Household appliances and their door opening control methods, systems, and media

Abstract

This invention discloses a household appliance and its door opening control method, system, and medium. The door opening control method includes: acquiring an image captured by a camera unit; identifying user information in the image; and controlling the door panel to open if the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information. This invention, by matching the corresponding pressure threshold to the user information in the image, opens the door panel when the detected pressure value is greater than the pressure threshold. This allows for precise adjustment of the door panel opening force, facilitating the opening of household appliance doors for different user groups and reducing the possibility of doors being difficult to open or accidentally opened.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of household appliance technology, specifically to a household appliance and its door opening control method, system, and medium. Background Technology

[0002] As home appliance research and development technologies mature, the size of home appliances on the market is increasing. To improve usability and achieve more functions, the use of large and heavy doors is becoming more common, with various opening methods. Since users include people of different ages such as the elderly and children, there are issues such as insufficient force to open the door, resulting in bumps and scratches, or damage to the door panel due to excessive force. While existing technologies exist to assist in opening appliance doors, they cannot precisely and automatically adjust the opening force according to the user. Therefore, it remains difficult for some people to open the door, and some may accidentally open it, leading to accidental opening of the appliance. This is especially dangerous for children, as accidental opening not only wastes energy and affects refrigeration efficiency but also poses risks such as bumps and knocks. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of existing electrical door auxiliary opening technology, which cannot accurately and automatically adjust the door opening force according to the user group, and to provide a household appliance and its door opening control method, system and medium.

[0004] The present invention solves the above-mentioned technical problems through the following technical solution:

[0005] A method for controlling the opening of a household appliance, the household appliance including a door panel and a pressure detection unit, the pressure detection unit being disposed on the door panel for detecting the pressure value applied to the door panel, and a camera unit being disposed on the door panel, the method comprising:

[0006] Acquire the images captured by the camera unit;

[0007] Identify user information in the image;

[0008] If the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information, the door panel is controlled to open.

[0009] Optionally, the step of controlling the door panel to open if the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information includes:

[0010] The user's group category is determined based on the user information. If the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the group category, the door panel is opened.

[0011] Optionally, the door opening control method further includes:

[0012] If the group category is determined to be children, then the stress threshold corresponding to the group category is set to the maximum.

[0013] Optionally, the household appliance further includes an electric push rod, and the step of controlling the door panel to open includes:

[0014] Control the electric push rod to pop out so that the door panel opens.

[0015] A door opening control system for a household appliance includes a door panel and a pressure detection unit. The pressure detection unit is disposed on the door panel and is used to detect the pressure value applied to the door panel. A camera unit is disposed on the door panel. The door opening control system includes an image acquisition module, a recognition module, and a control module.

[0016] The image acquisition module is used to acquire images captured by the camera unit;

[0017] The recognition module is used to identify user information in the image;

[0018] The control module is used to control the door panel to open if the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information.

[0019] Optionally, the control module is further configured to determine the group category to which the current user belongs based on the user information, and if the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the group category, then control the door panel to open.

[0020] Optionally, the control module is further configured to set the stress threshold corresponding to the group category to the maximum if the group category is determined to be children.

[0021] Optionally, the household appliance may also include an electric actuator;

[0022] The control module is also used to control the electric push rod to pop out so that the door panel opens.

[0023] The present invention also provides a household appliance, including a door panel, a pressure detection unit, a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and used to run on the processor. The pressure detection unit is disposed on the door panel and is used to detect the pressure value applied to the door panel. A camera unit is disposed on the door panel. When the processor executes the computer program, it implements the door opening control method of the above-mentioned household appliance.

[0024] The present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the above-mentioned door opening control method for household appliances.

[0025] Based on common knowledge in the field, the above-mentioned preferred conditions can be combined arbitrarily to obtain various preferred embodiments of the present invention.

