KR20110096774A - A refrigerator comprising a terminal and a control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a terminal capable of adjusting and managing a schedule of a refrigerator user and a control method thereof.
The present invention includes a touch screen for displaying predetermined information and receiving an input signal by a touch; And a controller configured to change a display state or display contents of a calendar displayed on the touch screen by an input signal input to the touch screen by a touch method, and displayed on the touch screen to pay particular attention to the calendar. Provided is a refrigerator having a terminal, and a method of controlling the same, comprising an enlarged frame for displaying the display state in a larger state than other states.

Description

A refrigerator comprising a terminal and a control method

The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a terminal and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a refrigerator having a terminal capable of adjusting and managing a schedule of a refrigerator user and a control method thereof.

Refrigerators are home appliances that can easily store or freeze storage such as food using a refrigerant cycle.

A typical refrigerator includes a freezer compartment and a refrigerating compartment, a door that opens and closes the refrigerating compartment and the freezer compartment, and a dispenser provided in the door to extract ice or water.

The door of the conventional refrigerator is provided with a display device that can display information such as the operation state of the refrigerator, that is, the temperature of the refrigerating or freezing chamber, or whether ice is frozen or the like, thereby informing the user of such information.

However, according to the trend of smartization of home appliances, in addition to the information of such home appliances themselves, the necessity of the display apparatus of home appliances has to provide a function for providing or managing information related to user's life for the convenience of users. It became.

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator having a terminal capable of conveniently managing information related to a schedule of a user and a control method thereof.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display device including: a touch screen displaying predetermined information and receiving an input signal by a touch; And a controller configured to change a display state or display contents of a calendar displayed on the touch screen by an input signal input to the touch screen by a touch method, and displayed on the touch screen to pay particular attention to the calendar. And an enlarged frame for displaying the display state enlarged than other states.

The controller may control the calendar to move upward or downward when the user touches the touch screen and moves a portion touched upward or downward.

The enlarged frame is provided to be fixed to a feature position on the touch screen,

The last week of the specific week is displayed on the upper part of the enlarged frame, and the next week of the particular week is displayed on the lower part.

When the user raises the touched portion in the upward direction while the user touches the touch screen, the control unit moves the specific week calendar located in the enlarged frame to move up and the next week of the specific week is located in the enlarged frame.

When the user lowers the touched portion in a downward direction while touching the display unit, the specific week calendar located in the enlarged frame moves downward and controls the week immediately before the specific week to be positioned in the enlarged frame.

The calendar may display an icon displaying a predetermined schedule.

When a week including a date including an icon indicating a predetermined schedule is present in the enlargement frame, a description of the schedule is displayed together with the icon.

If the user moves the touched portion in the upper direction or the lower direction while the user touched the touch screen,

While the specific week calendar in the enlarged frame is moved out of the enlarged frame, the description of the schedule of the specific week calendar in the enlarged frame is controlled to disappear.

The calendar before, after, or immediately before the specific week outside the magnifying frame moves to the inside of the magnifying frame, and a description of the schedule associated with the icon in the calendar immediately after or immediately before being placed inside the magnifying frame. It is characterized by controlling so that it appears.

The controller may be configured to control the icon to move to the dropped date when the touched icon is moved to another date while the icon displayed on the specific date is touched.

The controller controls a plurality of icons to display different schedules when a user touches a specific date more than once for a predetermined time,

When a user touches a specific icon among a plurality of icons, the touched specific icon is controlled to be displayed on a specific date.

The controller may display a touch keyboard on the touch screen so that the user may input a desired phrase when the user touches a specific icon among a plurality of icons.

In addition, the present invention comprises the steps of determining whether the touch input to the touch screen; Determining whether the touched portion has moved upward or downward; Moving the calendar in which each row is displayed in units of weeks in the moving direction of the touched portion when the touched portion moves upward or downward; When a particular week is located in an enlarged frame provided on the display unit when the calendar is moved, the size of the specific week is increased.

When an icon indicating a specific schedule and a description of the specific schedule are input on a specific date provided in the calendar, the icon and a description thereof are displayed when a note including a specific date is located in the enlargement frame. If the location is outside the frame characterized in that it comprises a step of displaying an icon.

As described above, the user's schedule management can be easily performed through the terminal of the refrigerator.

Specifically, since a calendar is provided on the touch screen of the terminal, and a specific schedule designated by the user is represented by an icon and a brief description, the user can easily recognize and search a schedule of a predetermined period at a glance. .

