JP2003090661A - Storage cabinet with private room and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mechanism and a method capable of jointly using and individually occupying a storage cabinet such as those represented by a refrigerator, to provide a mechanism and a method for acquiring information capable of being utilized for an inventory management from a storage article and a mechanism and a method which can be conveniently used while dealing with an increase in size of the refrigerator and which does not escape a cold gas. SOLUTION: As the mechanism capable of individually occupying, a storage cabinet comprises a plurality of lockable doors or a plurality of movable storage cases therein, and incorporates a user certifying function and a registering function for user and occupying object. The cabinet comprises a movable storage case therein, one exit/entrance to output/input a storage article, thereby reducing a leakage of the cold gas in the case of opening/closing the door. Or, the cabinet comprises a plurality of doors to open or close only necessary doors. The cabinet measures a weight of the case, photographs an image of the interior of the case, and recognizes the image to discriminate individual storage articles.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a function of automatically opening and closing a storage box such as a refrigerator and a warm storage box when a plurality of storage boxes and a user authentication function are provided or when a moving storage box is provided. The present invention relates to a device structure, a control method, and a data structure in the case of having a function for personal use, a function of acquiring information of stored items, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a storage box having a lockable storage box, it is known that each storage box has a key opening / closing function with a keyhole or an electronic key like a locker. Further, there are a meat factory and a container-type storage as storages in which stored items can be moved, and one having a user authentication function at a door of a mouth through which people enter and exit is known.
However, there are no known storages that allow both shared use and personal occupancy, and refrigerators that have a mechanism for personal occupancy.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] When a refrigerator, a refrigerator, or the like is shared and used at home or in a communal place such as a dormitory, there may be cases where the other items are stored as they are.
In particular, for foods and the like that other users want, it is general that the user attaches his / her name, a mark, or a message such as "Don't eat" to the product and uses it while managing it. However, in the case of manual management that depends only on the conscience of such a person, it may be intentionally or accidentally that one's own food is eaten by another person. Moreover, since the management of one's own food is left to the self, it often happens that the expired food is left in the refrigerator for many months and continues to occupy the area in the refrigerator.

As the depth of the front and rear of the refrigerator becomes smaller and the refrigerator becomes slimmer, it is necessary to increase the height or width of the refrigerator in order to increase its capacity. However, increasing the size in the height direction makes it inconvenient for people with short heights, and increasing the size in the width direction also increases the size of the door, and a large amount of cold air is missed each time the door is opened and closed. This leads to a deviation from the direction of energy saving, which is strongly demanded by manufacturers in response to the increasing awareness of environmental problems in recent years.

Therefore, the main problems to be solved by the present invention are summarized in the following three. One is to provide a mechanism and method that enables shared use and personal occupancy for storage such as a refrigerator.
Providing a mechanism and method for obtaining information that can be used for inventory management from stored items. Third, providing a mechanism and method that can be used conveniently while keeping the cool air out while responding to the increase in size of refrigerators. It is to be.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is provided with a plurality of lockable doors or a plurality of movable storage boxes as a mechanism for enabling an individual occupation, and has a user authentication function and a user and an object to be occupied. Provide a storage with a registration function.

Further, in order to reduce the leakage of cool air due to the opening and closing of the door, the present invention has a movable storage box inside,
Even if there is only one doorway, it is possible to take in and out stored items, or it is possible to open only the necessary door by providing multiple doors. In addition, the provision of a movable storage box inside also realizes storage up to the deep inside, corresponding to the increase in size of the refrigerator.

An essential item for realizing these is to know the inside of the storage box without opening the door. For this purpose, the present invention photographs and stores the contents of the storage box. Thus, the image can be presented to the output device corresponding to the storage box.

Further, at this time, for a user who does not want other people to know the contents of the personally-occupied storage box, an image of the contents of the personal storage box is presented in the case of the shared state, and In this case, the image of the appearance of the user, the icon selected by the user, and the character string input by the user are presented.

Further, in order to effectively utilize the cold air in the refrigerator having the movable storage box inside, the present invention arranges the storage boxes close to each other in temperature close to each other, and stores the storage temperature greatly different from each other. Place the box far away.

Further, in order to obtain the inventory information from the stored items, in the present invention, a device for measuring the weight of the paper pack and reading the expiration date information on the side and its control are performed. The present invention also measures the weight of a storage box by measuring the weight of the storage box, taking an image of the inside of the storage box, recognizing the image to determine the individual storage items, and analyzing the individual storage items. To do.

Further, in order to easily call up the storage box to the outlet in a refrigerator having a movable storage box, in the present invention, when a temperature is designated, an empty storage box having that temperature is moved to the outlet. According to the present invention, when the stored item is photographed in front of the refrigerator, the storage box containing the same type of stored item is moved to the outlet.