[0026] The positive and progressive effects of this invention are as follows: by matching the corresponding pressure threshold according to the user information in the image, the door panel is opened when the detected pressure value is greater than the pressure threshold. The opening force of the door panel can be precisely adjusted to facilitate users of different groups to open the door panels of household appliances and reduce the possibility of the door panel being difficult to open or being opened accidentally. Attached Figure Description

[0027] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a refrigerator provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0028] Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating a door opening control method for a household appliance provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a door opening control system for a household appliance provided in Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

[0030] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a household appliance provided in Embodiment 3 of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0031] The present invention will be further illustrated by way of embodiments below, but the present invention is not limited to the scope of the embodiments described herein.

[0032] Example 1

[0033] This invention provides a method for controlling the opening of a household appliance. The household appliance includes a door panel and a pressure detection unit. The pressure detection unit is disposed on the door panel and is used to detect the pressure value applied to the door panel. A camera unit is disposed on the door panel.

[0034] Household appliances can be refrigerators, microwave ovens, ovens, etc. In the scenario where the household appliance is a refrigerator, refer to... Figure 1The refrigerator includes a door panel 1 and a pressure detection unit. The pressure detection unit is located on the door panel 1 and is used to detect the pressure applied to the door panel 1. A camera unit 2 is also installed on the door panel 1. With the increasing maturity of refrigerator research and development technology, refrigerator products on the market are becoming larger and larger. To improve cooling efficiency, the use of wide and heavy doors is becoming more and more common. Therefore, these doors are difficult for the elderly and children to open, necessitating methods to assist in opening the door. However, for some groups, opening the door too easily often leads to accidental opening. Therefore, it is necessary to match different opening forces to different groups, so that the refrigerator can be opened by different people.

[0035] The opening method of the household appliance can be press-to-open, that is, after pressing the door panel of the household appliance with a certain force, the door panel of the household appliance will automatically pop open. The door panel of the household appliance is equipped with a pressure detection unit, which is a pressure-sensitive sensor. The door panel is also equipped with a camera unit, which is a pinhole camera. The camera unit is used to capture images in front of the door panel of the household appliance. The household appliance also includes a main control board MCU, which is used to execute the door opening control method of this embodiment, thereby controlling the opening of the door panel of the household appliance. It is used to control the opening of the door panel of the household appliance based on the camera unit and the pressure detection unit.

[0036] Reference Figure 2 The door opening control method includes:

[0037] S1. Acquire the image captured by the camera unit.

[0038] When a user needs to turn on a home appliance, they need to stand in front of the appliance door, thus entering the image acquisition area of ​​the camera unit. The image captured by the camera unit will include the user's image.

[0039] In one alternative implementation, the camera unit may continuously capture images, or capture images only when there is an obstruction in front of the lens, or the camera unit may turn on and capture images when a user enters the image capture area and faces the household appliance for more than 1 second.

[0040] S2. Identify user information in the image.

[0041] After obtaining the user's image, the user information in the image is identified.

[0042] In one alternative implementation, user information includes appearance, height, and gender.

[0043] S3. If the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information, the door panel will be opened.

[0044] The pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is compared with the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information. If the pressure value is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information, the door panel is opened; if the pressure value is less than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information, the door remains closed.

[0045] In an optional implementation, the group category to which the current user belongs can be determined based on the identified user information. If the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the group category, the door panel is controlled to open. The group category may include the elderly, women, men and children.

[0046] In one optional implementation, the pressure detection unit is set with different levels by default at the factory. The pressure detection unit is divided into four levels: "small", "medium", "large" and "child lock", which correspond to different pressure thresholds. When the user presses the door panel, the pressure detection unit deforms to detect different pressure levels, with a response time of about 39ms.

