JP2019207091A - refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To capture an image of the inside of a storage room while moving the camera, and to properly or completely capture an image of the inside of the storage room even if the refrigerator door is opened / closed in the middle of the image capture, thereby suppressing unnecessary movement of the camera. A fridge. A refrigerator according to the present invention includes a camera (9) for taking an image inside a storage room, a camera moving device (90) for moving the camera (9), a door opening / closing detection means for detecting opening / closing of a door of the storage room, and a camera movement. The control device 8 controls the operations of the device 90 and the camera 9 to perform a shooting operation of shooting an image in the storage chamber while the camera 9 moves from the start position to the end position. The control device 8 starts the shooting operation when it detects that the door is opened and then closed when the shooting operation is not performed, and starts the shooting operation when it is detected that the door is opened while the shooting operation is performed. Stop the operation. [Selection diagram] Fig. 7

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

  In a refrigerator equipped with a camera that detects an image in the refrigerator, there is known one that performs photographing while moving the camera at a predetermined constant speed from the upper end to the lower end of the moving range (for example, Patent Document 1). reference).

JP-A-2006-148503

  However, in the refrigerator as shown in Patent Document 1, if the refrigerator door is opened and closed during the photographing before the camera reaches the end of the moving range, the refrigerator storage chamber may not be photographed properly or completely. There is sex. In particular, when the camera is provided inside the door of the refrigerator, there is a high possibility that the inside of the refrigerator will be removed from the view of the camera. Even if the camera is not provided inside the refrigerator door, the user's hand or the like who puts food in and out of the refrigerator may be reflected on the camera. Furthermore, if the interior of the refrigerator cannot be properly or completely photographed, it is necessary to perform photographing again after opening and closing the door, and the operating time of a mechanism such as a motor that moves the camera becomes longer, and the life of these mechanisms becomes shorter. End up.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems. Its purpose is a refrigerator that can shoot the storage room while moving the camera, and even if the refrigerator door is opened and closed during the shooting, the storage room can be properly or completely photographed, and the camera can be moved unnecessarily. The object is to obtain a refrigerator capable of suppressing the occurrence.

  The refrigerator according to the present invention includes a main body in which a storage room for storing food is formed, a door that opens and closes one side of the storage room, a camera that captures an image in the storage room, and a camera movement that moves the camera. An apparatus, a door opening / closing detection means for detecting opening / closing of the door, and the camera moving device and the operation of the camera are controlled to take an image of the storage chamber while the camera moves from a start position to an end position. Control means for performing a photographing operation, and the control means performs the photographing operation when the door open / close detection means detects that the door has been closed after being opened when the photographing operation is not being performed. When the door opening / closing detection means detects that the door has been opened during the photographing operation, the photographing operation is interrupted.

  According to the refrigerator of the present invention, it is possible to photograph the storage room while moving the camera, and even if the refrigerator door is opened and closed during the photographing, the storage room can be photographed appropriately or completely, and the camera is wasted. There exists an effect that generation | occurrence | production of a movement can be suppressed.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the refrigerator system provided with the refrigerator which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a front view of the refrigerator which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the refrigerator which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a perspective view of the camera movement apparatus of the refrigerator which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is an expansion perspective view which shows through and shows the principal part of the camera moving apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control system of the refrigerator which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control apparatus of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the server apparatus with which the refrigerator system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention is provided. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the display terminal with which the refrigerator system which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention is provided. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the imaging | photography start and interruption operation | movement of the refrigerator which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the operation | movement at the time of restarting imaging | photography of the refrigerator which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control apparatus of the refrigerator which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the imaging | photography operation | movement of the refrigerator which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control apparatus of the refrigerator which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the imaging | photography operation | movement of the refrigerator which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and overlapping descriptions are simplified or omitted as appropriate. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 to 11 relate to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a refrigerator system including a refrigerator. FIG. 2 is a front view of the refrigerator. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the refrigerator. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the camera moving device of the refrigerator. FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a main part of the camera moving device. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the refrigerator. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device of FIG. FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a server device included in the refrigerator system. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a display terminal included in the refrigerator system. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of starting and stopping the photographing of the refrigerator. And FIG. 11 is a flowchart which shows an example of the operation | movement at the time of the photography resumption of a refrigerator.

  In each drawing, the dimensional relationship and shape of each component may be different from the actual one. Moreover, the positional relationship (for example, up-down relationship etc.) of each structural member in a specification is a thing when installing a refrigerator in the usable state in principle.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a refrigerator system including a refrigerator 100 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention includes a refrigerator 100, a server device 200, and a terminal device 300. The refrigerator 100 and the server device 200 are connected so as to communicate with each other. The terminal device 300 and the server device 200 are connected so that they can communicate with each other. Therefore, the refrigerator 100 and the terminal device 300 are connected via the server device 200 so that they can communicate with each other. Note that the refrigerator 100 and the terminal device 300 may be connected so as to be able to communicate with each other directly without using the server device 200.

