A household appliance

Abstract

The utility model discloses a kind of household appliances, including chamber;Chamber can be used to contain article;Image acquisition unit, the image acquisition unit is arranged in the chamber for shooting the article in the chamber;Illumination unit, the illumination unit is arranged on the wall surface of the chamber;The illumination unit is configured as area light source, to provide the illumination in the chamber when image acquisition unit works.Provide uniform light by being provided with area light source that provides illumination when image acquisition unit works in the chamber containing article, so that the surface of illuminated article appears real, it is beneficial to the clear, bright image information that image acquisition unit obtains.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of this utility model relate to the field of household appliance technology. Background Technology

[0002] With the increasing prevalence of home appliances in people's daily lives, consumers are demanding higher levels of intelligence from these appliances. For example, people expect refrigerators, steam ovens, or ovens to display or identify the food stored or processed inside, or the state of the food, to provide users with relevant information to indicate the current state of the food or offer suggestions for eating or cooking. They also expect washing machines to be able to determine the material or degree of soiling of clothing to provide corresponding washing programs. Traditional object recognition primarily involves capturing images of items housed in household appliances, such as refrigerators, ovens, and washing machines, and then determining the current state of the items by displaying or analyzing the captured images.

[0003] However, current electronic devices installed in storage spaces, such as lamps, are not ideal for capturing food images due to traditional light sources, or improper camera settings result in unclear food images. Furthermore, when items are stored in storage spaces, they are partially obscured, and sometimes even by packaging such as cling film, which can reflect light or partially block the contents, affecting their display or recognition. Moreover, existing home appliances only provide users with relevant information from a single dimension, such as image recognition, and information conveyed solely based on images may be incomplete or inaccurate, leading to a poor user experience. Utility Model Content

[0004] In view of the above-mentioned technical problems pointed out in the background art, one object of the present utility model is to provide an improved household appliance that solves at least one of the above-mentioned technical problems.

[0005] An embodiment of this utility model provides a household appliance, including a cavity; the cavity can be used to hold items; an image acquisition unit disposed in the cavity for photographing food inside the cavity; and an illumination unit disposed on the wall of the cavity; the illumination unit is constructed as a surface light source to provide illumination to the cavity when the image acquisition unit is working.

[0006] By providing a surface light source that illuminates the image acquisition unit when it is working within the cavity containing the object, uniform light is provided, making the illuminated object surface appear realistic, which is beneficial for the image acquisition unit to obtain clear and bright image information.

[0007] Furthermore, the illumination unit includes at least a first illumination section and a second illumination section, which are located on both sides of the image acquisition unit.

[0008] Furthermore, the first lighting unit and the second lighting unit are constructed as surface light sources of the same size.

[0009] Furthermore, when the cavity is closed, one of the first illumination unit and the second illumination unit is illuminated to provide illumination within the cavity when the image acquisition unit is operating.

[0010] Furthermore, the first lighting unit and the second lighting unit are disposed on the wall of the chamber, and the sum of the areas of their light-emitting surfaces is not less than 50% of the wall area, or the area of ​​each of their light-emitting surfaces is not less than 25% of the wall area.

[0011] Furthermore, the lighting unit is disposed on the top wall of the chamber, and the image acquisition unit is disposed in the middle or corner of the top of the chamber.

[0012] Furthermore, the illumination range of the illumination unit at least covers the object placement area within the cavity adjacent to the image acquisition unit.

[0013] Furthermore, the illumination unit is configured such that when the cavity is illuminated, the light intensity at the object placement area adjacent to the image acquisition unit within the cavity is not less than 1.5 Klux.

[0014] Furthermore, the lighting unit includes a lamp panel assembly with multiple LEDs and a light guide assembly located near the light-emitting side of the lighting unit relative to the lamp panel assembly.

[0015] Furthermore, the image acquisition unit includes a plurality of cameras arranged around the outer peripheral surface of the illumination unit.

[0016] Furthermore, the household appliance also includes an image processing unit, which is used to process the image information captured by the image processing unit.

