KR102571665B1 - Smart plant pot device controlled amount of moisture based on weight sensor and method for control the same - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a smart pot device incorporating IoT technology into a pot for growing plants and a method performed by the device. A smart pot according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a sensor unit for measuring environmental information necessary for plant growth; a control unit that compares the measured value of the sensor unit with a pre-stored reference value and determines whether an environment sufficient for growth is created; And it may include a display unit for visually displaying the result of the comparison and determination.

Description

Smart pot device for controlling the amount of water based on a weight sensor and its control method

The present invention relates to a smart flowerpot device and a control method thereof. In detail, it relates to a smart pot device incorporating IoT technology into a pot for growing plants and a method performed by the device.

Modern people find psychological stability and comfort in a natural atmosphere. There are also effects caused by natural substances such as ions emitted by plants and phytoncide, but the visual effect given by the plant itself is also significant. However, it is not easy to feel the natural atmosphere among the rapid urbanization and artificial buildings. For this reason, even in busy daily life, modern people take time to find a space where they can feel the natural environment and gain psychological stability.

In addition, various plants are grown indoors to feel the nature more closely. For example, modern people grow various potted plants at home, or grow small potted plants on one side of their office desk. In addition, a plant-wall using plants indoors may be installed. Even flower pots that can be grown in vehicles are being provided, and the related industry is also developing rapidly.

In particular, as COVID-19 spreads, the time spent indoors increases, and interest in various activities that can be done indoors is increasing accordingly. As an example, more and more people are interested in potted plants.

Publication No. 10-2012-0092780, 'Remote Smart Plant Manager and Web Service Method' 2012.08.22.

However, there are many difficulties in stably growing plants indoors for a long time. For example, depending on the type of plant, it is necessary to have appropriate conditions for temperature and humidity, as well as the influence of sunlight and wind cannot be ignored. In particular, it is never easy to grow potted plants indoors where humidity, sunlight and wind conditions are limited, and accordingly, the types of plants that can grow indoors are also very limited.

In particular, in an atmosphere in which people who are not experienced in plant growth are increasingly interested in potted plants, generally people expect plants to grow well without spending a lot of time on them. As a person who has a deep interest in plant growth or does not have professional knowledge, just spending a little time on plants provides a sense of relaxation and pleasure in watching plants grow. it could be because

However, as described above, the types of plants that can be grown indoors are extremely limited, and even this can be stressful to grow plants because the plants will wither if a certain growth environment is not provided.

A person who has knowledge about the plant and has long experience can determine whether the plant is growing well and whether the plant is growing well by looking at the state of the plant stem and leaves, the state of the soil, and the like. On the other hand, those who do not, simply remember the conditions that the seller informed them when purchasing pots, such as 'watering once a day with plenty of water' or 'moistening the soil once a week' and repeating this. However, since this is not a process of checking the state of the plant and creating conditions based on the state of the plant, experience points for plants are not accumulated, and it even feels like a repetitive task.

In addition, there is a problem in which the above conditions cannot be addressed depending on various environments, such as a home in summer with high humidity or an office in very dry winter in which a heater is operated. Above all, it is painful for those who watch the process of plants dying without knowing the cause even though they have grown according to the conditions informed by the seller.

Accordingly, research on smart pots that provide an environment in which plants can grow better by grafting IoT functions on existing pots is being actively conducted.

That is, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a smart flower pot device.

Another technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a method performed by a smart pot device.

The tasks of the present invention are not limited to the technical tasks mentioned above, and other technical tasks not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

A smart pot according to an embodiment of the present invention for solving the above problems includes a weight sensor for measuring moisture information required for plant growth; a control unit that compares the measurement value of the weight sensor with a pre-stored reference value and determines whether an environment sufficient for growth is created; and a display unit visually displaying a result of the comparison and determination.

The weight sensor may measure the total weight of the flower pot and transmit the measured weight to the control unit.

In addition, the controller may calculate the weight of water contained in the soil by subtracting the weight of the pot itself, the initial weight of the soil, and the weight of the plant from the total weight of the pot.

Furthermore, the control unit may calculate the humidity of the soil by dividing the weight of the calculated moisture by the weight of the soil.