  The refrigerator 100 is installed in the house of the user of the refrigerator 100, for example. The server device 200 is, for example, a computer installed in the user's house. The server device 200 may be installed outside the user's house. The terminal device 300 is, for example, a personal computer (personal computer) installed in a user's house. In addition, for example, the terminal device 300 may be a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal.

  The number of refrigerators 100 that are communicably connected to the server apparatus 200 is not limited to one and may be plural. Similarly, the number of terminal devices 300 that are communicably connected to the server device 200 is not limited to one and may be plural. The server device 200 may be a cloud server composed of a plurality of servers (server group).

  First, the configuration of the refrigerator 100 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6. The main body of the refrigerator 100 has the heat insulation box 1 as shown in FIG. As for the heat insulation box 1, the front surface (front) is opened and the storage space is formed in the inside. The heat insulation box 1 has an outer box, an inner box, and a heat insulating material. The outer box is made of steel. The inner box is made of resin. The inner box is arranged inside the outer box. The heat insulating material is, for example, urethane foam, and is filled in a space between the outer box and the inner box. The storage space formed inside the heat insulating box 1 is partitioned into a plurality of storage chambers for storing and storing food by one or a plurality of partition members.

  As shown in FIG.2 and FIG.3, the main body of the refrigerator 100 is provided with the refrigerator compartment 10, the switching room 20, the ice making room 30, the freezer compartment 40, and the vegetable compartment 50 here as several storage chambers here. . These storage chambers are arranged in a four-stage configuration in the vertical direction in the heat insulating box 1.

  The refrigerator compartment 10 is disposed on the uppermost stage of the heat insulating box 1. The switching chamber 20 is arranged on one side of the left and right below the refrigerator compartment 10. The cold insulation temperature zone of the switching chamber 20 can be switched by selecting one of a plurality of temperature zones. The plurality of temperature zones that can be selected as the cooling temperature zone of the switching chamber 20 are, for example, a freezing temperature zone (for example, about −18 ° C.), a refrigeration temperature zone (for example, about 3 ° C.), a chilled temperature zone (for example, about 0 ° C.), and the like. Soft freezing temperature range (for example, about −7 ° C.). The ice making chamber 30 is disposed adjacent to the side of the switching chamber 20 in parallel with the switching chamber 20, that is, on the left and right other sides below the refrigeration chamber 10.

  The freezing room 40 is disposed below the switching room 20 and the ice making room 30. The freezer compartment 40 is mainly used when the object to be stored is stored frozen for a relatively long period of time. The vegetable room 50 is arranged at the lowermost stage below the freezing room 40. The vegetable room 50 is mainly for storing vegetables and large-sized plastic bottles having a large capacity (for example, 2 L).

  The opening formed in the front surface of the refrigerator compartment 10 is provided with a rotary refrigerator compartment door 7 that opens and closes the opening. Here, the refrigerator compartment door 7 is a double door type (double door type), and is constituted by a right door 7a and a left door 7b. The refrigerator compartment door 7 is a door that opens and closes one side of the refrigerator compartment 10 that is a storage compartment. An operation panel 6 is provided on the outer surface of the refrigerator compartment door 7 (for example, the right door 7a) on the front surface of the refrigerator 100.

  Each storage room (the switching room 20, the ice making room 30, the freezing room 40, and the vegetable room 50) other than the refrigerator compartment 10 is opened and closed by a drawer-type door. These drawer-type doors slide in a depth direction (front-rear direction) of the refrigerator 100 by sliding a frame fixed to the door with respect to rails formed horizontally on the left and right inner wall surfaces of each storage room. It can be opened and closed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the refrigerator compartment 10 is closed on the front side (the left side in the figure) by the refrigerator compartment door 7. The cross-sectional view shown in FIG. 3 is taken along a cross-section A-A ′ in FIG. 2. One or more refrigerator compartment shelf plates 11 are provided inside the refrigerator compartment 10. Here, a case where a plurality of refrigerator compartment shelf plates 11 are provided is taken as an example. The inside of the refrigerator compartment 10 is partitioned into a plurality of spaces (shelves) in the vertical direction by these refrigerator compartment shelf plates 11. Food is placed on the refrigerator compartment shelf 11.

  Each refrigerator compartment shelf 11 is supported at a predetermined position in the refrigerator compartment 10 by a shelf support 12. The shelf support portion 12 is formed so as to protrude from the inner surface of the side wall of the refrigerator compartment 10 to the inside of the refrigerator compartment 10. In addition, you may comprise the shelf support part 12 so that the up-and-down position of one refrigerator compartment shelf 11 can be changed.

  The space below the lowermost refrigerator compartment shelf 11 is a chilled chamber 14. A chilled case 15 is installed inside the chilled chamber 14. The chilled case 15 can be pulled forward along a guide member (not shown) such as a rail. A door pocket 13 is provided on the inner surface of the refrigerator compartment door 7. Food can be placed and stored in the door pocket 13 as well.

