KR101375906B1 - Refrigerator, server and method for managing food conveniently - Google Patents

Abstract

A refrigerator, a food management server, and a food management method including a barcode reader and a camera for easy food management are disclosed. The refrigerator includes a bar code recognition unit for recognizing a bar code for food, a bar code transmission unit for transmitting the recognized bar code to a food management server, and a food information display unit for displaying food information received from the food management server, The information may include an expiration date of the food calculated based on the recognized barcode.

Description

Refrigerators, food management servers and food management methods for easy food management {REFRIGERATOR, SERVER AND METHOD FOR MANAGING FOOD CONVENIENTLY}

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a refrigerator, a food management server and a food management method for easy food management that can easily manage food by embedding a barcode reader, a camera, etc. in the refrigerator.

A refrigerator is a device for storing food, and generally, food stored in the refrigerator has an expiration date. Therefore, in order to manage food more effectively, the expiration date of each food should be managed.

Korean Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2009-0105256 "Food Management System and Control Method thereof" photographs a bar code provided in food through a camera provided inside the refrigerator, and stores food information in a bar code through a keypad of a mobile device such as a mobile phone. And then transfer it to a refrigerator for illustration.

However, in the case of managing food through such a method, since the user must input information of each food into the refrigerator by using a mobile device, it is inconvenient for the user to directly input each food in food management.

On the other hand, the bar code contains information such as 'from the date of manufacture to 30 days', but does not contain information about the exact expiration date such as 'until July 30, 2011'. There is a problem that it is difficult to know the exact expiration date only by information.

Therefore, there is a demand for a method for more easily managing food.

A refrigerator, a food management server, and a food management method for easy food management are provided for easier management of food shelf life.

Provided are a refrigerator, a food management server, and a food management method for easy food management that can provide a menu for cooking with food purchased by a user.

There is provided a refrigerator, a food management server, and a food management method for easy food management to inform the user of the remaining shelf life of the food.

The refrigerator includes a barcode recognizing unit for recognizing a barcode for food, a barcode transmitting unit for transmitting the recognized barcode to a food management server, and a food information display unit for displaying food information received from the food management server, and the food information. May include an expiration date of the food calculated based on the recognized barcode.

According to one side, the food information may include recommended cooking menu information that can be cooked using the food.

According to another aspect, the barcode recognition unit may recognize the barcode using at least one of a camera and a barcode reader.

According to another aspect, the food information storage unit for storing the received food information further comprises, wherein the food information display unit may display the food information in the order of remaining shelf life based on the stored food information. .

According to another aspect, when the expiration date of the food remains less than a predetermined time based on the stored food information, the expiration date notification unit for notifying the expiration date of the food by transmitting the food information of the corresponding food to the user terminal It may further include.

The food management server may include a barcode receiver configured to receive a barcode recognized by the refrigerator of the user, a shelf life calculator configured to calculate a shelf life of a corresponding food based on the received barcode, and food information including the calculated shelf life. Food information generation unit for generating a and a food information transmission unit for transmitting the generated food information to the refrigerator.

A food management method using a refrigerator includes the steps of recognizing a barcode for a food, transmitting the recognized barcode to a food management server, and an expiration date of the food calculated based on the recognized barcode from the food management server. And receiving and displaying food information.

A food management method using a food management server includes receiving a barcode recognized by a user's refrigerator, calculating a shelf life of a corresponding food based on the received barcode, and providing food information including the calculated shelf life. Generating and transmitting the generated food information to the refrigerator.

By using a camera or a barcode reader provided in the refrigerator, the barcode is recognized and transmitted to the food management server, whereby the expiration date of the food can be more easily managed based on the received food information.

By extracting a menu for cooking using the food from the database based on the product information purchased by the user and providing the menu to the user, the user may cook using the food purchased more conveniently.

By transmitting the remaining shelf life of the food stored in the refrigerator to the user terminal based on the food information received from the food management server, the user can more conveniently know without checking the remaining shelf life of the food.

1 is a block diagram showing a food management system according to one embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram illustrating a refrigerator and a food management server according to another embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating a database structure of a food management server according to one embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of managing a food using a POS terminal in a food management server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of managing a food using a bar code received from a refrigerator by a food management server according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a block diagram showing a food management system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, another food management system according to the present invention may include a refrigerator 100, a food management server 120, a POS terminal 140, and a user terminal 160.

