CN114963653A

CN114963653A - Refrigerator with a door

Info

Publication number: CN114963653A
Application number: CN202210581480.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 村上和宏; 田中伦明
Original assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co Ltd
Current assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-10-06
Filing date: 2018-09-21
Publication date: 2022-08-30
Also published as: JP7012261B2; WO2019069718A1; JP2019070476A; CN111051799A; CN111051799B

Abstract

The refrigerator of the present invention has at least one receiving chamber, and includes: a camera for shooting the opening of the containing chamber; a detection unit that detects that an object has passed through the opening; and a control unit that causes the camera to take an image when the detection unit detects that the object has passed through the opening. This makes it possible to more reliably obtain information on the food stored in the storage chamber.

Description

Refrigerator with a door

The present application is a divisional application of patent applications having application dates of 2018, 9 and 21, application number of 201880051903.9, and invention name of "refrigerator".

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

Background

There has been proposed a refrigerator in which an in-house camera is provided at a central portion in a storage chamber for food, the storage chamber is photographed by the in-house camera when a door of the storage chamber is opened and closed, and an image when food is stored is compared with a current image based on time-series photographed images and outputted (for example, see patent document 1). In the refrigerator described in patent document 1, depending on the arrangement state of food in the storage chamber, the food is overlapped in the shooting direction of the in-compartment camera, and there is a situation in which a part of the food cannot be recognized from the shot image.

Therefore, a refrigerator has been proposed which is provided with a switch for detecting opening and closing of a door of a storage chamber and a camera for taking an image of an opening of the storage chamber as an imaging range, and which images not only food items stored in the storage chamber but also food items stored in or taken out from the opening when the door is opened (see, for example, patent document 2).

Documents of the prior art

Patent literature

Patent document 1: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2016-57022

Patent document 2: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2015-81762

Disclosure of Invention

In the refrigerator described in patent document 2, when it is detected that the door of the storage chamber is opened, the food passing through the opening of the storage chamber is photographed. Therefore, depending on the time from when the user opens the door to when the food is put in storage, the food may not be imaged. Further, the photographed image may be a part of the door pocket instead of the food, and the object other than the food may be erroneously recognized as the food.

The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and an object thereof is to provide a refrigerator capable of more reliably acquiring information on food stored in a storage chamber.

In order to solve the problems of the prior art, the refrigerator of the present invention having at least one receiving chamber includes: a camera for shooting the opening of the containing chamber; a detection unit that detects that an object has passed through the opening; and a control unit that causes the camera to take an image when the detection unit detects that the object has passed through the opening.

Thus, the food passing through the opening can be imaged at a time when an object (food, a hand of a user gripping the food, or the like) passing through the opening of the storage section is detected. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the case where the food put in the storage chamber is not photographed, the case where an object other than the food such as a door of the refrigerator is photographed, and the like, and it is possible to obtain information of the food put in the storage chamber more reliably.

According to the refrigerator of the present invention, the information on the food put in the storage chamber can be obtained more reliably by photographing the food put in the storage chamber at an appropriate time.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration in which the status of food items stored in a refrigerator installed in a house is confirmed by a terminal device.

Fig. 2 is an explanatory view of an external appearance of the refrigerator.

Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a sectional view of the structure inside the refrigerator as viewed from the right side.

Fig. 4 is an explanatory view showing an internal structure of the refrigerating compartment in a sectional view from the front.

Fig. 5 is a structural diagram of the control unit.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the overall process performed by the control unit.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of the shooting process.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart of the weight information processing.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart of the analysis processing of the image at the time of warehousing.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart of the image analysis processing at the time of shipment.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of the weight sensor correction process.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of the in-house food management process 1.

Fig. 13 is a flow chart of the in-house food management process 2.

Fig. 14 is an explanatory view of a list of foods in a warehouse and a reference list of shelf lives.

Detailed Description

The refrigerator of embodiment 1 has at least one storage chamber, and includes: a camera for shooting the opening of the containing chamber; a detection unit that detects that an object has passed through the opening; and a control unit that causes the camera to take an image when the detection unit detects that the object has passed through the opening.

According to the first aspect, when an object passing through the opening of the storage chamber is detected, the camera captures an image of a range including the opening. Therefore, the food can be photographed in accordance with the time when the user puts the food in storage, and the information on the food put in the storage chamber can be acquired more reliably.

The 2 nd embodiment further includes: an extraction unit that extracts characters from an image captured by the camera; and a determination unit that determines a name of the food item stored in the storage chamber based on the character extracted by the extraction unit.

According to the 2 nd aspect, the type of food items stored in the storage can be identified and managed.

The 3 rd mode is that, when the extracting unit cannot extract the character from the image, the determining unit determines the name of the food put in the storage chamber based on a result of comparison between the image and a sample image.

According to the 3 rd aspect, even when the character cannot be extracted from the image of the food, the food name of the food can be estimated.

The 4 th aspect further includes an open/close detection unit that detects whether a door of the opening is open or closed, and starts energization to the camera based on a state in which the open/close detection unit detects that the door of the opening is open.

According to the 4 th aspect, the refrigerator can achieve power saving.

In the 5 th aspect, a 1 st door and a 2 nd door are provided in the opening portion, and when at least one of the 1 st door and the 2 nd door is opened, the camera starts to be energized.

According to the 5 th aspect, the refrigerator can achieve power saving.

The 6 th aspect is to cut off power supply to the camera when both the 1 st door and the 2 nd door are closed.

According to the aspect 6, the refrigerator can save power.

In the 7 th aspect, a weight sensor is provided on a shelf of the storage chamber, and the weight of the food put in the storage chamber is determined based on a detection result of the weight sensor.

In the 8 th aspect, the camera is provided at an upper end of the opening. Here, the "upper end" of the opening means "the vicinity of the upper end" of the opening.

According to the 8 th aspect, information on the food items stored in the storage chamber can be obtained more reliably.

The 9 th aspect is that the detection unit is provided outside the refrigerator from the camera.

In the 10 th aspect, the detection means is any one of an optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a capacitance sensor.

In the 11 th aspect, the storage chamber is a refrigerating chamber.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the present embodiment.

