KR20060011488A - Rf system in washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a laundry apparatus, and in particular, to obtain information about clothes in a non-contact manner, and to control the appropriate washing proceeds therein, and to transmit and receive information for the laundry apparatus implemented in such a configuration that the configuration is optimized for the environment of the laundry apparatus. Relates to a device.

To this end, the present invention is attached to any one part of each garment, the RFID tag (Radio Frequency Identification Tag) that stores information related to the garment; An RF reader unit which is provided at any one portion of each of the washing apparatuses and performs the collective transmission / reception of information in a mutually inductive manner with the RFID tag of each garment put into the washing apparatus; And, a control unit for receiving a variety of information on each of the clothes received by the RF reader unit for setting at least one or more strokes for washing operation is provided, the information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry device is provided. .

Passive RFID Tags, RFID Readers, Information Transceivers for Laundry Equipment

Description

Information transmitting and receiving device for laundry machine {RF system in washing machine}

1 is a block diagram schematically showing a construction state of an information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry machine according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a state diagram schematically showing the structure of an RFID tag in the information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry machine according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a configuration diagram schematically showing an information exchange state of the information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry machine according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

110. Main body 120. Drum

130. Drive section 210. RFID tag

211.RFID Chip 212. Coil Antenna

213. Waterproof film 220. RF reader

221. Antenna for Reader 222. RF Module

230. Controls

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laundry machine, and more particularly, to an information transmitting / receiving device for a laundry machine for acquiring information on clothes in a non-contact manner.

Generally, the washing apparatus includes a pulsator washing machine in which a drum is set in a vertical direction, a drum washing machine in which the drum is laid in a horizontal direction, and a combined washing machine including a drying function.

The washing apparatus checks the quantity of laundry put into the drum, and automatically performs the washing by automatically setting the washing level and the washing time according to the determined quantity.

Recently, due to the development of informatization, a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag is attached to any part of the garment to enable logistics management or information management of the garment.

At this time, the RFID tag has a predetermined storage area for storing various kinds of information related to the garment, and the storage area is a kind of memory chip capable of recording various kinds of information or recording additional information.

However, the information stored in the RFID tag of the garment is mainly used only for the logistics management of the garment, but cannot be applied to the laundry administration using the information.

Of course, in Korean Patent Publication No. 195-0011598, washing information is recorded and attached to clothes, washing medium input washing means for detecting the washing information is installed in place of the washing machine body, and recorded on the information carrier; There is provided a laundry information input device for a washing machine including a system control means for controlling the overall system operation of the washing machine with the laundry information detected by the laundry information input detecting means.

That is, the technique of the above-mentioned Korea Patent Publication No. 1995-0011598 is to acquire the information on the laundry from the information carrier attached to the clothing when washing so that the appropriate washing can be performed accordingly.

In addition, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-360968 discloses a central information processing apparatus including a reader for attaching a garment and receiving a signal from an RFID tag in which information is stored, and a holding unit for informing the information read by the reader, and washing. There is provided a laundry apparatus using a non-contact identification device including a control unit for setting or changing a mode.

That is, the technique disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-360968 is such that an improper washing setting can be prevented after obtaining information on washing from an RFID tag attached to clothes during washing.

However, the conventional technologies as described above are inconveniences of the user because the information of the corresponding clothing can be confirmed by bringing each clothing closer to the reader in the process of putting the clothing into the laundry apparatus.

Of course, using a high-frequency antenna of the electromagnetic wave (Electromagnetic Wave) method can be configured to enable long-range wireless connection between the RFID tag and the reader.

However, the electromagnetic wave method is not only expensive, but also causes a problem that an error in information occurs because the reader acquires information about the user's worn clothing while the user inserts laundry into the laundry apparatus.

Therefore, there is a need for a clothes information acquisition system of a laundry device that can minimize the information acquisition error of each garment for washing control and obtain the best washing effect when applied to the laundry device.

In addition, each of the above-described conventional technologies is a structure capable of simply transmitting and receiving information in a non-contact manner, and only the concept of confirming information about each garment is interposed, and the type of information tag and type of reader for transmitting and receiving the non-contact information. It is not mentioned, nor is its communication method proposed.