On the other hand, when moving the calendar can be changed quickly by touch and drag method, it is possible to easily change the date even if you want to see the schedule of other dates.

In addition, by providing an enlargement frame, a state to which the current date belongs or a state that the user wants to view may be placed in the enlargement frame. It can be a big help in management.

1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator according to the present invention.
2 is a control block diagram of a refrigerator according to the present invention.
Figure 3 is an initial screen displayed on the terminal of the refrigerator according to the present invention.
Figure 4 shows a calendar displayed on the terminal of the refrigerator according to the present invention.
5 and 6 illustrate a process of moving the calendar displayed on the terminal of the refrigerator according to the present invention.
7 illustrates a process of changing a specific schedule from a specific date to another date in the calendar displayed by the terminal of the refrigerator according to the present invention.
8 to 11 illustrate a process of inputting a new schedule in a terminal of a refrigerator according to the present invention.
12 is a control flowchart of a refrigerator according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator 100 according to the present invention includes a main body 100a, a door 101b provided on the front surface of the main body, and a handle 100c mounted to the door.

The door 101b is provided with a dispenser 110 capable of extracting cold water or ice, and a terminal 200 capable of displaying operation state information of the refrigerator and information related to power rates or power consumption.

The terminal 200 is provided in the form of a terminal. Specifically, the terminal 200 may include a display module 241 for displaying predetermined information and inputting a predetermined command by a touch.

The display module 241 may be configured as a touch screen in which an input and a display may be simultaneously implemented. However, it is also possible to have a general display module having only a display function and a button type input device provided separately from the display module.

The terminal 200 may be fixed to the front of the door, or provided detachably, so that the user may attach or remove the terminal 200 to a refrigerator as needed.

2, the refrigerator terminal 200 according to the present invention includes a communication unit 210, an A / V input unit 220, a user input unit 230, an output unit 240, and a memory ( 250, an interface unit 260, an RFID reader unit 270, a controller 280, a power supply unit 290, and the like. Since the components shown in FIG. 1 are not essential, the refrigerator terminal 200 having more or fewer components may be implemented.

Hereinafter, the components will be described in order.

The communication unit 210 may include one or more modules that enable the Internet to be used between the refrigerator terminal 200 and the wireless communication system or in an internet network in which the refrigerator terminal 200 is located.

For example, the communication unit 210 may include a broadcast receiving module 211, a mobile communication module 212, an internet module 213, a short range communication module 214, and the like.

The broadcast receiving module 211 receives a broadcast signal and / or broadcast related information from an external broadcast management server through a broadcast channel and reproduces it on the display module 241 under the control of the controller 280.

The mobile communication module 212 transmits and receives a wireless signal with at least one of a base station, an external terminal, and a server on a mobile communication network. The wireless signal may include various types of data according to transmission and reception of a voice signal, a video call signal, or a text / multimedia message.

The internet module 213 refers to a module for wired / wireless internet access. The wireless internet technologies include wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), Wibro (Wireless broadband), Wimax (World Interoperability for Microwave Access), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) or the like may be used.

The short range communication module 214 refers to a module for short range communication. As a short range communication technology, Bluetooth, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Ultra Wideband (UWB), ZigBee, and the like may be used.

The A / V input unit 220 is for inputting an audio signal or a video signal, and may include a camera 221 and a microphone 222.

The camera 221 processes image information such as still images or moving images obtained by an image sensor in a video call mode or a photographing mode. The processed image information may be displayed on the display module 241.

The image data processed by the camera 221 may be stored in the memory 250 or transmitted to the outside through the communication unit 210. Two or more cameras 221 may be provided according to a usage environment.

The microphone 222 receives an external sound signal by a microphone in a call mode, a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, etc., and processes the external sound signal into electrical voice data.

The user input unit 230 generates input data for the user to control the operation of the refrigerator terminal 200. The user input unit 130 may include a key pad, a direction key, a dome switch, a touch pad (static pressure / capacitance), a jog wheel, a jog switch, and the like.

The output unit 240 is used to generate an output related to visual or audio, and may include a display module 241 and a sound output module 242.

The display module 241 displays (outputs) information processed by the refrigerator terminal 200.

For example, when displaying information related to the refrigerator terminal 200 and the refrigerator 100, information related to the refrigerator 100 may be displayed in a form of a widget (UI) or a user interface (GUI) such as a widget or an icon. Interface).

As described above, the display module 241 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD), a thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), The display device may include at least one of a flexible display and a 3D display.