The refrigerator 100 recognizes a barcode attached to the food or printed on the receipt when the food is purchased and transmits the recognized barcode to the food management server 120. To this end, the refrigerator 110 may include a device capable of recognizing the barcode, such as a camera, a barcode reader, and the like. The refrigerator 100 may receive food information about the food from the food management server 120. In this case, the food information may include an expiration date of the food calculated based on the recognized barcode, and may include recommended cooking menu information that can be cooked using the food.

In the present invention, the refrigerator 100 recognizes a barcode and transmits it to the food management server 120 as an example. However, in another embodiment, the refrigerator 100 recognizes a QR code (Quick Response code). This may be transmitted to the food management server 120. In addition, the refrigerator 100 may recognize a barcode or a QR code and transmit information included in the code, for example, a number of a barcode, to the food management server 120.

The food management server 120 receives a barcode from the refrigerator 100, calculates a shelf life of the corresponding food based on the barcode, and generates food information including the shelf life to display the food information in the refrigerator 100. To send. To this end, the food management server 120 may store and maintain product information, transaction details, member information, and the like in a database.

The POS terminal 140 may be installed in a store selling the food and connected to the food management server through a network. The POS terminal 140 may obtain a product number through a barcode recognition device such as a barcode reader and transmit it to the food management server 120, and prints a transaction number for the product from the food management server 120. The receipt can be provided to the buyer by printing through the back.

Meanwhile, the user terminal 160 may be implemented as, for example, a portable terminal such as a smartphone, a notebook computer, a personal computer (PC), and the like, and may be connected to the refrigerator 100 through a wireless communication network, a mobile communication network, and the like. The user may input information about food or inquire about the expiration date of the food stored in the refrigerator 100 using the user terminal 160 as needed. In addition, the user terminal 160 may inform the user of the expiration date of the food stored in the refrigerator by receiving and displaying food information on the food having a shelf life remaining from the refrigerator 100.

 2 is a block diagram illustrating a refrigerator and a food management server according to another embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the refrigerator and the food management server according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, the refrigerator 100 includes a barcode recognition unit 101, a barcode transmission unit 102, a food information receiver 103, a food information display unit 104, a food information storage unit 105, and an input unit 106. And an expiration date notification unit 107.

The barcode recognition unit 101 recognizes a barcode for food and may be implemented as a device capable of recognizing a barcode, such as a camera, a barcode reader, or the like. As described above with reference to FIG. 1, the barcode recognition unit 101 may be implemented to recognize not only a barcode but also a QR code.

The barcode transmitter 102 is to transmit the barcode recognized by the barcode reader 101 to the food management server 120, and is implemented as various types of wired / wireless communication devices capable of transmitting and receiving data through a network. Can be. When the barcode transmitter 102 is implemented such that the barcode reader 101 may also recognize a QR code, the barcode transmitter 102 may transmit not only a barcode but also a QR code to the food management server 120. It may be implemented to transmit the number of the barcode rather than transmitting the barcode.

The food information receiver 103 receives the food information from the food management server 120. The food information may include various information about the food purchased by the user. For example, the food information may include a food name, an image of a food, an expiration date of the food, a menu that can be cooked with the product, and the like.

The food information display unit 104 displays the food information received by the food information receiving unit 103, and the food information storage unit 105 stores the food information. To this end, the food information display unit 104 may be implemented as a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), and may be provided in the front of the refrigerator 100, and the food information storage unit 106 may be a nonvolatile memory. Implemented may be provided inside the refrigerator (100).

On the other hand, the food information display unit 104 may display the food information in the order in which the shelf life of the food remaining based on the food information stored in the food information storage unit 105. For example, the food information display unit 104 may display a picture of a food stored in the refrigerator 100 in a slide format, such as a picture screen saver of a window. To this end, the food information display unit 104 takes a picture of the food using a camera provided inside the refrigerator 100, and based on the food information stored in the food information storage unit 105, the expiration date of the food is urgent Photos may be displayed more frequently than photographs of foods with a long shelf life. In addition, in another embodiment, the food information display unit 104 may display the food information in a text format so that a user may know food and expiration date stored in the refrigerator 100 at a glance.

The input unit 106 receives information about food and a signal for controlling the refrigerator 100 from a user. To this end, the input unit 106 may be implemented as a plurality of operation buttons. However, when the food information display unit 104 is implemented as a display device with a built-in touch function, the input unit 106 may be included in the food information display unit 104. The user may directly input information about a food in which food information is not stored in the food information storage unit 105 using the input unit 106, or delete food information determined to be unnecessary.