Further, in order to easily open and close the door in a storage box equipped with an automatic door, the present invention learns voices and human actions in advance, and when the voices and actions are performed, automatic To open and close the door.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Since there are a wide variety of embodiments, the structural improvement will be described first, and then the signal processing for control will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the appearance of a refrigerator having a moving storage box. The display unit 101 is a storage box 10.
It is a liquid crystal display that displays the contents of 4 and stores 1
02 Prepared for each storage box stored inside.
The image capturing unit 103 is a CCD camera installed inside the outlet of the storage box and can capture the contents of the storage box. The captured image is saved and displayed on the display unit 101. The door 105 has a structure that normally closes the outlet of the storage box and does not let cold air escape. Further, the storage box 104 is made of a material having little friction so that it can be smoothly taken in and out. The button 106 is a button for requesting a storage box that is unused or has an empty area inside.
The three buttons have different temperature settings, and indicate a strong refrigeration button, a medium refrigeration button, and a weak refrigeration button.
For example, if the medium refrigeration button is pressed, if there is an empty space in the temperature-set storage boxes in the category of medium refrigeration, it can be moved to the vicinity of the outlet.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view briefly showing an example of the internal structure of a refrigerator having a moving storage box. 201 is
It is a pulley for moving the storage box 104 up and down inside the refrigerator. The storage box is a belt 2 hung on the pulley 201.
With holders 202 that are attached to 10 at equal intervals,
The storage box 104 is fixed and released. When the door 105 of the refrigerator is opened, the storage box 104 is carried to the outlet by the rollers 204 that rotate. Near the outlet, a set of a CCD camera and lighting for shooting the inside of the storage box 2
08 and an electronic scale 205 for measuring the weight of the storage box are provided.

3 (a) and 3 (b) are schematic views for explaining the joint portion of the storage box 104 with the belt 210. As shown in FIG. FIG. 3 (a) shows an overall structure in which the storage box 104 is joined so as to be sandwiched between the two pulleys 201, and FIG. 3 (b) shows a related structure between the joining portion 303 and the belt 210. There is a groove 305 on the side surface 308 of the storage box 104, and the belt 21
The protrusion 307 attached to 0 is caught by hooking it in the groove 305. The operation of removing the joint portion 303 is realized by controlling the pulley 201 and the roller 204 in FIG. 2 when the storage box is at the lowermost layer position.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the appearance of a refrigerator having an automatic door. The door 402 is opened and closed by the drive rod 403,
The drawer 405 is driven by the groove 404 of the gear and opens and closes. Reference numeral 401 denotes an instruction input device, which, in the case of a CCD camera, compares the movement of the user's face standing in front of it with previously registered information, and opens or closes a specific door or drawer. When the instruction input device 401 is a microphone, voice recognition is performed to determine whether the door or drawer is open and the operation is performed, and the specific door or drawer is opened or closed.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the structure of the automatic door. The drive rod 403 is driven by the servo mechanism 501 that expands and contracts according to the pump 502 that compresses or decompresses air, and the door 402 is opened and closed.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining the structure of the automatic drawer. A motor 602 drives a gear 601 which drives the groove 404 to open and close the drawer. The auxiliary roller 604 is attached as necessary to smoothly open and close the drawer.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view briefly showing the internal structure of another embodiment of the refrigerator having the moving storage box described with reference to FIGS. Each storage box moves in the refrigerator by the rotation of the rollers that cover the circumference. The front rollers 701 and 706 are paired with the back rollers 707 and 708, respectively, and by sandwiching the storage boxes 702 and 704 from the front and back, they can be fixed in the hollow or moved up and down. In addition, the side roller 70
Nos. 9, 710 and 713 have a structure in which the storage box is pressed from the left and right. When the side rollers 709 and 713 loosen the storage box 703 so that the storage box can move freely, the storage box 703 moves to the operating table 7.
The storage box 703 is also moved as the working table 712 is placed on the table 12 and moves in the depth direction (right direction in the drawing). At this point, the side roller 709 allows the storage box 7
When 03 is fixed and it is rotated upward together with the back rollers 707 and 708, it is moved upward. The same structure is used at the top of the storage box, and the storage box can be moved back and forth in the depth direction. Further, after fixing the storage box 703 with the rollers 709, the operation table 712 is moved in the front direction (left direction in the drawing), and is moved downward with the rollers 709 and 710 to lower it like the storage box 705. be able to. Loosen roller 710, floor roller 711
You can move the storage box to the outlet.
By controlling the above operations, the storage box
After temporarily retracting to the position of 05, the storage box can be inserted into an arbitrary position by rotating the remaining storage box. However, if it is possible to pack a maximum of 2N storage boxes in the storage area above the operating table 712, by setting the number of storage boxes to (2N-1) or less,
The storage box can be rotated freely in the storage area.