[1. mode of use of refrigerator ]

Fig. 1 shows a usage mode of the refrigerator according to the present embodiment. Refrigerator 1 according to the present embodiment is installed in house H, and has a function of communicating with management server 520 via gateway 500 and communication network 510. Further, the refrigerator 1 has a function of communicating with a terminal device (smartphone, tablet terminal, or the like) 400. The terminal apparatus 400 has a function of communicating with the management server 520 via the gateway 500 and the communication network 510.

Control unit 100 included in refrigerator 1 controls the overall operation of refrigerator 1, generates in-refrigerator food list 131 indicating information on foods stored in the storage chamber of refrigerator 1, and transmits the in-refrigerator food list to management server 520. The management application of the refrigerator executed by the terminal device 400 acquires data of the in-refrigerator food list 131 from the management server 520 or acquires data of the in-refrigerator food list 131 from the refrigerator 1. The management application displays information on the food items stored in the refrigerator 1 on the display unit based on the in-refrigerator food item list 131. The user P of the refrigerator 1 can confirm the status (food name, expiration date, remaining amount, and the like) of the food stored in the refrigerator 1 by viewing the display of the terminal device 400.

[2. Structure of refrigerator ]

The structure of the refrigerator 1 will be described with reference to fig. 2 to 5. Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an external appearance of the refrigerator 1. As shown in fig. 2, the refrigerator 1 has a main body 2 opened in a front surface. Main casing 2 has refrigerating compartment 10 (corresponding to a storage compartment of the present invention), ice making compartment 30, switching compartment 20 provided in parallel with ice making compartment 30 and capable of changing the temperature inside the compartment, freezing compartment 40, and vegetable compartment 50 formed therein.

A rotary right door 11 and a rotary left door 12 (corresponding to an opening/closing portion of the present invention) are provided at an opening portion of the front surface of refrigerating room 10.

Drawers

21, 31, 41, and 51 for storing foods are provided in the switching compartment 20, the ice making compartment 30, the freezing compartment 40, and the vegetable compartment 50.

Next, fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a sectional view of the internal structure of the refrigerator 1 as viewed from the right side, and fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a sectional view of the internal structure of the refrigerating compartment 10 as viewed from the front. Referring to fig. 3 and 4, in the refrigerating compartment 10, an upper shelf 13, a middle shelf 14, and a lower shelf 15 are disposed to divide the refrigerating compartment 10 into sub-areas. Further, the refrigerating compartment 10 is provided with:

weight sensors

13a, 13b that detect the weight of food items placed on the upper rack 13;

weight sensors

14a, 14b that detect the weight of food items placed on the middle shelf 14; and

weight sensors

15a, 15b that detect the weight of the food placed on the lower rack 15. Further, in refrigerating room 10, illumination portions 16a to 16f illuminating the inside of refrigerating room 10, illuminance sensors 17a to 17c detecting illuminance in refrigerating room 10, and camera 60 are provided.

The camera 60 is disposed near the opening 10a in the upper portion of the refrigerating compartment 10 so as to cover the opening 10a within the imaging range, and images the range from the opening 10a to the vicinity of the front end of each of the

shelves

13, 14, and 15. In this manner, the camera 60 may be provided at the upper end (including the vicinity of the upper end) of the opening 10 a. The refrigerator 1 is provided with a compressor 61, a cooling fan 62, a cooler 63, and a condenser 64 as accessories constituting a refrigeration cycle. Refrigerating room duct 70 through which cold air flows and cold air discharge ports 71 to 73 are disposed on the rear surface of refrigerating room 10.

The refrigerating compartment 10 is provided with an open/close sensor 18b (corresponding to an open/close detection unit of the present invention) for detecting opening/closing of the right door 11, and an open/close sensor 18a (corresponding to an open/close detection unit of the present invention) for detecting opening/closing of the left door 12. The opening-closing sensor 18b outputs a closing detection signal when the right door 11 is closed, and an opening detection signal when the right door 11 is opened. Likewise, the open-close sensor 18a outputs a close detection signal when the left door 12 is closed, and outputs an open detection signal when the left door 12 is opened.

The switching chamber 20 is provided with an opening/closing sensor 22 for detecting opening/closing of the opening 20 a. The open-close sensor 22 outputs a close detection signal when the drawer 21 is stored in the switching room 20, and outputs an open detection signal when the drawer 21 is drawn out from the switching room 20.

Similarly, the ice making compartment 30 is provided with an opening/closing sensor 32 for detecting opening/closing of the opening 30a by the drawer 31. In addition, an opening/closing sensor 42 for detecting opening/closing of an opening 40a formed by the drawer 41 is provided in the freezing chamber 40, and an opening/closing sensor 52 for detecting opening/closing of an opening 50a formed by the drawer 51 is provided in the vegetable chamber 50. The open/

close sensors

32, 42, 52 output a close detection signal and an open detection signal in the same manner as the open/close sensor 22.

Next, fig. 5 is a structural diagram of the control unit 100. Referring to fig. 5, control Unit 100 includes an electronic circuit Unit including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 110, an image Processing Unit 120, a storage Unit 130, a wireless communication Unit 140, a date and time identification Unit 141, an interface circuit (not shown), and the like.

The CPU110 functions as a passage object detection unit 111, a storage amount recognition unit 112, an entry/exit determination unit 113, a food information acquisition unit 114, and a food information management unit 115 by executing a control program for the refrigerator 1 stored in the storage unit 130.

The control unit 100 and the opening/

closing sensors

18a, 18b, 22, 32, 42, 52;

illuminance sensors

17a, 17b, 17 c;

weight sensors

13a, 13b, 14a, 14b, 15a, 15 b; a camera 60; the

illumination units

16a, 16b, 16c, 16d, 16e, and 16f are connected to the

refrigeration cycle accessories

61, 62, 63, and 64.

The open/

close sensors

18a, 18b, 22, 32, 42, 52 are input to the control unit 100; detection signals of the

illuminance sensors

17a, 17b, 17c and the

weight sensors

13a, 13b, 14a, 14b, 15a, 15b, and the like. The operations of the

illumination units

16a, 16b, 16c, 16d, 16e, and 16f, the

refrigeration cycle accessories

61, 62, 63, and 64, and the like are controlled by control signals output from the control unit 100.