The control unit may compare the calculated soil humidity with a pre-stored predetermined humidity.

The predetermined humidity may be a humidity suitable for growth of a corresponding plant stored in a database according to a type of a plant designated in advance.

Alternatively, the predetermined humidity may be the maximum humidity at which the soil of the flowerpot can be saturated.

In some embodiments, the smart flower pot may include a first receptor in which the display unit is disposed on an outer surface; and a second container disposed within the first container, in which the soil is directly accommodated, and the weight sensor is disposed at a lower portion thereof.

An upper surface of the bottom portion of the first receptacle and a bottom surface of the bottom portion of the second receptacle are at least partially spaced apart from each other, and an inner surface of the sidewall portion of the first receptacle and an outer surface of the sidewall portion of the second receptacle are at least partially spaced apart from each other. It can be.

In addition, an upper surface of the bottom portion of the first receptor may have a concave groove.

In some embodiments, the smart pot may further include a motion sensor unit for monitoring a user's motion.

At this time, the control unit turns on the display unit when constant power is being supplied, and detects the user's movement when driving without constant power, and turns on the display unit only when the user is located within a predetermined range with the potted plant. there is.

The motion sensor unit may include at least one of an infrared sensor and an ultrasonic sensor.

In this case, the control unit may determine whether the user is located within a predetermined range of the flowerpot by using the infrared sensor or the ultrasonic sensor at regular intervals.

In some embodiments, the smart potted plant further includes a communication unit for communicating with a smart device carried by the user, and the control unit uses a signal sensitivity with the smart device received through the communication unit to schedule the potted plant. It is possible to determine whether the user is located within the range.

In some embodiments, the smart pot may further include a heater disposed on an inner wall of the second receptacle.

In this case, the control unit may generate and store information about a change in the amount of moisture over time.

In addition, when the measured moisture variation information is smaller than a preset reference value, the heater may be operated to heat the soil.

A plant management method using a smart flower pot or a smart flower pot control method according to an embodiment of the present invention for solving the above other problems includes receiving one or more of information about a flower pot, soil, and a plant input from a user. ; Further further receiving environmental information necessary for the growth of the plant; The total weight of the pot is measured using a weight sensor located at the bottom of the pot, and the amount of moisture is calculated by subtracting the weight of the pot itself, the initial weight of the soil, and the weight of the plant from the total weight of the pot. doing; and comparing whether the amount of water meets the amount of water required for the growth of the plant included in the environmental information, and displaying the compared value.

Other embodiment specifics are included in the detailed description.

According to embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to easily check moisture, nutrients, sunlight, temperature, etc. required by plants through a smart pot and create a necessary environment. Through this, beginners who grow plants for the first time can easily grow plants. In addition, you can share emotional sympathy with your companion plant and get comfort from social activities to soothe your tired mind.

Effects according to the embodiments of the present invention are not limited by the contents exemplified above, and more diverse effects are included in the present specification.

1 to 4 are views for explaining a smart pot according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 to 7 are diagrams for explaining an initial setting process of a smart pot according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 to 10 are views for explaining a process of growing a plant using a smart pot according to an embodiment of the present invention.
11 is a diagram for explaining environment creation using a smart pot according to an embodiment of the present invention.
11 and 12 are diagrams for explaining an information transfer process between a smart pot and a smartphone application according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Advantages and features of the present invention, and methods of achieving them, will become clear with reference to the detailed description of the following embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but will be implemented in a variety of different forms, and only the embodiments make the disclosure of the present invention complete, and those skilled in the art in the art to which the present invention belongs It is provided to fully inform the person of the scope of the invention, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. That is, various changes may be made to the embodiments provided by the present invention. The embodiments described below are not intended to be limiting on the embodiments, and should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents or substitutes thereto.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used in this specification may be used in a meaning commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. In addition, terms defined in commonly used dictionaries are not interpreted ideally or excessively unless explicitly specifically defined.

