WO2022041070A1

WO2022041070A1 - System for monitoring food preservation duration and smart refrigerator

Info

Publication number: WO2022041070A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/111892
Authority: WO
Inventors: 李桂玉
Original assignee: 南京英维尔科技服务有限公司
Priority date: 2020-08-27
Filing date: 2020-08-27
Publication date: 2022-03-03

Abstract

A system for monitoring the food preservation duration, comprising: a sensor (1), which is used for acquiring a pressure value signal of food placed in a preset region, and feeding back the pressure value signal to a controller (2); the controller (2), which according to the pressure value signal fed back by the sensor (1), is used for obtaining the preservation duration of the food placed in a refrigerator corresponding to the pressure value signal, and is further used for determining whether the food in the preset region is about to expire according to the preservation duration, and if so, then generating a reminder instruction; and a reminder unit (3), which is used for sending a reminder signal according to the reminder instruction. The system may monitor the degree of freshness of the food in the refrigerator in real time, and promptly send reminders about food that is about to expire, thus preventing food waste and redundant purchases, and preventing the negative impact on human health caused by the accidental ingestion of expired food.

Description

A system for monitoring the duration of food preservation and an intelligent refrigerator

technical field

The present application relates to the technical field of smart refrigerator products, and in particular, to a system for monitoring the duration of food preservation and a smart refrigerator.

Background technique

Refrigerator is an essential household appliance for keeping fresh food in every family. With the improvement of people's living standards and the increase of living space, the demand for refrigerator capacity is also increasing. Therefore, there are gradually larger capacity refrigerators in the market. Refrigerator products for different consumers to choose.

When a lot of food is placed in the refrigerator, some problems often occur: for example, users often forget when a certain kind of food was placed in the refrigerator, causing the food to lose its freshness or even rot after being placed in the refrigerator for a long time. , not only cannot be eaten by itself, causing waste, but also may affect the preservation of other foods. Therefore, there is a need for a refrigerator that can monitor the duration of food preservation, so as to ensure that the food can be reminded to eat in time before the food is deactivated.

In the prior art, some manufacturers have developed a device for monitoring the fresh-keeping period of food placed in the refrigerator by opening and closing the refrigerator door. The respective fresh-keeping time of each food placed in the refrigerator cannot be effectively obtained, and since the fresh-keeping time of each food is different, the device cannot correspondingly issue a reminder for different foods having different fresh-keeping times.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application provides a system for monitoring the duration of food preservation, so as to solve the problem in the prior art that when there is a lot of food in the refrigerator, it is impossible to accurately issue a reminder before each food is deactivated.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a system for monitoring the duration of food preservation, including:

a sensor, arranged on the bottom surface of the plurality of preset areas in the refrigerator, for acquiring the pressure value signal of the food placed in the preset area, and feeding back the pressure value signal to the controller;

The controller is arranged inside the box body of the refrigerator and is connected to each of the sensors respectively, and is used for obtaining the fresh-keeping time of the food in the refrigerator corresponding to the pressure value signal according to the pressure value signal fed back by the sensor; Determine whether the food in the preset area is close to inactivation, and if so, generate a reminder command;

The reminding unit is electrically connected with the controller, and is used for sending a reminding signal according to the reminding instruction.

In some embodiments, the controller includes a pressure value acquisition unit, an analysis unit and a timing unit;

The pressure value acquisition unit is configured to: when the acquired pressure value signal shows that the pressure value in the current preset area has changed from zero to a value greater than zero, send a control instruction to start timing to the timing unit;

The timing unit is configured to: start timing according to the control instruction for timing start, and feed back the current fresh-keeping duration counted at any time point to the analysis unit;

The analysis unit is configured to: compare the acquired current fresh-keeping duration with the preset fresh-keeping duration corresponding to the current food, and if the current fresh-keeping duration and the preset fresh-keeping duration satisfy a first preset relationship, determine the food in the preset area. Approaching deactivation.

In a second aspect, the present application further provides a smart refrigerator including the system of the first aspect.

The solution provided by the present application obtains the pressure value of each area in the refrigerator, obtains the fresh-keeping duration of the food in the corresponding area through the change of the pressure value and compares it with the preset fresh-keeping duration, and sends a reminder signal if the first preset relationship is satisfied. The system of the present application can monitor the freshness of the food in the refrigerator in real time, issue a reminder to the food that is about to be deactivated in time, avoid food waste and repeated purchases, and also avoid the impact of eating deactivated food on human health.

