KR20120116750A - Controlling method of refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A control method of a refrigerator is provided to check information including the stored foods in the refrigerator in the outside position without the opening of the refrigerator. CONSTITUTION: A control method of a refrigerator is as follows. The refrigerator recognizes the information according to foods and managing method information for the same. The food management is performed based on the recognized information. The information of the foods and management information for the foods are categorized firstly. Foods are recognized following the recognized specific categories.

Description

Controlling method of refrigerator

The present invention relates to a control method of a refrigerator.

In general, a refrigerator is a device for storing food at a low temperature. The refrigerator may include any one of a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment.

In the case of the conventional refrigerator, it could simply perform a function for storing food at a low temperature. However, in recent years, the need for additional functions in addition to the food storage function is increasing.

An object of the present invention relates to a control method of a refrigerator capable of carrying out the storage management of food in addition to the original cooling function.

A control method of a refrigerator according to an aspect includes recognizing food information and information necessary for managing food; And performing food management based on the recognized information, wherein the food information or information for management of the food is categorized, and the recognizing of the information includes: recognizing a specific category; And recognizing food information belonging to a specific category or information for managing food.

According to another aspect, a control method of a refrigerator includes: recognizing food information and information necessary for managing food; And performing food management based on the recognized information, wherein the information is recognized, manually inputting food information or information for management of the food; Displaying information related to the input information; In the displayed information, food information or information necessary for the management of the food is included.

According to the proposed invention, since the information of the food stored in the outside of the refrigerator can be checked without opening the refrigerator door to check the food inside the refrigerator, there is an advantage that the user's convenience is improved.

1 is a perspective view showing a refrigerator of the present invention.
2 is a control block diagram of a refrigerator of the present invention;
3 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed on the display unit of the present invention.
4 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed when the food management selection unit is selected in FIG.
5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a category is selected on the screen of FIG. 4.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a voice input selection unit is selected on the screen of FIG. 4 or FIG. 5; FIG.
7 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed when the recognition of the input voice fails.
8 is a view showing an example of a screen displayed when the recognition of the input voice is successful, but the search of the food fails.
9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a voice recognition and a search are successful.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a keyboard input selection unit is selected on the screen of FIG. 4 or 5.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when food information input is completed on the screen of FIG. 10. FIG.
12 is a view showing an example of a food detail information screen.
FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a period selection unit is selected on the screen of FIG. 12. FIG.

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

1 is a perspective view showing a refrigerator of the present invention, Figure 2 is a control block diagram of the refrigerator of the present invention.

1 and 2, the refrigerator 1 of the present invention includes a main body (not shown) in which a storage space is formed, a refrigerating chamber door 2 and a freezing chamber door for opening and closing a space inside the main body. At least one of the refrigerating compartment door 2 and the freezing compartment door may be provided with a display unit 11 for displaying information.

The refrigerator includes a top mount type refrigerator in which the refrigerating compartment is located below the freezing compartment, a side by side type refrigerator in which the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment are arranged to the left and right, and the freezer compartment below the refrigerating compartment. The refrigerator may be classified into a bottom freezer type refrigerator and the like, and the present invention is not limited to the type of refrigerator. In the present invention, the refrigerator may include at least one of a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment. Hereinafter, a side by side type refrigerator will be described as an example.

In detail, the refrigerator 1 includes a communication means 13 for directly or indirectly communicating with an external component, and a display unit 11 capable of displaying at least one of information of the refrigerator or information received from the outside from the outside. And a display unit controller 12 for controlling the display unit 11, an energy consumption unit 18 for consuming energy for operation of a refrigerator, and a display unit control unit 12. 18, the main control unit 10 for controlling. The external component may be, for example, a web server, a mobile phone, another electric appliance, a server of a power company, or the like.

In addition, the refrigerator 1 includes a voice recognition unit 14 for recognizing an external voice, a voice analyzer 15 for analyzing a voice input through the voice recognition unit 14, and a voice externally. It further comprises a speaker 16 for outputting to the memory, and a memory 17 can be stored information.

For example, the display unit 11 may include a touch screen for inputting or selecting information by a touch method. As another example, the display unit 11 may simply display information, and may input information through a separate input unit. Alternatively, some information may be input from the display unit 11 and the remaining information may be input through a separate input unit.