The spatially relative terms 'above', 'upper', 'on', 'below', 'beneath', 'lower', etc. are not included in the drawings. As shown, it can be used to easily describe the correlation between one element or component and another element or component. Spatially relative terms should be understood as encompassing different orientations of elements in use in addition to the orientations shown in the figures. For example, when elements shown in the figures are turned over, elements described as 'below' or 'below' other elements may be placed 'above' the other elements. Accordingly, the exemplary term 'below' may include directions of both down and up.

In this specification, 'and/or' includes each and every combination of one or more of the recited items. In addition, singular forms also include plural forms unless otherwise specified in the text. As used herein, 'comprises' and/or 'comprising' does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other elements other than the recited elements. A numerical range expressed using 'to' indicates a numerical range including the values listed before and after it as the lower limit and the upper limit, respectively. 'About' or 'approximately' means a value or range of values within 20% of the value or range of values set forth thereafter.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 4 are views for explaining a smart pot 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, FIG. 1 is a view showing a state in which a plant 11 is planted in a smart pot 10. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the smart pot (10). 3 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the smart flower pot 10 of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the smart flower pot 10 of FIG.

First of all, referring to FIG. 1, the smart pot 10 proposed in the present invention fills the pot 10 with soil 12 similarly to a general pot and plants a plant 11 therein. However, a difference from conventional flower pots is that a display unit 100 for displaying environmental information on the ecology of the plant 11 is additionally provided on the front side of the smart flower pot 10 .

Through the display unit 100 on the front side, environmental information regarding moisture, nutrients, acidity or pH level contained in the soil 12, amount of sunlight to which the plant 11 is exposed, and the like can be visually provided. To this end, a plurality of sensors for measuring environmental information are located inside and below the pot 10 . 1 illustrates a case in which environmental information is intuitively conveyed to a user by displaying such numerical values in a percentage scale. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and these values are expressed as colors by LEDs, such as blue, green, red, etc., or these values are expressed as brightness by LEDs, such as blue, light blue, gray, etc. may be

At this time, in order to display environmental information on a percentage scale in the potted plant 10, a reference value to be compared with the measurement value measured through the sensor is required. These reference values are pre-stored in the database, and considering the computing power and storage capacity of the flowerpot 10, it is preferable to receive the reference values through interlocking with an external device such as a smart phone at the initial setting time. The reference value will be described later.

Depending on the plant 11 and the soil 12, appropriate reference values of environmental information may be different. Therefore, rather than applying a plurality of reference values stored in the database to various plants or growth environments stored in the flower pot 10 as they are, it may be desirable to provide a customized environment by directly setting reference values according to these various variables. That is, the information on the reference value of appropriate environment information may be set by an application of the user's smart phone or stored.

In the initial setting process, when the user selects information about the plant 11 and soil 12, only the reference value of the environmental information corresponding to the selected plant 11 and soil 12 is transmitted to the flower pot 10, and the flower pot 10 ) may store the reference values of the plant 11 and the soil 12 in the internal memory and display the numerical value of the display unit 100 based on this.

Since the smart flower pot 10 to which the IoT function is grafted has limited computing power or battery performance, it is possible to take a method of receiving and storing only necessary information in the initial setting process in order to minimize the use of resources. Through this, the use of memory can be minimized and power consumption can be reduced.

In addition, the display unit 100 may display information while turning on/off the screen according to circumstances, instead of always displaying corresponding information. In general, since the smart flower pot 10 is more usable in a form of using a long time with a single charge rather than a method of continuously supplying power, it is necessary to minimize power consumption. Therefore, information on the display unit 100 needs to be implemented in such a way that it is displayed only when necessary.

2 to 4, the smart flower pot 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first container 200 including a display unit 100 and a second container 200 disposed inside the first container 200. The receiver 300 and the water support 500 disposed at the lower end of the first receiver 200 may be included. In addition, the weight sensor 400 may be disposed at the lower end of the second receptor 300 .

The first receptor 200 may have a communication interface capable of communicating with a user terminal such as a smart phone, a battery, elements for display of the display unit 100, a memory, a processor, and the like.