The control signal output from the control unit 100 controls the imaging by the camera 60 via the image processing unit 120. The image processing unit 120 converts the video signal output from the camera 60 into a digital gradation signal to generate a captured image, and stores data of the captured image in the image memory 121. The image processing unit 120 performs processing on the captured image stored in the image memory 121 based on a control signal output from the CPU 110.

The date and time identifying unit 141 counts a clock signal output from a clock circuit (not shown) included in the control unit 100 to identify the current date (date and time). Further, the information of the current date and time may be acquired from the management server 520 by communication with the management server 520, and the current date may be identified.

The storage unit 130 stores, in addition to the data of the in-house food list 131, data of the warehoused food information 132 in which information on the foods warehoused in the refrigerating compartment 10 is recorded and data of the out-of-house food information 133 in which information on the foods taken out of the refrigerating compartment 10 is recorded. In the storage unit 130, data of sample images 134 of various foods and a standard shelf life list 135 indicating the general shelf lives of the various foods are stored.

The object detection unit 111 detects an object passing through the opening 10a of the refrigerator compartment 10 based on the change in illuminance in the refrigerator compartment 10 detected by the

illuminance sensors

17a, 17b, and 17 c. The object detection unit 111 may be provided outside the refrigerator 1 from the camera 60.

The storage amount recognition part 112 recognizes the amount of the food items stored in the upper, middle and

lower shelves

13, 14 and 15 of the refrigerating compartment 10 by weight based on the detection signals of the

weight sensors

13a, 13b, 14a, 14b, 15a and 15 b.

The storage amount recognition unit 112 recognizes the weight of the food stored in the upper rack 13 based on the detection signals of the

weight sensors

13a and 13b, and recognizes the weight of the food stored in the middle rack 14 based on the detection signals of the

weight sensors

14a and 14 b. The storage amount recognition unit 112 detects the weight of the food stored in the lower rack 15 based on the detection signals of the

weight sensors

15a and 15 b.

When the object passing through the opening 10a of the refrigerating compartment 10 is detected by the object detection unit 111, the in-out determination unit 113 determines whether or not food items stored in the refrigerating compartment 10 or food items discharged from the refrigerating compartment 10 are stored in the refrigerating compartment 10 based on the change in the amount (weight) of the food items placed on the

shelves

13, 14, and 15 identified by the storage amount identification unit 112.

The food information acquiring unit 114 captures an image of an object passing through the opening 10a of the refrigerating compartment 10 by the camera 60. When the in-out determination unit 113 determines that food is put in the refrigerating room 10 or taken out from the refrigerating room, an image portion of the food is extracted from the photographed image.

The food information acquiring unit 114 recognizes characters included in the image portion of the food or extracts the characteristics of the image portion of the food, thereby acquiring information such as the food name, the volume, the origin, and the expiration date of the food put in or taken out of the warehouse. The food information acquisition unit 114 records the acquired information in the stored food information 132 for the food determined to be stored (stored food) and in the delivered food information 133 for the food determined to be delivered (delivered food).

The food information management unit 115 updates the food information recorded in the in-store food list 131 based on the weight of the food in the refrigerating room 10 identified by the storage amount identification unit 112, the warehoused food information 132 and the exported food information 133 recorded by the food information acquisition unit 114, and the like.

[3. processing by the control Unit ]

Next, processing related to management of food items stored in refrigerating compartment 10 by control unit 100 will be described with reference to fig. 6 to 14.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing an outline of a series of processing performed by the control unit 100. The control unit 100 performs the "shooting process" in step S1, the "weight information process" in step S2, the "image analysis process" in step S3, the "weight sensor correction process" in step S4, and the "in-house food management process" in step S5, respectively. The following describes each process in detail.

[3-1. photographing treatment ]

The description is made about the order of implementation of the "shooting process" in accordance with the flowchart shown in fig. 7. The "imaging process" is performed by the object detection unit 111 and the food information acquisition unit 114. Steps S10 to S15 in fig. 7 are processes performed by the object detection unit 111. When it is determined in step S10 that one or both of right door 11 and left door 12 of refrigerating compartment 10 are opened based on the detection signals of opening/

closing sensors

18a and 18b, object detection unit 111 advances the process to step S11.

In step S11, object detection unit 111 detects the illuminance of each of upper rack 13, middle rack 14, and lower rack 15 of refrigerating room 10 (the illuminance of each space defined by the racks) by

illuminance sensors

17a, 17b, and 17 c. The object detection unit 111 sets the detected illuminance on the upper shelf 13 as an upper reference illuminance, sets the illuminance on the middle shelf 14 as a middle reference illuminance, and sets the illuminance on the lower shelf 15 as a lower reference illuminance. The data of the upper reference illuminance, the middle reference illuminance, and the lower reference illuminance are stored in the storage unit 130 by the object detection unit 111.

The upper reference illuminance, the middle reference illuminance, and the lower reference illuminance are illuminance of the

shelves

13, 14, and 15 in a state where one or both of the right door 11 and the left door 12 of the refrigerating compartment 10 are opened and an object (a user's hand, food, or the like) passes through the opening 10a of the refrigerating compartment 10. In consideration of errors or variations in the detected illuminance, the upper reference illuminance, the middle reference illuminance, and the lower reference illuminance may be set to be slightly lower or slightly higher than the detected illuminance of each of the

illuminance sensors

17a, 17b, and 17 c. The upper reference illuminance, the middle reference illuminance, and the lower reference illuminance used in step S13, which will be described later, may be set to different values from the upper reference illuminance, the middle reference illuminance, and the lower reference illuminance used in step S14.

Next, in step S12, the illuminance of each of the upper shelf 13, the middle shelf 14, and the lower shelf 15 is detected by the object detection unit 111 using the

illuminance sensors

17a, 17b, and 17 c. Then, in the next step S13, the object detection unit 111 determines whether or not there is a shelf in which the detected illuminance is lower than the reference illuminance by a predetermined level or more. Specifically, the object detection unit 111 determines whether or not the following conditions (1) to (3) are satisfied.

(1) The illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 17a changes from the "upper reference illuminance" to the "lower reference illuminance- α" or less.

(2) The illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 17b changes from the "middle reference illuminance" to the "middle reference illuminance- α" or less.

