Electronic timer for a multiple function appliance

Claim 2

An electronic timer, comprising: a source of alternating reference signal at a reference frequency; a divider circuit connected with said source for deriving therefrom reference signals at a submultiple of said reference frequency; a counter connected with said divider to establish a plurality of different preselected timing periods; and means operative selectively on termination of a first preselected one of said different timing periods or generation of a signal externally of the timer for resetting said counter and initiating a subsequent preselected timing period in synchronization with said submultiple frequency reference signals.

Claim 3

The timer of claim 1 in which said counter has plural flip-flops each having input means, and said resetting means includes means for applying reset signals to said input means.

Claim 4

The timer of claim 2 including means for deriving a reset signal of one polarity and applying said signal to the input means of said flip-flops.

Claim 5

An electronic timer, comprising: a source of alternating reference signal at a reference frequency; a divider circuit connected with said source for deriving therefrom reference signals at a submultiple of said reference frequency; a counter connected with said divider to establish a plurality of timing periods; and means operative on termination of a timing period for resetting said couNter, said means for generating the reset signal comprising a pair of serially connected, two input NAND gates, the first having one input connected with a source of signal representing termination of the timing period and its output connected with one input of the second gate, the other input of the second gate being connected with said source of reference signal and the output of said second gate being connected to provide the second input of the first gate and to reset said counter circuits.

Claim 6

An electronic timer, comprising: a source of alternating reference signal at a reference frequency; a divider circuit connected with said source for deriving therefrom reference signals at a submultiple of said reference frequency; a counter connected with said divider to establish a plurality of timing periods; and means operative on termination of a timing period for resetting said couNter, said means for generating the reset signal comprising a pair of serially connected, two input NAND gates, the first having one input connected with a source of signal representing termination of the timing period and its output connected with one input of the second gate, the other input of the second gate being connected with said source of reference signal and the output of said second gate being connected to provide the second input of the first gate and to reset said counter circuits.

Claim 7

An electronic timer for use with a multiple function appliance, comprising: a source of alternating reference signal at a reference frequency; a divider circuit connected with said source for deriving therefrom reference signals at a submultiple of said reference frequency; a counter connected with said divider to establish a plurality of different preselected timing periods; means operative selectively on termination of a first preselected one of said different timing periods or generation of a signal externally of the timer for resetting said counter and initiating a subsequent preselected timing period in synchronization with said submultiple frequency reference signals; and means for providing a command signal to initiate a timed operation of the appliance for said subsequent preselected timing periods.

Claim 8

An electronic timer for use with a multiple function appliance, comprising: a source of alternating reference signal at a reference frequency; a divider circuit connected with said source for deriving therefrom reference signals at a submultiple of said reference frequency; a counter connected with said divider to establish a plurality of different preselected timing periods; means operative selectively on termination of a first preselected one of said different timing periods or generation of a signal externally of the timer for resetting said counter and initiating a subsequent preselected timing period in synchronization with said submultiple frequency reference signals; and means for providing a command signal to initiate a timed operation of the appliance for said subsequent preselected timing periods.

Claim 9

The timer of claim 5 wherein the function of said appliance is terminated in accordance with a selected timing period of said counter.

Claim 10

The timer of claim 5 further including means for terminating said appliance function in accordance with a condition of the appliance.

Claim 11

The electronic timer of claim 5 including means for deriving an appliance control signal from said reset means.

Claim 12

The timer of claim 5 including means for synchronizing said resetting means with said reference signal so that the timing period for the subsequent function of said appliance may be established with accuracy to ensure a full timing period for such subsequent function of the appliance.

Claim 13

An electronic timer for use with a multiple function appliance, comprising: means providing an alternating reference signal; a counter responsive to said reference signal for establishing a plurality of different timing periods; means responsive to termination of a function of said appliance for resetting said counter; means for controlling operation of the appliance selectively as a function of said timing periods; and means for synchronizing said resetting means with said reference signal comprising a pair of serially connected, two input NAND gates, the first having one input connected with a source of signal representing termination of the timing period and its output connected with one input of the second gate, the other input of the second gate being connected with said source of reference signal and the output of said second gate being connected to provide the second input of the first gate and to reset said counter circuits.

Claim 14

An electronic timer for use with a multiple function appliance, comprising: means providing an alternating reference signal; a counter responsive to said reference signal for establishing a plurality of different timing periods; means responsive to termination of a function of said appliance for resetting said counter; means for controlling operation of the appliance selectively as a function of said timing periods; and means for synchronizing said resetting means with said reference signal comprising a pair of serially connected, two input NAND gates, the first having one input connected with a source of signal representing termination of the timing period and its output connected with one input of the second gate, the other input of the second gate being connected with said source of reference signal and the output of said second gate being connected to provide the second input of the first gate and to reset said counter circuits.

Claim 15

The electronic timer of claim 1 for use with a multiple function appliance, wherein each of said timing periods has a duration inversely proportional to the frequency of the alternating reference signal.

Claim 16

The timer of claim 9 wherein said source of alternating reference signal includes a powerline providing a sine wave reference signal and the means for synchronizing said resetting means includes means for generating a reference signal having a frequency which is a submultiple of said sine wave reference signal which is applied to said counter.

Claim 17

An electronic timer as claimed in claim 11 wherein said timer is responsive to an end-of-function signal generated by a control logic externally of said timer upon termination of a timed function.

Claim 18

An electronic timer as claimed in claim 11 wherein said timer is responsive to an end-of-function signal generated externally of said timer by an appliance in accordance with a condition of the appliance.