CONDITION RESPONSIVE INDICATING SYSTEM FOR INTERACTIVELY INDICATING STATUS OF A PLURALITY OF ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES

摘要

The operating status of a plurality of laundry appliances including washing machines (12) and/or driers (13) is sensed, and a controller (205) generates and transmits corresponding status signals to remote transceivers (35) which include visual (45) or audio (46) indicators for indicating the information. Each transceiver (35) can interrogate the controller (205) to determine the status of the appliances (12, 13), with the status being transmitted only to the interrogating transmitter. Each transceiver (35) can also transmit a reservation signal to the controller (205) to reserve a selected appliance for a predetermined period of time. The controller (205) also transmits status signals for the selected appliance only to the transceiver of the user who reserved the appliance when the operating cycle is finished, or at a predetermined period of time prior to the end of the operating cycle. The transceivers (35) can communicate with the controller (205) over a telephone line, or over A.C. power lines (27).