The expiration date notification unit 107 is based on the food information stored in the food information storage unit 105, when the expiration date of the food remains less than a predetermined time, the user terminal that the user registered the food information of the corresponding food ( 160 to inform the expiration date of the food. For example, if the user is set to notify the food with a shelf life of 1 day or less, the expiration date notification unit 107 inquires the food information stored in the food information storage unit 105 so that the shelf life is less than 24 hours Food information about the remaining food may be extracted and transmitted to the user terminal 160 at a predetermined cycle using a short message service (SMS), a multimedia messaging service (MMS), or the like.

Meanwhile, the food management server 120 may include a barcode receiver 121, an expiration date calculator 122, a database 123, a food information generator 124, and a food information transmitter 125.

The barcode receiver 121 receives a barcode from the refrigerator 100 through a network.

The expiration date calculator 122 calculates an expiration date of the corresponding food based on the barcode received by the barcode receiver 121.

Generally, the bar code contains information on the expiration date based on the date of manufacture, such as 'from the date of manufacture to 30 days', but does not include information on the exact expiration date, such as 'until 30 July 2011'. Therefore, the expiration date calculation unit 122 uses the expiration date based on the sales date, delivery date, inventory date, manufacturing date, etc. of the food stored in the database 123, the expiration date through the following formula (1) Can be calculated.

For example, if the sale date of the food is 'June 26, 2011', the average delivery date is 1 day, the average inventory date is 4 days, and the expiration date based on the manufacturing date is 'from manufacturing date to 30 days', the expiration date is calculated The unit 122 may calculate a shelf life of 'until July 20, 2011' using Equation 1.

The database 123 stores various information about foods such as product information, transaction history, member information, and recommendation menu information. In the drawing, the database 123 is illustrated as being provided in the food management server 120. If necessary, the food management server 120 may be implemented as a separate server.

The food information generation unit 124 generates food information using information on the food stored in the database 123 based on the expiration date calculated by the expiration date calculation unit 122.

The food information may include recommended cooking menu information that can be cooked using the food as well as the shelf life of the food. For example, the food information generation unit 124 extracts the brand name of the food from the database 123 based on the barcode received from the refrigerator 100 and uses the same to recommend the recommended menu information. You can search for. The food information may be generated using the retrieved recommended menu information, an expiration date of the product, a brand name, and the like.

The food information transmitter 125 may transmit the food information generated by the food information generator 124 to the corresponding refrigerator 100 based on the IP address of the refrigerator.

3 is a diagram illustrating a database structure of a food management server according to one embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the database structure of the food management server 120 will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

The database 123 stores transaction details 310 for products purchased by the user. The transaction details 310 may include information such as a transaction number and a transaction date and time. In addition, the database 123 may store the individual transaction details 320 for each product purchased by the user in association with the transaction number, wherein the individual transaction details 320 may include a transaction number and a product number. Etc. may be included. In addition, the database 123 may store product information 330 for each product in association with the product number. The product information 330 may include information such as a product number, a brand name, a receipt date, a stock date, a shelf life based on a manufacturing date, and the like. Therefore, the food information generation unit 124 of the food management server 120 is received from the refrigerator 100 using the transaction history 310, the individual transaction history 320, the product information 330, etc. of the database 123. The shelf life of a food can be calculated for a barcode.

Meanwhile, the member information 340 is stored in the database 123, and the food management server 120 may transmit the food information to the corresponding refrigerator 100 based on the member information. The member information 34 may include a member number and an IP address of the member refrigerator.

In addition, although not shown in the figure, the database 123 may also store information on a recommendation menu that can be cooked as a corresponding product in association with a product name of the product information 330.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of managing a food using a POS terminal in a food management server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When the purchaser purchases food, the POS terminal acquires each product number by reading the barcode of the food (S410). Thereafter, the POS terminal transmits the acquired product number to the food management server (S420). The food management server generates a transaction number in each of the received product numbers, assigns a transaction number, a transaction date and time, a security number to be used for inquiry, and stores it in a database (S430), and transmits the generated transaction number to the POS terminal (S430). S440).

On the other hand, the POS terminal transmits the member number obtained by the purchaser by reading the membership card and the like to the POS terminal (S450). Then, the food management server may inquire the IP address of the refrigerator based on the received member number (S460), and then transmit the food information to the refrigerator of the buyer based on the IP address.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of managing a food using a bar code received from a refrigerator by a food management server according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The refrigerator transmits the recognized barcode to the food management server when the user recognizes the barcode of the food using a camera, a barcode reader, or the like (S510). The food management server calculates an expiration date based on the received barcode, and inquires the transaction details stored in the database (S520). Then, the individual transaction details are inquired by using the transaction number of the inquired transaction details (S530), and the product information is retrieved by using the product numbers of the individual transaction details (S540). Based on the product information inquired in this manner, the food information generation unit of the food management server generates food information including an expiration date of the food and a recommended cooking menu for cooking using the food (S550). . The generated food information is transmitted to the refrigerator (S560).

