TWI802993B - Management system for food items stored in a refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a management system for food items stored in a refrigerator, including a carrying module located in the refrigerator. The carrying module includes a base and a frame connected to each other. The base has a microcontroller unit, a control circuit, a wireless communication module and a weight sensor. The microcontroller unit is electrically connected to the weight sensor and the wireless communication module through the control circuit. The first liquid level sensor is located in the upper half of the frame for detecting the liquid level of a drink. A second liquid level sensor is located in the lower half of the frame for detecting the liquid level of the drink. The microcontroller unit communicates with the first liquid level sensor and the second liquid level sensor through the wireless communication module.

Description

Refrigerator Content Management System

The present invention relates to a refrigerator content management system, in particular to a refrigerator milk management system.

In general households, refrigerators are indispensable home appliances. In most people's refrigerator usage habits, there is a common problem is the management of the contents of the refrigerator, one of which is the management of the expiry date. In the experience of most people, after food or drinks are put in the refrigerator, they often forget the expiration date. In particular, when purchasing a large number of discounted items, it is easy to put them expired without knowing it. Among them, dairy products such as milk with a short tasting period will deteriorate due to expiration without paying attention.

Therefore, how to solve the management problem of the contents of the refrigerator is an important issue that the industry needs to consider when designing and manufacturing refrigerators.

In view of the foregoing, an aspect of the present disclosure provides a refrigerator content management system, comprising: a carrying module located in a refrigerator, having a base connected to each other and a frame, wherein the base has a microcontroller unit, a control circuit, a wireless communication module, and a weight sensor, the microcontroller unit is electrically connected to the weight sensor and the wireless communication module through the control circuit; A first liquid level sensor, located in the upper half of the frame, used to detect the liquid level of a drink; and a second liquid level sensor, located in the lower half of the frame, used to detect the liquid level of the beverage The liquid level of the drink; wherein, the microcontroller unit communicates with the first liquid level sensor and the second liquid level sensor through the wireless communication module.

According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, a front side of the base has a display, and the display is electrically connected to the microcontroller unit through the control circuit.

According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the base further includes a power supply device, which is electrically connected to the microcontroller unit, the wireless communication module, and the weight sensor through the control circuit. detector, the first liquid level sensor, the second liquid level sensor and the display.

According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the liquid level information detected by the first liquid level sensor and the second liquid level sensor, and the liquid level information detected by the weight sensor The weight information of , is transmitted to the display.

According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the liquid level information detected by the first liquid level sensor and the second liquid level sensor, and the liquid level information detected by the weight sensor The weight information is transmitted to a cloud database through the wireless communication module, for a user to use a mobile terminal device to obtain the information from the cloud database.

In order to facilitate your review committee to further understand and understand the purpose, shape, structure, device features and effects of the present invention, the embodiments are hereby combined with the drawings, and the detailed description is as follows.

The following disclosure provides different embodiments or examples to implement different features of the provided subject matter. The specific examples of the components and arrangements described below are for the purpose of simplifying the present disclosure and are not intended to be limiting; the size and shape of the components are not limited by the disclosed range or numerical values, but may depend on the process conditions or required requirements of the components. characteristic. For example, the technical features of the present invention are described using sectional views, which are schematic diagrams of idealized embodiments. Thus, variations in the shapes shown as a result of manufacturing processes and/or tolerances are foreseeable and should not be limiting.

Furthermore, spatial relative terms such as "below", "below", "below", "above" and "above" are for ease of description of the elements depicted in the drawings or the relationship between features; moreover, spatially relative terms encompass different orientations of elements in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the illustrations.

First, please refer to FIG. 1 . FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a refrigerator content management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1 , a refrigerator content management system 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention (as shown in FIG. 2 ) can be placed at the area indicated by area A in the refrigerator 100 . In addition, in addition to being set in the storage area of the door panel of the refrigerator 100 , the refrigerator content management system 2 can also be set in other areas in the refrigerator 100 .

Next, please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 together. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a refrigerator content management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic functional block diagram of a refrigerator content management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the refrigerator content management system 2 placed in the region A of FIG. 1 includes a carrying module 10 . The carrying module 10 has a base 10a and a frame 10b connected to each other. A first liquid level sensor 30a is disposed on the upper half of the frame 10b for detecting the original liquid level of a newly purchased beverage 40 . The lower half of the frame 10b is provided with a second liquid level sensor 30b for detecting the liquid level of the drink 40 after opening.

In addition, please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 together. FIG. 3 is used to illustrate the components inside the base 10a. As shown in FIG. 3 , the base 10 a has a control module 302 , a wireless communication module 304 , a weight sensor 306 and a power supply device 308 inside. Wherein, the control module 302 has a microcontroller unit 302a and a control circuit 302b. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , there is a display 20 on the front side of the base 10 a, and the display 20 is electrically connected to the microcontroller unit 302 a through the control circuit 302 b. The microcontroller unit 302a is also electrically connected to the wireless communication module 304, the weight sensor 306, the power supply device 308, the first liquid level sensor 30a and the second liquid level sensor 30b through the control circuit 302b. The power supply device 308 supplies power to the microcontroller unit 302a, the wireless communication module 304, the weight sensor 306, the display 20, the first liquid level sensor 30a and the second liquid level sensor 30b. In other embodiments, the display 20, the first liquid level sensor 30a and the second liquid level sensor 30b use their own power sources.