[0017] Furthermore, the image processing unit can synthesize image information captured multiple times by one of the image acquisition units.

[0018] Furthermore, the image processing unit can synthesize image information captured by at least a plurality of image acquisition units.

[0019] Furthermore, the image processing unit synthesizes image information by comparing the brightness values ​​of pixels.

[0020] Furthermore, the household appliance also includes an odor detection unit, which is capable of detecting odor information within the cavity.

[0021] Furthermore, the odor detection unit includes multiple gas sensors, which detect odor information of the gas in the chamber at different temperatures.

[0022] Furthermore, the odor detection unit includes a temperature and humidity sensor, and the detection value of the temperature and humidity sensor is used to calibrate the odor information detected by the gas sensor in the odor detection unit.

[0023] Furthermore, the household appliance also includes a computing unit configured to determine the state of the food based on the image information obtained by the image acquisition unit and the odor information obtained by the odor detection unit.

[0024] Furthermore, the household appliance also includes a display unit configured to display the image acquired by the image acquisition unit and / or the food status determined by the calculation unit. Attached Figure Description

[0025] The principles, features, and advantages of this application will be better understood below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings include:

[0026] Figure 1 This is a schematic front view of a household appliance according to the first embodiment of this utility model;

[0027] Figure 2 This is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of the present invention when the chamber is designed as a storage drawer;

[0028] Figure 3 This is a cross-sectional view of the lid when the chamber is designed as a storage drawer in the first embodiment of this utility model;

[0029] Figure 4 This is a block diagram of an image acquisition method available in several embodiments of the present invention.

[0030] Figure 5 A block diagram of a food detection system available in several embodiments of this utility model. Detailed Implementation

[0031] To provide a more detailed understanding of the features and technical content of the embodiments of this disclosure, the implementation of the embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the embodiments of this disclosure. In the following technical description, for ease of explanation, several details are used to provide a full understanding of the disclosed embodiments. However, one or more embodiments may still be implemented without these details. In other cases, well-known structures and devices may be simplified in their depiction to simplify the drawings.

[0032] The terms "first," "second," etc., used in the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this disclosure are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such data can be interchanged where appropriate for the embodiments of this disclosure described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion.

[0033] Unless otherwise stated, the term "multiple" means two or more.

[0034] The term "and / or" describes an association between objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B means: A or B, or A and B.

[0035] The household appliances in this disclosure can be, for example, devices for storing or processing food such as refrigerators and ovens, or other household appliances with a cavity for accommodating items such as washing machines. The first embodiment of this application is used as a typical example to illustrate the features of this utility model.

[0036] Please refer to Figure 1 Household appliances, taking refrigerator 1 as an example, typically include an insulated cabinet 10, which includes an outer shell 11, an inner liner 12, and an insulating layer 13 located between the two. The cabinet 10 can define two or more insulated storage compartments for storing food and other items. In one illustrative embodiment of this application, these storage compartments are a refrigerator compartment 14 located at the top and a freezer compartment 15 or a variable temperature compartment 16 located at the bottom. The refrigerator compartment 14, freezer compartment 15, and variable temperature compartment 16 are adapted to accommodate one or more storage containers, such as storage containers 100, 100a, and 100b located in the refrigerator compartment 14, storage container 100c located in the freezer compartment 15, and storage container 100d located in the variable temperature compartment 16; wherein the storage compartments can be closed by their respective appliance doors (not shown).

[0037] Combination Figures 1-3 The refrigerator, as a household appliance, includes a chamber 100; the chamber 100 is typically used to store frequently used items, such as food. It is understood that the household appliance of this application may also be an oven having a cavity for storing food; or a washing appliance having a cavity for storing clothing.

[0038] Image acquisition unit 102 is used to capture images of the interior of chamber 100 to obtain image information. This means that when image acquisition unit 102 is working, it can capture images of the interior of chamber 100. It can be understood that image acquisition unit 102 can be supported on the wall of chamber 100 or on a closing element of the closed chamber 100, such as a door (not shown) of the closed chamber 100.

