JP7323491B2 - refrigerators and refrigerator systems - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to refrigerators and refrigerator systems .

Patent Document 1 discloses a door opening time measurement unit 26 that measures the door opening time (time during which the door is open) when the door is opened and closed, and a door opening time storage that stores the total time measured by the door opening time measurement unit 26. 27, and when the user brings the antenna of the mobile terminal 22 close to the wireless transmission/reception part 21 of the refrigerator door and transmits a data request signal, the refrigerator transmits door open accumulated time data to the mobile terminal 22 (0044 , 0050).

JP 2013-238346 A

In Patent Document 1, the request signal from the mobile terminal 22 is used as a trigger to output the data calculated by the refrigerator so far. However, instead of a system in which a mobile terminal directly corresponds to each refrigerator as in Patent Document 1, a system in which a server is arranged between the refrigerator and the mobile terminal is sometimes used from the viewpoint of security, calculation speed, and the like. In this case, data such as the door opening time required for processing is transmitted from, for example, a plurality of refrigerators to the server, and then, if necessary, arithmetic processing is applied to the data and the processed data is transmitted to the corresponding mobile terminal. That is, communication from the refrigerator to the server and communication from the server to the mobile terminal are required. Sending the data stored in the refrigerator in response to an explicit request from the mobile terminal tends to increase the waiting time of the mobile terminal user. On the other hand, if data is sent periodically regardless of the status of the user of the mobile terminal, the frequency of communication tends to increase. There is a possibility that

The first invention made in view of the above circumstances,
a storage room;
a door capable of opening and closing the opening of the storage room;
a door sensor for detecting opening and closing of the opening by the door;
a transmission unit that transmits detection data of the door sensor to a server;
A refrigerator comprising a receiver,
transmitting the detection data to the outside of the refrigerator in response to occurrence of each of the first trigger, the second trigger, and the third trigger ;
The first trigger is receiving, via the receiving unit, that an application capable of exhibiting a function of outputting information using the detection data and other functions is activated or operated on the mobile terminal. and
the operation is an operation other than an operation of causing the portable terminal to output information using the detection data ;
The second trigger is when the door is closed after the door is opened,
The refrigerator , wherein the third trigger is every elapse of a predetermined time after the door is opened .

1 is a block diagram of a refrigerator system according to an embodiment; FIG. It is a figure which shows the screen display displayed by the function of the application installed in the portable terminal which communicates with the refrigerator of embodiment. It is a control flowchart figure which transmits the door opening cumulative time data of embodiment to a server. It is a figure which shows the time series of the process of the refrigerator system of embodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of refrigerator system S according to the embodiment.

Refrigerator system S includes one or more (M) refrigerators 10-1 to 10-M (hereinafter sometimes collectively referred to as refrigerator 10) and one or more (N) mobile terminals 20- 1 to 20-N (hereinafter sometimes collectively referred to as mobile terminal 20).

Refrigerator 10 and portable terminal 20 can communicate via LAN 52 , and can communicate via LAN 52 and WAN 54 . The LAN 52 is, for example, a home wireless LAN, and the WAN 54 is, for example, the Internet. The data server 56 is a server machine operated by the manufacturer of the refrigerator 10 or a person entrusted with it, etc., is connected to the WAN 54, and stores an image storage unit 912, a foodstuff storage unit 914, and a refrigerator information processing unit 916. I have.

Refrigerator 10 includes control unit 11 , storage unit 12 , communication unit 13 , operation/display unit 14 , freezer/refrigerator unit 15 , and housing 60 . The freezing/refrigerating section 15 includes a compressor, a heat exchanger, and the like. The operation/display unit 14 includes an LED display, a membrane switch, and the like, and displays various states of the refrigerator 10 to the user, and allows the user to input various commands via the membrane switch and the like. It's becoming

A housing 60 of the refrigerator 10 includes a refrigerator compartment 61 , a freezer compartment 62 , an upper switchable compartment 63 , a lower switchable compartment 64 , a vacuum chiller compartment 65 , and an ice making compartment 66 . Also, these may be collectively referred to as "storage chambers 61 to 66". Each of these storage compartments is provided with a door.

The storage unit 12 stores various information. The communication unit 13 communicates with the mobile terminal 20 and the like via the LAN 52 . The control unit 11 includes general computer hardware such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM (Random Access Memory), and ROM (Read Only Memory). Programs, various data, etc. are stored.

The mobile terminal 20 also includes a control section 21 , a storage section 22 , a communication section 23 , an operation/display section 24 , an imaging section 26 and a microphone 27 . The operation/display unit 24 includes a flat panel display and a touch sensor provided on the surface thereof, and displays various information to the user and allows the user to input various commands. It's becoming Communication unit 23 communicates with refrigerator 10 and the like via LAN 52 or WAN 54 .

The storage unit 22 stores various information. The data stored in the storage units 12 and 22 does not necessarily have to be stored inside the refrigerator 10 or the mobile terminal 20. A storage device for storing these data is provided in another device such as a server, and the LAN 52 or via WAN 54. The shooting unit 26 shoots moving images or still images based on commands from the control unit 21 . A microphone 27 collects sound.

The control unit 21 includes general computer hardware such as a CPU, RAM, and ROM. The ROM stores control programs executed by the CPU, various data, and the like.

In the refrigerator system S of FIG. 1 , the refrigerator control unit 11 counts the cumulative door opening time and transmits the cumulative door opening time via the LAN 52 or WAN 54 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a screen display displayed by a function of an application installed in a mobile terminal that communicates with the refrigerator according to the embodiment. The cumulative door opening time is displayed on the display screen of the mobile terminal 20 ( FIG. 2 ), and is stored in the data server 56 . The accumulated door open time may be displayed by totaling without distinguishing the doors of each storage compartment, or may be classified into refrigerating compartment doors and other doors as shown in FIG. , each door may be displayed separately.