As described above, the management of food using the food information received by transmitting the barcode to the food management server has been described, but there may be a case in which there is no information of the food in the database of the food management server. In this case, the user may photograph the food with a camera provided in the refrigerator, and directly input information of the food using an input unit or the like.

As described above, the present invention has been described by way of limited embodiments and drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains various modifications and variations from such descriptions. This is possible.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined by the equivalents of the claims, as well as the claims.

100: refrigerator
120: food management server
140: POS terminal
160: user terminal

Claims (14)

A barcode recognition unit that recognizes a barcode for food using at least one of a camera and a barcode reader;
A barcode transmitter to transmit the recognized barcode to a food management server receiving food information directly from a point of sales terminal;
A food information receiver configured to receive the food information from the food management server;
A food information storage unit for storing the food information;
A food information display unit displaying the food information according to the order in which the shelf life of the food remains on the basis of the food information received from the food management server;
An input unit of a touch function included in the food information display unit for inputting information about the food by a user and deleting food information determined to be unnecessary from the food information; and
When the shelf life of the food remains below a predetermined time based on the stored food information, the food information of the corresponding food is set at a predetermined cycle using at least one of a Short Message Service (SMS) and a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). By sending to the user terminal includes an expiration date notification unit for notifying the expiration date of the food,
The food information,
The food management server includes an expiration date of the food calculated using the sale date, delivery date, inventory date, and manufacturing date based on the bar code based on the bar code, from the point of sales terminal. , Refrigerator. The method of claim 1,
The food information,
Refrigerator comprising recommended cooking menu information that can be cooked using the food. delete delete delete In the server for managing food,
A barcode receiver configured to receive a barcode of the food recognized by a user's refrigerator;
An expiration date calculation unit for calculating an expiration date of the food corresponding to the received bar code by using the expiration date based on the sale date, the delivery date, the inventory date, and the manufacturing date of the food directly received from a point of sales terminal;
A food information generation unit generating food information including the calculated expiration date;
A food information transmitter to transmit the generated food information to the refrigerator based on an IP address of the refrigerator; And
A database in which transaction details of goods purchased by the user, product information on the product, information on a recommendation menu that can be cooked into the product of the product information, and member information of the user are stored;
Lt; / RTI >
The transmitted food information is stored in the refrigerator,
When the shelf life of the food remains less than a predetermined time based on the stored food information, the food information of the corresponding food is transmitted to the user terminal at a predetermined cycle by using at least one of SMS and MMS, so that the food is sent to the user. Food management server to inform the expiration date of. The method according to claim 6,
The food information,
Food management server comprising recommended cooking menu information that can be cooked using the food. In the food control method using a refrigerator,
Recognizing a barcode for food recognized through at least one of a camera and a barcode reader provided in the refrigerator;
Transmitting the recognized barcode to a food management server that receives food information directly from a point of sales terminal;
Food including a shelf life of the food calculated using the expiration date based on the sales date, delivery date, inventory date and manufacturing date for the food received from the POS (Point Of Sales) terminal based on the bar code from the food management server Receiving the information and displaying the food information according to the remaining order of the shelf life based on the food information;
Storing the received food information; And
When the shelf life of the food remains less than a predetermined time based on the stored food information, the food shelf life of the food by transmitting the food information of the corresponding food to the user terminal at a predetermined cycle using at least one of SMS and MMS Informing
Comprising, food management methods. 9. The method of claim 8,
The food information,
Food management method comprising the recommended cooking menu information that can be cooked using the food. delete delete delete In the food management method using a food management server,
Receiving a recognized barcode through at least one of a camera and a barcode reader in a user's refrigerator;
Calculating an expiration date of the food corresponding to the received bar code by using the expiration date based on the sale date, the delivery date, the inventory date, and the manufacturing date of the food, which are directly received from a point of sales terminal;
Generating food information including the calculated expiration date; And
Inquiring an IP address of the user's refrigerator based on the member number obtained from the POS terminal and transmitting the generated food information to the refrigerator based on the IP address
Lt; / RTI >
The transmitted food information is stored in the refrigerator,
When the shelf life of the food remains less than a predetermined time based on the stored food information, the food information of the corresponding food is transmitted to the user terminal at a predetermined cycle by using at least one of SMS and MMS, so that the food is sent to the user. Food management method to inform the expiration date of the. 14. The method of claim 13,
The food information,
Food management method comprising the recommended cooking menu information that can be cooked using the food.

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