JPH04155169A - Inventory control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To cleary distinguish display mode and to reduce input operation of each mode by putting each diode indifferent luminous condition at each specified mode in a control unit. CONSTITUTION:On a board 19 of a display panel 9, two-color light emitting diode(LED) 20 is fixed in such a way as to face a recessed part 18. The two- color LED 20 holds a red emitting part and green emitting part in a container, and uses an element which can change luminous condition of whole of the container from red to green, varying the impressed voltage to each diode individually. On a first display 10A, a mode specifying key part for specifying one of the plurality of display mode of an inventory control device 3, that is, input model, cancel mode, stock confirmation mode, timer mode and lock mode, and a time displaying part 22 are arranged. On a second display 10B, 36 compartments 14 in total, 4 columns vertically and 9 rows horizontally, are provided, on each of which is printed illustrations of different kinds of foods.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a display device that displays the inventory status of articles stored and stored in a refrigerator or the like.

(B) Conventional technology Conventionally used as a display device that manages the inventory status of items stored and stored in a refrigerator or the like, and notifies you when a predetermined storage period determined for each item has elapsed. For example, there are (1) Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-137280 and (2) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-200183.

The above-mentioned publication (■) includes a setting means that also serves as a display section for a plurality of stored items and sets a predetermined storage period for each stored item, and a predetermined storage period for each stored item measured by a timer. A storage period notification device is disclosed which is provided with one notification means for notifying each storage item that the storage period has elapsed.

On the other hand, the above bulletin (■) describes a management device that displays the remaining storage days for each item based on the storage date and shipping date when the check key is operated. In this case, a technology has been disclosed in which the item is memorized and each time the door is opened, a notification is given that the number of remaining storage days has fallen below a predetermined value.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention The above publication (iii) does not have a means to confirm the storage period of stored items, and is only notified after a predetermined storage period has elapsed. Lack of storage period confirmation function for inventory management. In addition, there is no means for distinguishing and displaying the display state caused by the operation when storing stored items and the display state caused by the operation when leaving the warehouse. Even if the user accidentally presses the switch for the exit operation, the user cannot be made aware of this and there is a vulnerability in which information that has already been input may be deleted by mistake.

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned publication (■), if the predetermined inventory days for each item have elapsed when the check key is operated, a notification is issued each time the door is opened to cause the item to be taken out. However, when entering and exiting goods, you must enter the number of goods in stock, and when entering multiple types of goods, the input operation becomes particularly complicated, making it difficult to perform input operations easily. was there.

Therefore, the present invention provides an inventory management device that clearly distinguishes display modes and reduces input operations for each mode.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The inventory management device of the present invention includes a display panel on which a plurality of types of articles and display modes are displayed, and a plurality of article specification keys provided corresponding to each display on the display panel. and two-color light emitting diode, counter for counting date and time, and input mode
A mode designation key that designates one of multiple display modes such as erasure mode and inventory confirmation mode, a display section that displays the number of days the item will be stored, and a display section that displays the operating status of the corresponding diode based on the operation of each designation key. The control device controls the display state of the display section, and this control device sets each diode to a different light emitting state for each designated mode.

In addition, in order to clarify the correspondence between specified articles and storage days in the inventory confirmation mode, the control device specifies that when the article specification key is operated after the inventory confirmation mode is specified with the mode specification key, When the light emitting diode corresponding to the specified article is changed to a different light emitting color, control may be performed to display the number of storage days from the date of storage.

Furthermore, in order to encourage storage of items, the control device is equipped with a storage unit that stores a predetermined appropriate storage period for each item, and when the storage period from the date of storage exceeds the appropriate storage period, , it is preferable to control the light emitting diode corresponding to the specified article to light up.

(E) Function Generally speaking, two-color light emitting diodes are constructed by housing LEDs with red and green light-emitting parts in a single container, and changing the voltage applied to each LED (thereby, the overall effect of the container is It is an element that can change the coloring state from red to green, and by using the characteristics of this element, the coloring state is different for each display mode corresponding to the mode specification key.
By making the applied voltage different, the display mode and LED
There is a one-to-l correspondence with the color development state. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the number of mode designation keys and lighting devices.

In addition, when the inventory confirmation mode is specified and the item specification key is operated, the number of storage days will be displayed in 6 when the light emitting diode corresponding to the key changes to a different color.
The specified item and the number of storage days will be clearly displayed, making it easier to distinguish between the items, especially if there are multiple items entered.