(3) The detected illuminance of the illuminance sensor 17c changes from the "lower reference illuminance" to the "lower reference illuminance- α" or less.

Wherein, α: a constant for setting a threshold value determined by an experiment or a computer simulation is set for reducing the illuminance generated when an object (food, a user's hand, or the like) enters the upper rack 13, the middle rack 14, or the lower rack 15. Further, α may be a common value for the upper reference illuminance, the middle reference illuminance, and the lower reference illuminance, or may be set to different values for the upper reference illuminance, the middle reference illuminance, and the lower reference illuminance.

Then, when at least any one of the above (1) to (3) is established, the object detection unit 111 advances the process to step S20. When at least any one of the above items (1) to (3) is satisfied, it is assumed that the user enters his/her hands into refrigerating room 10 in order to put food in refrigerating room 10 (put in storage), take food out of refrigerating room 10 (put out of storage), change the position of food in refrigerating room 10, or the like. In this case, it can be determined by object detection unit 111 that an object (a user's hand, food gripped by a user's hand, or the like) has passed through opening 10a of refrigerating compartment 10.

On the other hand, if none of the above (1) to (3) is satisfied, the object detection unit 111 proceeds to step S14. In step S14, the object detection unit 111 determines whether or not there is a shelf in which the detected illuminance has changed from "reference illuminance- β" or lower to "reference illuminance" or higher. Specifically, the object detection unit 111 determines whether or not the following conditions (4) to (6) are satisfied.

(4) The illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 17a changes from "upper reference illuminance- β" or lower to "upper reference illuminance" or higher.

(5) The illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 17b changes from "the middle reference illuminance- β" or lower to "the middle reference illuminance" or higher.

(6) The illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 17c changes from "lower reference illuminance- β" or lower to "lower reference illuminance" or higher.

Wherein, the ratio of beta: is a constant for determining a threshold value determined by an experiment or a computer simulation, assuming that an increase in illuminance occurs when an object (food, a user's hand, or the like) that has entered upper shelf 13, middle shelf 14, or lower shelf 15 exits refrigerating compartment 10 through opening 10 a. Note that β may be set in common to the upper reference illuminance, the middle reference illuminance, and the lower reference illuminance, or may be set independently to different values for the upper reference illuminance, the middle reference illuminance, and the lower reference illuminance.

When at least one of the above-described items (4) to (6) is satisfied, the object detection unit 111 advances the process to step S22. When at least any one of the above items (4) to (6) is satisfied, it is assumed that the user takes out the food entering the refrigerating compartment 10 by hand in order to put the food in the refrigerating compartment 10 (put in storage), take the food out of the refrigerating compartment 10 (put out of storage), change the position of the food stored in the refrigerating compartment 10, or the like. In this case, object detection unit 111 can determine that an object (a hand of a user, food gripped by a hand of a user, or the like) has passed through opening 10a of refrigerating room 10.

On the other hand, if none of the above (4) to (6) is satisfied, the object detection unit 111 proceeds to step S15. In step S15, object detection unit 111 determines whether or not both right door 11 and left door 12 of refrigerating compartment 10 are closed, based on the detection signals of opening/

closing sensors

18a and 18 b. Then, when both the right door 11 and the left door 12 are closed, the object detection unit 111 advances the process to step S15 to end the "shooting process". On the other hand, when at least either one of the right door 11 and the left door 12 is opened, the object detection unit 111 advances the process to step S12.

Next, steps S20 to S21 and steps S22 to S23 are performed by the food information acquiring unit 114. In step S20, food information acquiring unit 114 captures an image of a range including opening 10a of refrigerating compartment 10 with camera 60 via image processing unit 120. Next, at step S21, the food information acquisition unit 114 stores the data of the image captured at step S20 in the storage unit 130 as data of the "image at the time of warehousing", and advances the process to step S15. Further, it is possible to perform shooting a plurality of times and store data of a plurality of images in the storage unit 130 as data of "images at the time of putting in storage".

In step S22, the food information acquiring unit 114 uses the camera 60 to capture an image of the area including the opening 10a of the refrigerator compartment 10 via the image processing unit 120. Next, at step S23, the food information acquiring unit 114 stores the data of the image captured at step S22 in the storage unit 130 as data of the "shipment image", and the process proceeds to step S15. Further, it is possible to perform shooting a plurality of times and store data of a plurality of images in the storage unit 130 as data of "images at the time of shipment".

In the "photographing process" shown in fig. 7, the object passing through the opening 10a of the refrigerating compartment 10 is detected by the passing object detection unit 111 based on the change in illuminance of the upper shelf 13, the middle shelf 14, or the lower shelf 15 detected by the

illuminance sensors

17a, 7b, and 17 c.

The "image at the time of entering" into storage ", which is a captured image of the vicinity of the opening 10a at the time when the object entering any of the

shelves

13, 14, and 15 through the opening 10a is detected by the object detection unit 111, is stored in the storage unit 130. Then, the "at-delivery image" which is the captured image of the vicinity of the opening 10a at the time when the object passing through the opening 10a after coming out of any of the

shelves

13, 14, and 15 is detected by the passing object detection unit 111 is stored in the storage unit 130.

Further, in step S15 of fig. 7, when an object that has passed through the opening portion 10a multiple times is detected in step S13 before the right door 11 and the left door 12 are detected to be closed, capturing and saving of a plurality of "images at the time of warehousing" is performed through steps S20 to S21. Then, "image analysis processing" is performed on each of the "warehousing images" of the foods judged to be warehoused by the "weight information processing" described later.

Similarly, in step S15 of fig. 7, when an object that has passed through the opening portion 10a multiple times is detected in step S14 before it is detected that the right door 11 and the left door 12 have been closed, shooting and saving of a plurality of "images at the time of shipment" are performed through steps S22 to S23. Then, "image analysis processing" is performed on each of the "images at the time of shipment" of the food items judged to have been shipped out by the "weight information processing" described later.

[3-2. weight information processing ]

Next, the procedure of carrying out the "weight processing" will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 8. The "weight information processing" is performed by the warehousing/retrieval determination unit 113 and the food information acquisition unit 114.