  A camera 9 is installed on the inner surface of the refrigerator compartment door 7. The camera 9 takes an image of the inside of the storage room (here, the refrigerator room 10) from the side of the refrigerator compartment door 7, and outputs it as a storage compartment image. The refrigerator 100 according to this embodiment includes a camera moving device 90. The camera moving device 90 is a device that moves the camera 9 in the vertical direction. The camera moving device 90 is provided on the inner surface of the refrigerator compartment door 7, for example.

  The camera moving device 90 moves the camera 9 up and down within the movable range. The movable range is a preset range. Here, the upper end of the movable range is the upper end in the refrigerator compartment 10. Further, the lower end of the movable range is a position immediately above the lowest door pocket 13.

  Next, the configuration of the camera moving device 90 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The camera moving device 90 includes a stepping motor 91, a worm gear 92, a pinion 93, a rack 94, a guide part 95, and a camera support part 98. The camera 9 is fixed to the camera support unit 98. The guide part 95 is fixed to the refrigerator compartment door 7. The camera support unit 98 is movable with respect to the guide unit 95. The guide part 95 is disposed along the vertical direction over at least the movable range described above. The guide unit 95 guides the movement of the camera 9 and the camera support unit 98 over the above-described movable range.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a stepping motor 91, a worm gear 92, and a pinion 93 are attached to the camera support unit 98. A rack 94 is attached to the guide portion 95. The rack 94 is disposed along the vertical direction over the above-described movable range.

  The stepping motor 91 drives the movement of the camera 9. A worm gear 92 is fixed to the drive shaft of the stepping motor 91. The pinion 93 is configured by integrating a large gear and a small gear. The large gear and the small gear of the pinion 93 are fixed so that the rotation shafts are the same. The large gear of the pinion 93 meshes with the worm gear 92. The small gear of the pinion 93 meshes with the rack 94.

  When the worm gear 92 is rotated by the stepping motor 91, the pinion 93 is rotated. When the pinion 93 in mesh with the rack 94 rotates, the rotation shaft of the pinion 93 moves linearly along the rack 94. The rotation axis of the pinion 93 is rotatably supported by the camera support unit 98. Therefore, by such a rack-and-pinion mechanism, the camera moving device 90 converts the rotational motion of the stepping motor 91 into a linear operation of the camera support portion 98 with respect to the guide portion 95, and the camera 9 with respect to the refrigerator compartment door 7 Is moved up and down.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the refrigerator 100 includes a control device 8. The control apparatus 8 is accommodated in the upper part of the back side of the refrigerator 100, for example. The control device 8 is provided with a control circuit and the like for performing various controls necessary for the operation of the refrigerator 100.

  Next, the configuration of the control system of the refrigerator 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The control device 8 includes a microcomputer, for example, and includes a processor 8a and a memory 8b. The control device 8 controls the refrigerator 100 by executing a preset process when the processor 8a executes the program stored in the memory 8b.

  The refrigerator 100 includes a refrigeration cycle circuit that cools the air supplied to each storage room. The refrigeration cycle circuit includes a compressor 2 and a condenser, a throttling device, a cooler, and the like (not shown). The compressor 2 compresses and discharges the refrigerant in the refrigeration cycle circuit. The condenser condenses the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 2. The expansion device expands the refrigerant that has flowed out of the condenser. The cooler cools the air supplied to each storage chamber by the refrigerant expanded by the expansion device. The compressor 2 is arrange | positioned at the lower part of the back side of the refrigerator 100, for example.

  The refrigerator 100 is formed with an air path (not shown) for supplying the air cooled by the refrigeration cycle circuit to each storage room. This air passage is mainly disposed on the back side in the refrigerator 100. The cooler of the refrigeration cycle circuit is installed in this air passage. Moreover, the ventilation fan 4 for sending the air cooled with the cooler to each store room is also installed in the air path.

  When the blower fan 4 operates, the air (cold air) cooled by the cooler is sent to the freezing room 40, the switching room 20, the ice making room 30 and the refrigerating room 10 through the air passage, and cools these storage rooms. . The vegetable room 50 is cooled by introducing the return cold air from the refrigerating room 10 into the vegetable room 50 via the return air passage for the refrigerating room. The cold air that has cooled the vegetable compartment 50 is returned to the air passage with the cooler through the vegetable compartment return air passage (these return air passages are not shown). And it cools again by a cooler and cold air is circulated in the refrigerator 100.

  A damper (not shown) is provided in the middle of the passage from the air passage to each storage room. Each damper opens and closes a portion of the air passage that leads to each storage chamber. By changing the open / close state of the damper, the amount of cool air supplied to each storage chamber can be adjusted. Further, the temperature of the cool air can be adjusted by controlling the operation of the compressor 2.

  The refrigeration cycle circuit including the compressor 2 and the cooler, the blower fan 4, the air path, and the damper provided as described above constitute cooling means for cooling the inside of the storage chamber.