The second receptacle 300 may provide a smaller inner space than the first receptacle 200 . The outer surface of the second receptor 300 and the inner surface of the first receptor 200 may be at least partially spaced apart from each other. The second container 300 may provide a space in which the soil 12 is accommodated. As in the present embodiment, the first receptor 200 and the second receptor 300 are formed in a double structure, but various electronic devices are mounted in the first receptor 200, and soil 12 is placed in the second receptor 300. By configuring to accommodate, it is possible to minimize the failure of the smart flower pot 10 according to the present embodiment.

The inventors of the present invention have come to complete the present invention by paying attention to the problem that conventional smart flower pots often fail due to moisture during use. That is, the above failure problem can be minimized by separating the second receptor 300, which provides a space in which the plant 11 grows, and the first receptor 200 equipped with an electronic device. Meanwhile, although not illustrated, the first receptor 200 and the second receptor 300 may be electrically connected through wiring or the like.

A weight sensor 400 may be disposed under the second receptor 300 . For example, about 6 weight sensors 400 may be provided, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The weight sensor 400 may protrude further downward from the bottom surface of the second receptacle 300 . Accordingly, the bottom surface of the second container 300 and the top surface of the bottom part of the first container 200 may be spaced apart from each other in the third direction (Z). The weight sensor 400 may detect the weight of the second receptor 300 and the weight of the soil 12 and the plant 11 accommodated in the second receptor 300 .

The weight sensor 400 may be configured to measure the amount of moisture that the soil 12 contains or holds. That is, from the actual weight measured by the weight sensor 400, except for the weight of the second receptor 300, the weight of the plant 11, and the weight of the soil 12 in the initial state, the current soil 12 ) can be quantitatively measured. In addition, by comparing this with a reference value, it is possible to determine whether the amount of water contained in the soil 12 is appropriate in the current state, and this can be displayed on the display unit 100 .

In order to measure the amount of moisture contained in the soil 12, it may be considered that a humidity sensor is provided instead of the weight sensor 400 as in the present embodiment. However, since the soil humidity sensor needs to come into contact with the soil 12 to measure moisture, there is a risk of corrosion of the sensor and an inaccurate measured value. In particular, the accuracy of the humidity sensor may increase as the sensor corrodes. Therefore, the present invention proposes a moisture measurement method using the weight sensor 400 to measure the amount of moisture in a non-contact manner with the soil 12 .

A second drainage hole 300h may be formed at the bottom of the second container 300 . Also, the first drainage hole 200h may be formed on the bottom of the first container 200 . At least some of the moisture contained in the soil 12 evaporates into the air, and at least some of it may be drained through the first drain hole 200h and the second drain hole 300h. In particular, the upper surface of the bottom of the first container 200 includes a depression 200g concavely depressed in the third direction Z, so that water drained through the second drain hole 300h is discharged through the first drain hole ( 200h) can be configured to be concentrated. In addition, the water drained through the first drainage hole 200h may accumulate through the water tray 500, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

A heater 600 may be disposed on the inner wall of the second container 300 . The heater 600 may have a shape corresponding to the inner wall of the second receptacle 300 . The heater 600 may be a component in which a heating wire or the like is embedded. The heater 600 may be connected to the second receptor 300 and/or the first receptor 200 through wires and the like, and may be controlled by a processor inside the first receptor 200 . The heater 600 will be described later.

Meanwhile, in order to measure the amount of moisture using the weight sensor 400, it is necessary to accurately set the weights to be excluded from the total weight. As described above, the weight of the smart pot 10 itself, the weight of the plant 11, the weight of the soil 12, etc. should be excluded, which can receive related information in the initial setting process.

In the initial setting process, when information about the smart flowerpot 10, information about the plant 11, and information about the soil 12 are input, the weight of the smart flowerpot 10 in a dry state before supplying moisture is obtained accordingly. When water is supplied, the humidity of the soil 12 can be obtained by considering that water is supplied by the increased weight. This will be described later together with FIG. 5 and the like.

In addition to the weight sensor shown in FIG. 4, an illuminance sensor for measuring the amount of sunlight, a temperature sensor for measuring the ambient temperature, a pH sensor for measuring the pH of the soil, and a nutrient sensor for measuring the nutrients in the soil It is installed on the inner and outer walls of (10) to collect information about soil 12 and information about the external environment. The position and arrangement relationship of each sensor may be appropriately selected according to the target to be measured.

