CN214381061U

CN214381061U - Image acquisition system for refrigerator

Info

Publication number: CN214381061U
Application number: CN202023286882.2U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 夏川林; 钟文涛
Original assignee: Shanghai Clobotics Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Clobotics Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-30
Filing date: 2020-12-30
Publication date: 2021-10-08
Anticipated expiration: 2030-12-30

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the field of image information technology, and more particularly, to an image acquisition system for a refrigerator. According to the image acquisition system for the refrigerator, the two camera modules are arranged at different positions in the refrigerator, so that the storage area in the refrigerator can be completely covered, the acquired image content is more comprehensive, the influence of the shelves on the visual field of the camera modules is reduced, and finally the articles on each shelf can enter the shot image.

Description

Image acquisition system for refrigerator

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of image information technology, and more particularly, to an image acquisition system for a refrigerator.

Background

A refrigerator is a modern device that can be used to refrigerate items. The refrigerator has good effect of postponing storage of various articles which are inconvenient to store at normal temperature. Also provides a good preservation environment for various refrigerated foods and promotes the development of the goods preservation industry in the society.

At the present stage, in order to check the state of refrigerated goods in the refrigerator in real time, a camera is usually additionally installed in the refrigerator, and the camera is connected with background equipment or a visual screen, so that the internal scene of the refrigerator can be observed through the visual screen.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure provides an image acquisition system for a refrigerator. The system comprises:

the two camera modules are respectively arranged at the positions close to the top edge and the bottom edge on the inner side of the refrigerator door, and the shooting range can cover the storage area of the refrigerator;

the triggering module is used for sensing whether the opening and closing angle of the refrigerator door meets a threshold value so as to trigger the camera module to take a picture of the storage area;

the communication module is used for transmitting the image data acquired by the camera module to a background;

and the power supply module is used for supplying power to the camera module, the trigger module and the communication module.

Further, the power supply module comprises a rechargeable battery for supplying power to the camera module, the trigger module and the communication module

Further, the appearance and the placing position of each module in the system cannot influence the shelf in the storage area to place conventional articles.

Further, when the triggering module senses that the opening angle of the refrigerator door reaches 30-60 degrees, the camera module is triggered to take a picture.

Further, the triggering module senses the opening angle of the refrigerator door through a gyroscope.

Further, the triggering module sends a control command for photographing to the camera module through the communication module.

Further, the system also includes an elongated mounting base plate;

the mounting bottom plate is provided with a sliding rail connected with two ends;

one side surface of the camera module and one side surface of the power supply module are both provided with sliding chutes which are matched with the sliding rails and can realize the sliding of the camera module on the sliding rails;

the two camera modules are respectively arranged on the sliding rails close to the two ends of the mounting bottom plate through sliding grooves;

the power supply module is positioned between the two camera modules and is arranged on the sliding rail through a sliding groove;

one side of the mounting bottom plate, which is far away from the sliding rail, is fixed on a door of the refrigerator;

the camera of the camera module mounted on the mounting base plate faces the storage area.

Further, the mounting bottom plate comprises a camera bottom plate used for mounting the two camera modules and a power supply bottom plate used for mounting the power supply module;

the two shooting bottom plates are detachably connected to two ends of the power supply bottom plate through buckles.

Further, the power supply bottom plate comprises two combined bottom plates which are detachably connected together through a buckle.

Further, the installation bottom plate is fixed on the door of the refrigerator through a double-sided adhesive tape.

In the image acquisition system for the refrigerator provided by the disclosure, on the one hand, the two camera modules are arranged at different positions in the refrigerator to completely cover the storage area in the refrigerator, so that the acquired image content is more comprehensive, the influence of the shelves on the visual field of the camera modules is reduced, and finally, the articles on each shelf can enter the shot image.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the exemplary implementations of the embodiments. The illustrated embodiments are for purposes of example only and do not limit the scope of the claims. Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the connection of the module structure of the image capturing system for a refrigerator according to the present embodiment;

fig. 2 is a schematic view of the installation between the camera module and the power supply module and the installation base plate provided in the present embodiment;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a mounting baseplate provided by the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

As can be seen from the above description, in order to view the state of the refrigerated goods inside the refrigerator in real time, one of the methods is to install a camera inside the refrigerator to transmit the scene inside the refrigerator to the back end by using the camera (the back end herein is not the back end in software development, but refers to a device or a station or a terminal that needs to use the image inside the refrigerator, such as a screen, a server, etc.).

