JP2000279362A - Dish washer, device and system for processing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make changeable washing condition according to shapes of stored dishes by connecting an un-contact information catalyst to dishes and connecting a washing part to a communicable communicating part. SOLUTION: An un-contact IC tag 50 as the un-contact information catalyst is connected with each of dishes, i.e., one flat dish, three bowls and five glasses by affixing and embedding. On the other hand, communication 120 of a dish washer 100 which can transmit and receive is connected with a washing part 160. A power source switch for the dish washer 100 is switched on by operating operation panel or the dish washer 100 is worked by operating a read out switch. Thereby, information of each dish is extracted by a CPU 150 by dint of using a memory from a signal of which a communication part 120 obtains and washing condition which controls the washing part 160 is decided based on the information then the washing part 160 is controlled based on the washing condition.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention generally relates to a dishwasher, and more particularly to a dishwasher using a contact or non-contact information medium and a reader therefor.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, dishwashers for automatically washing used tableware have become popular not only for business use but also for general households. Conventional typical dishwashers store dishware that has become dirty with leftovers in its housing, spray detergent or hot water onto the dish, flip off the dirt attached to them with water pressure, and then dry it. It is for washing dishes.

However, a typical dishwasher of the prior art has been designed to wash containers of various shapes having various stains by a uniform washing method. Thus, a sufficient cleaning effect could not be achieved. For example, dirty dishes include dishes to which starch is attached, such as bowls, dishes to which oil stains are attached, such as flat dishes, and dishes to which stains are not so attached, such as cups and glasses. Some have various shapes and are easily broken. There is also a problem that a strong jet jet applied to a fragile tableware such as a glass tableware breaks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a new and useful dishwasher, a processing apparatus and a processing system which solve such conventional problems. More specifically, an exemplary object of the present invention is to provide a dishwasher capable of changing washing conditions according to the shape of tableware to be stored. Also,
It is another exemplary object of the present invention to provide a processing system capable of adjusting processing conditions according to an object to be processed. In order to achieve the above object, a dishwasher of the present invention has a housing, a communication unit capable of communicating with a non-contact information medium connected to tableware, and a communication unit connected to the communication unit and receiving the communication unit. Under the washing conditions corresponding to the information on the tableware,
A washing unit for washing the tableware stored in the housing. According to the dishwasher of the present invention, for example, the non-contact information medium stores information including tableware material, shape, size, and food to be expected to be used, and the communication unit includes a Along with the features, the position of the tableware in the housing can be recognized. The cleaning unit determines cleaning conditions such as the type of detergent to be used, the spraying direction of the detergent and hot water, the spraying amount (time), the spraying intensity, the drying time, and the drying temperature from the characteristics and position information of the tableware, for example. The dishes can be washed.
Therefore, the dishwasher of the present invention can perform fine washing for each dish. Also, the processing apparatus of the present invention
The housing, a communication unit capable of communicating with an information medium connected to the storage, and a processing unit connected to the communication unit and under the processing conditions corresponding to the information on the storage received by the communication unit. A processing unit for processing the stored items. Since the processing unit changes the processing conditions according to the stored items, it is possible to perform fine processing on a plurality of types of stored items. The information medium may be a contact type or a non-contact type. Further, the processing system of the present invention includes an information medium connected to the object, an input device for inputting information of the object to the information medium, a communication unit capable of communicating with the information medium, A processing unit that is connected to the unit and processes the object under processing conditions corresponding to the information on the object received by the communication unit. The information medium may be a contact type or a non-contact type. In this case, the input device can input information whether the information medium can be updated or cannot be updated. For example, when the object is expected to receive uniform processing from the processing unit, the input device inputs non-updatable information to the information medium. On the other hand, when the object is expected to undergo another process later, history information such as the result of the previous process is input to the information medium in an updatable manner.
If the processing system of the present invention is applied to a dishwasher, for example, even if it is not possible to visually determine whether or not a certain dish has been washed, the dishware within a predetermined time after washing is registered in the information medium as washed. If this is done, it can be avoided to wash it repeatedly. Other objects and further features of the present invention will be made clear by the embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a cleaning system 1 including an automatic dishwasher 100 and tableware 10 according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In each of the drawings, members denoted by the same reference numerals represent the same members, and redundant description will be omitted. FIG. 1 shows an automatic dishwasher 100 of the present invention.