The information collected from various sensors is transmitted to the control unit of the potted plant 10, and the control unit compares it with the reference value received in the setting process using a smartphone, digitizes how appropriate the environmental information is, and uses the display unit 100. and can be provided to the user. As described above, the controller may be embedded inside the first receptor 200 .

5 to 7 are diagrams for explaining an initial setting process of a smart pot according to an embodiment of the present invention, and are diagrams showing an application interface displayed on a user terminal.

First, referring to FIG. 5 , a user screen UI for selecting the size of the potted plant 10 can be seen. The size of the smart pot 10, specifically, the size of the first container 200 may be provided in various ways. Depending on the size of the first receptor 200, the amount of soil 12 accommodated and the type of plants capable of growing may vary. In addition, it is necessary to reset an appropriate moisture reference value according to the size of the first receptor 200 . That is, even if the amount of soil is used twice, the moisture contained in the soil may not contribute to plant growth by doubling. Therefore, it is necessary to collect information about the size of the second receptacle 300 in the initial setting stage in consideration of this point. When the user selects the size of the purchased flowerpot 10, the weight of the flowerpot 10 of the corresponding size may be transmitted to the control unit of the smart flowerpot 10.

Referring to FIG. 6 , a user screen (UI) for selecting a plant 11 to grow in a smart pot 10 can be seen. Depending on the plant 11 grown in the smart pot 10, the initial weight of the plant 10 may be transmitted to the control unit of the smart pot 10. Even if the size of the pot and the amount of soil are the same, it is necessary to reset an appropriate water reference value according to the type of plant 11 . That is, depending on the type of plant, there may be plants that require a relatively large amount of moisture, and there may be plants that require a relatively small amount of moisture. Therefore, it is necessary to collect information about the type of plant 11 grown in the initial setting stage.

Referring to FIG. 7 , a user screen (UI) for selecting the number of compressed soil, which is the soil 12 to fill the smart pot 10, can be seen. The initial weight of the soil 10 may be transmitted to the control unit of the smart flower pot 10 according to the number of compressed soil filling the flower pot 10 . However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and when the compressed soil is not used, the weight of the soil 12 used may be measured and described.

As illustrated in FIGS. 5 to 7 above, the user may set various initial conditions when using the smart pot 10 for the first time, and derive the moisture weight during plant growth according to the process of Equation 1 below. .

[Equation 1]

Weight of water = weight of whole pot - (weight of pot + weight of plant + weight of soil)

The weight of the entire pot may mean the actually measured weight. Also, the weight of the pot, the weight of the plant, and the weight of the soil may be values set at the time of initial purchase of the pot.

The weight of the moisture obtained in this way should be converted into a ratio to the soil 12 again. This is because the humidity of the soil 12 is different when a small pot is used and when a large pot is used even though the weight of the same moisture is the same. That is, the humidity of the soil during plant growth can be derived according to the process of Equation 2 below.

[Equation 2]

Moisture of soil = weight of water / volume of soil

The volume of the soil 12 can be simply calculated by considering the number of compressed soil input in FIG. 7 . To this end, preferably, compressed soil and plants may be sold together with the smart flowerpot 10. If the user does not use the compressed soil sold together with the smart flowerpot 10 and uses the soil 12 obtained separately, the volume of the soil 12 in consideration of the size of the flowerpot 10 input in FIG. 5 can be estimated.

After going through the initial setting process through the user screens of FIGS. 5 to 7 , preparations for moisture measurement using the weight sensor 400 described in FIG. 4 can be completed. A value exceeding the weight of the pot 10 + the weight of the plant 11 + the weight of the soil 12 selected in the initial setting process is due to moisture. In addition, considering the amount of soil 12, the distribution of moisture in soil 12 can be calculated arithmetically.

In addition, according to the type of plant 11 selected in FIG. 6 , a reference value of environmental information necessary for the growth of the plant 11 may be loaded from a database of a smartphone application and transmitted to the smart flower pot 10 . In the smart flowerpot 10, the received reference value may be stored in an internal memory, compared with the measured sensor value, converted into a percentage, and provided to the user.