FIG. 8 is a PAD diagram illustrating a method of requesting a storage box having an empty area for each temperature category. First,
In process 801, it is confirmed whether or not the empty areas have been confirmed for all the storage boxes. If there is an unconfirmed storage box, confirmation work is actually started. First, in process 803, the unconfirmed storage box is moved to the photographing position and the contents of the storage box are photographed. Next, in process 804, the storage box is moved to the weight measurement position and its weight is measured. In process 805, process 80
The percentage of empty area is estimated by analyzing the image data and weight data obtained from 3 and 804. The ratio is stored in the record of the corresponding storage box in the empty area database, and the empty area confirmed flag is set to "1". This flag "1"
Means confirmed. By the way, if all the storage boxes have the same size, the empty areas of the storage boxes can be directly compared by the ratio. This is repeated by the loop 802 for the one in which the empty area confirmed flag means 0, which means unconfirmed. The above is assumed to be executed in advance before the user presses the button 106 in FIG.

The user now presses any of the buttons 106 of FIG. 1 to obtain the temperature category of operation 806 from the user. In process 808, the storage box having the largest empty area is selected from the storage boxes in the temperature category designated by the user. This is the provided storage box. In step 809, the size of the empty area is compared with a preset threshold value. If it is below the threshold value, step 8 is performed.
The temperature category is changed at 11 and repeated until all the temperature categories are tried at loop 807. If the threshold is exceeded, the loop 807 is exited (process 810). Process 81
If there is a provided storage box whose empty area is equal to or larger than the threshold value in 2, the storage box is moved to the takeout port in step 813. If not, a message to the effect that there is no is displayed to the user in process 814.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the data structure of the empty area database necessary for the processing of FIG. In each record, a storage box number field 902, an empty area confirmed flag field 903, and a temperature category field 90
4, it has an empty area ratio field 905. For example, the record 901 shows that the storage box number is 1, the empty area confirmed flag is “0”, the temperature category is A, and the empty area ratio is 50%. Here, the empty area confirmed flag being “0” indicates an unconfirmed state, and the temperature categories indicate strong refrigeration, medium refrigeration, and weak refrigeration, respectively.

FIG. 10 shows a refrigerator in which a constant temperature gradient is set in the refrigerator and the storage boxes can be rearranged at arbitrary positions, and an appropriate storage arrangement is performed according to the temperature setting for each storage box. It is a PAD figure showing the method. If the storage arrangement according to the temperature gradient is not set at the startup of the refrigerator, it is determined in step 1001 and sorted by the following processing. First, in process 1002, the insertion position corresponding to the temperature setting of each storage box is calculated. In the subroutine 1004, one storage box is inserted into the corresponding insertion position. The sorting is completed by executing this for all the storage boxes in the loop 1003.
The definition of this subroutine 1004 is described below in 1008. Here, when the temperature setting of a certain storage box is changed, the changed state is input in step 1006,
In process 1007, the insertion position is calculated. Then, in subroutine 1008, the storage box is inserted into the insertion position. This process is repeated in loop 1005 until the end.

Here, the processing contents of the subroutine 1008 will be described below. When the storage box and its insertion position are designated, the whole is rotated by one in step 1010, and the loop 1009 is repeated until the storage box is directly above the retracted position. Then, in process 1011 the storage box is moved to the retracted position directly below. Next, in process 1013, the whole is rotated by one, and repeated in loop 1012 until the insertion position is directly above the retracted position, and then in process 1014, the storage box at the retracted position is moved to the immediately above insertion position. Be moved. In this way, the designated storage box is inserted into the insertion position.

FIG. 11 is a PAD diagram illustrating a method of acquiring stored item information. In the figure, image information, weight information, and stored date and time information are handled as information to be acquired. First,
As initialization at the time of startup, image data, weight information, and date / time information already stored in one record in the stored item information database are displayed on the liquid crystal display in process 1102, and all of them are displayed in loop 1101. Repeat for record. Next, the operation state of the loop 1103 is entered. When it is detected in processing 1104 that the door is closed, in processing 1105 the storage box in which the storage items have been taken in and out is moved to the camera photographing position. Process 1106
At step 1107, the illumination is turned on, the inside of the storage box is photographed, and at step 1108 the illumination is turned off. Next, process 1
The weight of the storage box is measured by operating the weight scale at 109 and lifting the storage box. In processing 1110, the weight information of the stored item is obtained by correcting the weight of the storage box itself. In process 1111, date and time information is acquired from the clock function. In processing 1112, it is checked whether or not there is a record related to the storage box whose information has been acquired in the database, and if it exists, processing 1114 is performed.
The image data, weight information, and date / time information taken at are updated. If it does not exist, a record of the storage box is newly added in processing 1115, and image data, weight information,
Save date and time information. In process 1113, the updated information is reflected on the liquid crystal display. Loop 1103
Then, these processes are repeated.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram for explaining the data structure of a database of stored item information necessary for the processing of FIG. Field 1202 shows the storage box number, field 1
Reference numeral 203 is a field for storing weight information, field 1204 is a field for storing date / time information, and field 1205 is a field for storing image data. For example, the record 1201 is data of the stored item number 1, the weight of the stored item is “100 g”, the date and time information is “2001/01/10, 12:42”, and the image data is “image data 1”. .