That is, when the technology using the non-contact method is applied to a device used for a special purpose such as a washing device, the present invention is made in spite of being able to obtain an optimal washing effect only when it is constructed to be most suitable for the operation environment of the washing device. It is not losing.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to acquire the information about the clothing in a non-contact manner, and to control the washing to proceed appropriately therewith, the configuration of the washing apparatus It is an object of the present invention to provide an information transmitting / receiving device for a laundry device that is implemented to be optimized for an environment of the present invention.

An aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is an RFID tag (Radio Frequency Identification Tag) attached to any one part of each garment, the information related to the garment is stored; An RF reader unit which is provided at any one portion of each of the washing apparatuses and performs the collective transmission / reception of information in a mutually inductive manner with the RFID tag of each garment put into the washing apparatus; And, a control unit for receiving a variety of information on each of the clothes received by the RF reader unit for setting at least one or more strokes for washing operation is provided, the information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry device is provided. .

Hereinafter, with reference to Figures 1 to 3 showing a preferred embodiment according to the information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry machine of the present invention described above in detail.

First, the information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a laundry apparatus 100, an RFID tag 210, an RF reader unit 220, and a controller 230 as shown in FIG. 1. It is configured.

The washing apparatus 100 includes a main body 110, a drum 120, and a driving unit 130.

The main body 110 forms the appearance of the laundry apparatus.

In addition, the drum 120 is installed in the main body 110 and is driven by the driving unit 130.

The RFID tag 210 is attached to any one part of each garment, and memory associated with the garment is stored.

In this case, the RFID tag 210 includes an RFID chip 211, a coil antenna 212, and a waterproof film 213 as shown in FIG. 2.

Various information is stored in the RFID chip 211.

The coil antenna 212 plays a role of emitting an information signal stored in the RFID chip 211.

The waterproof film 213 is formed to surround the RFID chip 211 and the coil antenna 212 to prevent penetration of moisture such as washing water.

In particular, the RFID tag 210 is more preferably configured as a passive type (Passive Type) tag to rectify the radio signal transmitted from the RF reader unit 220 to use as a power source, considering that it is attached to the clothes difficult to supply power. .

In addition, the RFID chip 211 of the RFID tag 210 is more preferably configured to enable recording of additional information.

In addition, the RFID tag 210 is more preferably configured to be detachable to each clothing according to the user's needs.

Of course, the RFID tag 210 may be manufactured in a state in which information about the garment is stored in the manufacturing process of each garment, but the user may have the garment without the RFID tag 210 attached thereto. It may be.

Therefore, it is preferable to attach an RFID tag 210 in which the information of the garment is manually input to the garment to which the RFID tag 210 is not attached so that a missed error of the garment can be prevented.

In addition, the RF reader unit 220 is preferably provided at a position within approximately 1M from a position in which the clothing in the drum 120 is put in any one of the respective parts of the washing apparatus 100.

In particular, the RF reader unit 220 is configured to transmit and receive the collective information in a mutually inductive manner with the RFID tag 210 introduced into the drum 120 of the laundry apparatus 100.

The configuration of the RF reader unit 220 is stored in the RFID tag 210 by approaching each garment, which is conventionally disclosed in Korean Patent Application Publication Nos. 1995-0011598 and 2002-360968, in close proximity. Compared to the method of acquiring the information, the inconvenience of the user can be reduced as much as possible.

That is, the user can put all the clothes to be washed in the drum 120 and then simply perform an operation selection to obtain information from each RFID tag 210 collectively.

The RFID system including the RFID tag 210 and the RF reader unit 220 according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention can realize a reduction in price by implementing a mutually inductive method capable of acquiring information at a short distance. It is to prevent the error of recognition.

Of course, an electromagnetic wave RFID system using a high frequency antenna may be applied to a laundry apparatus.

However, as the price of the active RFID tag used in the RFID system is high, the problem of causing an increase in the overall manufacturing cost and a problem of acquiring the information of clothing worn by the user can be acquired by the long distance recognition. Not desirable

In addition, the RF reader unit 220 is a reader antenna 221 for performing a signal exchange with the RFID tag 210, as shown in Figure 3 and the RFID received through the reader antenna 221 And an RF module 222 for analyzing and integrating the information of the tag 210.