1 and a schematic perspective view of a tableware 10 to be washed thereby.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing communication between the dishwasher 100 of the present invention and the non-contact IC tag 50 connected to the tableware 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the dishwasher 100 of the present invention includes a housing 102, a lid 104, a basket 106, an operation unit 110, and detergent introduction units 112 and 114,
The tableware 10 to which foods and the like are to be attached and to be washed is inserted into the basket 106. In addition, the shape of each part is exemplary. The lid 104 is openably and closably attached to the housing 102, and the tableware 10 to be washed is mounted on the basket 106. Different kinds of detergents are put in the detergent introduction sections 112 and 114. Note that the number of detergent introduction portions may be selectively one. The operation unit 110 is a part where the user selects various operations including power on / off, and includes various buttons, switches, a liquid crystal display (LCD), and the like. In the present embodiment, the tableware 10 is, for example, one flat plate 12.
, Three bowls 14 and five cups 16. Oil such as meat dishes often adheres to the flat plate 12, starchy substances such as rice often adhere to the bowl 14, and beverages adhere to the cup. In addition, each tableware 10 has a non-contact IC
The tag 50 is connected by pasting or embedding.
The non-contact IC tag 50 has, for example, an antenna coil 54 and an IC chip 60 on a base material 52 as shown in FIG. Here, FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of the non-contact IC tag 50. Although the non-contact IC tag 50 is used in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the non-contact IC tag, but can be widely applied to a non-contact information medium.
Here, the “non-contact information medium” is a medium that includes an information recording module such as an IC chip and communicates with an external device such as a reader / writer in a non-contact manner. Therefore, as long as it is non-contact, the wavelength of the radio wave does not matter, and the length of the communication distance does not matter. A typical non-contact information medium is, for example, a non-contact IC card that communicates with a reader / writer using microwaves. Tableware such as the flat plate 12 has a variety of shapes, so that the non-contact information medium applicable to the present invention may have a card shape. However, its dimensions are the same as those of a credit card, so-called ISO (International Organization: International Organization).
zationfor Standardizatio
n) Size (length 54 mm, width 85.6 mm, thickness 0.7)
6m) is not limited. In this application,
"IC card" covers smart cards, intelligent cards, chip-in cards, microcircuit (microcomputer) cards, memory cards, super cards, multi-function cards, combination cards, and the like. Further, the non-contact information medium applicable to the present invention is not limited to a card, as in the non-contact IC tag 50. Here, the “non-contact IC tag” has the same function as an IC card, but includes all information recording media having a stamp size, a size smaller than that of a stamp, and a shape such as a coin. FIG. 3 conceptually shows the shape of the non-contact IC tag 50 and the antenna coil 54, and the actual non-contact IC tag 50 and antenna coil 54 can have desired shapes. Further, a dipole antenna or another antenna may be used instead of the antenna coil 54. The base material 52 is made of, for example, plastic. The antenna coil 54 is electrically connected to the IC chip 52 via a pair of connection terminals 56. If the tableware 10 has an engaging portion such as a handle like a mug, the non-contact IC 5 can be connected via a string, a metal wire, rubber, or the like.
0 and the tableware 50 may be connected. Therefore, the non-contact IC tag 50 described in this embodiment only needs to be connected to the tableware 10 by some means. In FIG. 1, a non-contact IC
The state in which the tag 50 is connected to the tableware 10 is omitted. The IC chip 60 includes a power supply circuit 62 and a transmission / reception circuit 6.
4, a memory 68, and preferably a logic control circuit 66.
And a clock (not shown). Non-contact IC
The tag 50 has no built-in battery, and the power supply circuit 62 obtains its operating power from electromagnetic waves received by the antenna 54 by electromagnetic induction. The transmission / reception circuit 64 has a demodulation circuit and a modulation circuit. The demodulation circuit detects the received radio wave and restores the baseband signal to obtain data therefrom. Further, the modulation circuit changes the carrier in accordance with the transmission data to transmit the data and transmits the carrier to the coil 54. As the modulation method, for example, ASK for changing the amplitude of the carrier (carrier) frequency, PSK for changing the phase, or the like can be used. The modulation circuit and the demodulation circuit are controlled by the logic control circuit 66 and operate in synchronization with the clock. The logic control circuit 66 may be realized by using a CPU or C
It may be realized without using a PU. The memory 68 is a ROM, RAM, EEPROM, and / or FR for storing data.