[0047] When the identified user information includes a kind appearance and a height of 1.2 meters or more but less than or equal to 1.5 meters, the user can be identified as an elderly person, and the stress detection unit is adjusted to the "small" setting, resulting in a lower stress threshold. When the identified user information includes a mature appearance, a height of 1.5 meters or more, and a female gender, the user can be identified as a woman, and the stress detection unit is adjusted to the "medium" setting, resulting in a moderate stress threshold. When the identified user information includes a mature appearance, a height of 1.5 meters or more, and a male gender, the user can be identified as a man, and the stress detection unit is adjusted to the "large" setting, resulting in a larger stress threshold. When the identified user information includes a young appearance and a height of 1.2 meters or less, the user can be identified as a child, and the stress detection unit is adjusted to the "child lock" setting, resulting in the highest stress threshold. In all other cases, the stress detection unit is set to the "medium" setting. This allows the appliance door to open with varying force depending on the user, making the appliance suitable for different groups of people.

[0048] In one optional implementation, the camera unit sends user information to the main control board MCU, which then determines the current user's group category based on the user information and feeds it back to the pressure detection unit for gear adjustment.

[0049] In an optional implementation, a magnetic switch and an electric push rod are also provided at the door panel. The magnetic switch includes a magnetic sensor. When the door panel is closed, the magnetic switch is closed, and the door panel is in the closed state. When the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information, the electric push rod is controlled to pop out, the magnetic switch is opened, and the appliance door is opened.

[0050] In one optional implementation, when the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information, the KEY pin of the pressure detection unit changes from outputting a high level to outputting a low level to the main control board MCU. The main control board MCU then sends a high level to the electric actuator, which then starts to pop out.

[0051] In one alternative implementation, the electric actuator automatically retracts three seconds after it pops out.

[0052] This embodiment matches the corresponding pressure threshold based on the user information in the image. When the detected pressure value is greater than the pressure threshold, the door panel is opened. The opening force of the door panel can be precisely adjusted to facilitate users of different groups to open the door panels of home appliances and reduce the possibility of the door panel being difficult to open or being opened accidentally.

[0053] Example 2

[0054] This invention provides a door opening control system for a household appliance. The household appliance includes a door panel and a pressure detection unit. The pressure detection unit is disposed on the door panel and is used to detect the pressure value applied to the door panel. A camera unit is provided on the door panel.

[0055] Household appliances can include refrigerators, microwave ovens, ovens, etc. In the case of refrigerators, with the increasing maturity of refrigerator research and development technology, refrigerator products on the market are becoming larger and larger. In order to improve the cooling effect, the use of wide and heavy doors is becoming more and more common. Therefore, it is difficult for the elderly and children to open them, so auxiliary door opening methods are needed. However, for some groups, it is too easy to open the door, which often leads to accidental opening of the door. Therefore, it is necessary to match different opening forces for different groups so that the refrigerator can be opened by different people.

[0056] The opening method of the household appliance can be press-to-open, that is, after pressing the door panel of the household appliance with a certain force, the door panel of the household appliance will automatically pop open. The door panel of the household appliance is equipped with a pressure detection unit, which is a pressure-sensitive sensor. The door panel is also equipped with a camera unit, which is a pinhole camera. The camera unit is used to capture images in front of the door panel of the household appliance. The household appliance also includes a main control board MCU, which is used to execute the door opening control method of this embodiment, thereby controlling the opening of the door panel of the household appliance. It is used to control the opening of the door panel of the household appliance based on the camera unit and the pressure detection unit.

[0057] Reference Figure 3 The door opening control system includes an image acquisition module 3, a recognition module 4, and a control module 5.

[0058] Image acquisition module 3 is used to acquire images captured by the camera unit.

[0059] When a user needs to turn on a home appliance, they need to stand in front of the appliance door, thus entering the image acquisition area of ​​the camera unit. The image captured by the camera unit will include the user's image.

[0060] In one alternative implementation, the camera unit may continuously capture images, or capture images only when there is an obstruction in front of the lens, or the camera unit may turn on and capture images when a user enters the image capture area and faces the household appliance for more than 1 second.

[0061] The recognition module 4 is used to recognize user information in the image.

[0062] After obtaining the user's image, the user information in the image is identified.