Description of drawings

1 is a schematic structural diagram of a system for monitoring the food preservation duration of the application;

Fig. 2 is the structure diagram of the controller in the system shown in Fig. 1 under an embodiment;

3 is a schematic structural diagram of a system for monitoring the duration of food preservation according to another embodiment of the present application;

4 is a schematic structural diagram of a system for monitoring the duration of food preservation according to a third embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a system for monitoring the food preservation duration of the application under a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a system for monitoring the duration of food preservation according to the fifth embodiment of the present application.

detailed description

The system provided by the present application is mainly applied to various refrigeration equipments with functions of freezing, refrigerating and fresh-keeping, and the following describes the scenario of application in refrigerators as some feasible embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 1 , it is a schematic structural diagram of a system for monitoring the duration of food preservation according to the present application;

As can be seen from FIG. 1 , the present application provides a system for monitoring the duration of food preservation, including:

Sensor 1; In this embodiment, the sensor 1 may be various types of sensors for acquiring pressure value signals, and may be provided on the bottom surface of multiple preset areas in the refrigerator, wherein the multiple preset areas refer to The interior space of the refrigerator is divided into multiple areas. The location of the area includes the layers of the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment, as well as the layers inside the refrigerator door. Each layer can also be divided into several sub-areas according to requirements. The zones can be used as a preset zone respectively, and each preset zone corresponds to a sensor, that is, in order to implement more accurate food separation control inside the refrigerator, the number of preset zones and the number of sensors should be appropriately increased; sensor 1 is set At the bottom position of the preset area, when there is food placed in the preset area, the food produces pressure on the sensor, and the sensor can obtain the pressure value signal of the food placed in the preset area, and feed back the pressure value signal to the sensor. Controller 2; In this embodiment, the sensor feedback signal can be in many ways. For example, if the sensor is electrically connected to the controller, it can be directly fed back by an electrical signal. If a wireless sensor is used, the sensor needs to be connected to the controller in advance. When the controller establishes wireless communication, the signal is fed back to the controller in the form of wireless data.

Further, the signal fed back by the sensor 1 includes not only the pressure value signal, but also information including the position of the food such as the number of the sensor 1. For example, when setting the sensor, it can be numbered according to the position in the refrigerator, for example, the layer is coded as sensor 1. -1/1-2/1-3, 2-1/2-2... etc. Each numbered sensor corresponds to the food information at a specific location, so that when the user needs to take the food that is about to be deactivated, he can quickly take it Pick.

The controller 2 is located inside the box of the refrigerator and is connected to each of the sensors 1 respectively. The controller 2 can control the feedback signal of each sensor independently; in this embodiment, the controller can be a single control It can also be a module integrated in the CPU of the existing refrigerator with intelligent temperature control function, which is mainly used to obtain the pressure value signal corresponding to the preservation time of the food in the refrigerator according to the pressure value signal fed back by the sensor 1. Here, when the pressure value is detected, it means that there is food put in, and the timing starts at this time. Then when you need to check the preservation time, as long as the pressure value signal always exists (the pressure may remain the same or become smaller, but not zero) , at this time, the time in the refrigerator can be calculated according to the time in which it is put in, which is the preservation time.

In this embodiment, the controller is further configured to judge whether the food in the preset area is close to deactivation according to the fresh-keeping time, and if so, generate a reminder instruction; in this embodiment, the fresh-keeping time means that a certain food is put into the refrigerator for a single time The duration of time in the refrigerator does not represent the time that the food can be kept in the refrigerator. Assuming that the food is repeatedly taken in and out of the refrigerator, the statistical preservation time only represents the time after the last time it was put into the refrigerator. The state before being placed in the refrigerator can be used to judge whether the current preservation time is close to inactivation. For example, if an apple is kept in the refrigerator for 3 days without deterioration, but it has been placed outside for 1 day before being placed in the refrigerator, then it may be placed in the refrigerator at this time. It has been deactivated in less than 3 days, so users need to take out the apple in advance to eat when they know that the apple has been in the refrigerator for two days.

The reminding unit 3 is electrically connected with the controller 2, and is used for sending a reminding signal according to the reminding instruction. In this embodiment, the reminding unit 3 can send a reminder signal in various forms. For example, when it is found that a certain food in the refrigerator is about to become deactivated, the user can be notified through a warning light or an external player set on the refrigerator, or The display screen set on the refrigerator can specifically display which food in which area is about to be deactivated, and can also remotely send corresponding prompt information to the mobile terminal bound to the user, etc.

Further, as can be seen from FIG. 2 , in a feasible embodiment, the process of obtaining the fresh-keeping duration by the controller 2 and the process of executing the judgment can be realized by configuring a plurality of structural units. Specifically, the controller 2 includes a pressure value. Acquisition unit 21, analysis unit 22 and timing unit 23, wherein:

The pressure value acquisition unit 21 is configured to: when the acquired pressure value signal shows that the pressure value in the current preset area has changed from zero to a value greater than zero, send a control to the timing unit 23 to start timing command; when there is no food placed in the preset area, the obtained pressure value is zero, and there is no need to send a control command to the timing unit.