It is composed of AM and the like. The non-contact IC tag 50 is the communication unit 1
Communication can be performed based on the data with the logic 20, and the logic control circuit 66 can perform predetermined processing. Since the configuration and operation of these components can be easily understood by those skilled in the art, detailed description will be omitted. The memory 68 stores information on the corresponding tableware 10 as shown in FIG.
Here, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an exemplary data configuration stored in the memory 68. As shown in the figure, the memory 68 stores tableware shape data 401 and material data 40.
2, size data 403, and application data 404. Tableware shape data is, for example, 1 for a bowl shape,
Appropriate numbers and symbols indicating the shape of the tableware 10 are stored, such as 2 for the cup shape and 3 for the flat dish shape. The material data 402 is
For example, 1 for pottery, 2 for glass, 3 for wood, etc.
An appropriate number or symbol representing the material of the is stored. The size data 403 stores, for example, an appropriate number or symbol indicating the size of the tableware 10, such as 1 for small, 2 for medium, and 3 for large. The use data 404 is, for example, 1 for starch,
An appropriate number or symbol indicating a food or drink in which the tableware 10 is used is stored as 2 for a beverage, 3 for an oil dish, and the like. of course,
The information stored in the memory 68 is not limited to this. For example, when the cleaning is completed, the fact and the cleaning time can be received from the communication unit 120 and stored. As will be described later, in the present embodiment, the dishwasher 100 and the tableware 1 are used.
Although 0 is described, the present invention can be generally extended to a processing apparatus and an object to be processed. In that case, the corresponding memory 68 can store the processing status of the object to be processed. For example, even if it is difficult to visually determine the processing status, such as when the number of applications is stored when a plurality of overcoats are required or when a plurality of programs are stored, Can be accurately grasped. As a result, for example, data 3-1-3-3 is stored in the memory 68 of the non-contact IC tag 50 connected to the large oil cooking dish 12 made of ceramic. Similarly, the memory 68 of the pottery medium-sized starch bowl 14 has data 1-1-2-1 and the memory 68 of the glass medium-sized beverage cup 16 has 2-2-2-2.
Is stored. A table for understanding these numbers and symbols is also stored in the memory 152 of the dishwasher 100 shown in FIG. The antenna coil 54 is I
It is electrically connected to the C chip 60. The antenna coil 54 has a shape and dimensions of the corresponding tableware 10 and the communication unit 12.
It has a desired size, shape, self-inductance, and mutual inductance according to the shape and size of 0 and other conditions. For example, when viewed from above, the shape of the antenna coil 54 can have a desired shape such as a circle, a square, and an ellipse. The antenna coil 54 is formed by a wire bonding method or TAB (Tape Automated Bonn).
(ding) method or the like. FIG. 2 is a control system block diagram of the dishwasher 100 capable of communicating with the non-contact IC tag 50. Dishwasher 1
In 00, the communication unit 120, the CPU 150, the memory 152
And a cleaning unit 160. The communication unit 120 is provided, for example, on the upper back surface facing the basket 106 inside the housing 102. FIG. 5 shows a typical circuit configuration of the exemplary communication unit 120. The communication unit 120 of the present embodiment has a control interface unit 121 and an antenna unit 130, and both are connected by a cable 136. The antenna unit 130 transmits and receives a radio wave W having a predetermined carrier frequency fc to and from the non-contact IC tag 50, and communicates with the non-contact IC tag 50 using wireless communication. The radio wave W may be transmitted in an arbitrary frequency band (for example, 13.5
6 MHz) can be used. The control interface unit 121 is connected to the CPU 150. The control interface unit 121 includes a transmission circuit (modulation circuit) 122 and a reception circuit (demodulation circuit) 124
, A controller 126, and a memory 128. Accordingly, the communication unit 120 substantially functions as a communication device capable of transmitting and receiving. However, if the transmission function is unnecessary, the transmission circuit 122 can be omitted. The transmission circuit 122 converts the data stored in the memory 128 and / or data from a further external host device into a transmission signal by, for example, changing the amplitude of a carrier frequency (ASK modulation method) to convert the data into a transmission signal. Send to Further, the receiving circuit 124 converts a signal received from the non-contact IC tag 50 through the antenna unit 130 into a baseband signal to obtain data, and transmits the data to the CPU 150. The transmission circuit 122 and the reception circuit 124 include a plurality of drive circuits 123
And 125 and are driven by these drive circuits. It should be noted that a person skilled in the art can easily understand and realize the operation and configuration of the transmission circuit 122, the reception circuit 124, and the drive circuits 123 and 125, and thus a detailed description is omitted here. Also, the memory 128 is the memory 1
52 functions may be performed. The antenna unit 130 includes, for example, an antenna coil 132 and a matching circuit 134. As shown in FIG. 5, the matching circuit 134 includes, for example, a resistor and a capacitor, but is not limited thereto. As described later, a plurality of antenna units 130 may be provided to detect the position of tableware 10. Alternatively, a plurality of communication units 120 may be provided. In this embodiment, the housing 102 and the lid 104 function as a shielding member that shields electromagnetic waves. Examples of the shielding member include, for example, metals including iron. When the cover 104 is closed by such a shielding function, the communication unit 120 can communicate with the non-contact IC tag 50 in the housing 102.