Please refer to FIG. 3 again. In this embodiment, the microcontroller unit 302a communicates with the first liquid level sensor 30a and the second liquid level sensor 30b through the wireless communication module 304 . The liquid level information detected by the first liquid level sensor 30 a and the second liquid level sensor 30 b and the weight information detected by the weight sensor 306 are transmitted to the display 20 . Alternatively, the user can use a mobile terminal device 312 to obtain the above-mentioned liquid level information or weight information uploaded by the wireless communication module 304 from a cloud database 314 .

Next, please refer to FIG. 4 . FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the refrigerator content management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figures 2 and 4, in step 401, the liquid level of the drink 40 is detected by the first liquid level sensor 30a and the second liquid level sensor 30b; in this embodiment, the drink 40 is milk.

In step 402, when the liquid level detected by the first liquid level sensor 30a and the second liquid level sensor 30b is determined to be the highest point by the microcontroller unit 302a, it is recorded in step 403, note To newly purchase milk and record the date of purchase, then in step 407, the data is uploaded to the cloud database 314 through the wireless communication module 304, and also sent to the display 20 for display on the screen.

If in step 402, the liquid levels detected by the first liquid level sensor 30a and the second liquid level sensor 30b are not determined to be the highest point, then in step 404 it is further determined whether the liquid level is lower than the warning point. When it is determined that the liquid level is lower than the warning point, record in step 405, note that the milk is about to be consumed and push a reminder message to the mobile terminal device 312, and then upload the data to the cloud through the wireless communication module 304 in step 407 The database 314 is also sent to the display 20 to be displayed on the screen at the same time. In addition, when it is judged that the liquid level is not lower than the warning point, it is recorded in step 406 to note the change of the liquid level, and then in step 407, the data is uploaded to the cloud database 314 through the wireless communication module 304 and also sent to the display 20 and displayed on the screen.

As mentioned above, in the embodiment of the present invention, by detecting and recording the change of the liquid level of the drink 40, the amount of drinking of the user can be known each time, and the drinking time can be recorded at the same time, which can be integrated into relevant judgment information for transmission to the display 20 or the mobile terminal device 312 and provided to the user as a reference. For example, in the embodiment of the present invention, the information provided by the display 20 or the information obtained by the mobile terminal device 312 includes, for example, "expires soon", "purchase a new one", "still available but still within the deadline", etc. text message. These messages can remind the user to drink beverages 40 such as milk that will expire as soon as possible or to prepare for purchase.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, similar to the operation flow chart of Fig. 4, the weight sensor 306 detects and records the weight change of the beverage 40, so that the user's drinking amount can be known each time, and its The drinking time can be integrated into relevant judgment information and sent to the display 20 or the mobile terminal device 312 for reference to the user.

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention without limitation. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that the technical solutions of the present invention can be modified or equivalently replaced. Without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solution of the present invention.

2~ Refrigerator content management system 10~ carrying module 10a~ base 10b ~ frame 20~Display 30a~First liquid level sensor 30b~Second liquid level sensor 40~drinks 100~refrigerator 302~control module 302a~microcontroller unit 302b~ control circuit 304~Wireless communication module 306~weight sensor 308~Power supply device 312~Mobile terminal device 314~Cloud database 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407~ steps A~area

In order to make the above and other objects, features, advantages and embodiments of the present invention more understandable, the accompanying drawings are described as follows: FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a refrigerator content management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a refrigerator contents management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic functional block diagram of a refrigerator content management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the refrigerator content management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In accordance with common practice, the various features and elements in the drawings are not drawn to scale, but are drawn in order to best represent the specific features and elements relevant to the invention. In addition, the same or similar reference symbols refer to similar elements and parts in different drawings.

2~ Refrigerator content management system 10~ carrying module 10a~ base 10b ~ frame 20~Display 30a~First liquid level sensor 30b~Second liquid level sensor 40~drinks

Claims (5)

A refrigerator content management system comprising: A carrying module, located in a refrigerator, has a base and a frame connected to each other, wherein the base has a microcontroller unit, a control circuit, a wireless communication module, and a weight sensor, the microcontroller The sensor unit is electrically connected to the weight sensor and the wireless communication module through the control circuit; a first liquid level sensor, located on the upper half of the frame, used to detect the liquid level of a beverage; and A second liquid level sensor, located at the lower half of the frame, is used to detect the liquid level of the drink; Wherein, the microcontroller unit communicates with the first liquid level sensor and the second liquid level sensor through the wireless communication module. The refrigerator contents management system according to claim 1, wherein a display is provided on a front side of the base, and the display is electrically connected to the microcontroller unit through the control circuit. The refrigerator content management system as described in claim 2, wherein the base further includes a power supply device, which is electrically connected to the microcontroller unit, the wireless communication module, and the weight sensor respectively through the control circuit , a first liquid level sensor, a second liquid level sensor and the display. The refrigerator content management system as described in claim 3, wherein the liquid level information detected by the first liquid level sensor and the second liquid level sensor, and the liquid level information detected by the weight sensor The weight information of , is transmitted to the display. The refrigerator content management system as described in Claim 1, wherein the liquid level information detected by the first liquid level sensor and the second liquid level sensor, and the liquid level information detected by the weight sensor The weight information is transmitted to a cloud database through the wireless communication module, for a user to use a mobile terminal device to obtain the information from the cloud database.

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