JPH0545041A - Device for controlling storage space in freezer-refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make available a device for controlling the storage space for a freezer-refrigerator, which stores in memory the pictorial image of the storage space every time the door is opened, by excluding differences in the pictorial images and by the use of a timer counts the time for which any identical article of food has been in storage, and indicates the location of the article on an indication means. CONSTITUTION:As means of automatically checking in a manner of control on the storage of food articles in the storage spaces of a freezer-refrigerator, CCD cameras and means of processing pictorial images are set respectively in the storage spaces in a freezer-refrigerator in a setup to perceive the food articles in storage by means of pictorial images.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention manages the storage period of food in a refrigerator-freezer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various proposals have been made for a method of managing food in a refrigerator for storing food.

For example, as proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-127884, some users of a freezer / refrigerator can input and print the date of food, the number of foods, etc. one by one.

[0004]

However, in the conventional method of managing the inside of the warehouse, the user has to input the data of the food, and it is very troublesome to input the food in and out of the daily eating habits one by one. Yes, it's not very realistic.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is a display means for showing the user the location in a freezer / refrigerator, and a CCD for displaying the food stored in the refrigerator. A camera, a means for storing the image captured by the CCD camera, a means for obtaining the difference between the two types of images stored by the storage means, labeling of the food items stored in the refrigerator, and each food item It is equipped with a timer counter that counts the storage period and a door switch that detects that the door in the refrigerator / freezer is opened and closed, and stores an image of the inside of the refrigerator every time the door is opened and closed. Take the difference between the images, count the timer for the period when the same food is stored,
It is intended to provide a refrigerator-freezer interior management device for displaying the location on the display means.

An image after the door is opened and closed is input by a CCD camera in the storage, the data is subjected to feature extraction and information compression by an image processing element, and the image is recognized by a microcomputer, so that the same image remains after the door is opened and closed. In this case, the timer count is integrated and displayed on the display device when it exceeds a certain time.

[0007]

The main operation corresponding to the means for solving the problem will be described.

The present invention manages the food in the refrigerator without the trouble of recognizing the food in the refrigerator and inputting the information one by one by the user.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the refrigerator-freezer as viewed from the side, and it is assumed that a plurality of CCD cameras are mounted at the positions shown in the drawing. Each CCD camera is equipped with a heater in the vicinity so as not to expose the lens part, and the main body part is embedded in the heat insulating material part of the refrigerator (Fig. 2).

FIG. 3 is a simple system block diagram,
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of processing centering on the inside management, and FIG. 5 is an example of an image input from the CCD camera every time the door is opened and closed.

Explaining in accordance with the flow chart of FIG. 4, in step S1, the image in the refrigerator is previously stored in the CCD.
Input from the camera (Image 1). In step S2, the image is input with the food in it (image 2), the difference between image 1 and image 2 is taken in step S3, and only the food in the refrigerator is extracted (image 3). , The dust is removed by repeating the expansion, the characteristics of each food are extracted, and the labeling is performed in step S5 (3 of image 3).
A), b, and c). The microcomputer sets a flag indicating that each food item a, b, c extracted in the internal memory is stored and a counter for counting the storage period.

By the above operation, the food currently stored in the refrigerator is input. Next, in step S6, it is checked whether or not the door is opened / closed by the door switch 7, and if it is not opened / closed, the timers for the foods (a, b, c) stored in step S14 are set according to the passage of time. Count up, and in step S15, if there is food that has passed a certain period of time, the food corresponding to the timer of which the certain period has passed is selected from the image 3 and displayed or blinks on the display device 6 including a liquid crystal display element or the like. It indicates that a certain period has elapsed by displaying it or displaying the vicinity of the center of the food or blinking it.

When the door is opened and closed, it is expected that food has come in and out. Therefore, as shown in steps S7 to S10, the image of the inside of the refrigerator is input again and labeling is performed for each food. S7 to S10 are the same processes as S2 to S5. In step S11, the difference between the image 3 input last time and the image 5 input this time is calculated (image 6), and step S1
By taking the difference between the images 3 and 6 at 2, the flag and the counter corresponding to the food b in the microcomputer memory are cleared to recognize that the food b has been taken out from the refrigerator. In step S13, the difference between the image 5 and the image 6 is calculated, the newly added food d is extracted, and the corresponding flag and counter are newly set in the microcomputer memory. After that, S6
By repeating steps S15 to S15, inventory control of food in the warehouse is performed.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is not necessary for the user of the refrigerator to input each item in order to manage the food, and the user can be automatically notified of the food that has passed a certain period. it can. Furthermore, since the shape and location of the food after a certain period of time are displayed, it becomes easy to distinguish between old and new even for a plurality of foods having the same type and shape. For foods that give off a bad odor when they get old, if the display blinks after a certain period of time to distinguish them from other old foods, the inside of the refrigerator can be further cleaned.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a refrigerator-freezer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the essential parts of a refrigerator-freezer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a system block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process centered on image calculation points in food inventory management according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an image in which food according to an embodiment of the present invention is input using a CCD camera.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CCD camera 2 analog / digital converter 3 microcomputer 4 timer counter inside microcomputer 5 image memory 6 display device 7 door switch signal

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A display means for showing a user a place in a freezer / refrigerator, a CCD camera for showing foodstuffs stored in the refrigerator, a means for storing an image captured by the CCD camera, and a storage means. The means to take the difference between the two types of images that were taken, the timer counter that labels the food in the refrigerator and counts the storage period for each food, and that the door in the freezer-refrigerator was opened and closed And a door switch for detecting, each time the door is opened and closed, the image in the storage is stored and the difference between the images is taken, and the timer counts the period during which the same food is stored, A refrigerator / freezer internal management apparatus characterized by displaying the location on the display means.