That is, the appropriateness of moisture displayed by the display unit 100 may be derived according to the process of Equation 3 below.

[Equation 3]

Moisture suitability (%) = Soil humidity / Optimal humidity required for the growth of the plant

The appropriateness of moisture calculated according to Equation 3 may be delivered to the user in the form of FIGS. 8 to 10 to be described later. The user can more easily grow the plant 11 based on the intuitively provided information on the water content and information on whether more water is needed or appropriate for plant growth. FIGS. As a diagram for explaining a process of growing a plant using a smart pot according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 8 illustrates a user interface checked in a smartphone application. 9 and 10 illustrate images displayed on the display unit 100 of the smart pot 10, respectively.

The appropriateness of moisture displayed on a percent scale in the display unit 100 of the smart flowerpot 10 can also be confirmed through a smartphone application. Referring to FIG. 8 , it is possible to see a user screen (UI) that visually provides the user with an appropriate level of moisture, which is one of the ecological information required for the growth of the plant 11 .

For example, by comparing the amount of moisture required to grow Stucky with the amount of moisture currently contained in the soil 12, it is visualized and provided as a numerical value from 0% to 100%, and if the moisture is not sufficient, it is provided in the form of a pop-up. Information on the amount of water to be supplied may be provided to the user. Through this, users who are new to growing plants can easily assist in growing plants.

The notification message about the appropriateness of moisture or the supply of water displayed in FIG. 8 may be provided in the same way on the display unit 100 of the smart potted plant 10. Referring to FIG. 9 , it can be seen that the display unit 100 of the smart flower pot 10 provides the user with the appropriate level of moisture in a percentage scale. Information displayed by the display unit 100 may include the amount of moisture, acidity (pH) of the soil, nutrient state of the soil, and amount of sunlight irradiation from the top, but the present invention is not limited thereto. When the appropriateness level of moisture is lower than a preset reference value, information on the appropriateness level of moisture on the display unit 100 may be blinked or a notification for replenishment of moisture may be provided through an audible alarm.

In some cases, when calculating the appropriateness of moisture, the calculation degree of moisture may be provided based on the pot 10 and the soil 12 rather than the appropriate humidity according to the plant 11. Users can grow plants that are not stored in the database of the smartphone application, and even for plants stored in the database, the appropriate amount of moisture may vary depending on the type, shape, size, etc. of the plant, which is sometimes difficult for the user to set. .

In this case, moisture is supplied to the soil 12, but in order to prevent overflow of the pot 10, the appropriateness of moisture based on the maximum moisture that can be saturated by the currently selected pot 10 and soil 12 can provide. To this end, Equation 4 below may be applied instead of Equation 3 above.

[Equation 4]

Moisture adequacy (%) = soil humidity / maximum humidity that the pot can be saturated with

If the appropriateness of moisture obtained in Equation 3 above is a value necessary for growing plants well, the appropriateness of moisture obtained in Equation 4 is to prevent excessive water from flowing down to the water tray 500 below. This is because even replacing the water support 500 can be a nuisance to modern people who live a particularly busy time. Alternatively, when the smart pot 10 according to the present embodiment is configured like a hanging plant, it may be desirable to control the amount of moisture through Equation 4.

Referring to FIG. 10 , it can be seen that the information collected through the sensors installed on the inner and outer walls of the smart pot 10 is compared with the reference value of environmental information necessary for the growth of the plant 11 and displayed. The information displayed by the display unit 100 may include moisture content, soil acidity, sunlight irradiation amount, and soil nutrient state in a clockwise direction from the upper left corner, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

11 and 12 are diagrams for explaining an information transfer process between a smart pot and a smartphone application according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 11 , information about the plant 11 that the user wants to grow is received through the smart flowerpot 10 through the setting process of FIGS. 5 to 7 using a smartphone (S1100). At this time, information on the size of the flowerpot 10 or the amount of soil 12 used may be additionally input.