Steps S30 to S33 and S40 in fig. 8 are performed by the warehousing judgment unit 113. In step S30, the storage/retrieval determining unit 113 recognizes the weight of each

shelf

13, 14, 15 by the storage amount recognizing unit 112 and stores the weight in the storage unit 130. Next, in step S31, when the object passing through opening 10a of refrigerating room 10 is detected by object detection unit 111 in step S13 or step S14 of fig. 7 (when there is an object entering refrigerating room 10), entry/exit determination unit 113 advances the process to step S32.

In step S32, the storage/retrieval determining section 113 identifies the weight of each

shelf

13, 14, 15 by the storage amount identifying section 112. In the next step S33, the warehousing judgment part 113 judges whether or not there is a shelf in which the weight identified in step S32 is increased with respect to the weight identified in step S30. If there is a rack with increased weight (in this case, it can be determined that the food is stored in refrigerating room 10), storage/retrieval determining unit 113 advances the process to step S34.

On the other hand, if there is no rack with increased weight, the warehousing judgment part 113 proceeds from step S33 to step S40, and judges whether there is a rack with reduced weight identified in step S32 with respect to the weight identified in step S30. When there is a rack with a reduced weight (in this case, it can be determined that the food has been taken out of the refrigerating compartment 10), the in-out determination unit 113 advances the process to step S41. If there is no rack with increased weight (in this case, it can be determined that there is no warehousing of food items in refrigerating compartment 10 or food items are taken out of refrigerating compartment 10), in-out warehouse determination section 113 proceeds to step S36 and ends the "weight information processing".

Steps S34 to S35 and step S41 are performed by the food information acquiring unit 114. In step S34, the food information acquiring unit 114 estimates the storage position of the warehoused food from the left and right weights of the

shelves

13, 14, 15 identified by the storage amount identifying unit 112.

In the next step S35, the food information acquisition unit 114 records the information on the weight and storage position of the warehoused food in the warehouse food information 132 (see fig. 5), advances the process to step S36, and ends the "weight information processing". The data of the warehouse food information 132 is temporarily stored in the storage unit 130 for addition, update, and the like of information to the warehouse food list 131.

In step S41, the food information acquiring unit 114 records the weight information of the delivered food in the delivered food information 133 (see fig. 5), and advances the process to step S36 to end the "weight information processing". The data of the shipment food information 133 is temporarily stored in the storage unit 130 for addition, update, and the like of food information to the in-warehouse food list 131.

[3-3. image analysis processing ]

Next, the order of execution of the "image analysis processing" will be described with reference to flowcharts shown in fig. 9 and 10. The "image analysis processing" is performed by the food information acquisition unit 114. Fig. 9 is a process of acquiring information on food items put in the refrigerating room 10 from the "image at the time of putting in the room". Fig. 10 is a process of acquiring information on food items taken out of the refrigerating room 10 from the "images at the time of taking out".

First, the "image analysis processing" of the "image at the time of warehousing" will be described with reference to fig. 9. In step S50 of fig. 9, the food information acquisition unit 114 performs character extraction processing on the "put-in-storage image" of the put-in-storage food by the image processing unit 120. Here, the warehoused food is the food judged by the warehousing/retrieval judgment section 113 to have been warehoused in the refrigerating compartment 10 in step S33 of fig. 8. The "warehousing-time image" of the warehoused food is the "warehousing-time image" which is captured and stored by the food information acquisition unit 114 in steps S20 and S21 of fig. 7 with respect to the food determined to be warehoused in step S33 of fig. 8.

Next, in step S51, the food information acquisition unit 114 determines whether or not a character has been extracted from the "put-in-store image" by the image processing unit 120. Then, the food information acquisition unit 114 advances the process to step S52 when the character has already been extracted, and advances the process to step S60 when the character has not yet been extracted.

In step S52, the food information acquisition unit 114 analyzes the information of the character extracted by the image processing unit 120. Then, in the next step S53, the food information acquisition unit 114 acquires information on the warehoused food, such as the name of the food, the expiration date, the production location, and the capacity, from the information on the characters. In the next step S54, the food information acquisition unit 114 records the acquired information of the warehoused food in the warehouse food information 132, and terminates the "image analysis processing".

In step S60, the food information acquisition unit 114 extracts the image portion of the stored food from the "storage-time image" by the image processing unit 120. In the next step S61, the food information acquisition unit 114 calculates the matching rate between the extracted image portion of the warehoused food and the sample images 134 (see fig. 5) of various foods stored in the storage unit 130 in advance.

In the next step S62, the food information acquiring unit 114 estimates the food name of the sample image 134 with the highest matching rate as the food name of the food put in storage, and advances the process to step S54. By the processing of steps S60 to S62, even when characters cannot be extracted from the "image at warehousing time" of the warehoused food, it can be estimated that the food name of the warehoused food is recorded in the warehoused food information 132.

Next, the "image analysis processing" of the "image at the time of shipment" will be described with reference to fig. 10. In step S70 of fig. 10, the food information acquiring unit 114 performs character extraction on the "shipment time image" of the shipment food by the image processing unit 120. Here, the delivered food is the food which is judged by the in-out judgment section 113 to be delivered from the refrigerating room 10 in step S40 in fig. 8. The "shipment image" of the shipment food is the "shipment image" that is captured and stored by the food information acquisition unit 114 in steps S22 and S23 of fig. 7 with respect to the food determined to be shipped in step S40 of fig. 8.

In the next step S71, the food information acquisition unit 114 determines whether or not the image processing unit 120 has extracted a character from the "shipment time image". Then, the food information acquisition unit 114 advances the process to step S72 when the character has already been extracted, and advances the process to step S80 when the character has not yet been extracted.

In step S72, the food information acquiring unit 114 analyzes the information of the extracted character by the image processing unit 120. Then, in the next step S73, the food information acquiring unit 114 acquires information on the shipment of the food such as the name, expiration date, place of manufacture, and volume of the food from the character information. In the next step S74, the food information acquiring unit 114 records the acquired information on the delivered food in the delivered food information 133, and terminates the "image analysis processing".

In step S80, the food information acquisition unit 114 extracts the image portion of the delivered food from the "image at the time of delivery" by the image processing unit 120. In the next step S81, the food information acquiring unit 114 calculates the matching rate between the extracted image portion of the shipped food and the sample images 134 of various foods stored in the storage unit 130 in advance.