  The operation panel 6 includes an operation unit 6a, a display unit 6b, and a speaker 6c. The operation unit 6a is an operation switch for setting the cold temperature of each storage room and the operation mode (such as the thawing mode) of the refrigerator 100. The display unit 6b is a liquid crystal display that displays various types of information such as the temperature of each storage room. The operation panel 6 may include a touch panel that serves as the operation unit 6a and the display unit 6b. The speaker 6c is an audio output device for sounding a user standing around the refrigerator 100, particularly in front of the refrigerator compartment door 7.

  The refrigerator 100 includes a thermistor 81 and a door open / close detection switch 82. The thermistor 81 detects the temperature in each storage chamber. The thermistor 81 is installed in each storage room. The door opening / closing detection switch 82 is an opening / closing detection means for detecting opening / closing of the door of the storage room. The door opening / closing detection switch 82 detects opening / closing of the refrigerator compartment door 7 of the refrigerator compartment 10, for example. The door opening / closing detection switch 82 is, for example, a general magnet type switch. That is, the door open / close detection switch 82 detects, for example, the proximity of a magnet embedded in the refrigerator compartment door 7 by a pair of reed switches installed on the refrigerator 100 main body side.

  The control device 8 receives a temperature detection signal from each thermistor 81 from the thermistor 81. Further, an operation signal from the operation unit 6 a of the operation panel 6 is also input to the control device 8. Further, a detection signal from the door open / close detection switch 82 is also input to the control device 8.

  Based on the input signal, the control device 8 executes processing for controlling the operations of the compressor 2 and the blower fan 4 so that the interior of each storage chamber is maintained at a set temperature. That is, the control device 8 controls the operation of the refrigerator 100 by controlling the cooling means and the like described above. The control device 8 also controls the shooting operation of the camera 9 and the movement of the camera 9 by the camera moving device 90. Image data captured by the camera 9 is input to the control device 8.

  Next, the configuration of a refrigerator system including the refrigerator 100 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9 in addition to FIG. As described above, the refrigerator system includes the refrigerator 100, the server device 200, and the terminal device 300. As shown in FIG. 7, the control device 8 of the refrigerator 100 includes a camera control unit 101, a door open / close detection unit 102, a photographing interruption unit 103, an image upload unit 104, and a refrigerator communication unit 110. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the server device 200 includes an image storage unit 201 and a server communication unit 210. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the terminal device 300 includes a screen display unit 301 and a terminal communication unit 310.

  The refrigerator communication part 110 is for communicating data bidirectionally between the refrigerator 100 and the server device 200. In addition, the terminal communication unit 310 is for bidirectionally communicating data between the terminal device 300 and the server device 200. The server communication unit 210 communicates data bidirectionally between the server device 200 and the refrigerator 100 and between the server device 200 and the terminal device 300.

  A camera control unit 101 included in the control device 8 of the refrigerator 100 controls operations of the camera 9 and the camera moving device 90. For example, the camera control unit 101 causes the camera 9 to photograph the inside of the refrigerator compartment 10 when the refrigerator compartment door 7 is opened and closed. This is because when the refrigerator compartment door 7 is opened and closed, food in the refrigerator compartment 10 is taken in and out, and the storage state in the refrigerator compartment 10 may change.

  The door opening / closing detection unit 102 detects opening / closing of the refrigerator compartment door 7 based on a signal output from the door opening / closing detection switch 82. The door open / close detection unit 102 can detect that the closed refrigerator compartment door 7 is opened and that the opened refrigerator compartment door 7 is closed. Thus, the door open / close detection switch 82 and the door open / close detection unit 102 constitute door open / close detection means for detecting the open / close of the refrigerator compartment door 7. For example, the camera control unit 101 causes the camera 9 to take a picture while the inside of the refrigerator compartment 10 is illuminated after the door opening / closing detector 102 detects that the opened refrigerator compartment door 7 is closed. .

  The camera control unit 101 causes the camera 9 to take an image in the refrigerator compartment 10 in conjunction with the movement of the camera 9 by the camera moving device 90. Next, a photographing operation in which the camera 9 and the camera moving device 90 are linked will be described. The “photographing operation” here is an operation of photographing an image in the refrigerator compartment 10 while the camera 9 moves from the start position to the end position. In this photographing operation, the camera moving device 90 moves the camera 9 from the start position to the end position. The start position is, for example, one end of the aforementioned movable range. The end position is, for example, the other end of the aforementioned movable range.

  As a specific example, the start position is the upper end of the aforementioned movable range. Then, the end position is set as the lower end of the aforementioned movable range. In this example, in the photographing operation, the camera moving device 90 moves the camera 9 downward from the upper end to the lower end of the aforementioned movable range. The camera 9 takes a picture when passing a specific position during the movement. Alternatively, the camera moving device 90 may stop the camera 9 at a specific position, and the camera 9 may take a picture during the stop. The specific position where the camera 9 takes a picture is set so that the entire inside of the refrigerator compartment 10 can be photographed by one photographing operation. Such a specific position is, for example, between adjacent refrigerator compartment shelf boards 11.