In addition, when the food is taken out of the refrigerator, it is not necessary to continue to perform the timing operation, so at this time, the pressure value acquisition unit 21 is further configured to: when the acquired pressure value signal displays the pressure value in the current preset area When a value greater than zero becomes zero, a control command to stop timing and return to zero is sent to the timing unit 23 .

In the judgment of the above pressure value, the pressure value changes from zero to greater than zero, and from greater than zero to zero to judge whether the food has been completely taken away. It is understood that the remaining food that has not been taken away should continue to count the fresh-keeping time, such as the case of taking half of the bagged food.

The timing unit 23 is configured to: start timing according to the control instruction for starting the timing, and feed back the current fresh-keeping duration counted at any time point to the analysis unit 22; it should be noted that, because the controller is for each preset area The control is performed separately, so the timing of the timing unit is also carried out in sub-regions and does not affect each other.

The analyzing unit 22 is configured to: compare the acquired current fresh-keeping duration with the preset fresh-keeping duration corresponding to the current food, and if the current fresh-keeping duration and the preset fresh-keeping duration satisfy the first preset relationship, determine whether the preset area is within the preset area. Food is dying.

In this embodiment, to determine whether the food in the preset area is about to be deactivated, it is necessary to compare the relationship between the current fresh-keeping duration and the preset fresh-keeping duration. However, due to the influence of opening and closing the door of the refrigerator on the fresh-keeping degree, it is likely that the current fresh-keeping duration reaches the preset fresh-keeping duration. For a long time, the food has been partially deteriorated, so the analysis unit is configured to determine whether the above two meet the first preset relationship, that is, set a certain advance amount, for example, set the first preset relationship as The current fresh-keeping time is greater than 80% of the preset fresh-keeping time, and when the preset fresh-keeping time is 5 days, if the current fresh-keeping time reaches 4 days, it is judged that the food in the preset area is about to be deactivated, and the user is reminded to take it out as soon as possible.

In the above judgment process, the preset fresh-keeping time used refers to the pre-input data showing the time range of different types of food that can be kept fresh in the refrigerator according to user experience, for example, the preset fresh-keeping time of meat is 5 days, and the preset fresh-keeping time of fruit is 5 days. Set the preservation time of 3 days, etc., these data can be saved in the database through human input, and can also be summarized in the database through big data screening. Therefore, as can be seen from FIG. 3, in a feasible embodiment, the system also include:

The database 4 is electrically connected to the controller 2 and is used for storing preset fresh-keeping durations corresponding to different food types.

The analyzing unit 22 is further configured to: retrieve a preset fresh-keeping period corresponding to the current food from the database 4 .

Further, the data source in the database 4 can be manual input, and in the corresponding embodiment shown in FIG. 4 , the system further includes:

The input device 5 is used to acquire the food types placed in the current preset area, and send the food types to the database 4 for storage.

The database 4 is further configured to obtain a corresponding preset fresh-keeping period according to the type of food.

In this embodiment, when the user is about to put a kind of food in the refrigerator, after placing it in a certain preset area, he can manually input the name or food type of the food placed in the area through the input device. At this time, the analysis unit The preset fresh-keeping duration corresponding to the user input can be immediately retrieved from the database.

Further, in addition to manual input, the data sources in the database 4 can also be acquired in real time through an image acquisition device. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 , the system further includes:

The image acquisition device 6 is arranged on the side of a plurality of preset areas in the refrigerator, and is used to acquire food images in the current preset area, and analyze the food types according to the food images and send them to the database 4 for storage.

In this embodiment, after the user places a type of food in a preset area of the refrigerator, the image acquisition device in the corresponding area is immediately activated, and the food in the preset area is photographed to obtain an image. The classification of food can be obtained by information acquisition and comparative analysis, and then the preset fresh-keeping duration corresponding to the food in the current area can be retrieved from the database through the analysis unit; the method and equipment disclosed in the prior art can be used for the comparative image analysis method, and here I won't go into details.

Further, in another embodiment shown in FIG. 6 , the system further includes:

The communication device 7 is electrically connected to the controller 2 and is used for establishing a communication connection with the mobile terminal, so that the mobile terminal can obtain the fresh-keeping information of the food in each preset area in the refrigerator in real time; the fresh-keeping information includes the fresh-keeping duration and the food type.

In this embodiment, the user is no longer restricted to know the freshness of the food in the refrigerator only at home. When the user goes out, he can also establish a remote connection with the communication device through the mobile terminal to obtain all the food information in the refrigerator. When you need to go to the supermarket to buy other ingredients, you can first check whether there is food that is close to inactivation in the refrigerator, so as to avoid buying repeated food that cannot be eaten in time.