Furthermore, if the number of storage days exceeds the appropriate storage period, the diode corresponding to the item will automatically light up, so this lighting state can be used as an alarm display. If the light is lit in red, the warning display effect will be further increased.

(f) Example The present invention will be described in detail below based on the drawings.

An inventory management device 3 as a display device of the present invention is attached to the front surface of the door 2 of the refrigerator 1. This inventory management device 3
may be integrated into the door 2, or may be removably attached to the front of W2 using a magnet or a hook, etc. In this embodiment, a type that is detachably attached to the door using a magnet 4 is adopted. ing.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a case body of the inventory management device 3, which is made of, for example, synthetic resin. Reference numeral 9 denotes a rectangular display panel made of a translucent material such as synthetic resin, and panel sheets 11, 11, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 characters or illustrations were displayed on a protective sheet. It has a four-layer structure in which a thin membrane switch 12 and a back sheet 13 are laminated.

Back Sea) 13. Panel sea) 11 and protection sea) 1
0 is made of transparent or translucent synthetic resin, and the protective sheet 10 is vertically partitioned into a first display section 10A and a second display section 10B. Second display section 10B
is divided into a total of 36 sections 14, with four rows up and down and nine columns left and right.

Panel sheets 11 arranged corresponding to the three tiers from the top
Each section of! In the portion corresponding to 4, illustrations showing different types of food are printed and displayed. The division 14 and the illustration may be displayed only on the protection sheet 10 or the panel sheet 11, or one may be displayed on the protection sheet 10 and the other on the panel sheet 11. .

Further, a gap 15 is formed between the inner part of the protective sheet 10 corresponding to the lowermost section of the protective sheet 10 and the membrane switch 12, and in this gap 15,
A strip-shaped translucent member 16 is inserted in a removable manner.

The board material 16 is made of a material that can be arbitrarily written and erased with a pencil, and by writing any illustrations, characters, etc. on the board material 16, it is possible to mark the same food as the illustration printed on the panel sheet or a food product other than the illustration. Display becomes possible. However, in this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, an illustration of a key indicating the lock mode is displayed in the leftmost section 14L, and a lock LED is arranged inside this section 14L, so that when the lock mode is specified, the lock LED is However, instead of the lock LED, both LEDs corresponding to the input/confirmation key 23 and the erase key 25, which will be described later, are used to control the lighting of the lock LED.
D may be made to blink.

The membrane switch 12 is a transparent plate-like switch in which transparent electrodes are arranged corresponding to the sections 14, and when the display panel 9 is pressed, the conduction state of the transparent electrode corresponding to the pressed part changes. It is. Note that the transparent electrodes corresponding to the sections 14 act as article specifying keyswitches, and the membrane switch 12 constitutes this key switch group, so each section 14 is treated as an article specifying key.

A part of the case body 8 is located behind the display panel 9, and a recess 18 is formed corresponding to each compartment 14, and a substrate 19 attached to the bottom of the recess 18 has this recess. A two-color light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as LED) 20 serving as a lighting device is fixed so as to face into the space 18 . In addition, the surface of the recess 18 is curved and mirror-like, so that all the light emitted from the LED 20 is directed to the front section 1.
4. In the two-color light emitting diode 20, a red light emitting part and a green light emitting part are housed in the same container, and the voltage applied to each diode is changed respectively to change the coloring state of the container as a whole from red to red. Utilizes an element that can change to green.

The first display section 10A includes a display section and a mode designation section for specifying one of the display modes of the inventory management device 3, namely, manual mode, cancellation mode, inventory confirmation mode, timer mode, and lock mode. The 0 time display section 22 in which the time display section 22 is arranged is as follows.
The 4-digit 7-segment LED is arranged in an 8-shape, and the time is set using the hour designation key 21A and the minute designation key 21A.
Operation settings are made at 21B. As for the mode specification key,
An input and confirmation mode designation key (hereinafter referred to as the manual/confirmation key) 23, a timer designation key (hereinafter referred to as the timer key) 24, and an ejection (erase) designation key (hereinafter referred to as the erase 1-) 25 are arranged. .