  The moving direction of the camera 9 is not limited to the downward direction described above. That is, the camera control unit 101 may perform shooting by the camera 9 while moving the camera 9 upward from the lower end to the upper end of the above-described movable range by the camera moving device 90. In this case, the start position is the lower end of the movable range, and the end position is the upper end of the movable range.

  The movement amount of the camera 9 is proportional to the rotation amount of the stepping motor 91. The rotation amount of the stepping motor 91 can be controlled using the number of steps. In this embodiment, the camera control unit 101 controls the amount of movement of the camera 9 using the number of steps of the stepping motor 91 of the camera moving device 90. That is, the camera control unit 101 can specify a specific position where the camera 9 performs shooting by counting the number of steps of the stepping motor 91.

  The control device 8 configured as described above constitutes control means for controlling the operations of the camera moving device 90 and the camera 9 to perform the above-described photographing operation. Next, start, interruption, and restart of the above-described photographing operation by the control device 8 serving as the control means will be described. First, the camera control unit 101 of the control device 8 starts the photographing operation when the door opening / closing detection unit detects that the refrigerator compartment door 7 is opened and closed when the photographing operation is not being performed. . Further, the photographing interruption unit 103 of the control device 8 interrupts the photographing operation when the door opening / closing detection means detects that the refrigerator compartment door 7 has been opened during the photographing operation described above.

  The camera control unit 101 resumes the photographing operation when the door opening / closing detection unit detects that the refrigerator compartment door 7 is closed during the interruption of the photographing operation. At this time, the camera control unit 101 causes the camera moving device 90 to return the camera 9 to the above-described start position before resuming the photographing operation. That is, the camera moving device 90 returns the camera 9 to the above-described start position before resuming the photographing operation. And the camera control part 101 restarts imaging | photography with the camera 9 from the above-mentioned start position. When the refrigeration room door 7 is opened during the photographing operation described above and the photographing operation is interrupted, there is a possibility that food has been put in and out of the refrigerator compartment 10 before and after the interruption. Therefore, by returning the camera 9 to the above-described start position and restarting the shooting operation, the latest situation in the refrigerator compartment 10 can be shot with the camera 9.

  Here, in the refrigerator 100 according to this embodiment, whether or not the above-described photographing operation is interrupted is managed using, for example, a photographing interruption flag. The shooting interruption flag is held as a variable in the memory 8b of the control device 8, for example. When the photographing operation is not interrupted, for example, a value of 0 is set to a variable indicating a photographing interruption flag in the memory 8b. The shooting interruption unit 103 sets, for example, a value of 1 to a variable indicating a shooting interruption flag in the memory 8b when the shooting operation is interrupted. A state in which a value of 1 is set in the variable indicating the photographing interruption flag may be expressed as “the photographing interruption flag is set” in the following description. In addition, when resuming the interrupted shooting operation, the camera control unit 101 returns the variable indicating the shooting interruption flag in the memory 8b to 0.

  The refrigerator communication part 110 transmits the image in the refrigerator compartment 10 which the camera 9 image | photographed to the server apparatus 200 as image data. Server communication unit 210 of server device 200 receives image data transmitted from refrigerator 100. The image storage unit 201 stores and stores the image data received by the server communication unit 210.

  Further, the server communication unit 210 transmits the image data stored in the image storage unit 201 to the terminal device 300 in response to a request from the terminal device 300, for example. The terminal communication unit 310 of the terminal device 300 receives the image data transmitted from the server device 200. The screen display unit 301 of the terminal device 300 is a display device capable of displaying various content screens. The screen display unit 301 is a liquid crystal display, for example. The terminal device 300 can display the image data received by the terminal communication unit 310 on the screen display unit 301.

  Next, an example of main operations of the refrigerator 100 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11. First, what is shown in FIG. 10 is an example of the operation of starting and stopping the shooting of the refrigerator 100.

  In step S11, when the door opening / closing detection unit 102 detects that the refrigerator compartment door 7 is opened and closed when the above-described photographing operation is not performed, the process proceeds to step S12. In step S12, the internal shooting is started. That is, the camera control unit 101 controls the operations of the camera 9 and the camera moving device 90 to start the above-described photographing operation. After step S12, the process proceeds to step S13.

  In step S13, when the refrigerator compartment door 7 is opened, the door opening / closing detector 102 detects that the refrigerator compartment door 7 is opened during the photographing operation. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S14, and the internal shooting is interrupted. That is, the shooting interruption unit 103 interrupts the shooting operation started in step S12. At this time, the shooting interruption unit 103 sets a value of 1 to a variable indicating the shooting interruption flag. When the process of step S14 is completed, the series of operations is finished.

  Next, FIG. 11 shows an example of the operation of resuming shooting of the refrigerator 100. In step S21, when the door opening / closing detection unit 102 detects that the refrigerator compartment door 7 is closed, the process proceeds to step S22. In step S <b> 22, the camera control unit 101 confirms whether or not the inside of the refrigerator is being photographed before the refrigerator compartment door 7 is opened. That is, the camera control unit 101 confirms whether or not the above-described shooting operation is interrupted. In this confirmation, the camera control unit 101 confirms the value of the variable indicating the shooting interruption flag. If the value of this variable is 0, it is determined that the shooting operation is not interrupted. On the other hand, if the value of this variable is 1, it is determined that the photographing operation is being interrupted. If the above-described shooting operation is not interrupted, the series of operations is terminated. On the other hand, if the shooting operation is interrupted, the process proceeds to step S23.