Cannot communicate with tags. In addition, like this,
Making communication possible only when the non-contact IC tag 50 is in the storage space is only one embodiment of the present invention. The communication unit 120 is, for example, when the power switch of the dishwasher 100 is turned on by operating the operation panel 110, or
Operable when the read switch is operated. The communication unit 120 has an independent power supply, for example, the lid 104
May be configured to automatically start communication with the non-contact IC tag 50 when is closed. The closing of the lid 104 can be detected by a sensor or the like. CPU 150
Extracts the information of the tableware 10 from the signal obtained by the communication unit 120 using the memory 152, and based on the extracted information,
The cleaning conditions for controlling the cleaning unit 60 are determined, and the cleaning unit 160 is controlled based on the cleaning conditions. The cleaning conditions include, for example, the type of detergent to be used, the direction in which the detergent and hot water are sprayed, the temperature of hot water, the spray amount (time), the spray intensity, the drying time, and the drying temperature. The cleaning unit 160 includes a type of detergent jet nozzle and a type of hot water jet nozzle (not shown). Any structure known in the art can be applied to the injection nozzle and its peripheral mechanism, and thus a detailed description is omitted here. When the tableware 10 is small, such as a small cup, the antenna 54 of the non-contact IC tag 50 may be correspondingly small and the communication distance with the communication unit 120 may be shortened. Therefore, the communication unit 120 or the communication unit 120 may be optionally selected.
By providing the antenna 132 in the cage 106 and disposing the antenna 132 near the non-contact IC tag 50, communication between the two can be ensured. Hereinafter, the processing of this system will be described with reference to FIG. First, the dirty tableware 10 is placed in the basket 106 of the dishwasher 100 (step 100).
2). Next, the operation switch 110 is turned on by operating the operation panel 110 of the dishwasher 100 (step 1004). Accordingly, the communication unit 120 identifies the type, number, location, and the like of the tableware 10 (step 1006), and determines the type of detergent to be used,
The direction of spraying the detergent and hot water, the temperature of hot water, the spray amount (time), the spray strength, the spray strength, the drying time, the drying temperature, etc. are determined.
Thereafter, washing and drying are started (step 1008), and this is ended when a predetermined time elapses (step 10).
10). Optionally, the communication unit 120 transmits the end of the cleaning to the non-contact IC tag 50. Here, step 1006
An example of a method for detecting the position of the tableware will be described. For example, as described above, the communication unit 120 includes the housing 1
A plurality of antenna units 130 can be arranged inside 02, and the area can be divided below the non-contact IC tag 50 detected by each antenna unit 130. In this case, basket 1
06 is divided into a plurality of regions, and one antenna unit 130 is provided for each region. For example, the cage 106 is divided into three regions 301 to 303, and the antenna units 130 are assigned to the respective regions. Each antenna unit 130 has a size of each antenna coil 132 so that it can communicate only with the non-contact IC tag 50 in each region. Can be adjusted.
Note that if the communication distance between the non-contact IC tag 50 and the antenna unit 130 of the communication unit 120 is short as described above, the two can communicate only inside the housing. It will be understood that there is no need to construct As shown in FIG. 7, the area 301 has the tableware 14, the area 302 has the tableware 16, and the area 30 has the tableware 16.
3 has tableware 12. In this case, the CPU 150 sets a long time for directing the hot water injection nozzle (not shown) toward the region 303 having oil stains, and sets the region 301 having starchy stains.