In the next step S82, the food information acquisition unit 114 estimates the food name of the sample image 134 with the highest matching rate as the food name of the delivered food, and advances the process to step S74. Through the processing in steps S80 to S82, even when no character is extracted from the "image at the time of shipment" of the shipped food, the food name of the shipped food can be estimated and recorded in the shipped food information 133.

The image analysis processing of fig. 9 is performed for an image at the time of warehousing when it is determined that the image is warehoused in refrigerating room 10, and the image analysis processing of fig. 10 is performed for an image at the time of delivery when it is determined that the image is delivered from refrigerating room 10. Therefore, when not the food but the right door 11 or the left door 12 is not detected by the object detection unit 111, it is not possible to determine whether to enter or exit the food, and therefore the image analysis processing cannot be performed (the captured image is invalid). This prevents the food information from being erroneously acquired from the image portion of the right door 11 or the left door 12.

[3-4. weight sensor correction processing ]

The procedure of the "weight sensor correction processing" for correcting the detected weights of the

weight sensors

13a, 13b, 14a, 14b, 15a, and 15b will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 11. The "weight sensor correction processing" is performed by the storage amount recognition unit 112. The "weight sensor correction processing" is processing for correcting (correcting) the amount of detection error of the

weight sensors

13a, 13b, 14a, 14b, 15a, 15b that may occur due to a change over time or the like.

In step S90 of fig. 11, when the storage amount recognition unit 112 determines that food is put into the refrigerator compartment by the in-out storage determination unit 113 (yes in step S33 of fig. 8), the process proceeds to step S91. In step S91, the storage amount recognition unit 112 determines whether or not the information on the capacity of the warehoused food has been recorded in the warehoused food information 132 (the process of step S54 in fig. 9). When the information on the volume of the warehoused food (the volume of the food acquired in step S53 of fig. 9) is recorded in the warehoused food information 132, the storage amount identifying unit 112 advances the process to step S92.

In step S92, the storage amount recognition unit 112 calculates the ratio of the weight to the volume of the warehoused food recorded in the warehoused food information 132. The storage amount recognition unit 112 sets the calculated ratio as a correction coefficient of a weight sensor used for detecting the weight of the warehoused food. For example, when the food put in storage is put in the upper rack 13 and the weight is detected by the

weight sensors

13a and 13b, the storage amount recognition unit 112 sets the calculated ratio as a correction coefficient for the detected weight of the

weight sensors

13a and 13 b.

In the next step S93, the storage amount recognition unit 112 stores the data of the correction coefficient in the storage unit 130, advances the process to step S94, and ends the "weight sensor correction process". Then, the storage amount recognition unit 112 processes the detected weight obtained by multiplying the detected weight of the

weight sensors

13a and 13b by the correction coefficient as the detected weight. Similarly, the storage amount recognition unit 112 sets correction coefficients for the

weight sensors

14a and 14b when the warehoused food is stored in the middle shelf 14, and sets correction coefficients for the

weight sensors

15a and 15b when the warehoused food is stored in the lower shelf 15.

On the other hand, in step S91, if the volume information is not recorded in the warehouse food information 132, the storage amount recognition unit 112 advances the process to step S94 to end the "weight sensor correction process". In this case, the calculation and setting of the correction coefficient are not performed.

[3-5. management treatment of foods in storehouse ]

The sequence of execution of the "in-house food management process" for managing information on food items stored in the refrigerating compartment 10 will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in fig. 12 and 13. The "in-house food management processing" is executed by the food information management unit 115.

The food information management unit 115 manages information on food items stored in the refrigerating compartment 10 by using an in-compartment food item list 131 (see fig. 5). As shown in fig. 14, in the in-house food list 131, as information on each of the warehoused foods labeled with the serial numbers (1, 2, 3, and …) and the serial numbers of the foods warehoused in the refrigerating compartment 10, the name, weight (first, current, and amount of food), date and time of warehousing (first warehousing, latest warehousing), stock (1: present, 0: absent), expiration date, and production place are recorded. The food information management unit 115 generates and updates the in-warehouse food list 131 based on the recorded in-warehouse food information 132 and out-warehouse food information 133 by the food information acquisition unit 114.

In step S100 of fig. 12, food information management unit 115 determines whether entry of food into refrigerating room 10 or exit of food from refrigerating room 10 has been determined by entry/exit determination unit 113, and proceeds to step S101 when entry or exit has been determined. In step S101, the food information management unit 115 determines whether or not the warehousing has been performed, and if it is determined that the warehousing has been performed, advances the process to step S102. On the other hand, if it is not determined to be in stock (when it is determined to be out of stock), the food information management unit 115 advances the process to step S110.

In step S102, food information management unit 115 determines whether or not there is a shipment from refrigerating room 10 within a predetermined time. Then, when the refrigerator compartment 10 is taken out within the predetermined time, the process proceeds to step S103, and when the refrigerator compartment 10 is not taken out within the predetermined time, the process proceeds to step S111. In addition, the state of the refrigerator compartment 10 being taken out of the refrigerator compartment within a predetermined time can be recognized from the food item list 131 in the refrigerator compartment. The predetermined time can be assumed when the user returns to the refrigerating room 10 (restocking) a part of the food discharged from the refrigerating room 10, and is set to, for example, about 10 minutes.

In step S103, the food information management unit 115 determines whether or not the matching rate between the food that was delivered from the previous warehouse and the food that was put in the current warehouse is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Here, the food information management unit 115 compares the information of the product that was delivered from the previous shipment recorded in the in-stock food list 131 with the information of the product that was put in the current stock recorded in the stock food information 132, and calculates the matching rate between the food that was delivered from the previous shipment and the food that was put in the current stock from the matching state of the food name, the expiration date, the place of production, and the like.

The food information management unit 115 advances the process to step S104 when the matching rate between the food that was delivered from the previous warehouse and the food that was warehoused this time is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and advances the process to step S112 when the matching rate between the food that was delivered from the previous warehouse and the food that was warehoused this time is lower than a predetermined value.

