treatment procedure starts running from the beginning.

For the foregoing objectives, the present invention provides a laundry treatment apparatus having a pause function, including a control apparatus, where the control apparatus is set to control the running of the laundry treatment apparatus according to the foregoing control method.

The following further describes preferred examples of the present invention with reference to the Figures of the accompanying drawing. In that drawing:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a laundry treatment apparatus; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a pause process.

As shown in FIG. 1, a laundry treatment apparatus 1 has a laundry treatment drum 3 located within a case body 2. The case body 2 includes a front panel 21. A rotatable door 4 is installed on the front panel 21. After the door 4 is opened, the laundry treatment drum 3 may be in communication with the outside, so that a user puts in or takes out laundry. A control panel 5 is further disposed on the case body 2, and there is a display screen 6 and a "start/pause" button 7 on the display panel 5. In some other specific implementation manners, the "start/pause" button may be designed into a touchable area on the control panel 21, or be designed in a manner that the "start/pause" button is displayed in the display screen 6 and may be controlled by being touched with a finger. A control apparatus 10 controlling the running of electrical modules in the laundry treatment apparatus 1 is installed with the control panel 5. As shown in FIG. 2, in a process in which the laundry treatment procedure is running, if the user wants to add laundry needing to be washed or dried, the "start/pause" button is pressed. The control apparatus 10 detects whether a security factor of opening the door, which is in the laundry treatment drum 3, satisfies a security condition for opening the door. If a drying procedure is currently running, the security factor of opening the door, which needs to be detected, is an internal temperature of the drum. If a washing procedure is currently running, the security factor of opening the door, which needs to be detected, includes the internal temperature of the drum, a water level, and a drum speed. If the security factor of opening the door, in the laundry treatment drum 3 satisfies the security condition for opening the door, the control apparatus 10 pauses the laundry treatment procedure that is currently running, and releases an electronic control door lock. At this time, the user may open the door 4 to add the laundry needing to be dried.

In another aspect, if it is detected that the security factor of opening the door, in the laundry treatment drum 3 does not satisfy the security condition for opening the door, the control apparatus 10 keeps the normal running of the laundry treatment procedure, and does not adjust the procedure. As a preferred solution, at this time, a buzzer device makes a buzz, or an indicator disposed on the control panel 5 flashes, or prompt text or pattern information is displayed on the display screen 6, to prompt the user of an insecure state of opening the door, or prompt the user to confirm the pause again in another manner. For example, in this embodiment, the user holds the "start/pause" button for 3 seconds, so that the control apparatus 10 pauses the current procedure, and runs an attached process to make the security factor of opening the door, in the laundry treatment drum 3 satisfy the security condition for opening the door, and the electronic control door lock is released subsequently.

For the pause of the washing procedure, the attached process is generally a cooling process. The cooling process includes closing an air heating apparatus, and keeping the running of a fan and the heat exchange apparatus. When it is detected that the internal temperature of the drum reaches or is lower than a security threshold, the cooling process is ended, the electronic control door lock is released, that is, the door is unlocked.

The pause of the washing procedure corresponds to an excessively high internal temperature of the drum, an excessively high water level, or an excessively fast drum speed, and the attached process corresponds to the cooling process reducing the internal temperature of the drum, where a drain valve is turned on to drain off some washing water, or a motor is braked to reduce or stop rotation of the drum. When the internal temperature of the drum, the water level, and the drum speed satisfy the security condition for opening the door, the foregoing process is ended to release the electronic control door lock.

After the user adds laundry to the laundry treatment drum 3, the user closes the door 4, and presses the "start/pause" button again. The laundry treatment procedure starts running from the beginning, which includes detecting again a parameter required for procedure control, recalculating a control condition, and controlling the laundry treatment procedure according to the parameter required for procedure control that is detected again and the recalculated control condition. The control condition includes a condition to be satisfied for ending the laundry treatment procedure. The parameter required for procedure control includes, but is not limited to laundry weight, a water level, a water temperature, a laundry material, and the like. The control condition includes, but is not limited to a procedure running time, a water temperature, a water level, a quantity of detergent, air humidity, and the like. In this way, the laundry added in the middle may also be washed and/or dried sufficiently, thereby ensuring reliability of a laundry treatment result.

More preferably, during a process in which the laundry treatment procedure is paused, if the control apparatus 10 detects that the "start/pause" button is triggered again, the control apparatus 10 first determines which procedure is the paused laundry treatment procedure. If the paused laundry treatment procedure is the drying procedure, the laundry treatment procedure detects again the parameter required for procedure control, recalculates the control condition, and controls, according to the parameter required for procedure control that is detected again and the recalculated control condition, the laundry treatment procedure to continue to run; or if the paused laundry treatment procedure is a washing procedure, the laundry treatment procedure starts running from the beginning.

Various specific implementation manners described in the foregoing and shown in the accompanying drawings are only used for illustrating the present invention, and are not considered as the entirety of the present invention. Within the scope of the basic tech- nical thought of the present invention, any type of modifications for the present invention made by persons of ordinarily skills in the related technical field shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention. LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

1 Laundry treatment apparatus

2 Case body

3 Laundry treatment drum

4 Door

5 Control panel

6 Display screen

7 Start/pause button

10 Control apparatus

21 Front panel