In the smart phone application, information on an optimal environment for the plant 11 to grow is retrieved from a database related to the ecological environment of the plant stored in advance (S1110). For example, as shown in Figure 6, the sticky plant needs water supply about once a month, and the temperature may be information such as the optimal environment between 15 degrees and 30 degrees. Or, ansirium plants need watering once every 5 to 7 days in summer and once every 10 to 15 days in winter, depending on the season, and the temperature is between 20 and 25 degrees. . This information may be provided variably based on information about the current date collected by the smart phone itself, for example whether it is summer or winter.

When this information is transmitted to the smart flowerpot 10 (S1130), the smart flowerpot 10 measures information about the humidity, temperature, nutrients, pH, amount of sunlight, etc. of the soil 12 using various built-in sensors, , The measured value of the sensor and the reference value of the environmental information may be compared and displayed on the display unit 100 of the smart potted plant 10 (S1200).

In addition, in some cases, the value measured by the smart flowerpot 10 may be transmitted to a smartphone (S1210). At this time, if the measured values stored in the memory of the smart pot 10 are transmitted at once, the smartphone application shows the time (e.g., day) in which environment the plant 11 has been growing in the smart pot 10. A growth diary may be provided in the form of a bar graph with a horizontal axis as a horizontal axis and a growth value as a vertical axis (S1230).

In some embodiments, the smartphone application (or the control unit of the smart pot) may further store a growth diary in the form of a bar graph in which time (eg, day) is the horizontal axis and the amount of water contained in the soil 12 is the vertical axis. there is.

In addition, in some embodiments, the smartphone application (or the control unit of the smart pot) may further store a slope value of a graph in which time (eg, day) is the horizontal axis and the amount of moisture in the soil 12 is the vertical axis. there is.

As described above, the amount of moisture contained in the soil 12 may be consumed more quickly or slowly depending on the surrounding environment. For example, in winter, the rate of evaporation of moisture increases due to a dry environment, the amount of moisture decreases relatively quickly, and the slope may be large. On the other hand, in summer, the rate of evaporation of moisture decreases due to a humid environment, and the rate of decrease in the amount of moisture, that is, the slope may be relatively small.

For another example, a slope in which the amount of moisture decreases due to a dry environment may be large under one environment, whereas a slope in which the amount of moisture decreases due to a humid environment may be small under another environment.

However, it may be desirable to control the water content gradient to an appropriate degree. This may be the effect of the type of plant, or it may be other factors. As an example of the other factor, when the slope of the decrease in the amount of moisture is too small, that is, when the soil 12 contains moisture for an excessively long time and thus the amount of drainage is small, mold and the like may propagate in the soil. there is.

The above moisture content gradient may be controlled using the heater 600 disposed on the inner wall of the first container 200 . If the slope of the change in moisture content measured or calculated based on the growth diary is too small compared to the slope of the change in moisture content at an appropriate level of the plant stored in the database of the smartphone application, the heater 600 is operated so that the smart pot (10) The internal temperature is increased, and through this, the change in the amount of moisture can be promoted. On the other hand, when the calculated moisture content change slope is too large compared to an appropriate moisture content change slope stored in the database, the heater 600 may not be operated.

Meanwhile, as described above, the linkage between the smart phone and the smart flower pot 10 can also be used to drive the display unit 100 of the smart flower pot 10 . As described above, the smart flowerpot 10 may be driven using a battery of a charging type without a constant power supply. In such a limited IoT environment, since resource consumption must be minimized, always driving the display unit 100 should be avoided.

That is, information on plant growth should be provided to the user by turning on the display unit 100 only at a necessary time, which is when the user approaches the smart flower pot 10 . That is, the display unit 100 is turned off when the user is far away from the smart flower pot 10, and the display unit 100 is turned on when the user approaches the smart flower pot 10.

There are two methods for determining whether a user has come near the smart flowerpot 10 . One is to install an infrared sensor or an ultrasonic sensor on the front of the smart flower pot 10 and sense it at regular intervals to determine whether the user has approached. Alternatively, the smartphone possessed by the user and the smart flower pot 10 may perform short-range wireless communication such as Wi-Fi, NFC, and Bluetooth to determine the user's location, and the display unit only when the user's location is close to the smart flower pot 10 (100) can be turned on.