When the user activates the application by operating the mobile terminal 20 , the mobile terminal 20 starts communicating with the data server 56 . This allows the data server 56 to detect that the application has started. Each mobile terminal 20 is linked (paired, etc.) with the refrigerator used by the user, for example, at the time of initial setting of the application.

If the refrigerator transmits the cumulative door opening time too frequently, the communication load and the processing load on the server 56 side will increase.

Therefore, the timing of transmitting the accumulated door opening time is set when the need is high. The timing includes "the user opens the door and then closes the door and a certain amount of time has passed", "the user opens the door and a certain amount of time has passed with the door open", and "the application that allows the user to display the total door opening time". during operation". FIG. 3 is a control flow chart for transmitting the cumulative door opening time data to the server. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the time series of processing of the refrigerator system of this embodiment.

As a premise, the data server 56 communicates with the portable terminal 20 when the user activates or operates an application capable of displaying the cumulative door opening time. Accordingly, it can be detected that the application is operated and the user is more likely to check the cumulative door opening time. When data server 56 detects this, data server 56 notifies corresponding refrigerator 10 to that effect (step S100).

When refrigerator 10 is notified that an application capable of displaying the cumulative door opening time is being operated (step S100, Y), refrigerator 10 transmits untransmitted cumulative door opening time data to server 56 (step S101). ). Here, operating an application that can display the cumulative door opening time means not only "transitioning to the cumulative door opening time display screen" but also "starting the application" and "starting the application in the background." The data server 56 detects from the communication history between the portable terminal 20 and the data server 56, or it is within 1 to 2 minutes after the detection. In other words, the operation here refers to an operation other than the operation of directly confirming the cumulative door opening time, such as confirming the remaining amount of water in the refrigerator water tank or changing the temperature setting of the storage compartment. May contain unrelated operations. As a result, the refrigerator 10 can transmit the most recent data to the data server 56, or the data server 56 can use the most recent data to perform the required data before the mobile terminal explicitly requests confirmation of the cumulative door opening time. It is possible to perform such arithmetic processing in advance.

On the other hand, the refrigerator 10 checks whether the door of each storage compartment is open as an internal process (step S102). If the door is open, the refrigerator control unit 11 counts the cumulative opening time of the corresponding door (step S103). The cumulative door opening time is counted at intervals of, for example, one second while the door is open. When information is received from the data server 56 or the portable terminal 20 that the user is operating an application capable of displaying the cumulative door opening time even while the door is open (step S104), the data server 56 stores the cumulative door opening time. (step S105). However, once the refrigerator 10 has transmitted the unsent data to the server 56, the unsent data may not be sent again for a certain period of time, for example, about 5 minutes. By doing so, the frequency of communication between the refrigerator 10 and the server 56 can be reduced while sending the latest information to the server 56 to some extent.

The data server 56 that has received the cumulative door opening time uses this information to perform arithmetic processing necessary to generate an image including a graph of the cumulative door opening time to be displayed on the portable terminal 20 . As a graph, the horizontal axis represents time such as the date, and the vertical axis represents the accumulated door opening time. The data server 56 may perform all of the arithmetic processing, or the necessary arithmetic processing steps may be performed from the beginning to the middle, and the rest of the steps may be performed by the portable terminal 20 .

After that, when the door is closed (step S106), the accumulated door opening time is transmitted to the data server 56 (step S107). Further, after the door is opened, for example, every minute (step S108), the accumulated door opening time is transmitted to the data server 56 (step S109). When the data server 56 receives new door opening time information from the refrigerator 10 , the data server 56 updates the door opening total time information related to this refrigerator 10 and updates the display image displayed on the portable terminal 20 . This update process may be performed each time information is received from the refrigerator 10. Considering that the processing speed of the data server 56 is much faster than that of the mobile terminal 20, the cumulative door opening time is calculated from the mobile terminal 20. This may be done after receiving a request for information from In any case, the data server 56 that has received the information request from the mobile terminal 20 transmits to the mobile terminal 20 data created in advance or created in response to the information request.

10 Refrigerator (equipment)
20 mobile terminal (terminal)
21 control unit 24 operation/display unit 56 data server (server)
61-66 Storage room 916 Refrigerator information processing unit

Claims (3)

a storage room;
a door capable of opening and closing the opening of the storage room;
a door sensor for detecting opening and closing of the opening by the door;
a transmission unit that transmits detection data of the door sensor to a server;
A refrigerator comprising a receiver,
transmitting the detection data to the outside of the refrigerator in response to occurrence of each of the first trigger, the second trigger, and the third trigger ;
The first trigger is receiving, via the receiving unit, that an application capable of exhibiting a function of outputting information using the detection data and other functions is activated or operated on the mobile terminal. and
the operation is an operation other than an operation of causing the portable terminal to output information using the detection data ;
The second trigger is when the door is closed after the door is opened,
The refrigerator , wherein the third trigger is every elapse of a predetermined time after the door is opened . a refrigerator according to claim 1;
A refrigerator system comprising: a server that, after receiving an information request from the mobile terminal, performs arithmetic processing on the detection data received from the refrigerator, and transmits the data to the mobile terminal. Receipt by the refrigerator that the application has been activated or operated on the mobile terminal is
the mobile terminal and the server communicate in response to the activation or operation of the application;
3. The refrigerator system according to claim 2, wherein the server notifies the refrigerator according to the communication.

Images