  In step S23, the camera moving device 90 returns the camera 9 to the start position described above. Then, the process proceeds to step S24, and the camera control unit 101 restarts the photographing operation. At this time, the camera control unit 101 resets the value of the variable indicating the shooting interruption flag to 0. When the process of step S24 is completed, the series of operations is finished.

  According to the refrigerator configured as described above, the inside of the storage room can be photographed while moving the camera. Even if the refrigerator door is opened and closed during the shooting operation, the storage room can be appropriately or completely shot by interrupting and restarting the shooting operation. Furthermore, since it is not necessary to repeat the shooting after opening and closing the door, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of useless movement of the camera. Therefore, it is possible to suppress an increase in the operating time of a mechanism such as a motor that moves the camera, and it is possible to extend the life of these mechanisms.

  The start or restart of the photographing operation may be performed after a predetermined time has elapsed after the door opening / closing detection unit detects that the refrigerator compartment door is closed. When food is stored in a refrigerator after shopping or the like, the refrigerator door may be opened and closed many times within a certain time. After the door open / close detector detects that the refrigerator compartment door is closed, the shooting operation is interrupted many times in such a case by starting or restarting the shooting operation after a predetermined time has elapsed. Can be suppressed.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
12 and 13 relate to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the refrigerator control device. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the photographing operation of the refrigerator.

  The second embodiment described here detects the presence or absence of a change in the food storage state in the storage chamber in the configuration of the first embodiment described above, and responds to the presence or absence of a change in the food storage state before and after the interruption of the photographing operation. Thus, the camera position is changed when the shooting operation is resumed. Hereinafter, the refrigerator according to the second embodiment will be described focusing on the differences from the first embodiment. Other configurations that are not described are basically the same as those in the first embodiment.

  In the refrigerator 100 according to this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, the control device 8 of the refrigerator 100 is provided with an inside change detection unit 105 and a camera position determination unit 106. The inside change detection unit 105 is storage change detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of a change in the food storage state in the refrigerator compartment 10 as the storage room described above. The inside change detection unit 105 compares, for example, images taken by the camera 9 before and after the interruption of the above-described photographing operation, and detects whether or not there is a change in the food storage state before and after the interruption of the photographing operation.

  In addition, for example, a weight sensor may be installed in each refrigerator compartment shelf board 11, and the inside change detection part 105 may detect the presence or absence of the change of a food storage state based on the detection result of a weight sensor. In addition to the weight sensor, the presence or absence of a change in the food storage state can be detected by using an infrared sensor, a distance sensor, or the like.

  When the inside change detection unit 105 detects that the food storage state has changed before and after the interruption of the photographing operation described above, the camera control unit 101 causes the camera 9 to move the camera 9 before the resumption of the photographing operation. Return to the starting position. That is, the camera moving device 90 returns the camera 9 to the above-described start position before resuming the photographing operation when the inside change detection unit 105 detects that the food storage state has changed before and after the interruption of the photographing operation. And the camera control part 101 restarts imaging | photography with the camera 9 from the above-mentioned start position.

  On the other hand, when the inside change detection unit 105 detects that there is no change in the food storage state before and after the interruption of the photographing operation described above, the camera control unit 101 uses the camera moving device 90 to change the camera from the position when the photographing operation is interrupted. The movement of 9 is resumed. That is, the camera moving device 90 resumes the movement of the camera 9 from the position at the time when the photographing operation is interrupted when the inside change detection unit 105 detects that there is no change in the food storage state before and after the interruption of the photographing operation.

  Note that the camera moving device 90 may move the camera 9 to the closer one of the above-described start position and end position before resuming the above-described photographing operation. When the camera 9 is moved to the end position, the camera control unit 101 exchanges the end position and the start position when resuming the shooting operation. That is, after resuming the shooting operation, shooting is performed while the camera 9 is moved by the camera moving device 90 from the end position before the interruption of the shooting operation to the start position before the interruption.

  For this reason, the camera position determination unit 106 determines whether the position of the camera 9 when the shooting operation is interrupted is closer to the start position or the end position described above. Then, before resuming the shooting operation, the camera moving device 90 moves to the one determined by the camera position determination unit 106 that is closest to the position of the camera 9 at the time of interruption, among the above-described start position and end position.

  Next, an example of the photographing operation of the refrigerator 100 will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step S31, the control device 8 checks whether or not the door opening / closing detection unit 102 has detected that the refrigerator compartment door 7 has been closed. When the door open / close detection unit 102 does not detect that the refrigerator compartment door 7 is closed, the image capturing is not performed and the series of operations is ended. On the other hand, when the door opening / closing detection unit 102 detects that the refrigerator compartment door 7 is closed, the process proceeds to step S32.