[0039] Lighting unit 101 is disposed within chamber 100 to provide illumination within chamber 100.

[0040] The illumination unit 101 is configured as a surface light source to provide illumination within the chamber 100 when the image acquisition unit 102 is operating. The surface light source can provide uniform light, illuminating a large area within the chamber 100, making the illuminated object surface appear realistic, which is beneficial for the image acquisition unit 102 to acquire clear and realistic image information.

[0041] In one embodiment of this invention, the illumination unit 101 includes a first illumination section 101a and a second illumination section 101b to provide illumination within the chamber 100. Multiple surface light source illumination sections provide illumination, which facilitates the illumination of different areas of the chamber, thereby providing the possibility for the image acquisition unit to take multiple shots from different illumination angles.

[0042] like Figure 3 As shown, the first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101b are configured to be lit respectively to provide illumination within the chamber 100. Therefore, the image acquisition unit 102 captures image information within the chamber 100 when the first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101b illuminate the chamber 100. This facilitates providing illumination to the chamber from different illumination angles.

[0043] In some specific embodiments, the household appliance includes an image processing unit 201, which is configured to process image information acquired by the image acquisition unit 102; wherein, the image processing unit 201 synthesizes the image information acquired by the image acquisition unit 102 when the first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101b are illuminated.

[0044] Illuminating the chamber 100 with lights at different locations helps the image acquisition unit 102 acquire image information containing different reflective areas. By synthesizing images, the interference of light reflections caused by food packaging on the image information is reduced, which helps improve the quality of the image information.

[0045] Preferably, when the chamber 100 is closed, the first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101b illuminate the chamber 100 respectively, so that the image acquisition unit 102 can acquire image information of the food stored in the chamber 100 when the chamber 100 is stable.

[0046] like Figure 3 As shown, the first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101 are configured as a surface light source that emits light uniformly.

[0047] Furthermore, the sum of the areas of the light-emitting surfaces of the first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101b is not less than 50% of the area of ​​the top surface of the chamber, or the area of ​​the light-emitting surface of each of the first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101b is not less than 25% of the area of ​​the top surface of the chamber. This design of the light-emitting areas of the first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101b relative to the area of ​​the top surface of the chamber is beneficial for maximizing the area illuminated by the first illumination unit and the second illumination unit within the chamber 100, which is beneficial for the image acquisition unit 102 to acquire clear and realistic image information.

[0048] Preferably, in order to further reduce the reflection effect, the sum of the areas of the light-emitting surfaces of the first illumination part 101a and the second illumination part 101b is not less than 80% of the area of ​​the top surface of the chamber, or the area of ​​the light-emitting surface of each of the first illumination part 101a and the second illumination part 101b is not less than 40% of the area of ​​the top surface of the chamber.

[0049] Furthermore, in order to facilitate the first lighting unit 101a and the second lighting unit 101b in providing bright illumination to the chamber 100, the first lighting unit 101a and the second lighting unit 101b are configured such that when illuminating the chamber 100, the light intensity inside the chamber 100 is not less than 1.5 Klux.

[0050] like Figure 3 As shown, the first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101b are constructed as surface light sources of the same size. Thus, the image information captured when the chamber 100 is illuminated by the first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101b is almost identical in terms of parameters such as brightness and sharpness, which is beneficial for synthesizing high-quality image information with reduced reflection effects.

[0051] Furthermore, the first lighting unit 101a and the second lighting unit 101b are constructed as square surface light sources, which can maximize their coverage on the top surface of the cavity 100. This is beneficial for providing full illumination within the cavity.

[0052] The first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101b may include a lamp panel assembly (not shown in the figure) with multiple LEDs and a light guide assembly (not shown in the figure), with the light guide assembly positioned closer to the light-emitting side of the illumination unit 101 than the lamp panel assembly. The light guide assembly includes a light guide plate, a reflector, and a diffuser plate. This helps reduce the generation of shadows in the image.