In the area 302 where the fragile glass cup 16 is applied, the washing unit 160 is weakened in order to prevent destruction by reducing the spraying force of the spray nozzle or not spraying the detergent or hot water directly. can do. Operation panel 11
0 preferably has a display unit such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) for displaying a reading result by the communication unit 120, a washing status (eg, a description of a washing or drying process or an elapsed time), an operation guide, and the like. . Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention can be variously modified and changed within the scope of the gist. For example, in the present embodiment, the dishwasher 100 and the tableware 10 are described, but the present invention can be generally applied to a processing apparatus and an object to be processed. The process may be a process for completing a product such as a semiconductor element or a liquid crystal display or an experimental process, or a process of recording predetermined information (movie information, music information, etc.) on a completed product (eg, DVD or music CD). Or products that incorporate multiple completed components (e.g., CPU,
The present invention may be applied to a selective assembling process of a personal computer configured by optionally selecting a plurality of elements such as a memory and a motherboard. In this case, the non-contact IC tag attached to the object to be processed selectively displays not only the processing status but also the product and / or component price, warranty period, customer name, address and other customer ID information, and stored information. Management information such as the recorded time and the number of times the stored information has been updated can also be stored. Such management information is stored in a large number of customized products (for example, CD-RO storing desired songs, software programs, etc.).
This is particularly useful as information provided by a management system that manages those products and customers when repeatedly providing many customers with M and cosmetics tailored to the customer's skin. That is,
When the non-contact IC tag attached to the final product communicates with the communication unit connected to the management system, the management system can manage the shipment, loss, or bill of the product. In addition, when managing money and deposits in a safe that is frequently taken in and out, it is also possible to manage and guard things in the safe. That is, the processing performed by the processing device includes a management process, and the processing device is a concept including such a management system. In the processing system of the present invention, as described above, the non-contact IC tag is ROM-based (that is, the non-contact IC tag stores non-rewritable information, and the communication unit of the processing device is simply a non-contact IC tag). Function as a reading unit for reading the information of a non-contact IC.
It will be appreciated that the tag stores rewritable information and that the communicator of the processing device can be used to communicate with the contactless IC tag (to rewrite the information if needed). Further, although the present embodiment uses a non-contact IC tag, the distance between the communication unit of the processing device and each non-contact IC tag can be reduced to substantially zero. It can be applied to contact information media. For example, they can communicate by inserting a contact IC tag into a slit or the like provided on the bottom of the housing and having a function as a reader / writer. Non-contact IC tags are not limited in shape and size of contact type IC tags.
Same as tag. As the configuration of the contact type IC tag and the configuration of the reader / writer, any of those well known in the art can be used, and the detailed description is omitted here.

According to the dishwasher of the present invention, it is possible to perform fine washing for each dish, so that it is possible to sufficiently remove dirt from the dishes and to solve problems such as breaking glass dishes. be able to. Further, according to the processing apparatus of the present invention, since the processing unit changes the processing conditions according to the stored items, it is possible to perform fine processing on a plurality of types of stored items, thereby providing high quality processing. can do. Further, according to the processing system of the present invention, a contact or non-contact processing medium can be used as a ROM or a RAM, and a wide range of high-quality processing including management processing can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a washing system including an automatic dishwasher and tableware of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing communication between the dishwasher shown in FIG. 1 and a non-contact IC tag connected to the dish.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of a non-contact IC tag shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an exemplary data structure stored in a memory of the contactless IC tag shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of a communication unit of the dishwasher shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process of the cleaning system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a top view showing a state where tableware is stored in the basket of the dishwasher shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Washing system 10 Tableware 50 Non-contact IC tag 100 Automatic dishwasher 102 Housing 104 Cover 106 Basket 110 Operation panel 120 Communication unit 150 CPU 152 Memory 160 Cleaning unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A housing, a communication unit connected to a tableware and capable of communicating with a non-contact information medium, and a washing unit connected to the communication unit and under a washing condition corresponding to information on the tableware received by the communication unit. A dishwasher having a washing unit for washing the dish stored in the housing. 2. The information according to claim 1, wherein the information includes information on a shape of the tableware and / or a position of the tableware in the housing.
Dishwasher as described. 3. A case, a communication unit capable of communicating with an information medium connected to the storage item, and a processing condition connected to the communication unit and corresponding to information on the storage item received by the communication unit. A processing unit configured to process the storage items stored in the housing. 4. An information medium connected to the object, an input device for inputting information on the object to the information medium, a communication unit capable of communicating with the information medium, and connected to the communication unit. A processing unit for processing the object under processing conditions corresponding to the information on the object received by the communication unit. 5. The information medium is configured to store the information of the object to be processed in an updatable manner.
The processing system as described.