In addition, when specifying the lock mode, it is specified by pressing the manual/confirmation key 23 and the erase key 25 at the same time, and the lock is released by the same operation after specification, and this specified case is considered to be a lock key operation. shall judge. In addition, a part of the mode designation key is partitioned into the first display section 10A of the protective sheet 10, and inside the section corresponding to this section, a membrane switch and an LED are installed as in the second display section 10B. (both not shown) are provided.

Here, the outline of the electric circuit shown in FIG. 5 will be explained.

30 is a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as microcomputer)
, a central processing unit CPU, a writeable and erasable storage RAM, and an appropriate storage period T3 predetermined for each item.
A storage unit ROM that stores all the information and can be read and compared at any time.
and multiple Kalantara installations, membrane switches 12.
The outputs of the time designation key 21A, the minute designation key 21B, the input/confirmation key 23, the timer key 24, and the erase key 25 are input, and the input information is mode designation information by the mode designation key, article designation information by the article designation key, and It stores information such as the number of days of storage after designation in the storage RAM, and outputs display information for controlling and displaying counter operations, LED operating states, etc. according to each information. A timetable section 22 and each LED 20 are connected to the output end of the microcomputer 30. For this reason, the microcomputer 30 uses the storage section RA provided in the microcomputer itself according to the input information.
It has a function as a control device that controls the display state by controlling the writing and erasing of M, controlling the start/end and reset of the counter, and controlling the coloring state of the LED 20. Note that the current time is normally displayed on the time display section 22.

Next, the display operation will be explained based on a flowchart showing the program of the microcomputer shown in FIG.

However, starting from power-on, (i> automatic alarm mode, (ii) manual/confirmation mode, (mountain) erase mode.

Each mode (+V) lock mode and (v) timer mode will be explained separately. Note that (i) is a state in which the microcomputer 30 visually determines and displays that the actual storage period has exceeded the appropriate storage period for each item stored in advance in the microcomputer 30, so an automatic warning is generated. It was called a mode.

(1) In the automatic alarm mode step, it is determined whether or not there is an article whose storage period exceeds the predetermined appropriate storage period T3 for each article, and if there is no corresponding article, the process moves to step S1. , if there is a corresponding article, proceed to step 2 and write the article in the storage RAM of the microcomputer 30, and at the same time, in step,
All the LEDs 20 corresponding to the article are lit in red. Therefore, it is possible to determine which articles have been stored for more than the appropriate storage period Ts, and automatically light up the LED 20 corresponding to the article to prompt removal of the article.

Next, in step 4, it is determined whether or not the erase key 25 has been operated, and if it has not been operated, the process returns to step 4, and if it has been operated, the process moves to step 4 and the article designation key 14 corresponding to the corresponding article is pressed. Determine whether or not it has been manipulated. If not operated, return to step 6; if operated, proceed to step 6, clear the specified item in the storage ROM,
In step 7, the LED 20 corresponding to the specified item is turned off, and in step 8, the storage number of days for the specified item is reset. At this time, the designated item is deemed to have been taken out. Therefore, if it is determined in step 1 that there is an article whose proper storage period has expired, the lit LED 20 will not go out (that is, the automatic alarm mode will not end) unless the input information for the article is deleted.

(ii) Input and confirmation mode In step S, it is determined whether or not the manual/confirmation key 23 has been operated (pressed). If not, the process returns to step 1, and if it has been operated, the process proceeds to step S. Then, in step S, all the LEDs 20 (including the LEDs corresponding to the manual input/confirmation key 23) corresponding to the compartments 14 of foods that have already been inputted are lit in green to display the mode status and the items that have been input. , determines whether or not the article designation key (i.e., section) 14 is pressed (operated) to designate food;
Once specified, the process moves to step S4, where it is determined whether or not the food item has been input (that is, specified). If it has not been input, the counter (as a counter) corresponding to the item designation key 14 is entered in step S. The microcomputer 30 starts an integration operation (that is, counting days) (which the microcomputer 30 has as part of its functions), and moves to step S. Therefore, when newly purchased food is stored in the refrigerator 1, input is completed simply by pressing the manual/confirmation key 23 and the item designation key 14 on which the stored food is drawn, making it very easy to use. is simple and requires fewer operations. still,
When the input/confirmation key 23 is operated, all the LEDs 20 in the sections 14 corresponding to the foods that have already been input light up in green, so that the designated mode and the foods that have been input can be confirmed.