[0053] like Figure 3 As shown, the first illumination part 101a and the second illumination part 101b are arranged on different sides of the image acquisition unit 102, so that when the image acquisition unit 102 is shooting, the first illumination part 101a and the second illumination part 101b are at different positions relative to the image acquisition unit 102 to illuminate the chamber 100, thereby reducing the impact of reflection on the image quality.

[0054] Preferably, the image acquisition unit 102 includes a camera 104, and the first illumination part 101a and the second illumination part 101b are centrally symmetrical with respect to the camera 104 of the image acquisition unit 102. This facilitates the complementarity of image information and helps to improve the quality of image information.

[0055] In another embodiment of this invention, the image acquisition unit 102 may include multiple cameras arranged around the periphery of the illumination unit 101. Using multiple cameras allows for capturing images of the object from different directions, thus providing a better representation of the object's current state.

[0056] Accordingly, the image processing unit 201 is configured to synthesize image information captured by at least a plurality of image acquisition units 102, in order to provide accurate image information of the object.

[0057] like Figure 4 As shown, the household appliance includes a controller 200, which includes a computing unit 200a. The computing unit 200a can determine the state of the food based on the image information obtained by the image acquisition unit 102. It is understood that... Figure 1-3 Although the image processing unit 201 is not shown, the image processing unit 201 may be selectively disposed on the controller 200 of the household appliance or on the module of the image acquisition unit 102.

[0058] Furthermore, the household appliance 1 also includes a door detection unit 110, which is used to detect whether the door of the enclosed chamber 100 is closed. When the door detection unit 110 detects that the door is closed, the controller 200 controls the lighting unit 101 to start working. That is, the first lighting unit 101a and the second lighting unit 101b are lit up respectively when the chamber 100 is closed.

[0059] To ensure the power supply and operation of the lighting unit 101 and the image acquisition unit 102, when the door detection unit 110 detects that the door is closed, the other lighting units of the household appliances are turned off, and the controller 200 controls the lighting unit 101 to start working.

[0060] Accordingly, the first lighting unit 101a and the second lighting unit 101b can be constructed as a single unit and controlled to be lit in sections by the controller 200. Alternatively, the first lighting unit 101a and the second lighting unit 101b can be constructed as two independent lamps and controlled to be lit separately.

[0061] Optionally, the first illumination unit 101a and the second illumination unit 101b are configured as surface light sources of the same size, and are arranged along the width or depth direction of the cavity 100. This facilitates full coverage of the surface light source on the cavity wall.

[0062] In this invention, an installation area Z is provided between the first lighting part 101a and the second lighting part 101b, and the camera 104 is disposed in the installation area Z.

[0063] Furthermore, the installation area Z includes a first mounting groove 106 recessed relative to the top surface of the chamber 100, in which the camera 104 is installed, which helps to reduce the space occupied by the camera in the storage space inside the chamber 100.

[0064] Preferably, the lens portion of the camera 104 does not protrude beyond the light-emitting surface of the illumination unit 101. This helps to reduce the light and shadow areas appearing on the camera lens under the illumination of the illumination unit.

[0065] Furthermore, the shooting surface of the camera 104 at least covers the storage area 108 adjacent to the camera 104 within the chamber 100, so as to provide complete image information of the stored items within the chamber 100.

[0066] It is understood that, in order to obtain favorable image quality, the illumination range of the illumination unit 100 should at least cover the placement area 108 of the adjacent image acquisition unit 102 within the chamber 100. Preferably, the illumination range of the first illumination part 101a and the second illumination part 101b should at least cover the placement area 108 of the adjacent image acquisition unit 102 within the chamber 100. This is to facilitate providing complete and high-quality image information within the chamber 100.

[0067] like Figure 2 As shown, the chamber 100 includes an upward-opening drawer 120 and a closing element 110 disposed on the outside of the drawer 120 to close its opening.

[0068] Thus, the lighting unit 101 and / or the image acquisition unit 102 are mounted on the closure element 110. In one embodiment of the present invention, the closure element 110 may be a lid covering the opening of the drawer 120.