As can be seen by observing the most information on the market and in the industry, only one camera is currently installed in one storage area in a refrigerator. This one camera needs to be installed at a middle position of the door of the refrigerator, and also needs to have a wide angle to ensure that the camera view can cover a corresponding one of the storage areas. The storage area referred to in the disclosure means an area which is still communicated after a detachable baffle plate and a shelf in the refrigerator are removed and is regarded as a storage area)

However, in practical applications, the visual field of the camera is easily blocked by the shelves, so that it is difficult for the camera to see all the commodities, and the acquired image information cannot fully identify the commodities in the first row of each shelf. In order to enable the camera arranged in the way to shoot the commodities of each layer in the storage area as much as possible, the distance between the shelves in the storage area needs to be adjusted, so that the utilization efficiency of the storage area of the refrigerator is greatly reduced. If a camera is installed for each shelf in the storage area, although the information of the goods in each shelf can be acquired more comprehensively, more cameras are needed, and the cost is further increased.

In order to solve the problems of the prior art, and to reduce the investment cost while obtaining the best view effect, the present disclosure provides an image obtaining system for a refrigerator. Two groups of camera modules are arranged at different positions in the refrigerator, so that the storage area in the refrigerator can be completely covered, and the acquired image content is more comprehensive. Simultaneously owing to set up two camera modules, can reduce the influence of layer frame to camera module's the field of vision by a great extent to make article on each layer frame can both get into in the image of shooing.

And still set up mounting plate, can make things convenient for fixed camera module more. Because the camera module is connected with the mounting base plate through the sliding groove and the sliding rail, the camera module can be taken down from the mounting base plate very conveniently when the camera module goes wrong or needs to be adjusted, and the disassembly time is greatly saved.

The mounting bottom plate is also formed by combining a plurality of plates with buckles, so that the mounting bottom plate has a cutting line and can be properly adjusted according to the actual size of the refrigerator, and the application range of the system provided by the disclosure can be widened.

The following provides a detailed description of an image capturing system for a refrigerator according to the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. Advantages and features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the claims and the following description. It is to be noted that the drawings are in a very simplified form and are not to precise scale, which is merely for the purpose of facilitating and distinctly claiming the embodiments of the present disclosure.

It is to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used in the specification have the meaning commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art unless otherwise defined. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.

In the specification, spatial relations such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "front", "rear", "high", "low", and the like may explain the relation of one feature to another in the drawings. It will be understood that the spatial relationship terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, features originally described as "below" other features may be described as "above" other features when the device in the figures is inverted. The device may also be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, fig. 1 is a schematic connection diagram of a module structure of an image capturing system for a refrigerator according to the present embodiment; fig. 2 is a schematic view of the installation between the image pickup module and the power supply module provided in the present embodiment and the installation base plate.

The image acquiring system provided in the present embodiment is described by taking the example of being installed in a vertical refrigerator that is commonly used in a shopping mall, a supermarket, and the like and can be used for displaying beverages.

The two camera modules 11 are respectively arranged at the positions close to the top plate and the bottom edge of the refrigerator door, and the shooting range can cover the storage area of the water tank.

And the triggering module 12 is used for sensing whether the opening and closing angle of the refrigerator door meets a set threshold value or not so as to trigger the camera module to take a picture of the storage area.

The communication module 13 is used for transmitting the image data acquired by the camera module 11 to a background;

and the power supply module 14 is used for supplying power to the camera module 11, the trigger module 12 and the communication module 13.

For the camera module 11, in order to ensure the camera function and avoid the camera module 11 from being too large in volume after being manufactured, small cameras with small volume may be generally adopted, for example, small cameras similar to those on mobile phones, notebook computers and tablet computers may be used as the cameras in the camera module 11.

In order to more accurately locate the mounting position of the camera modules 11, one of the camera modules 11 is disposed between the first layer shelf and the second layer shelf and close to the height of the first layer shelf in the present embodiment. And the other camera module 11 is arranged between the penultimate shelf and is close to the height of the penultimate shelf. The first layer rack, the second layer rack, the penultimate layer rack and the penultimate layer rack are all directions from top to bottom as reference directions.

The triggering module 12 in this embodiment is to sense whether the opening and closing angle of the refrigerator door meets the set threshold, that is, to obtain the opening and closing angle information of the refrigerator door, so that the gyroscope can be used as the main implementation original of the triggering module 12. And the gyroscope can be integrated in the camera module 11 to save the volume and the occupied space of the whole system. Once the opening and closing angle of the refrigerator door meets the set threshold (the present disclosure sets the opening and closing angle to be in the range of 30-60 °, and sets the angle in the closed state of the refrigerator to be 0 °) the camera module 11 is triggered to complete one-time photographing.

As can be seen from fig. 1, the power supply module 14 can supply power to both the camera module 11 and the trigger module 12 and the communication module 13. The communication module 13 is responsible for triggering the transfer of commands or captured image data so that the image capturing system provided by the present disclosure can form a complete closed loop.

The power supply module 14 may be provided with a rechargeable battery for storing electric energy, so as to avoid an external circuit and reduce the influence on the performance of the refrigerator.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, the image capturing system provided by the present disclosure further includes a mounting base plate having an elongated shape. The mounting plate 100 is provided with two ends for mounting the camera module 11 and a middle position for mounting the power supply module 14.