The voice recognition unit 14 may be, for example, a microphone, and a plurality of voice recognition units 14 may be provided. Since the voice analyzer 15 compares and analyzes voices input by the voice recognizers 14, analysis errors due to noise may be reduced. The voice analysis unit 15 analyzes the input voice to extract information necessary for the operation (cooling function, food management function) of the refrigerator, and the extracted information is transmitted to the display unit controller 12.

The display unit controller 12 may recognize food information and information necessary for managing food. The food information includes food classifications (category, meat, fruit, aquatic products, dairy products, grains, etc.) or food names, and the information necessary for managing the food includes at least one of storage location, storage period information, storage amount, and storage method. It includes. Here, the storage period information may include one or more of storage elapsed period information from the storage start date to the current date, the remaining storage period from the current date to the storage end date (the expiration date), and the storage end date information. The display unit controller 12 performs food management based on the recognized food information and information necessary for management of the food.

The food information and information necessary for managing the food may be selected or input on the display unit 11 or may be input by text or voice through a separate input unit.

3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, when the refrigerator is turned on, the main screen 100 may be displayed on the display unit 100. In the main screen 100, selectors 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, and 107, weather information 108, memo information 109 or a schedule for selecting various functions of the refrigerator. Information can be displayed. The selection unit, an environment setting selection unit 101 for setting the operating environment of the display unit 11, a food management selection unit 102 for selecting to manage the food stored in the refrigerator, and recipe generation or inquiry A recipe selector 103 for selecting a food, a shopping list selector 104 for managing food for shopping, a refrigerator management selector 105 for managing a cooling function of a refrigerator, It may include one or more of the schedule selection unit 106 to select to manage the schedule, and the memo selection unit 107 to select to write the memo. Hereinafter, a case where the food control selection unit 102 is selected will be described.

4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the food management selection unit is selected in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 4, when the food management selection unit 102 is selected on the screen of FIG. 3, the food management screen 110 is displayed on the display unit 11. On the food management screen 110, a food location information screen 210 for displaying the location of the stored food, and a food list information screen 260 including the display information of the food to be added as food management target to be displayed Can be.

In addition, the food management screen 110, the recipe selection unit 221 to select to confirm the recipe information, the shopping list selection unit 222 to select to confirm the shopping list information, and food through the voice input Voice input selection unit 270 for adding as a food management target, and keyboard input selection unit for adding food as a food management target by directly inputting texts (meaning a combination of letters, symbols, and numbers). 290: a text input selection unit) and a trash bin 223 used to remove food from the food to be stored may be further displayed.

The food location information screen 210 and the food list information screen 260 may be arranged in a left or right direction or in a vertical direction. The food location information screen 210 may be displayed in the form of a refrigerator.

That is, the food location information screen 210 may be divided into a refrigerator compartment 211, a refrigerator compartment door 213, a freezer compartment 212, a freezer compartment door 214 and a home bar 215. One or more storage spaces may be displayed in the refrigerating compartment 211, the freezing compartment 212, the refrigerating compartment door 213, the freezing compartment door 214, and the home bar 215. The refrigerator compartment 211, the freezer compartment 212, the refrigerator compartment door 213, the freezer compartment door 214, and the home bar 215 may display one or more stored food information 217 indicating the stored food.

The food list information screen 260 may display a category selection unit 261 and a food information display unit 262 displaying information corresponding to the food category 261. The food information display unit 262 may display a plurality of category information classified by food display information 265 or food classification.

The information indicating the stored food in the present invention may be referred to as stored food information 217, and the information displayed on the food list information screen 260 may be referred to as food display information 265. The stored food information 217 and the food label information 265 may be icons having the shape of the food itself.

The category selector 261 may select one of the frequency-specific category 261a and the food classification category 261b. 4 shows a food information display unit 262 displayed when a category for each frequency is selected. The food information display unit 262 may display one or more food label information 265 in order of storage frequency. In this embodiment, foods belonging to a specific category are previously stored in the memory, and foods not stored in the memory may be newly added by a user's manual input.

In addition to the frequency-specific category 261a and the food classification category 261b, a user may add a new category. For example, by adding a user preference category, a user favorite food may be selected and checked.

When the user selects the specific food display information 265 in the food information display unit 262 and drags the selected food display information 265 to the specific storage space of the food location information screen 210, the user selects the specific food display information 265. Stored food information 217 may be added. At this time, the selected food display information 265 is not deleted from the food list information screen 260, and only the stored food information 217 is added to the food location information screen 210.