  In step S32, the camera control unit 101 confirms whether or not the shooting interruption flag is set, that is, whether or not 1 is set in the variable indicating the shooting interruption flag. If the shooting interruption flag is set, the process proceeds to step S33.

  In step S33, the camera control unit 101 causes the camera 9 to photograph the inside of the refrigerator compartment 10 from the current position. In subsequent step S34, the internal change detection unit 105 compares the current image captured in step S33 with the previous image, that is, the image captured before the capturing operation is interrupted. Then, the internal change detection unit 105 checks whether there is a change between the current image and the previous image. If there is a change between the current image and the previous image, that is, if there is a change in the food storage state before and after the shooting operation is interrupted, the process proceeds to step S35.

  In step S35, the camera moving device 90 moves the camera 9 to the nearest terminal. That is, first, the camera position determination unit 106 determines whether the current position of the camera 9 is closer to the start position or the end position described above. Then, the camera moving device 90 is moved to the one determined by the camera position determination unit 106 that is closest to the current position of the camera 9 among the above-described start position and end position. After step S35, the process proceeds to step S36.

  On the other hand, if the shooting interruption flag is not set in step S32, the process proceeds from step S32 to step S36. In step S34, if there is no change between the current image and the previous image, that is, if there is no change in the food storage state before and after the shooting operation is interrupted, the process proceeds from step S34 to step S36.

  In step S <b> 36, the camera control unit 101 starts (or resumes) photographing inside the refrigerator compartment 10 by the camera 9 while moving the camera 9 by the camera moving device 90. After step S36, the process proceeds to step S37. In step S37, the control device 8 checks whether or not the door opening / closing detection unit 102 has detected that the refrigerator compartment door 7 has been opened / closed during the photographing operation started (or resumed) in step S36. If the door opening / closing detection unit 102 detects opening / closing of the refrigerator compartment door 7 during the photographing operation, the process proceeds to step S38.

  In step S38, the shooting interrupting unit 103 stops the shooting operation and stops the camera 9. At this time, the shooting interruption unit 103 sets a value of 1 to a variable indicating the shooting interruption flag. When the process of step S38 is completed, the series of operations is finished.

  On the other hand, if the door opening / closing detection unit 102 does not detect opening / closing of the refrigerator door 7 during the photographing operation in step S37, the process proceeds to step S39. In step S39, the camera control unit 101 causes the camera moving device 90 to move the camera 9 to the above-described end position, and ends the photographing operation. Note that the end position changes according to the determination result of the camera position determination unit 106 in step S35. After step S39, the process proceeds to step S40. In step S40, the camera control unit 101 resets the value of 0 to the variable indicating the shooting interruption flag. When the process of step S40 is completed, the series of operations is finished.

  Even in the refrigerator configured as described above, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. Furthermore, there was no change in the food storage state before and after the shooting operation was interrupted by changing the position of the camera when the shooting operation was resumed depending on whether or not the food storage state was changed before and after the shooting operation was interrupted. In this case, since the camera is not moved unnecessarily, the life of the camera moving mechanism can be further extended. In addition, if there is a change in the food storage state before or after the shooting operation is interrupted, the camera can be moved further by moving the camera closer to the end of the movable range and then restarting the shooting operation. Can be shortened.

  It should be noted that the internal change detection unit 105 determines whether the image in the refrigerator compartment 10 captured by the camera 9 every time the photographing operation is completed has changed from the previous photographing, not only when the photographing operation is interrupted. You may make it determine. In this case, the memory 8b of the control device 8 holds at least an image in the refrigerator compartment 10 taken by the camera 9 last time. The interior change detection unit 105 compares the previous image with the image captured by the camera 9 this time, and determines whether or not there has been a change since the previous image capture. The image upload unit 104 uploads the image captured by the camera 9 to the server device 200 when the internal change detection unit 105 detects that the image captured by the camera 9 has changed since the previous capturing. . By doing in this way, it is possible to reduce the communication load when transmitting the image in the storage room to the outside of the refrigerator.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
14 and 15 relate to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the refrigerator control device. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an example of the photographing operation of the refrigerator.

  The third embodiment described here identifies the location where the food storage state has changed before and after the interruption of the photographing operation in the configuration of the first or second embodiment described above, and after the resumption of the photographing operation, The place where the storage state has changed is photographed. Hereinafter, the refrigerator according to the third embodiment will be described based on the case of the configuration of the second embodiment as an example, focusing on the differences from the second embodiment. The configuration whose explanation is omitted is basically the same as that of the first or second embodiment.

  In the refrigerator 100 according to this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, the control device 8 of the refrigerator 100 is provided with an inside change position determination unit 107. The inside change position determination unit 107 determines the position where the food storage state has changed when the inside change detection unit 105 detects that the food storage state has changed in the refrigerator compartment 10. The inside change detection unit 105 and the inside change position determination unit 107 constitute storage change detection means for detecting a position where the food storage state has changed in the refrigerator compartment 10 as a storage room. The inside change position determination unit 107 determines, for example, a position where the food storage state has changed by comparing images captured by the camera 9 before and after the interruption of the above-described shooting operation.