When the display module 241 and a sensor for detecting a touch motion (hereinafter, referred to as a touch sensor) form a mutual layer structure (hereinafter, referred to as a touch screen), the display module 241 may be used in addition to an output device. Can also be used as an input device.

The touch sensor may have, for example, a form of a touch film, a touch sheet, a touch pad, or the like.

The touch sensor may be configured to convert a change in pressure applied to a specific portion of the display module 241 or capacitance generated at a specific portion of the display module 241 into an electrical input signal. The touch sensor may be configured to detect not only the position and area of the touch but also the pressure at the touch.

If there is a touch input to the touch sensor, the corresponding signal (s) is sent to a touch controller (not shown). The touch controller processes the signal (s) and then transmits the corresponding data to the controller 280. As a result, the controller 280 may determine which area of the display module 241 is touched.

The sound output module 242 outputs data including audio included in the memory 250 or outputs sound for notifying a user of an operation state associated with the refrigerator 100. The sound output module 152 may include a receiver, a speaker, a buzzer, and the like.

The memory 250 may store a program for processing and controlling the controller 280, and stores information related to the operation of the refrigerator.

In addition, the memory 250 may store schedule information input by a user according to the present invention. In addition, the memory 250 stores graphic data that provides the schedule information to the user with various visual effects.

As described above, the memory 250 may be a flash memory type, a hard disk type, a multimedia card micro type, a card type memory (for example, an SD or XD memory). Etc.), random access memory (RAM), static random access memory (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EPEROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), At least one type of storage medium may include a magnetic memory, a magnetic disk, and an optical disk.

The interface unit 260 serves as a path to all external devices connected to the refrigerator terminal 200. The interface unit 260 receives data from an external device, receives power, transfers the power to each component inside the refrigerator terminal 200, or transmits data inside the refrigerator terminal 200 to an external device.

For example, wired / wireless headset ports, external charger ports, wired / wireless data ports, memory card ports, ports for connecting devices with identification modules, audio input / output (I / O) ports, The video input / output (I / O) port, the earphone port, and the like may be included in the interface unit 260.

The controller 280 typically controls the overall operation of the refrigerator terminal 200. In this case, the controller 280 may be a microprocessor in the refrigerator 100.

The power supply unit 290 receives power supplied from the refrigerator 100 or the external power supplied through the interface unit 260 under the control of the controller 280, and supplies power required for the operation of each component.

Various embodiments described herein may be implemented in a recording medium readable by a computer or similar device using, for example, software, hardware or a combination thereof.

According to a hardware implementation, the embodiments described herein include application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and the like. It may be implemented using at least one of processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, and electrical units for performing other functions.

 In some cases, the embodiments described herein may be implemented by the controller 280 itself.

According to the software implementation, embodiments such as the procedures and functions described herein may be implemented as separate software modules. Each of the software modules may perform one or more functions and operations described herein.

 Software code can be implemented in a software application written in a suitable programming language. The software code may be stored in the memory 250 and executed by the controller 280.

The control unit 280 is also connected to the compressor 310 or the defrost heater 320 is provided in the refrigerator body, the control unit 320 is operated in response to the command issued, the control unit 280 by these components It is possible to track and calculate the power consumption of the refrigerator consumed and the power charge according to the power consumption.

3 is an initial screen shown in the terminal 200 according to the present invention. Hereinafter, it will be described on the premise that the display module 241 is implemented as a touch screen.

On the initial screen, the current date, family schedule and current weather are displayed. On the right side, a storage state of a stored object currently stored in the refrigerator is displayed.

In addition, menu icons 330 for displaying various menus are disclosed on the lower side of the screen of the display module 241 of the terminal. When a user touches any one of the menu icons 330, information related to the menu is displayed on the screen. Will float on.

Using these menu icons 330 the user can. Various menus (Memoboard Management, Electricity Bill Management, Power Information Management, Schedule Management, etc.) can be selected.

In the present embodiment, when the user presses an icon labeled Calendar, a calendar 700 is displayed as shown in FIG.

In the calendar 700, each week forms a row, and four to five weeks can be displayed, so that a user can know at least one month's schedule or event plan at a glance.

Here, on the display module 241, an enlarged frame 720 in which a specific note can be enlarged and displayed compared to other notes is displayed, and the enlarged frame 720 is fixed at a position thereof.

Whereas the enlarged frame 720 has a fixed position, the calendar 700 is provided to be able to move up and down, where the calendar 700 allows the user to touch a specific point and drag upward or downward. The calendar moves in that drag direction.