[0063] In one alternative implementation, user information includes appearance, height, and gender.

[0064] The control module 5 is used to open the door if the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information.

[0065] The pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is compared with the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information. If the pressure value is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information, the door panel is opened; if the pressure value is less than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information, the door remains closed.

[0066] In an optional implementation, the group category to which the current user belongs can be determined based on the identified user information. If the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the group category, the door panel is controlled to open. The group category may include the elderly, women, men and children.

[0067] In one optional implementation, the pressure detection unit is set with different levels by default at the factory. The pressure detection unit is divided into four levels: "small", "medium", "large" and "child lock", which correspond to different pressure thresholds. When the user presses the door panel, the pressure detection unit deforms to detect different pressure levels, with a response time of about 39ms.

[0068] When the identified user information includes a kind appearance and a height of 1.2 meters or more but less than or equal to 1.5 meters, the user can be identified as an elderly person, and the stress detection unit is adjusted to the "small" setting, resulting in a lower stress threshold. When the identified user information includes a mature appearance, a height of 1.5 meters or more, and a female gender, the user can be identified as a woman, and the stress detection unit is adjusted to the "medium" setting, resulting in a moderate stress threshold. When the identified user information includes a mature appearance, a height of 1.5 meters or more, and a male gender, the user can be identified as a man, and the stress detection unit is adjusted to the "large" setting, resulting in a larger stress threshold. When the identified user information includes a young appearance and a height of 1.2 meters or less, the user can be identified as a child, and the stress detection unit is adjusted to the "child lock" setting, resulting in the highest stress threshold. In all other cases, the stress detection unit is set to the "medium" setting. This allows the appliance door to open with varying force depending on the user, making the appliance suitable for different groups of people.

[0069] In one optional implementation, the camera unit sends user information to the main control board MCU, which then determines the current user's group category based on the user information and feeds it back to the pressure detection unit for gear adjustment.

[0070] In an optional implementation, a magnetic switch and an electric push rod are also provided at the door panel. The magnetic switch includes a magnetic sensor. When the door panel is closed, the magnetic switch is closed, and the door panel is in the closed state. When the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information, the electric push rod is controlled to pop out, the magnetic switch is opened, and the appliance door is opened.

[0071] In one optional implementation, when the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the user information, the KEY pin of the pressure detection unit changes from outputting a high level to outputting a low level to the main control board MCU. The main control board MCU then sends a high level to the electric actuator, which then starts to pop out.

[0072] In one alternative implementation, the electric actuator automatically retracts three seconds after it pops out.

[0073] This embodiment matches the corresponding pressure threshold based on the user information in the image. When the detected pressure value is greater than the pressure threshold, the door panel is opened. The opening force of the door panel can be precisely adjusted to facilitate users of different groups to open the door panels of home appliances and reduce the possibility of the door panel being difficult to open or being opened accidentally.

[0074] Example 3

[0075] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a household appliance provided in this embodiment. The household appliance includes a door panel, a pressure detection unit, a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor. The pressure detection unit is disposed on the door panel and is used to detect the pressure value applied to the door panel. A camera unit is disposed on the door panel. When the processor executes the program, it implements the door opening control method of the household appliance in Embodiment 1. Figure 4 The household appliance 30 shown is merely an example and should not impose any limitation on the functionality and scope of use of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0076] like Figure 4 As shown, the home appliance 30 can be represented as a general-purpose computing device, such as a server device. The components of the home appliance 30 may include, but are not limited to: at least one processor 31, at least one memory 32, and a bus 33 connecting different system components (including memory 32 and processor 31).

[0077] Bus 33 includes a data bus, an address bus, and a control bus.

[0078] The memory 32 may include volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 321 and / or cache memory 322, and may further include read-only memory (ROM) 323.

[0079] The memory 32 may also include a program / utility 325 having a set (at least one) of program modules 324, including but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each or some combination of these examples may include an implementation of a network environment.