At this time, the color representing the stored food information 217 located on the food location information screen 210 may vary depending on the storage period information. For example, the color of the stored food information 217, which has reached the end of storage, is red, and the stored food information 217 has an remaining color of 3 days or less, and the color of the stored food information 217 is orange, and the remaining time of storage is 4 days or more. The color of the stored food information 217 may be blue.

On the other hand, after selecting the specific stored food information 217 located on the food location information screen 210 and dragging it to the trash can 223, the specific stored food information 217 on the food location information screen 210 ) Is removed. That is, it is deleted from the food control object.

5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a category is selected on the screen of FIG. 4.

4 and 5, when the food classification category 261b is selected on the screen of FIG. 4, the food information display unit 262 displays a plurality of category information 263 classified by food classification. If one of the plurality of category information 263 is selected, the food label information 265 belonging to the corresponding category may be displayed. In this case, the frequency category and the food classification category may be referred to as an upper category, and the category displayed when the upper category is selected may be referred to as a lower category.

In FIG. 4, an area in which an upper category is displayed and an area in which a lower category is displayed are divided, and two areas are displayed together on a single screen. In contrast, when an upper category is selected, the screen is displayed to display a lower category. A screen for displaying a sub category may pop up. That is, the upper category and the lower category may be sequentially displayed.

In addition, the category and the food information belonging to the category may be displayed simultaneously or sequentially.

In FIG. 4, as an example, a method for selecting food information is described. However, the method for selecting food information may be similarly applied to selecting information required for food management. For example, after selecting food information, information on storage location may be selected as an example of information required for food management. The storage location information is categorized and a specific storage location can be selected from a specific category. In this case, the category and the specific storage location may be displayed together by category or sequentially.

As another example, in the food list information screen 260, the food is not categorized, and the food information may be displayed based on a specific sorting criterion. The sorting criteria may be in order of name, frequency of use, or the like. In the food list information screen, it is difficult to display all the food information, and some information may be restricted. Information limited on the information screen 260 of the food list may be confirmed by converting the screen. That is, the scrolled food can be queried using the scroll, or the display can be switched to the next screen to check the restricted food.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a voice input selection unit is selected on the screen of FIG. 4 or FIG. 5.

4 to 6, when the voice input selector 270 is selected for voice input, the voice input screen 272 is displayed on the display unit 11. In addition, the speaker 16 outputs a guide voice requesting a voice input. When the guide voice is output, the user may input food information or information necessary for managing food by voice. The food information and the information necessary for the management of the food may be input together or input another after completion of one input.

The cancellation input unit 273 for canceling the voice input may be displayed on the voice input screen 272. When the cancel selector 273 is selected, the screen of FIG. 6 may be switched to the screen of FIG. 4 or 3.

Hereinafter, a case of inputting food information first will be described.

In the present specification, the screen newly displayed on the display unit may be a screen switched from the previous screen or a screen popped up from the previous screen. Alternatively, the previous screen and the area that is a newly displayed screen may be divided and displayed together.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a recognition of an input voice fails. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a recognition of an input voice is successful but a search for food fails. Drawing.

Referring to FIG. 7, when a voice is input but the voice recognition fails, the display 11 may display a recognition failure guide screen 274. The recognition failure guide screen 274 includes a re-entry selection unit 275 for selecting a voice again with information for notifying recognition failure, and a keyboard input selection unit 276 for directly inputting a text or the like. Selector) and a cancel selector 277 for canceling the voice input.

When the input selector 275 is selected again, the screen of FIG. 6 is displayed again, when the keyboard input selector 275 is selected, a text input screen is displayed, and when the cancel selector 277 is selected, FIG. The screen may be switched to any one of 3 to 5.

Referring to FIG. 8, when the voice recognition succeeds, but the search for the food name or the food classification fails, the search unit 11 may display a search failure guide screen 278. The retrieval failure guide screen 278 includes a re-entry selection unit 275 for re-entering a voice together with information for notifying a retrieval failure, and a keyboard input selection unit 276 for directly inputting a text or the like. Selector) and a cancel selector 277 for canceling the voice input.

9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when voice recognition and search are successful.