On the other hand, if no food is specified in step S, it is determined whether 10 seconds have elapsed in step S6, and if 10 seconds have elapsed, all lit LEDs 20 are turned off in step S. and return to step 1.
If 10 seconds have not elapsed, return to step S.

Further, when the specified food has been input in step S4, the LED 20 corresponding to the specified food is lit in orange in step S6, and the number of storage days for the food after input is displayed on the time display section 22. (The number of days is displayed instead of the usual time display) and the process moves to step S1°.

In step Ss, it is determined whether or not the mode designation key has been operated, and if the mode is designated, the process returns to step 1; if the mode is not designated, it is determined in step S1° whether 3 seconds have elapsed. If 3 seconds have not elapsed, return to step S, and when 3 seconds have elapsed, go to step S11 to turn off all the lit LEDs 20 and turn off the time display section 2.
Turn off the number of days display in step 2, display the normal time, and return to step 1.

(iii) Determination mode In step M1, it is determined whether or not the deletion key 25 has been pressed (or operated), and if it has not been pressed, the process moves to step N1, and if it has been pressed, the process moves to step M2, indicating that it has already been manually pressed. LED 20 corresponding to food compartment (i.e. article designation key) 4 (Lmcn+ corresponding to erase key 25)
In step M, press the article designation key.
14 is pressed to determine whether the food has been specified, and if it has been specified, proceed to step M4 to determine whether the food has been manually input (i.e., specified), and if it has not been input, proceed to step M3. Go back and if it has been entered, go to step M7
Move to. On the other hand, if the article designation key 14 is not operated in step M, the process moves to step M, where it is determined whether 10 seconds have elapsed, and if 10 seconds have elapsed, step M
Erase all the LEDs 20 that are lit in step 6 and proceed to step M.
.

If the color does not turn red for 10 seconds, return to step M3.

On the other hand, in step M7, the specified article designation key 1
The input information corresponding to step 4 is deleted, the corresponding LED 20 is turned off, and the number of days counted by the timer is reset in step M, and the process moves to step S.

That is, when the stored food is taken out, the erase key 25 is pressed.
Press , then select the section (item designation key) corresponding to the food in question.
Press +4 to erase your input and exit erase mode.
It can be easily erased with very few key operations.

(iv) Lock Mort' In step N1, it is determined whether the lock key, that is, the input/confirmation key 23 and the erase key 25 are operated at the same time. If not, the process moves to step S21; if they are operated, step N2 Lock L corresponding to section 14L
Turn on the ED in red to illuminate the compartment 14L to display that the lock mode is in progress.Next, in step N, it is determined whether input/confirmation 1-23 has been operated, and if not, step If the operation moves to N7, all the LEDs 20 (including the LEDs corresponding to the manual/confirmation key 23) corresponding to the food sections 14 that have already been input are lit in green, and confirmation mode designation and confirmation mode in lock mode are performed. Displaying inputted items Next, in step N, it is determined whether or not the item designation key 14 has been operated to specify a food, and if it has been specified, the process moves to step N, where the specified food has been input. The number of days of preservation is displayed on the time display section 22 (displaying the number of days of preservation in place of the normal time display) and the process moves to step N7, and if it is not specified, the process moves to step N.

In step N7, it is determined whether or not the lock key (corresponding to unlocking here) has been operated, and if it has been operated, the process moves to step N9, and if it has not been operated, the process moves to step N, and whether 10 seconds have elapsed. If 10 seconds have passed, proceed to step N, and if 10 seconds have not passed, proceed to step N7.
Return to 0 Next step N, LED2Q is lit
At the same time, the number of days display on the time display section 22 is switched to the normal time display, and the process returns to step M1.

Therefore, while the lock mode is specified, only the confirmation mode or unlocking can be accepted, and careless input or deletion is prevented.

(v) Timer mode It is determined whether or not the timer key 24 has been operated in step S2+, and if it has not been operated, the process returns to step M1, and if it has been operated, the LED corresponding to the timer key 24 is blinked in step S22, and The hour and minute on the time display section 22 are made to blink.

However, if the previous timer time is specified, the previous specified time is displayed blinking at step 823.
It is determined whether or not the time designation key 21A has been operated, and if it has not been operated, the process moves to step S27, and if it has been operated, the set time specified in step S24 is displayed at the time position.Next, step 92% It is determined whether the minute designation key 21B has been operated or not, and if it has not been operated, the process proceeds to step S.
28, and when operated, the set minutes specified in step Sze are displayed at the minute position, the timer time setting is completed, and the process moves to step S30.

