PANEL

The present invention relates to a laundry processing apparatus having a control panel, where the control panel is disposed with a program selecting knob, and the program selecting knob has several rotation positions respectively corresponding to corresponding laundry processing programs. The present invention particularly relates to a control panel for selecting many laundry processing programs. A laundry processing apparatus such as a washing machine, a clothes dryer, a washing-drying integral machine generally has a control panel to select an operation program of an apparatus and display a situation of an operation process. The control panel generally has a program selecting knob, several rotation positions, and each rotation position is respectively corresponding to a laundry processing program. Because of the limitation in structure, although the program selecting knob may implement rotation at any angle, its corresponding operable rotation position is limited, and the number of set laundry processing programs is also limited by the rotation positions, which are adverse to further detailing of the laundry processing programs, and leave a small number of program choices for a user.

One objective of the present invention is to expand the number of selectable laundry processing programs for a laundry processing apparatus.

For the above objective, a technical solution adopted in the present invention is a laundry processing apparatus as defined in the independent claim attached. Preferred embodiments of the invention are subjects of dependent claims as attached, or the subsequent disclosure, or the drawing attached.

Accordingly, there is provided a laundry processing apparatus having a control panel, where the control panel is disposed with a program selecting knob, the program selecting knob has several rotation positions respectively corresponding to corresponding laundry processing programs, and at least one of the several rotation positions of the program selecting knob is corresponding to more than two laundry processing programs. The control panel preferably further includes an auxiliary selecting device for performing selection in the more than two laundry processing programs corresponding to the at least one of the several rotation positions of the program selecting knob.

Preferably, the auxiliary selecting device is a program selecting knob implementing the selection through pressing.

Preferably, the laundry processing programs respectively have a corresponding indicator, for indicating whether the corresponding program is selected or not.

Preferably, the auxiliary selecting device includes a display device and a selecting key. The beneficial effect of the present invention lies particularly in that compared with the prior art, the number of selectable laundry processing programs for a laundry processing apparatus is expanded, so as to perform more diversified processing on laundry and provide more choices for a user, which is be more user friendly. The following disclosure further describes preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawing. In the drawing,

FIG. 1 is a partial schematic diagram of a control panel of a laundry processing apparatus according to a first embodiment; and

FIG. 2 is a partial schematic diagram of a control panel of a laundry processing apparatus according to a second embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1 , a control panel 1 of a laundry processing apparatus is disposed with a program selecting knob 2 for a user to select a needed laundry processing program, a display 3 for displaying various static or dynamic information of the laundry processing apparatus, and a group of keys 4 for cooperation with the display 3, so that a user may perform auxiliary settings or control on the laundry processing apparatus. The program selecting knob 2 has 12 rotation positions 21 , and apart from a "power off" position 22, there are other 11 program positions 23. Each program position 23 is led out by a line, and the names of corresponding programs 24a and 24b are labeled at the end of the line. The positions corresponding to the program names 24a and 24b are dis- posed with LED indicators 25a and 25b, for indicating whether the corresponding program is selected or not. Each program position 23 is corresponding to two laundry processing programs 24a and 24b. When selecting a needed program through the program selecting knob 2, the user first rotates the program selecting knob 2, making an indicating arrow 26 of the program selecting knob 2 point to the program position 23 corresponding to the needed program. At this time, the first laundry processing program 24a of the program position 23 is selected first, and its corresponding LED indicator 25a is turned on. If the user hopes to select the second laundry processing program 24b, the user presses the program selecting knob 2. At this time, the LED indicator 25b corresponding to the second laundry processing program 24b is turned on, the LED indicator 25a corresponding to the first laundry processing program 24a is turned off, and the second laundry processing program 24b is selected. If at this time, the user again hopes to reselect the first laundry processing program 24a, the user may press the program selecting knob 2 hereon, so as to switch from the first laundry processing program 24a to the second laundry processing program 24b. Similarly, if at this time, the user hopes to select a program on another pro- gram position, the user rotates the program selecting knob 2 to the program position, and switches to the needed program by pressing the program selecting knob 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, a control panel 10 of a laundry processing apparatus is disposed with a program selecting knob 20 for a user to select a needed laundry processing pro- gram, a display 30 for displaying various static or dynamic information of the laundry processing apparatus, and a group of keys 40 in cooperation with the display 30, so that a user performs auxiliary settings or control on the laundry processing apparatus.

The program selecting knob 20 has 14 rotation positions 201 , and apart from a "power off' position 202, there are other 13 program positions 203. Each program position 203 is led out by a line, and the names of corresponding programs 204 are labeled at the end of the lines. A program position 203 is corresponding with a group of professional washing programs 205 for further selection, whose name are displayed as professional washing 206. When a user rotates the program selecting knob 20 to the program position of the professional washing 206, the display 30 displays a group of professional washing programs 205 for further selection. The user may operate a professional washing key 41 to select a needed program in the group of professional washing programs 205.