Referring to FIG. 9, when voice recognition and food search are successful after inputting a voice on the screen of FIG. 6, the search result screen 280 is displayed on the display unit 11. The search result screen 280 may display information related to the input voice information. At this time, the memory 17 stores information related to food classification or food order in advance.

For example, when the user inputs "o", the search result screen 280 may display one or more food information 282 including "o". That is, when a food classification or a part of a food name is input for the convenience of the user, the entire information including the input contents may be displayed. As described above, the food information 282 may include a food classification category and a food name. The food classification or food name not stored in the memory 17 may be added by the user to the memory 17. The food classification or food name added to the memory 17 by the user may be newly generated and displayed on the food list information screen 260, and the user may delete it.

Food information may be determined by selecting a food name from the displayed food information. When a food name is selected, information necessary for managing the selected food may be selected or input.

On the other hand, if food classification is selected, the type can be determined. After determining the type, a food name belonging to the type is displayed, and a food name may be determined by selecting a specific food name. Thereafter, information necessary for the management of the food can be selected or inputted to determine information necessary for the management of the food.

Information necessary for the management of the food may be input by voice or by text on a text input screen to be described later. The process of inputting information necessary for managing food may be the same as the process of inputting food information.

As another example, some or all of the information necessary for the management of the food may be automatically recognized (or set). That is, the memory 17 stores some or all of the information necessary for managing the food corresponding to the food name or the food classification. When the food is selected, the information necessary for managing the food may be matched to the selected food. When information necessary for the management of food is stored in the memory 17 in advance, the user can change some or all of the information.

The search result screen 280 includes a re-input selection unit 275 for re-input, a keyboard input selection unit 276 for directly inputting characters, and a text input selection unit 276 for canceling voice input. The cancel selector 277 may be displayed.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a keyboard input selection unit is selected on the screen of FIG. 4 or FIG. 5.

4, 5, and 10, when the user selects the keyboard input selector 290 to input text, the display 11 displays a text input screen 300.

The text input screen 300 includes a text input unit 301 for inputting food information, an input content display unit 302 for displaying the input content, and a completion selection unit 303 for selecting when the input is completed. Can be displayed. The input name may be Korean, English, etc., and the language of the input name is not limited.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when food information input is completed on the screen of FIG. 10.

10 and 11, when the completion selection unit 303 is selected after inputting text, the search result screen 310 is displayed on the display unit 11. The search result screen 310 may display information related to the input text.

The memory 17 stores information related to a food classification or a food name in advance. For example, when the user inputs "o", the search result screen 310 may display one or more food information 312 including "o". That is, when a food classification or a part of a food name is input for the convenience of the user, the entire information including the input contents may be displayed.

The food classification or food name not stored in the memory 17 may be added by the user to the memory 17. The food classification or food name added to the memory 17 by the user may be newly generated and displayed on the food list information screen 260, and the user may delete it.

When a food name is selected from the displayed food information 312, information necessary for managing the selected food may be selected or input.

On the other hand, when a food classification is selected, the food name belonging to the food classification is displayed, and after selecting a specific food name, information necessary for managing food can be selected or inputted. Information necessary for the management of the food may be input by text or voice. The process of inputting information necessary for managing food may be the same as the process of inputting food information.

As another example, some or all of the information necessary for the management of the food may be automatically set. That is, the memory 17 stores some or all of the information necessary for managing the food corresponding to the food name or the food classification. When the food is selected, the information necessary for managing the food may be matched to the selected food. When information necessary for the management of food is stored in the memory 17 in advance, the user can change some or all of the information.

Information necessary for management of the food may be set differently according to food classification or food. For example, the food to be stored in the freezer compartment may be set to 10 days from the storage start date to the storage end date, the food to be stored in the refrigerator compartment may be set to 3 days from the storage start date to the end of the storage.

12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a food detail information screen.

Referring to FIG. 12, after the input of food information is completed or when the specific stored food information 217 is selected on the food location information screen 210, the detailed information screen 400 including detailed information of the stored food is displayed. Can be displayed.

When all of the information necessary for the management of the food is automatically set, by selecting the specific stored food information 217 on the food location information screen 210 to change the information required for food management on the detailed information screen 400 have.

When a part of information necessary for the management of food is set automatically or all of the manual setting is required, after the completion of food information input, the detailed information screen 400 may input or select information necessary for managing the food.

Even if all the information necessary for the management of the food is automatically set, when the user adds the food information to the memory 17, input or selection of information necessary for the management of the food may be required.