FIG. 13 is a PAD diagram showing a method of requesting a storage box by recognizing stored items. By presenting the storage item to be stored in front of the camera of the refrigerator having the storage box for moving, the storage box storing the same type of weekly report item can be provided to the user. First, process 1
At 303, the signal is obtained from the interpersonal sensor, and the loop 13
Repeat until the person is detected at 02. If a person can be detected, the power saving mode is canceled in step 1304, and power is supplied to the storage item recognition unit, the storage box drive unit, and the like. Process 130
In step 5, the item placed in front of the refrigerator is photographed, and the image feature amount is extracted from the image data to be the stored item feature amount.
In process 1307, the classification feature amount and stored item feature amount in one record of the stored item classification database are collated, and in process 1308, the best collation result compared with the previous collation result is temporarily stored. In the loop 1306, the processes 1307 and 1308 are repeated for each record. Process 130
At 9, using the best stored collation result,
It is determined whether or not there is a corresponding classification in the stored goods classification database. If so, in process 1310,
Move the storage box corresponding to the applicable classification to the outlet. Although not shown, if a plurality of storage boxes are applicable, a candidate is presented and selected in the process 1310 to the user. If it does not exist, in process 1311, it is determined whether or not an empty storage box exists, and if it exists, one of the empty storage boxes is moved to the takeout port. If it does not exist, a message prompting the user to specify the storage box is displayed in process 1313, the user specifies the storage box in process 1314, and the storage box is moved to the outlet in process 1315. After that, the stored item characteristic amount extracted from the stored item in the processing 1305 is used, and the classification characteristic amount of the corresponding record in the stored item classification database is updated in the processing 1316,
Improve recognition accuracy. Finally, in processing 1317, the power saving mode is set. The above is repeated in the loop 1301 while operating the refrigerator.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing the data structure of the stored goods classification database required for the processing of FIG. A field 1401 is a classification number indicating a classification category of stored items, and a field 1402 is a corresponding storage box number.
A field 1403 is a field for storing a classification feature amount for classifying stored items. For example, in the record 1404, three storage boxes 2, 3, and 7 are registered. In this way, when a plurality of storage boxes are registered for one classification category, it is possible to receive a designated input from the user, select it, and make a request to the outlet. Further, in the record 1405, the same storage box as the record 1404 is registered. This indicates that the stored items with different classification features are also stored in the same storage box,
Such a condition is also allowed.