Since NFC can communicate only within a distance of several tens of cm, when using NFC, the user is located very close to the smart flowerpot 10. Bluetooth or Wi-Fi can communicate over a longer distance than NFC, but it is possible to check how far the smart phone is from the smart flowerpot 10 by using the sensitivity of the signal. This is because the signal strength decreases as the distance increases.

Referring to FIG. 12 , a motion in front of a potted plant is detected or a user's location is determined through short-range communication with a smartphone (S2100). It is checked whether the user has approached the smart flowerpot 10 (S2200). When the user does not approach the smart flowerpot 10, the power of the display unit is turned off (S2300).

If the user approaches the smart flower pot 10, the power of the display unit 100 is turned on, and the measured value is compared with the reference value and provided to the user (S2350). If the measured value is compared with the reference value (S2400), and if it is not sufficient for the preset growth environment, a notification may be provided to the user through blinking of the corresponding item on the display unit 100 or an alarm sound (S2500). Alternatively, the smartphone application may provide a notification message as shown at the bottom of FIG. 8 .

Although the above has been described with reference to the embodiments of the present invention, this is only an example and does not limit the present invention, and those skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs will be able to It will be appreciated that various modifications and applications not exemplified above are possible.

Therefore, it should be understood that the scope of the present invention includes modifications, equivalents, or substitutes of the technical ideas exemplified above. For example, each component specifically shown in the embodiment of the present invention can be modified and implemented. And differences related to these modifications and applications should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

Each component on the configuration diagram or block diagram of the accompanying drawings may be implemented in software or hardware such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). However, each component on the configuration diagram or block diagram may be implemented in an addressable storage medium as well as software and hardware, and may be configured to execute one or more processors.

Each component on a block diagram or block diagram may represent a module, segment, or piece of code that includes one or more executable instructions for executing a specified logical function. Therefore, a function provided by a component on a block diagram or block diagram may be implemented by a plurality of more subdivided components, or a plurality of components on a block diagram or block diagram may be implemented by an integrated component. is of course

100: display unit
200: first receptor
300: second receptor
400: weight sensor
500: water support
600: heater

Claims (10)

As a smart pot,
first receptor;
a second receptacle disposed within the first receptacle and providing a smaller inner space than the first receptacle;
a weight sensor disposed between an upper surface of the bottom part of the first container and a lower surface of the bottom part of the second container, and configured to measure the weight of the second container and the components contained in the second container;
a motion sensor unit that monitors a user's movement;
a display unit that visually expresses the state of the pot; and
Including a control unit,
An upper surface of the bottom portion of the first receptacle and a bottom surface of the bottom portion of the second receptacle are at least partially spaced apart from each other, and an inner surface of the sidewall portion of the first receptacle and an outer surface of the sidewall portion of the second receptacle are at least partially spaced apart from each other. become,
The upper surface of the bottom of the first receptor has a concave groove, and a drain hole is formed in the groove,
The control unit collects information about the weight of the second receptor, information about the plant to be planted, and information about the weight and volume of the soil in the initial setting process,
The control unit derives the weight of moisture contained in the soil by subtracting the weight collected in the initial setting process from the weight measured using the weight sensor,
The control unit derives the humidity of the soil as a ratio of the weight of the derived moisture to the amount of soil collected in the initial setting process,
The control unit compares the derived humidity of the soil with a predetermined humidity,
The control unit is configured to detect a user's movement using the motion sensor unit when the drive is being driven without constant power, and to turn on the display unit only when the user is within a predetermined range with the potted plant,
The smart flower pot, wherein the control unit determines whether the user is located within a predetermined range of the flower pot by using the motion sensor unit at regular intervals. delete delete delete delete delete delete According to claim 1,
Further comprising a communication unit for communicating with a smart device carried by the user,
The smart flower pot, wherein the control unit determines whether the user is located within a certain range of the flower pot by using the signal sensitivity with the smart device received through the communication unit. According to claim 8,
Further comprising a heater disposed on the inner wall of the first receptor,
The control unit generates and stores information on the amount of change in the amount of moisture over time,
A smart flower pot that heats the soil by operating the heater when the measured moisture variation information is smaller than a preset reference value. delete

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