On the other hand, in steps S27 and S28, it is determined whether 5 seconds have elapsed or not. If 5 seconds have not elapsed, the process returns to steps S23 and S2S, respectively, and when 5 seconds have elapsed, the process proceeds to steps SZS and S3°, respectively.

Step S. Then, it is determined again whether or not the timer key 24 has been operated. If the timer key 24 has not been operated, the process moves to step S34, and if it has been operated, the process moves to step S31 and starts the operation of subtracting the specified timer time (i.e., timer operation). At the same time, the blinking timer LED is turned on to display that the timer 100-F and that the timer is counting.

In addition, when moving to step SzO, press the time designation key 21A.
When both the and minute designation keys 21B are not operated,
The previous specified time or 0:00 will be displayed.

Next, in step 332, it is determined whether or not the timer time count has ended, and if it has not ended, step S2 is performed.
Repeat this process, and when finished, turn off the timer LED that was lit in step S33, and turn off the notification buzzer for 10 seconds.
The timer is activated for only seconds to notify the end of the timer time, and the process returns to step M1.

On the other hand, in step S34, it is determined whether 10 seconds have elapsed, and if the color is not red for 10 seconds, the process returns to step S3° and 1
After 0 seconds have elapsed, the process moves to step S33.

During the timer count, the remaining time can be made clear by subtracting and displaying the timer time by a predetermined time every time a predetermined time (for example, one minute) elapses from the specified timer time. Further, when the timer key 24 is operated while the timer is counting, it is preferable that the timer mode is ended and the process returns to step M.

In the above embodiments, an example in which the present invention is applied to food inventory management in a refrigerator has been shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to the management of article inventory in a commercial freezer, prefabricated refrigerator, or other storage facility.

(G) Effects of the Invention As detailed above, according to claim 1 of the present invention, since there is a one-to-I correspondence between the display designation mode and the coloring state of the two-color light emitting diode, the mode designation key and the corresponding The number of lighting devices can be reduced, the display area of the display device can be reduced, and the inventory management device can be made smaller than before.

According to claim 2, only the light emitting diode corresponding to the article designation key operated during the confirmation mode lights up in a different color from the light emitting diodes corresponding to other articles, so that the designated article is clearly displayed on the display section. Not only does the correspondence with the displayed number of storage days become clear, but the number of manual operations can be reduced.

Furthermore, according to claim 3, if the number of storage days exceeds the appropriate storage period, the diode corresponding to the item is automatically turned on. It can be used as an alarm (warning) display to remind the user of the problem, and by seeing this automatic lighting, the user can know which items should be taken out of the warehouse, confirm that they have been asked to take out the warehouse, and also be able to check the items before they spoil. It becomes possible to serve it as a meal.・

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Each figure shows an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 1 and 2 are flowcharts showing a microcomputer program, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a refrigerator, FIG. 4 is a front view of an inventory management device, and FIG. The drawings are a sectional view taken along the line A-A in FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the P section in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is an electric circuit diagram. 1... Refrigerator, 3... Inventory management device, 9-...
Display panel, 14--Article designation key (section), 2°...Two-color light emitting diode 1' (LED), 22...
・Display section, 23, 24, 25...mode designation key,
30...-Microcomputer (control device, counter. Storage unit). Applicant Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Takuji Nishino and 2 others No. 31 No. 5, No. 61A No. 71

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A display panel on which a plurality of types of articles and display modes are displayed, a plurality of article designation keys and two-color light emitting diodes provided corresponding to each display on the display panel, and a date and time counter. a mode designation key to designate one of a plurality of display modes such as input mode, deletion mode, and inventory confirmation mode; and a display section to display the number of storage days of the item; and a control device that controls the operating state of the diode and the display state of the display unit, the control device setting the diode to a different light emitting state for each designated mode. 2. When the item specification key is operated after the inventory confirmation mode is specified using the mode specification key, the control device changes the light emitting diode corresponding to the specified item to a different color, and also 2. The inventory management device according to claim 1, wherein the inventory management device displays the number of days of storage. 3. The control device is equipped with a storage unit that stores a predetermined storage period for each article, and lights up a corresponding light emitting diode when the number of storage days from the date of storage exceeds the appropriate storage period. The inventory management device according to claim 1.