According to the drag, a note entering the enlargement frame 720 may be changed, and the note entering the enlargement frame 720 may be enlarged and displayed as compared to other notes.

Here, when a specific note is displayed in the enlarged frame 720, the note immediately before the specific note is displayed on the upper part of the enlarged frame 720, and the next week is displayed on the lower part of the enlarged frame 720.

The week displayed in the enlarged frame 720 is basically displayed the week to which the current date belongs, it is preferable that the display of this day is displayed larger than the other date of the week or in a different color.

The calendar 700 displays a schedule icon 730 for displaying a specific schedule or schedule, and a brief description 740 is displayed next to the schedule icon 730 written on the day of the week displayed on the enlarged frame 720. Preferably, the description is hidden on the day of the week outside the enlarged frame 720, and only the schedule icon 730 is displayed.

As shown in Fig. 5, a specific week (here (the second week) is displayed) in the enlarged frame 720, and the user touches the finger on another week (here (the fifth week)). When the touched finger is dragged to the enlargement frame 720, as shown in FIG. 6, a note (note 5 denoted by 5) at which the finger was first touched along the movement of the finger is displayed on the enlarged frame 720. Is displayed.

At the same time, the note in the enlarged frame 720 moves upward of the enlarged frame 720, and its size is also reduced or disappeared from the display module 241.

In addition, a brief description 740 of a schedule hidden in the meantime is displayed next to a schedule icon 730 displaying a specific schedule on a specific date in a week newly entered in the enlarged frame 720.

This movement may be equally applied to the case where the finger is dragged downward while the finger is in touch.

On the other hand, when the user touches a specific week and drags it up or down, regardless of the dragging distance, the previous week or next week of the specific week in which the zoom frame 720 is displayed is sequentially displayed in the zoom frame ( 720 may be displayed.

That is, in the description of FIGS. 5 and 6, when a user touches a finger on a specific note and drags the finger to the enlargement frame 720, the specific note whose finger is touched moves along the dragged trajectory to the enlargement frame 720. It was.

However, even if the user touches a finger on a specific week and only slightly raises or lowers the touched portion, the week entering the enlarged frame 720 may be changed while the entire calendar 700 moves up and down.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 7, the user may change the schedule scheduled on a specific date to another date. This schedule conversion operation is easily performed by a user drag and drop operation.

Specifically, when the user moves the schedule scheduled on October 20 to the 23rd, the user drags the schedule icon 730 displayed on the October 20 to the 23rd.

If the dragged schedule icon 730 is completely removed on the 23rd and the finger is released (dropped), the schedule that was on the 20th is changed to the 23rd, and the changed state is stored.

As shown in FIG. 8, when a user attempts to input a new schedule, the following is as follows. First, when the user double touches a desired date, as shown in FIG. 9, a specific schedule is displayed. A plurality of schedule icons 730 can be unfolded at the same time.

As shown in FIG. 10, when a specific schedule icon is touched and selected from among the plurality of schedule icons 730, a brief description of a schedule associated with the selected schedule icon 730 as shown in FIG. 11 is recorded. The touch keyboard 800 is floated on the display module 241 so as to be able to do so.

Preferably, the touch keyboard 800 is positioned above the calendar 700. The touch keyboard 800 may be touched on the calendar 700 even when there is a touch input to the calendar 700 while the touch keyboard 800 is input. It is desirable to have no effect.

Accordingly, the user may input a brief description related to the corresponding schedule by using the touch keyboard 800, and the inputted description is displayed on the selected date along with the selected schedule icon 730.

As described above, when the inside of the enlarged frame 720 is displayed as described above, it is displayed outside, and is hidden when the user moves away from the enlarged frame 720 by dragging a calendar.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 12, the control content in the above-described terminal will be described comprehensively.

As shown in Fig. 12, first, it is determined whether there is an operation on a display module constituted by a user's touch screen (S1201). If there is an operation, it is determined whether the operation is a kind of operation (S1202).

If the calendar displayed on the touch screen is touched and the touch portion is dragged upward or downward, the calendar is moved in the drag direction (S1203).

Due to this movement, the specific week's calendar currently in the enlarged frame deviates from the enlarged frame (S1204), and another week's calendar outside the enlarged frame is located inside the enlarged frame (S1205).

On the other hand, due to the change in the position of the calendar with respect to the enlarged frame, the description of the specific schedule displayed on the calendar deviated from the fixed frame is hidden (S1206), and previously hidden in the calendar placed in the enlarged frame. The description of the specific schedule is displayed externally (S1207).