FIG. 15 is a PAD diagram illustrating a method of locking and unlocking a door key by user authentication in a storage having a plurality of lockable doors. In FIG. 15, locking and unlocking of the key once is described. First, in process 1501, the image feature amount characterizing the user is extracted from the image data of the image of the user in front of the refrigerator, and is set as the user feature amount.
First, in process 1503, the authentication feature amount in one record of the user authentication database is collated with the user feature amount, and in process 1504, the best collation result compared with the previous collation result is temporarily stored. In the loop 1502, the processes 1503 and 1504 are repeated for each record. By the processing 1505, the collation determination is performed using the best collation result temporarily stored, and if the collation is not performed, the loop 15
Move to 06. A loop 1506 is a process of executing a loop once, determining whether there is an input error, and repeating the loop if any. In the loop, process 1
At 507, the input of the user ID is accepted from the user.
If you do not have a user ID, "guest"
Enter a temporary ID such as. If it is determined in step 1508 that the input ID is "guest", a new user ID is issued and presented to the user in step 1509, and a record is added to the user authentication database in step 1510. A new user ID and user feature amount are registered. If it is determined in the process 1508 that the input ID is other than “guest”, and it is determined in the process 1511 that the input ID exists in the user authentication database, the corresponding record in the user authentication database is processed in the process 1512. The authentication feature quantity of is updated to improve the recognition accuracy. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 1511 that the input ID does not exist in the user authentication database, step 1513
The input error is displayed at, the loop 1506 receives the input error determination, and repeats the loop. In process 1514, all the door locks related to the authenticated user or the newly registered user are released. At this point, the user can freely open and close the door. Process 151
The timer is started at 5 and the time when the lock is released is set. Next, in loop 1516, the loop is repeated until it times out. In the loop, processing 151
In step 7, the door number and addition or deletion are specified by the user, and in step 1518, the specified door number is added to or deleted from the record corresponding to the user ID in the user authentication database and updated. In processing 1519, the registration status is displayed. If the timer times out, process 15
Move to 20 and lock all closed doors except shared doors. The door that is open at that time will be locked as soon as it is closed.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram showing the data structure of the user authentication database necessary for the processing of FIG. A field 1601 is a user ID for distinguishing users, a field 1602 is a door number, and a field 1603 is an area for storing an authentication feature amount. For example, record 1604
In FIG. 3, three user IDs “100”, door numbers “1”, “2”, and “7” and an authentication feature amount “authentication feature amount 1” are stored.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view showing the appearance of a refrigerator having a movable storage box and a display for each storage box. It reflects how the display is displayed for personal use. On the liquid crystal display 1701, an image of the vegetables stored in the first storage box is displayed. The fact that the stored items are displayed in a clear manner also means that they are not occupied by anyone and can be shared. Nothing is displayed on the liquid crystal display 1703, which means that the second storage box is empty. On the liquid crystal display 1705, "Mom" is displayed in the character string, indicating that the sixth storage box is occupied by the mother.
Items stored in the storage box are not displayed until the person is authenticated. A face image is displayed on the liquid crystal display 1707, indicating that the fifth storage box is occupied by the user of that face. The face image is taken by the camera 1702. Further, the camera 1702 authenticates the user and enables the user to operate the storage box occupied by the user. The registration information can be controlled by the liquid crystal display 1706 with a touch panel. The display 1706 is an input screen for selecting whether the designated storage box is shared or occupied. The display on the liquid crystal display 1706 with a touch panel will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The button 1704 is a storage box button used by the user to specify a storage box. The first time you press a button, if the bin it represents is a shared bin or a bin occupied by that user,
It has the role of immediately moving the storage box to the outlet. When the button 1704 is pressed after the operation of the liquid crystal display 1706 with a touch panel is performed, the operation is to specify the storage box in various situations.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram for explaining a mode transition and its display in the liquid crystal display with a touch panel having the structure of FIG. Display 1801
Is a screen on which it is possible to select whether the storage box is “shared” or “privately” occupied. It is possible to take a picture of a user with the camera 1702 of FIG. 17, perform user authentication from the image signal, and change the storage box occupied by the user to shared use, and the storage box that was used in common. Can be changed to the user's private occupation. Here, when the "Share" character on the liquid crystal display on the touch panel is pressed, the screen changes to display 1802. "The inside of the storage box will be shot" is displayed, and at the same time the storage box is changed to shared use, the contents of the specified storage box are shot by the camera separately installed inside the storage box. The image data is stored and displayed on the liquid crystal display of the corresponding storage box in FIG. When the "shared" character is pressed on the storage box that has already been shared, it is treated as an instruction to retake an image. When the “personal” character is pressed on display 1801, the screen moves to display 1803. The user can further select a method of displaying that he / she is occupied on the liquid crystal display from among three of “shooting”, “picture”, and “character”. Here, if the user presses the "capture" character, the screen changes to display 1805, and the moving image captured by the camera 1702 of FIG. 17 is displayed on the liquid crystal display of the designated storage box. If you press the word "Shutter" when the image you like is displayed, the still image is saved and fixed on the LCD display. When the "picture" character is pressed on display 1803, the screen changes to display 1806.
A picture is displayed with an icon so that you can select it as an image showing yourself. Pressing the left and right arrows shifts the picture to the left or right, and another picture is displayed. When you press the "character" character in display 1803, the screen is displayed.
It changes to 04, and it becomes possible to input a character string. On this screen, specify consonants and vowels and enter hiragana,
You can convert to Kanji by pressing the "Convert" character. The "cancel" character means cancel, and the "decision" character means kanji conversion or confirmation of a character string. When a picture is selected on display 1806 or a character string is confirmed on display 1804,
The screen moves to display 1805, and the face image input mode is set.
Photographing is performed by the same operation as when the "photograph" character is pressed on the display 1803, but the photographed image data is used for improving the accuracy of user authentication.