[0080] The processor 31 executes various functional applications and data processing by running computer programs stored in the memory 32, such as the door opening control method for household appliances in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0081] The home appliance 30 can also communicate with one or more external devices 34 (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, etc.). This communication can be performed through the input / output (I / O) interface 35. Furthermore, the model-generated home appliance 30 can also communicate with one or more networks (e.g., local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), and / or public networks, such as the Internet) via a network adapter 36. As shown in the figure, the network adapter 36 communicates with other modules of the model-generated home appliance 30 via a bus 33. It should be understood that, although not shown in the figure, other hardware and / or software modules can be used in conjunction with the model-generated home appliance 30, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processors, external disk drive arrays, RAID (disk array) systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems.

[0082] It should be noted that although several units / modules or sub-units / modules of household appliances have been mentioned in the detailed description above, this division is merely exemplary and not mandatory. In fact, according to embodiments of the present invention, the features and functions of two or more units / modules described above can be embodied in one unit / module. Conversely, the features and functions of one unit / module described above can be further divided and embodied by multiple units / modules.

[0083] Example 4

[0084] This embodiment provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the door opening control method for household appliances in Embodiment 1.

[0085] The readable storage medium may be more specifically adopted, including but not limited to: portable disk, hard disk, random access memory, read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, optical storage device, magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0086] In a possible implementation, the present invention can also be implemented as a program product comprising program code, which, when the program product is run on a terminal device, is used to cause the terminal device to perform the steps of implementing the door opening control method for the household appliance of Embodiment 1.

[0087] The program code for executing the present invention can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code can be executed entirely on the user device, partially on the user device, as a standalone software package, partially on the user device and partially on a remote device, or entirely on a remote device.

[0088] While specific embodiments of the present invention have been described above, those skilled in the art should understand that these are merely illustrative examples, and the scope of protection of the present invention is defined by the appended claims. Those skilled in the art can make various changes or modifications to these embodiments without departing from the principles and essence of the present invention, but all such changes and modifications fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for controlling the opening of a household appliance, characterized in that, The household appliance includes a door panel and a pressure detection unit. The pressure detection unit is disposed on the door panel and is used to detect the pressure value applied to the door panel. A camera unit is provided on the door panel. The door opening control method includes: Acquire the images captured by the camera unit; Identify user information in the image; The user's group category is determined based on the user information. If the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the group category, the door panel is opened.

2. The door opening control method for household appliances as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The door opening control method also includes: If the group category is determined to be children, then the stress threshold corresponding to the group category is set to the maximum.

3. The door opening control method for household appliances as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The household appliance also includes an electric push rod, and the steps of controlling the door panel to open include: Control the electric push rod to pop out so that the door panel opens.

4. A door opening control system for a household appliance, characterized in that, The household appliance includes a door panel and a pressure detection unit. The pressure detection unit is located on the door panel and is used to detect the pressure value applied to the door panel. A camera unit is provided on the door panel. The door opening control system includes an image acquisition module, a recognition module, and a control module. The image acquisition module is used to acquire images captured by the camera unit; The recognition module is used to identify user information in the image; The control module is used to determine the group category to which the current user belongs based on the user information. If the pressure value detected by the pressure detection unit is greater than the pressure threshold corresponding to the group category, the control module will open the door.

5. The door opening control system for household appliances as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The control module is also configured to set the stress threshold corresponding to the group category to the maximum when the group category is determined to be children.

6. The door opening control system for a household appliance as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The household appliance also includes an electric push rod; The control module is also used to control the electric push rod to pop out so that the door panel opens.

7. A household appliance, comprising a door panel, a pressure detection unit, a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and for running on the processor, wherein the pressure detection unit is disposed on the door panel for detecting pressure applied to the door panel, and a camera unit is disposed on the door panel, characterized in that, When the processor executes the computer program, it implements the door opening control method for any of the claims 1-3.

8. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that, When the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the door opening control method for the household appliance as described in any one of claims 1-3.

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