  In addition, for example, a weight sensor may be installed on each refrigerator compartment shelf 11, and the inside change position determination unit 107 may detect the position where the food storage state has changed based on the detection result of each weight sensor. . In addition to the weight sensor, the position where the food storage state has changed can be detected using an infrared sensor, a distance sensor, or the like.

  When the inside change detection unit 105 detects that there is a change in the food storage state before and after the interruption of the shooting operation described above, the camera control unit 101 determines that the food storage state determined by the inside change position determination unit 107 is the food storage state. In accordance with the changed position, the moving path of the camera 9 after the above-described resumption of the photographing operation is set. The movement path of the camera 9 is set so that at least the position where the food storage state has changed can be photographed by the camera 9 with the shortest movement distance. For example, the camera control unit 101 sets the movement path of the camera 9 after resuming the photographing operation so as to include the position where the food storage state has changed and the location where the photographing operation has not been performed before the photographing operation is interrupted. Then, the camera control unit 101 resumes shooting by the camera 9 according to the set movement path of the camera 9.

  Next, an example of the photographing operation of the refrigerator 100 will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step S51, when the door opening / closing detection unit 102 detects that the refrigerator compartment door 7 is closed, the process proceeds to step S52. In step S <b> 52, first, the inside change detection unit 105 detects the presence or absence of a change in the food storage state in the refrigerator compartment 10. When it is detected that there is a change in the food storage state, the inside change position determination unit 107 specifies the position where the food storage state has changed. After step S52, the process proceeds to step S53.

  In step S <b> 53, the camera control unit 101 sets the movement path of the camera 9 according to the position where the food storage state has changed, which is determined by the inside change position determination unit 107. As described above, this movement path is set so that the position where the food storage state has changed can be photographed by the camera 9 with the shortest movement distance. After step S53, the process proceeds to step S54.

  In step S54, the camera control unit 101 starts shooting by the camera 9 according to the movement path of the camera 9 set in step S53. When the process of step S54 is completed, the series of operations is finished.

  Even in the refrigerator configured as described above, the same effects as those of the first embodiment or the second embodiment can be obtained. In addition, the camera moving distance can be shortened by photographing the location where the food storage state has changed after the refrigerator door is opened and closed, and the camera moving mechanism can be further extended in life. it can.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Heat insulation box 2 Compressor 4 Blower fan 6 Operation panel 6a Operation part 6b Display part 6c Speaker 7 Refrigeration room door 7a Right door 7b Left door 8 Controller 8a Processor 8b Memory 9 Camera 10 Refrigerating room 11 Refrigerating room shelf 12 Shelf Plate support part 13 Door pocket 14 Chilled room 15 Chilled case 20 Switching room 30 Ice making room 40 Freezing room 50 Vegetable room 81 Thermistor 82 Door open / close detection switch 90 Camera moving device 91 Stepping motor 92 Warm gear 93 Pinion 94 Rack 95 Guide part 98 Camera support Unit 100 Refrigerator 101 Camera control unit 102 Door open / close detection unit 103 Shooting interruption unit 104 Image upload unit 105 Interior change detection unit 106 Camera position determination unit 107 Interior change position determination unit 110 Refrigerator communication unit 200 Server device 201 Image storage unit 210 Server communication unit 300 Terminal device 301 Screen display unit 310 Terminal communication unit

Claims (6)

A main body formed with a storage room for storing food;
A door that opens and closes one side of the storage room;
A camera for taking an image of the storage room;
A camera moving device for moving the camera;
Door opening and closing detection means for detecting opening and closing of the door;
Control means for controlling the operation of the camera moving device and the camera to perform a photographing operation for photographing an image in the storage room while the camera moves from a start position to an end position;
The control means includes
When the door opening / closing detection means detects that the door is closed after the door is opened when the photographing operation is not performed, the photographing operation is started,
A refrigerator that interrupts the photographing operation when the door opening / closing detection means detects that the door has been opened during the photographing operation.   The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the control means restarts the photographing operation when the door opening / closing detecting means detects that the door is closed during the interruption of the photographing operation.   The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the camera moving device returns the camera to the start position before resuming the photographing operation.   The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the camera moving device moves the camera to the closer one of the start position and the end position before resuming the photographing operation. A storage change detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of a change in the food storage state in the storage chamber;
The camera moving device is
When the storage change detection means detects that there is a change in the food storage state before and after the interruption of the shooting operation, the camera is returned to the start position before the shooting operation is resumed,
The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein when the storage change detecting unit detects that there is no change in the food storage state before and after the interruption of the photographing operation, the movement of the camera is resumed from the position at the time of the interruption of the photographing operation. A storage change detecting means for detecting a position where the food storage state has changed in the storage chamber;
The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the control unit sets a movement path of the camera after the resumption of the photographing operation according to a position at which the food storage state is changed, which is detected by the storage change detection unit.

Images