In addition, the controller 230 receives various information about each garment received by the RF reader 220 and performs at least one stroke for washing operation.

In this case, the controller 230 may be integrated with the RF reader unit 220 or may be configured separately from the RF reader unit 220.

If the control unit 230 is integrated with the RF reader unit 220, the control unit 230 controls the operation of each driving unit of the washing machine, for example, a driving motor, various valves, a heater, and the like. It is preferable that the exchange is possible.

On the other hand, when the control unit 230 is configured to be separated from the RF reader unit 220, the control unit 230 is preferably configured to perform the role of the microcomputer of the laundry machine.

Hereinafter, a process of automatically setting a laundry operation by the laundry machine information transmitting and receiving device according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

At this time, in the embodiment of the present invention, the RF reader unit 220 and the control unit 230 are separated.

First, when operation selection is made in a state where a plurality of clothes are put into the drum 120 by the user, the RF reader unit 220 exchanges signals with each RFID tag 210 attached to each of the clothes. Acquisition of the laundry related information collectively for all the garments is performed (S100).

In this case, the user may attach a separate RFID tag 210 which directly stores information on the clothing to the corresponding clothing, for the clothing without the RFID tag 210 attached thereto.

The storage of the information on the clothing may be performed through an operation of the controller 230 or through a device capable of recording information on the RFID tag 210.

The RF reader 220 provides the acquired information to the controller 230.

At this time, the control unit 230 performs control setting for the progress of each stroke for washing according to a table previously input based on the information provided from the RF reader unit 220.

For example, if each garment introduced into the drum 120 is identified as a kind of clothing that is easily deteriorated when washing or drying proceeds at a high temperature (about 60 ° C.) or more, the washing progress temperature and drying progress temperature may be performed at 60 ° C. or lower. To set the washing time accordingly.

And, if the above control setting is made, the control unit 230 is not shown, but a drive motor for driving the drum 120, various valves for controlling the amount of washing water input and washing level, washing progress temperature or drying Operation is performed in accordance with the progress of each set stroke while controlling a heater and the like for controlling the progress temperature.

As described above, the information transmitting / receiving device for the laundry apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention eliminates the inconvenience of the user by acquiring the collective information even if the laundry-related information about each garment is not acquired close to the reader. It has the effect of being able to.

In particular, by configuring the RF system including the RFID tag and the RF reader unit in a form that can be most appropriately applied to the laundry machine at a minimum cost, it is possible to prevent recognition errors such as clothing worn by the user. Have

Claims (9)

An RFID tag attached to any one part of each garment and storing information related to the garment; An RF reader unit which is provided at any one portion of each of the washing apparatuses and performs the collective transmission / reception of information in a mutually inductive manner with the RFID tag of each garment put into the washing apparatus; And, And a control unit configured to receive various information on each garment received by the RF reader unit and perform setting for at least one stroke for washing operation. 2. The method of claim 1, The RFID tag is Information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry machine comprising an RFID chip, a coil antenna, and a waterproof film. The method of claim 1, The RFID tag is an information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry machine, characterized in that it is possible to confirm the stored information and to record the additional information. The method of claim 1, The RFID tag is And a passive tag configured to rectify the radio wave signal transmitted from the RF reader unit and use the same as a power source. The method of claim 1, The RFID tag is Information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry machine, characterized in that configured to be detachable to each clothing according to the user's needs. The method of claim 1, The RF reader unit and the control unit is an information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry machine, characterized in that it is configured in one piece. The method of claim 1, The RF reader unit and the control unit are configured to be separated from each other, The control unit is a device for transmitting and receiving information, characterized in that configured to perform the operation control of the laundry device. The method of claim 1, The RF reader unit A reader antenna for performing signal exchange with the RFID tag; And an RF module for analyzing and integrating the information of the RFID tag received through the antenna for the reader. The method of claim 1, The washing apparatus includes a main body forming an external appearance, a drum provided in the main body and washing or drying in a state in which clothes are put in, and a driving unit for driving the drum. The RF reader unit of claim 1, wherein the information transmitting and receiving device for a laundry machine, characterized in that provided in the position of approximately 1M from the position in which the clothing in the drum is put.

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