It can be known from the above technical solutions that the present application provides a system for monitoring the duration of food preservation, including sensors, which are arranged on the bottom surfaces of multiple preset areas in the refrigerator, and are used to obtain pressure value signals of the food placed in the preset areas. , and feed back the pressure value signal to the controller; the controller is located inside the box of the refrigerator and is connected to each of the sensors respectively, and is used to obtain the corresponding food setting of the pressure value signal according to the pressure value signal fed back by the sensor. The duration of fresh-keeping in the refrigerator; it is also used for judging whether the food in the preset area is close to deactivation according to the duration of fresh-keeping, and if so, a reminder instruction is generated; the reminder unit is electrically connected to the controller, and is used for sending a reminder signal according to the reminder instruction . In the present application, the pressure value acquisition is performed for each area in the refrigerator, and the fresh-keeping duration of the food in the corresponding area is obtained through the change of the pressure value and compared with the preset fresh-keeping duration, and a reminder signal is issued if the first preset relationship is satisfied. The system of the present application can monitor the freshness of the food in the refrigerator in real time, and send a reminder to the food that is about to be deactivated in time, so as to avoid food waste and repeated purchases, and also avoid the impact of accidentally eating deactivated food on human health.

Corresponding to the above system for monitoring the duration of food preservation, the present application also provides a smart refrigerator equipped with the above system. The structure and functional principle of the smart refrigerator performing the operation of monitoring the duration of food preservation can be referred to the description of the above system, which will not be repeated here. .

Claims

A system for monitoring the duration of food preservation, characterized in that the system comprises:

a sensor (1), arranged on the bottom surface of a plurality of preset areas in the refrigerator, for acquiring a pressure value signal of the food placed in the preset area, and feeding back the pressure value signal to the controller (2);

The controller (2) is arranged inside the box of the refrigerator and is respectively connected with each of the sensors (1), and is used for obtaining the pressure value signal corresponding to the food placed in the refrigerator according to the pressure value signal fed back by the sensor (2). The duration of fresh-keeping; it is also used to judge whether the food in the preset area is approaching inactivation according to the duration of fresh-keeping, and if so, generate a reminder instruction;

The reminding unit (3) is electrically connected with the controller (2), and is used for sending a reminding signal according to the reminding instruction.
A system for monitoring food preservation duration according to claim 1, wherein the controller (2) comprises a pressure value acquisition unit (21), an analysis unit (22) and a timing unit (23);

The pressure value obtaining unit (21) is configured to: when the obtained pressure value signal shows that the pressure value in the current preset area has changed from zero to a value greater than zero, send the signal to the timing unit (23) Control command for timing start;

The timing unit (23) is configured to: start timing according to the control instruction for starting the timing, and feed back the current fresh-keeping duration counted at any time point to the analysis unit (22);

The analyzing unit (22) is configured to: compare the acquired current fresh-keeping duration with the preset fresh-keeping duration corresponding to the current food, and determine the preset fresh-keeping duration if the current fresh-keeping duration and the preset fresh-keeping duration satisfy a first preset relationship. Food in the area is near inactivation.
The system for monitoring food preservation duration according to claim 2, wherein the first preset relationship is that the current preservation duration is greater than 80% of the preset preservation duration.
A system for monitoring the duration of food preservation according to claim 2, wherein the system further comprises:

a database (4), electrically connected to the controller (2), for storing preset fresh-keeping durations corresponding to different food types;

The analyzing unit (22) is further configured to: retrieve a preset fresh-keeping period corresponding to the current food from the database (4).
A system for monitoring the duration of food preservation according to claim 4, wherein the system further comprises:

an input device (5) for acquiring the types of foods placed in the current preset area, and sending the types of foods to a database (4) for storage;

The database (4) is further configured to obtain a corresponding preset fresh-keeping period according to the type of food.
A system for monitoring the duration of food preservation according to claim 4, wherein the system further comprises:

An image acquisition device (6), arranged on the sides of a plurality of preset areas in the refrigerator, is used for acquiring food images in the current preset area, and analyzing the food types obtained according to the food images and sending them to the database (4) for storage;

The database (4) is further configured to obtain a corresponding preset fresh-keeping period according to the type of food.
A system for monitoring food preservation duration according to claim 2, wherein the pressure value acquisition unit (21) is configured to: when the acquired pressure value signal displays the pressure in the current preset area When the value changes from a value greater than zero to zero, a control instruction for stopping the timing and returning to zero is sent to the timing unit (23).
A system for monitoring the duration of food preservation according to claim 1, wherein the system further comprises:

A communication device (7), electrically connected to the controller (2), for establishing a communication connection with the mobile terminal, so that the mobile terminal acquires the fresh-keeping information of the food in each preset area in the refrigerator in real time; the fresh-keeping information includes the fresh-keeping duration and food types.
A smart refrigerator, characterized in that, the smart refrigerator includes the system according to any one of claims 1 to 8.