Step S104 is a process in a case where the matching rate between the food delivered from the previous warehouse and the food put in the warehouse this time is equal to or higher than a predetermined value and it can be determined that the food delivered from the previous warehouse and the food put in the warehouse this time are the same items. In step S104, the food information management unit 115 updates the current weight, the latest warehousing date and time, and the amount of eating (the difference between the initial warehousing time and the current weight) of the food delivered from the warehouse by the predetermined time in the in-warehouse food list 131 based on the information recorded in the warehoused food information 132, and advances the process to step S105 in fig. 13.

Step S112 is a process in a case where the matching rate between the food delivered from the warehouse and the food currently being warehoused is smaller than a predetermined value and it can be determined that the food delivered from the warehouse last time is not the same as the food currently being warehoused. In step S112, the food information management unit 115 re-registers the warehoused food in the in-warehouse food list 131 based on the information recorded in the warehouse food information 132, and advances the process to step S105 in fig. 13.

Step S111 is a process in the case where the shipment is not made within a predetermined time. In step S111, the food information management unit 115 re-registers the warehoused food in the in-warehouse food list 131 based on the information recorded in the warehoused food information 132, and advances the process to step S105 of fig. 12.

Step S110 is a process in a case where it is determined that the food is taken out of the refrigerating compartment 10. In step S110, the food information management unit 115 updates the current weight of the food (the food taken out of the warehouse) to 0 in the in-warehouse food list 131. Further, the food information management unit 115 updates the amount of food consumed in the in-store food list 131 and updates the latest delivery time based on the information recorded in the delivered food information 133, and advances the process to step 105 in fig. 13.

In step S105 of fig. 13, the food information management unit 115 determines whether or not there is a food having a current weight of 0 g through the processing in step S110. The food information management unit 115 advances the process to step S106 when there is a food having a current weight of 0 g, and advances the process to step S120 when there is no food having a current weight of 0 g.

In step S106, the food information management unit 115 updates the information on the food items (the food items determined to have been delivered this time) in the in-house food item list 131 to "out-of-stock" (stock 0), and advances the process to step S107. In step S120, the food information management unit 115 updates the information on the food (the food determined to have been put in storage this time) in the in-store food list 131 to "stored" (stock 1), and advances the process to step S107.

In step S107, the food information management unit 115 determines whether or not the information on the expiration date by character recognition is recorded in the put-in food information 132. The food information management unit 115 advances the process to step S108 when the shelf life information is recorded in the stored food information 132, and advances the process to step S121 when the shelf life information is not recorded.

In step S108, the food information management unit 115 registers the shelf life of the currently warehoused food in the in-warehouse food list 131 based on the information on the shelf life recorded in the warehoused food information 132, and advances the process to step S109. In step S121, the food information management unit 115 refers to the quality guarantee period reference list 135 stored in the storage unit 130, and searches for a normal quality guarantee period of the food.

The quality guarantee period reference list 135 is a list in which the food names and the quality guarantee periods of the foods are associated with each other as shown in fig. 14, and the food information management unit 115 searches the quality guarantee periods associated with the food names of the present warehoused foods. Next, in step S122, the food information management unit 115 registers the expiration date in the data of the food in the in-store food list 131, and advances the process to step S109.

In step S109, the food information management unit 115 transmits the updated data of the in-house food list 131 to the management server 520 via the wireless communication unit 140 via the communication network 510, and terminates the "in-house food management processing".

The management server 520 stores the data of the in-house food list 131 received from the refrigerator 1 in a storage device (not shown), and transmits the eating status of each product identified from the in-house food list 131, the number of days remaining until the expiration date, and the like to the terminal device 400 of the user. Thus, the user can confirm the status of the product stored in the refrigerator 1 by the terminal device 400 even when the user is out or the like.

[4 ] other embodiments ]

In the above embodiment, the object detection unit 111 detects an object passing through the opening 10a of the refrigerating compartment 10 based on a change in illuminance in the refrigerating compartment 10 detected by the

illuminance sensors

17a, 17b, and 17 c. As another configuration of the passage object detection unit 111, as shown in fig. 3 to 5, an object sensor 80 (a reflection-type or transmission-type optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a capacitance sensor, or the like) may be used, which includes the opening 10a in a detection range and directly detects an object passing through the opening 10 a. In this case, the detection range of object sensor 80 is set on the front side of the imaging range of camera 60 in the direction from opening 10a into refrigerating room 10. Thus, failure in imaging the food stored in the warehouse can be prevented by using the delay time from the time when the object passing through the opening 10a is detected to the time when the camera 60 performs imaging.

When the open/close sensor 18a detects that the left door 12 is opened and the open/close sensor 18b detects that the right door 11 is opened, the camera 60 starts to be energized to capture an image with the camera 60. With this configuration, when the left door 12 and the right door are closed, the power supply to the camera 60 can be cut off to save power. Further, by starting the energization of the camera 60 at the time when the right door or the left door 12 is opened, it is possible to prevent the failure of the shooting of the foods put in storage due to the late start of the camera 60.

The food information acquiring unit 114 may be configured to invalidate the image data captured by the camera 60 when the open/close sensor 18a detects that the left door 12 is switched from the open state to the closed state or when the open/close sensor 18b detects that the right door 11 is switched from the open state to the closed state within a predetermined time period from the time when the object passing through the opening 10a is detected by the object detecting unit 111. According to this configuration, when the left door 12 or the right door 11 is closed and the left door 12 or the right door 11 is detected by the object detection unit 111 and photographed by the camera 60, it is possible to prevent the information of the food from being erroneously extracted from the image of the left door 12 or the right door 11.

In the above embodiment, the storage amount recognition portion 112 recognizes the amount of food items stored in each of the

shelves

13, 14, 15 of the refrigerating compartment 10 based on the detected weight detected by the

weight sensors

13a, 13b, 14a, 14b, 15a, 15 b. As another configuration of the storage amount recognition unit 112, the amount of food items stored in each of the

shelves

13, 14, and 15 of the refrigerating compartment 10 is recognized based on the detected illuminance detected by the

illuminance sensors

17a, 17b, and 17c in a state where the

illumination units

16a, 16b, 16c, 16d, 16e, and 16f are turned on. Alternatively, the amount of food items stored in each of the

shelves

13, 14, and 15 of the refrigerating compartment 10 may be identified by extracting an image portion of the food items from an image of the inside of the refrigerating compartment 10 captured by the camera 60 or a camera separately provided.