The detailed information screen 400 may display one or more of food classification or food name, storage period information 410, and storage amount information. The storage period information may include one or more of the storage start date and storage end date, storage elapsed period, storage remaining period. The storage amount may include the storage number and weight.

The detailed information screen 400 may display a period selecting unit 411 for changing or selecting storage period information and a storage amount selecting unit 412 for changing or selecting a storage amount. As another example, when the storage period information is selected, a storage period changing screen (to be described later) for changing or selecting the storage period information may be displayed.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a period selection unit is selected on the screen of FIG. 12.

Referring to FIG. 13, when the period selection unit 411 is selected on the detailed information screen 400, the storage period change screen 420 may be displayed on the display unit 11. In the storage period change screen 420, a storage start date selection unit 421 and a storage end date selection unit 422 may be displayed. The year, month, and day may be selected using the storage start date selector 421. The year, month, and day may be selected using the storage end date selector 422. Alternatively, the storage start date selection unit 421 may be omitted. That is, the storage start date is fixed, and it is also possible to change only the storage end date.

The storage period change screen 420 may display selection units 423 and 424 for finally selecting the storage period or canceling the storage period selection.

When the storage period information is automatically set, the storage period may be changed only for the stored food.

In FIG. 12, the storage period or storage amount is described as being selected on the screen. Alternatively, voice or text may be input.

That is, in the case of the present invention, the food information and information necessary for the management of the food may be selected on the screen or input by voice or text. In this case, the food information and the information necessary for the management of the food may be input by the same method or may be input by another method.

According to the present invention, since the food information stored in the refrigerator and the information necessary for the management of the food can be confirmed through the display unit, the convenience of the user is improved.

In addition, in the case of inputting a voice or text, even if a part of a word is input, related information including the input content is displayed together, thereby improving user convenience.

1: refrigerator 11: display

Claims (15)

Recognizing food information and information necessary for managing food; And
A step in which food management is performed based on the recognized information,
The food information or information for management of food is categorized,
Recognizing the information may include recognizing a specific category; And
The control method of the refrigerator comprising the step of recognizing food information or information for the management of food belonging to a specific category. The method of claim 1,
The food information or information for managing food is categorized into a plurality of categories,
A control method of a refrigerator in which one or more categories of a plurality of categories are displayed on a display unit. The method of claim 2,
The plurality of categories includes an upper category and a plurality of lower categories belonging to the upper category. The method of claim 2,
And a plurality of categories may be displayed simultaneously or sequentially. The method of claim 1,
The control method of the refrigerator can be displayed simultaneously or sequentially in the specific category and the food information or information necessary for the management of the food belonging to the specific category. The method of claim 1,
The food information includes a food name or food classification,
The information necessary for the management of the food, the control method of the refrigerator including at least one of storage location, storage amount, storage method, storage period information. The method of claim 1,
At least one of the specific category and food information belonging to the specific category or information necessary for management of the food is recognized by a voice input or a text input. The method of claim 1,
At least one of the specific category and food information belonging to the specific category or information necessary for management of the food is displayed on a screen of the display unit and recognized by a user's selection. The method of claim 8,
Food information belonging to the specific category or information necessary for the management of food is stored in the memory,
The control method of the refrigerator, which is not stored in the memory or the information necessary for the management of food can be newly added by voice input or text input. Recognizing food information and information necessary for managing food; And
A step in which food management is performed based on the recognized information,
In the step of recognizing the information, step of manually inputting food information or information for management of the food;
Displaying information related to the input information;
The control method of the refrigerator comprising the step of determining the food information or information necessary for the management of food from the displayed information. 11. The method of claim 10,
And the information related to the input information is information including the input information. 11. The method of claim 10,
In the manual input step, the control method of the refrigerator, characterized in that the food information or information for management of the food is input by text or voice. 11. The method of claim 10,
One of the food information and information necessary for management of the food may be input by any one of text and voice, and the other of the food information and information necessary for the management of food may be input by the other of text and voice. How to control the refrigerator. 11. The method of claim 10,
If it fails to recognize the input information, if the input information is recognized but the information related to the input information can not be displayed, a control screen for a refrigerator for displaying this information. 15. The method of claim 14,
When the guide screen is displayed, the control method of the refrigerator that can be input again or change the input method.

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