FIG. 19 is a PAD diagram for explaining a method of weighing stored items by recognizing the stored items. As a result, the weighed information can be used for, for example, searching for recipes of dishes that can be prepared using foods in stock. First, the determination 190
At 1, it is determined whether or not the stored item database is updated. Although not shown in the figure, the determination of Yes is made when it corresponds to a regular update day such as noon every Sunday or when the user requests an update. Processing 1
At 902, version information is received from the server of the information update service via the network, and at 1903, the version is determined. If the version on the server side is newer, the latest stored item database is downloaded from the server in process 1904. After that, in the process 1905, the confirmed flags of all the records of the stored item weighing database storing the result of weighing the stored items are set to 0, that is, the unconfirmed state. In process 1907, the confirmed flag is fetched for one record from the stored item weighing database. If the confirmed flag is “1” (confirmed), the process returns to loop 1906 and the same process is performed for all stored item weighing databases. Repeat for the record. If the confirmed flag is not “1”, first one image data is extracted from the storage box information database in process 1909, the process described below is repeated for each record of the stored product database in loop 1910, and then the process is performed. At 1914, the confirmed flag of the record is set to "1". Inside the loop 1910, processing 191
At 1, the recognition template is retrieved from one record in the stored item database. A part of the image data obtained in the process 1909 is matched with the recognition template in the process 1913, and when the judgment 1914 is matched, the area of the region is detected in the process 1915, and the process 1916 is performed. One is counted as the number of matching areas. When matching is completed for all areas of the image data in the loop 1912, the loop is exited, and in processing 1917, the area information and the number thereof, and the weight information retrieved from the stored goods information database are used to calculate the weight information of the stored goods database and Compared with the area area information,
Estimate the weight of the stored items. In processing 1918, the estimation result is stored in the corresponding record of the stored item weighing database. At this time, if different items are stored in the same storage box, they are saved as another record.

As for the confirmed flag of the stored item weighing database, it is necessary to reset the confirmed flag of the corresponding record when the stored item is put into or taken out of the storage box. Then, by the process of FIG. 19, it is possible to measure and estimate the storage box in which the storage items are taken in and out.

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram showing the data structure of the stored item database required for the processing of FIG. This database is a database provided by the information update service of the service company, and by updating the information, it is possible to increase the number of recognizable stored items and improve the recognition accuracy. Field 2001
Is a registration number that distinguishes the recognition templates that match the stored items. A field 2002 shows a unit for counting stored items. The field 2003 is the name of the recognition target. A field 2004 is a recognition template, and this data is used to perform matching with image data. The field 2005 is the average weight per unit of the stored item for the template data. A field 2006 is an average area area per unit of the stored items for the template data. The fields 2005 and 2006 may be not only average information but also value distribution information and value range information in order to improve the estimation performance of the metric. Alternatively, it may be a parameter for that template of that item for a function that estimates the metric. A plurality of different recognition templates may be prepared for the same recognition target, as in records 2007 and 2008.

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram showing the data structure of the stored goods weighing database required for the processing of FIG. It is a database that stores the recognized weighing results of stored items. Field 2601 is the data number, field 26
02 is a storage box number, field 2603 is a confirmed flag, field 2604 is a unit of measurement, field 26
05 indicates the weighing. A character string is attached to the unit of measurement in the field 2604 so that it is possible to know which stored item is used as a unit.

FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a device for obtaining the weighing data of stored items, and is an external view of a weighing device for obtaining the weight and expiration date information of a paper pack beverage or the like. The refrigerator door 2201 is usually provided with an area for storing paper-packed beverages and the like. When the clip-shaped weighing device 2204 is hooked and pinched on the upper part of the paper pack, the cable is sucked up by the cable outlet 2202 at the base, and the paper pack 2203 is lifted. At that time,
The weight is measured and the weight information can be acquired.

FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a weighing device for acquiring the information on the weight and the expiration date of a paper pack beverage or the like. In the clip 2302, two plates having a shape like the plate 2312 are movably attached to each other, and pressure is applied between the clips 2302 by a spring 2303 so that the clip is closed. When sandwiching the clip in the upper part of the paper pack, the tip of the clip is opened by applying a force as with 2301 and 2305 with fingers. Cable 2304
Has a strength that enables the weight of the paper pack to be raised, and further includes wiring for exchanging power and information for operating the scanner 2306. Rod 2311 and tube 2
307 are movably assembled to allow the scanner 2306 to be pressed against the top of the paper pack in parallel. The scanner 2306 reads the expiration date information described as 2309 on the upper side surface of the paper pack. The hook 2308 allows the paper pack 2310 to be lifted and weighed by being hooked in the recess of the opening of the paper pack 2310 and pulling up the cable 2304.

FIG. 24 is a PAD diagram showing a method of acquiring the weight and expiration date information of a paper-packed beverage or the like by using the structure shown in FIGS. 22 and 23. First, processing 190
The opening and closing of the door is detected at 2, and the loop is repeated at loop 2401 until the door is closed. In the parallelization 2403, the processing flow to the loop 2404 and the processing flow to the loop 2409 proceed at the same time. First, the flow of processing to the loop 2404 will be described first. In process 2405, the cable is pulled up by one step, and in process 2406, the weight at that time is measured. This is repeated in the loop 2404, and when the weight reaches the maximum value, the offset value including the weight of the clip or the cable is subtracted in processing 2407 to obtain the weight information of only the paper pack. Then, in process 2408, the cable is returned to the original state. Next, the flow of parallel processing to the other loop 2409 will be described. In process 2410, the image data for one line is read, and in process 2411, the reading unit of the scanner is shifted by one line. Loop this 24
The processing is repeated until the reading unit reaches the end of the scanner at 09, and the entire image data is constructed from the read line data at 2412. Next, in process 2413, the reading unit is returned to the original position, and in process 2414, the expiration date information is read from the image data by character recognition. As described above, when the two processing flows of parallelization 2403 are completed,
By processing 2415, the weight information and the expiration date information are associated with each other and stored in the paper pack information database.