In operation S1202, if it is determined that the user's manipulation drags an icon related to a specific schedule displayed on a specific date, it is determined whether the icon dragged by the user on another date is dropped (S1208).

If it is determined that the icon is dropped on a completely different date, the icon and its description are deleted from the existing location (S1209), and the icon and the corresponding description are displayed and stored on the dropped date (S1210).

In operation S1202, when the user touches a specific date a plurality of times (multi-touch) at a predetermined time interval, a plurality of types of icons are displayed on the specific date (S1211).

When the user touches and selects a specific icon of the user, only the selected icon is displayed on the corresponding date and the unselected icon is controlled to be hidden again (S1213 and S1214).

If the user selects to record the description related to the selected icon, the touch keyboard is displayed on the display unit of the touch screen so that the user can enter the desired information.

200: refrigerator terminal 210: communication unit
211: broadcast receiving module 212: mobile communication module
213: Internet module 214: Local area communication module
220: A / V input unit 221: camera
222: microphone 230: user input unit
240: output unit 241: display module
242: sound output module 250: memory
260: interface unit 270: RFID reader unit
280: control unit 290: power supply unit
330: menu icon 700: calendar 720: enlarged frame 730: schedule icon
800: touch keyboard

Claims (12)

A touch screen displaying predetermined information and receiving an input signal by a touch;
And a controller configured to change a display state or display content of a calendar displayed on the touch screen by an input signal input to the touch screen by a touch method.
And a magnification frame displayed on the touch screen to enlarge and display a specific state of the week displayed on the calendar than other states. The method of claim 1,
And the controller controls the calendar to move upward or downward when the user touches the touch screen and moves a portion touched upward or downward. The method of claim 2,
The enlarged frame is provided to be fixed to a feature position on the touch screen,
A refrigerator having a terminal, wherein the last week of the specific week is displayed on the upper part of the enlarged frame, and the next week of the particular week is displayed on the lower part of the magnifying frame. The method of claim 3,
When the user raises the touched portion in the upward direction while the user touches the touch screen, the control unit moves the specific week calendar located in the enlarged frame to move up and the next week of the specific week is located in the enlarged frame.
When the user touches the display unit while the user touches the downward direction, the calendar for a particular week located in the enlarged frame moves downward and the terminal immediately before a specific week is controlled to be positioned in the enlarged frame. Refrigerator provided with. . The method of claim 1,
The refrigerator having a terminal, characterized in that an icon displaying a predetermined schedule may be displayed on the calendar. The method of claim 5,
And a note including a date including an icon indicating a predetermined schedule is present in the enlargement frame, wherein the description of the schedule is displayed together with the icon. The method of claim 6,
If the user moves the touched portion in the upper direction or the lower direction while the user touched the touch screen,
While the specific week calendar in the enlarged frame is moved out of the enlarged frame, the description of the schedule of the specific week calendar in the enlarged frame is controlled to disappear.
The calendar before, after, or immediately before the specific week outside the magnifying frame moves to the inside of the magnifying frame, and a description of the schedule associated with the icon in the calendar immediately after or immediately before being placed inside the magnifying frame. Refrigerator having a terminal, characterized in that the control to appear. The method of claim 5,
And the control unit controls the icon to move to the dropped date when the touched icon is moved to another date while the icon displayed on a specific date is touched. The method of claim 5,
The controller controls a plurality of icons to display different schedules when a user touches a specific date more than once for a predetermined time,
When the user touches a specific icon of the plurality of icons, the refrigerator comprising a terminal characterized in that the control to display the touched specific icon on a specific date. 10. The method of claim 9,
The control unit is a refrigerator having a terminal, characterized in that to display a touch keyboard on the touch screen so that the user can put a desired phrase when the user touches a particular icon of a plurality of icons. Determining whether a touch input is made to the touch screen;
Determining whether the touched portion has moved upward or downward;
Moving the calendar in which each row is displayed in units of weeks in the moving direction of the touched portion when the touched portion moves upward or downward;
If a particular week is located in the enlargement frame provided in the display unit when the calendar is moved, the control method of the refrigerator having a terminal, characterized in that the step of expanding the size than other weeks. The method of claim 11,
When an icon indicating a specific schedule and a description of the specific schedule are input on a specific date provided in the calendar,
If a note containing a specific date is located within the magnifying frame, an icon and a description thereof are displayed.
Control method of a refrigerator having a terminal, characterized in that the step of displaying an icon when located outside the enlarged frame.

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