In the above embodiment, the image processing unit 120 performs the processing on the captured image by the camera 60, but the CPU110 may have the function of the image processing unit 120 and the CPU110 may perform the processing on the captured image.

In the above embodiment, the data of the sample image 134 and the expiration date reference list 135 are stored in the storage unit 130, but may be stored in the management server 520 and downloaded from the management server 520 to the control unit 100 of the refrigerator 1 when in use.

The sample image 134 may be stored in the storage unit 130 or the management server 520, or an image recognition program in which the characteristics of various foods or stored items such as colors, shapes, sizes, and the like are learned in advance may be installed in the CPU110, image part processing of the warehoused foods may be performed by the image recognition program, the matching rate may be calculated, and the names of the foods in the warehoused foods may be estimated and acquired. This eliminates the need for the sample image 134, and can reduce the storage capacity of the storage unit 130 or the management server 520, thereby enabling the processing for estimating the identification processing time of the food name of the food put in storage to be performed at a higher speed. The estimation of the food name of the delivered food is also performed in the same manner as described above.

In the above embodiment, the entry/exit determination unit 113 determines the entry and exit of food items in the refrigerating room 10 of the refrigerator 1, the food information acquisition unit 114 acquires information on the food items entered and the food items taken out of the refrigerating room, and the food information management unit 115 manages information on the food items stored in the refrigerating room 10. The switching chamber 20, the freezing chamber 40, and the vegetable chamber 50 can determine whether or not food is put in or out by including a passage object detection unit that detects objects passing through the

openings

20a, 40a, and 50a, and a storage amount recognition unit that recognizes the amount of food stored. Further, by providing a camera for photographing a range including the

openings

20a, 40a, and 50a, information on the foods put in storage and taken out of storage is acquired from the photographed image, and thereby information on the foods stored in the switching chamber 20, the freezing chamber 40, and the vegetable chamber 50 is acquired, and management of the foods can be performed.

Industrial applicability of the invention

As described above, the refrigerator according to the present invention can more reliably acquire information on foods put in the storage chamber by imaging the foods put in the storage chamber at an appropriate timing, and thus can be applied to a use for managing the foods stored in the refrigerator.

Description of the reference numerals

1 refrigerator

10 refrigerating chamber

10a opening part

11 Right door

12 left door

13 upper shelf

13 shelf

13a, 13b weight sensor

14 middle shelf

14a, 14b weight sensor

15 lower shelf

15a, 15b weight sensor

16a, 16b, 16c, 16d, 16r, 16f illumination unit

17a, 17b, 17c illuminance sensor

18a, 18b opening and closing sensor

20 switching chamber

20a opening part

22 open-close sensor

30 Ice making chamber

30a opening part

32 on-off sensor

32 step

32 on-off sensor

40 step

40 freezing chamber

40a opening part

42 opening and closing sensor

50 vegetable room

50a opening part

52 opening and closing sensor

60 vidicon

61 compressor

62 Cooling fan

63 cooler

64 condenser

100 control unit

110 CPU

111 passing object detection part

112 storage amount identification unit

113 warehouse-in/warehouse-out judging section

114 food information acquiring unit

115 food information management part

120 image processing part

121 image memory

130 storage part

Food list in 131 storehouse

132 warehouse food information

133 warehouse-out food information

134 sample image

Reference list of 135 best before dates

140 radio communication unit

141 date and time identification unit

400 terminal device

500 gateway

510 communication network

520 manage the servers.

Claims

1. A refrigerator having at least one receiving compartment, comprising:

a camera for shooting the opening of the containing chamber;

a detection unit which is provided on a side surface of the storage chamber and is located outside the refrigerator from the camera, and which detects that an object has passed through the opening;

a 1 st control unit that causes the camera to take an image when the detection unit detects that the object has passed through the opening;

a 2 nd control unit that causes the camera to take an image when the detection unit detects that the object has passed through the opening after the 1 st control unit causes the camera to take an image; and

and a food information acquiring unit that acquires information on the food put in the storage chamber from the image captured by the 1 st control unit and acquires information on the food taken out of the storage chamber from the image captured by the 2 nd control unit.

2. The refrigerator of claim 1 wherein:

further comprises an illumination part for illuminating the interior of the containing chamber,

the illumination unit is provided on the other side surface opposite to the side surface of the storage chamber provided with the detection unit through the opening,

the detection unit is an illuminance sensor and,

the 1 st control unit and the 2 nd control unit cause the camera to photograph based on a detection result of the illuminance sensor.

3. A refrigerator as claimed in claim 2, wherein:

the 1 st control unit causes the camera to capture an image when the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor changes from "reference illuminance" to "reference illuminance- α" or less, where α is a constant.

4. A refrigerator as claimed in claim 2 or 3, wherein:

the 2 nd control unit causes the camera to take an image when the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor changes from "reference illuminance- β", where β is a constant, to "reference illuminance" or higher.

5. A refrigerator as claimed in claim 1 or claim, wherein:

the receiving chamber is partitioned by a plurality of shelves,

the plurality of shelves are respectively provided with a weight sensor,

when the detection means detects that the object has passed through the opening, it determines whether the object is stored or removed based on a change in the weight of the object detected by the weight sensor.

6. The refrigerator of claim 1, further comprising:

an extraction unit that extracts characters from an image captured by the camera; and

a determination unit that determines a name of the object received in the receiving chamber based on the character extracted by the extraction unit.

7. The refrigerator of claim 6, wherein:

in a case where the extraction unit cannot extract the character from the image, the determination unit determines the name of the object put in the storage chamber based on a result of comparison of the image with a sample image.

8. The refrigerator of claim 1, further comprising:

a door for opening and closing the opening;

an opening/closing detection unit that detects whether the door is opened or closed;

the camera starts to be energized based on the open/close detection unit detecting that the door of the opening is open.

9. A refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the opening part is provided with a 1 st door and a 2 nd door,

starting to energize the camera when at least one of the 1 st door and the 2 nd door is opened.

10. A refrigerator as claimed in claim 9, wherein:

cutting off power to the camera when both the 1 st door and the 2 nd door are closed.

11. A refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the camera is disposed at an upper end of the opening.

12. A refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the storage chamber is a refrigerating chamber.