FIG. 25 is a PAD diagram showing a method of opening and closing a door by voice in a refrigerator having a plurality of automatic doors.
The method for registering and recognizing the user's voice is described. It explains about opening and closing the door once. Process 25
In 01, the state of the registration button for activating the voice registration mode is checked, and if it is determined in the determination 2502 that it is not in the pressed state, the voice operation mode is set and the processing 2511 is performed.
Check the voice input. If the voice is detected in the determination 2512, the voice is recognized in the process 2513, and each symbol information is generated from the voice. One piece of symbol information generated in processing 2515 is taken out, and the corresponding operation or door information is searched from the voice determination database. In loop 2514, the process is repeated until the door information and the motion information are gathered, and the process 2516 is performed. Here, the designated operation is actually performed for the designated door. On the other hand, if it is determined in the determination 2502 that the button is in the pressed state, the voice registration mode is set and the process moves to the loop 2503. First, in process 2504, the door input information is input from the user, and in process 2505, the user utters a voice for designating the door, and voice recognition is performed so that the voice can be distinguished from other voices. Create some symbol information. In process 2506, the door designation information and the voice symbol information are associated with each other and stored in the voice determination database. Process 2507
Ask the user to select from the motion information provided to the user. In process 2508, the user utters a voice designating a motion, recognizes the voice, and creates symbol information which is a symbol distinguishable from other voices. Process 2509
The operation specifying information is associated with the voice symbol information and stored in the voice determination database. In process 2510, the user is prompted to input the registration end. If the registration is not ended, loop 2503 repeats the loop. After that, the processing shifts to the processing 2511 as the voice operation mode. Here, any voice may be used to specify the door, as long as it can distinguish the door and the operation, such as "No. 1" or "Dad's". Further, as the operation information, it is possible to select information related to the operation and state of the door, such as "fully open", "half open", "door fixed", "door free", and "closed". Any voice may be used to specify the motion information as long as it can be distinguished from the motion or the door.

FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram showing the data structure of the voice determination database necessary for the processing of FIG. A field 2601 is a registration number for distinguishing registered voices. A field 2602 is a field indicating a recognition target indicated by a voice, and doors and actions are distinguished. A field 2603 is a field showing audio symbol information.

[0044]

According to the present invention, it is possible to have a private room dedicated to oneself in a refrigerator shared at home or in a common living place such as a dormitory, so that one's own food can be eaten by others. To prevent such. In addition, it is possible to acquire inventory information such as the weight and the number of foods that can be used for inventory management and recipe search. Also, even if the refrigerator becomes large,
Energy is saved by reducing the escape of cold air, and it is possible to use it conveniently even for people with a short height.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an external appearance of a refrigerator including a moving storage box.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an internal structure of a refrigerator including a moving storage box.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a joint portion of a storage box.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of a refrigerator having an automatic door.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of an automatic door.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of the structure of an automatic drawer.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the internal structure of another embodiment of a refrigerator having a moving storage box.

FIG. 8 is a PAD diagram showing an example of a method of requesting a storage box having an empty area for each temperature category.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of an empty area database.

FIG. 10 is a PAD diagram showing an example of a method for performing an appropriate storage arrangement according to the temperature setting for each storage box.

FIG. 11 is a PAD diagram showing an example of a method of acquiring stored item information.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a database of stored item information.

FIG. 13 is a PAD diagram showing an example of a method for requesting a storage box by recognizing stored items.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a stored item classification database.

FIG. 15 is a PA showing an example of a method of locking and unlocking a door key by user authentication in a storage box having a plurality of lockable doors.
Figure D.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a user authentication database.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of an external appearance of a refrigerator including a movable storage box and a display for each storage box.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram illustrating a mode transition and its display in a liquid crystal display with a touch panel having the structure of FIG.

FIG. 19 is a PAD diagram showing an example of a method of weighing a stored item by recognizing the stored item.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a stored item database.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a stored item weighing database.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a weighing device that obtains information on the weight and expiration date of a paper pack beverage or the like.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a weighing device that obtains information about the weight and expiration date of a paper-packed beverage or the like.

FIG. 24 is a PAD diagram showing an example of a method of acquiring the weight and expiration date information of a paper pack beverage or the like.