In order to facilitate the attachment and detachment, the mounting plate 100 is provided with a rail 101 having a length corresponding to that of the mounting plate 100, and it is considered that the rail 101 connects both ends of the mounting plate 100. The camera module 11 and the power supply module 14 are provided with sliding grooves (not shown) matching with the sliding rails 101. The term "matching" as used herein means that the sliding groove can only slide in (contact with) or out (separate from) from the end of the sliding rail, and when sliding in the sliding rail, the sliding groove can slide along the track of the sliding rail 101. Of course, a certain friction force is required between the sliding chute and the sliding rail 101, so that the camera module 11 will not slide freely on the sliding rail by its own weight.

The mounting base 100 may be attached to the inner side of the refrigerator door by a double-sided adhesive tape and may satisfy the position requirement when the camera module 11 is mounted. Of course, since the slide rail 101 is disposed on one side of the mounting base plate 100, the slide rail 101 is generally disposed toward the storage area of the refrigerator, that is, one side away from the slide rail 101 is fixed to the refrigerator door.

After the installation base plate 100 is adhered to the refrigerator door, the camera module 11, the power supply module 14, and the like may be sequentially installed by means of the cooperation of the slide rail 101 and the slide groove.

Of course, based on the installation position, when actually designing and manufacturing each module of the image acquisition system, the problems of volume and occupied space are also considered, namely, the normal arrangement of the conventional articles in the refrigerator and the normal use of the shelves in the refrigerator are ensured not to be influenced after installation.

As shown in fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the mounting baseplate provided in the present disclosure. In one embodiment, the mounting base plate 100 is configured by a plurality of base plates connected in sequence by the fasteners 113. One possible way of example is to include two camera bays 111 for mounting the camera modules 11 and a power bay 112 for mounting the power module 14.

The end of the image pickup base plate 111 and the two ends of the power supply base plate 112 may be provided with a snap 113 capable of being engaged with each other according to the position relationship between the power supply module 14 and the image pickup module 11, so that the image pickup base plate 111 and the power supply base plate 112 are connected to form the mounting base plate 100 through the snap 113. The interfitting projections and recesses shown in fig. 3, for example, form the snap 113 connection described in this embodiment.

Of course, the volume (length) of the power supply module 14 can be made larger to supply power to the image capturing system for a long time, and the power supply base plate 112 needs to be extended appropriately. In order to increase the adaptability of the installation base plate 100, it can be seen that the installation base plate 100 is formed by connecting a plurality of combined base plates through the fasteners 113, for example, one camera base plate 111 is a combined base plate, and when the power supply base plate 112 is larger, two combined base plates are connected through the fasteners 113. However, the base plate for mounting the camera module 11 is located at both ends, so that the size can be further cut to a smaller size, for example, the base plate located at both ends in fig. 3 is much shorter than the base plate for mounting the power supply module 14 located at the middle.

In summary, in the image acquiring system for the refrigerator provided by the present disclosure, on one hand, the two camera modules 11 are arranged at different positions in the refrigerator to completely cover the storage area in the refrigerator, so as to ensure that the acquired image content is more comprehensive, reduce the influence of the shelves on the visual field of the camera modules 11, and finally enable the articles on each shelf to enter the photographed image.

On the other hand, the camera module 11 is also fixed by the installation base plate 100, so that the camera module can be conveniently taken down from the installation base plate 100, and the disassembly time is greatly saved.

In the last aspect, the mounting base 100 is tailorable and can be adjusted appropriately according to the actual size of the refrigerator, thereby widening the applicable range of the image capturing system.

The above description is only for the purpose of describing the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure, so that any changes and modifications made by those skilled in the art in light of the above disclosure are within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. An image acquisition system for a refrigerator, comprising:

2. The image capturing system for the refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the power supply module includes a rechargeable battery therein for supplying power to the camera module, the trigger module and the communication module.

3. The image capturing system for a refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the shape and placement of the modules in the system do not affect the placement of conventional items on shelves in the storage area.

4. The image acquisition system for the refrigerator as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the triggering module senses that the opening angle of the refrigerator door reaches 30-60 °, the camera module is triggered to take a picture.

5. The image capturing system for the refrigerator of claim 4, wherein the triggering module senses an opening angle of the refrigerator door through a gyroscope.

6. The image acquisition system for the refrigerator as claimed in claim 4, wherein the triggering module sends a control command for taking a picture to the camera module through the communication module.

7. The image capturing system for a refrigerator of claim 6, wherein said system further includes an elongated mounting base;

8. The image capturing system for a refrigerator of claim 7, wherein the mounting base includes a camera base for mounting two of the camera modules, and a power base for mounting the power module;

9. The image capturing system for a refrigerator of claim 8, wherein the power supply base includes two modular bases removably coupled together by a snap fit.

10. The image capturing system for a refrigerator of any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the mounting base is secured to a door of the refrigerator by double-sided adhesive tape.