FIG. 25 is a PAD diagram showing an example of a method of opening and closing a door by voice in a refrigerator having a plurality of automatic doors.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a voice determination database.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: display unit, 102: storage, 103: imaging unit, 1
04: storage box, 105: door, 106: button, 201:
Pulley, 202: Fixture, 204: Roller, 205: Electronic scale, 206: Door, 208: Set of CCD camera and illumination, 303: Joining part, 305: Groove, 306: Belt, 3
07: protrusion, 308: side surface of storage box, 401: instruction input device, 402: door, 403: drive rod, 404: groove, 40
5: drawer, 501: rod, 502: pump, 503:
Door, 601: Gear, 602: Motor, 603: Groove, 60
4: auxiliary roller, 701: front roller, 702: storage box, 703: storage box, 704: storage box, 705: temporary retract position, 706: front roller, 707: rear roller, 7
08: back roller, 709: side roller, 710: side roller, 711: floor roller, 712: working table, 71
3: side roller, 1701: liquid crystal display (display of contents of storage box), 1702: camera, 1703: liquid crystal display (empty display), 1704: button, 1705: liquid crystal display (character string display), 1706: liquid crystal display with touch panel , 1707: Liquid crystal display (face image display), 2201: Door, 2202: Cable outlet, 2203: Paper pack, 2204: Weighing device,
2301: direction of force, 2302: clip, 2303:
Spring, 2304: Cable, 2305: Direction of force, 23
06: Scanner, 2307: Cylinder, 2308: Hook, 2
309: expiration date information, 2310: paper pack, 231
1: bar, 2312: board.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yasuo Notohara             7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki Prefecture             Inside the Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd. (72) Inventor Junnosuke Nakatsugawa             7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki Prefecture             Inside the Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd. (72) Inventor Sadao Hirose             800 Tomita, Ohira-cho, Shimotsuga-gun, Tochigi             Hitachi Co., Ltd., Cooling & Heat Division (72) Inventor Takamasa Kawaguchi             1099 Ozenji, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture             Ceremony company Hitachi Systems Development Laboratory F term (reference) 3F022 AA02 BB02 FF26 FF28 MM07                       MM19 MM22 MM26 MM51 MM59                       MM70 PP03 PP04 PP05 QQ17                 3L045 AA03 LA01 LA17 NA15

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of storage boxes, a door that corresponds to the storage boxes and allows storage items to be taken in and out of the storage box, and a lock that corresponds to the doors and that enables the doors to be locked. , Receiving box input, receiving box selecting means for selecting one or a plurality of receiving boxes, user authenticating means for specifying a user, and specifying one or a plurality of receiving boxes obtained from the receiving box selecting means Information and the information for identifying the user obtained from the user authentication means in association with each other, and the dedicated information storage means for storing the information for identifying the storage box corresponding to the user identified by the user authentication means. And a lock control unit that opens and closes one or more locks corresponding to the information storage box. 2. A user information acquisition unit for acquiring, as electronic information, an image of a user or a symbol representing an individual user, and a user information storage unit for storing the electronic information acquired by the user information acquisition unit for each user. A user information display means for displaying the electronic information stored by the user information storage means in association with a storage box occupied by a user corresponding to the electronic information. Warehouse. 3. A weight measuring means for measuring the weight of an object from the tension of the cable or the rod by pulling up the object connected to the cable or the rod, and an object at the end of the cable or the rod, The object connecting means for connecting to the rod, the image acquisition means for capturing the image of the object surface in the cable or the rod or the object connecting means, the weight information from the weight measuring means and the image acquiring means An inventory management device, comprising: inventory information storage means for storing image information. 4. A method of acquiring and displaying information of stored items stored in a mobile storage box, wherein when a door of the storage box is closed, image information of the inside of the storage box by a photographing means at a photographing position of the storage box. To obtain the weight information of the storage box by subtracting a preset offset value from the value obtained by the weight measuring means at the weight measurement position of the storage box, and the image information, the weight information and the stored date and time information. Stored item information, which includes a process of storing the information in association with the information for identifying the storage box, and a process of displaying the image information, the weight information, or the date / time information for each storage box by a display unit. Acquisition display method. 5. A method of opening and closing a door lock, comprising: a registration process of previously registering user information acquired from a user and information specifying one or more storage boxes in association with each other; Information and anyone who authenticates the user by collating the acquired user information with the user information registered by the registration process, and specifies the storage box associated with the user specified by the registration process. A user identification process of presenting information identifying the usable storage box to the user, an unlocking process of opening the door to open / close the storage item if the door is closed, and a user instruction to close the lock. Locking, characterized in that it has a locking process for closing all open doors unless input or closed the doors of the storage for a certain period of time. How to unlock.