[0069] A first mounting groove 106 is provided on the inner surface of the cover, and the image acquisition unit 102 is disposed in the first mounting groove 106. In this way, space can be maximized with the most streamlined structure.

[0070] Preferably, the outer surfaces of the illumination unit 101 and / or the image acquisition unit 102 do not protrude from the inner surface of the chamber 100. This helps avoid the formation of unsanitary corners, reduces scratches on the outer surface of the lens, and improves the user experience.

[0071] like Figure 4 As shown, the computing unit 200a includes an image detection model 202. The synthesized image information is transmitted to the controller 200 and the image detection model 202 is used to provide information on the type or freshness of the food stored in the chamber 100.

[0072] In a preferred embodiment of this utility model, the household version also includes an odor acquisition unit 103, which is used to acquire gas information within the chamber 100. By acquiring the gas information, the state of the stored items within the chamber 100 can be determined, which is beneficial for providing information about the items from the perspective of odor and for improving the accuracy of the information provided.

[0073] The odor acquisition unit 103 is disposed on one of the walls of the chamber 100. For example, the odor acquisition unit 103 can preferably be disposed on the top surface of the chamber 100, especially on the rear side of the image acquisition unit 102. In this way, the odor acquisition unit 103 can be hidden behind the image acquisition unit 102 to avoid being exposed to the user's line of sight.

[0074] In this invention, the odor acquisition unit 103 includes at least one gas sensor 105. A second mounting groove 107 is provided on the top surface of the chamber 100, and the gas sensor 105 is disposed within the second mounting groove 107. It is understood that the second mounting groove 107 is in gas communication with the chamber 100 to facilitate the acquisition of odor information within the chamber 100 by the odor acquisition unit 103.

[0075] Furthermore, the odor acquisition unit 103 also includes an odor acquisition unit controller 203, which is used to control the gas sensor 105 to collect odor information at different temperatures.

[0076] In a preferred embodiment, the odor acquisition unit 103 further includes a temperature and humidity sensor 109, and the odor information and temperature and humidity information are used to determine the freshness of the food.

[0077] Furthermore, the detection values ​​of the temperature and humidity sensor 109 are used to calibrate the odor information detected by the gas sensor 105.

[0078] In this application, the gas sensor 105 can be a volatile organic compound sensor, especially a semiconductor sensor, which exhibits different sensitivities to different types of volatile gases in different temperature ranges. Therefore, detecting the odor information of the gas at different temperatures is beneficial to providing accurate odor information and improving the user experience.

[0079] The controller 200 also includes an odor detection model 204. The acquired odor information and temperature and humidity information are transmitted to the controller 200 and used by the odor detection model 204 to provide information on the type or freshness of the food stored in the chamber 100.

[0080] To achieve one objective of this utility model, this application provides an image acquisition method, which includes: S100 illuminating a first illumination unit 101a, and an image acquisition unit 102 capturing an image inside a cavity 100;

[0081] S200 turns off the first illumination 101a, turns on the second illumination unit 101b, and the image acquisition unit 102 captures a second image inside the cavity 100;

[0082] The S300 image processing unit 201 combines image one and image two into a single image.

[0083] By combining photographs taken under different lighting conditions within the chamber, it is beneficial to reduce the interference of light reflections from food packaging on image information and improve the quality of image information.

[0084] In step 300, the image processing unit 201 compares the brightness of pixels to synthesize image one and image two.

[0085] In one embodiment of this application, to prevent the reflective parts in the photograph from interfering with the image information, in step 300, at least in the areas where reflection occurs, pixel brightness values ​​with low brightness are selected as the brightness values ​​for the composite photograph. This can reduce the loss of image information caused by reflection.

[0086] The method for acquiring the image includes a step S001 prior to step S100: receiving a signal that the cavity 100 is closed or receiving a signal that the door of the refrigeration appliance 1 is closed.

[0087] It can be understood as follows: In order to ensure the power supply and operation of the lighting unit 101 and the image acquisition unit 102, when the door detection unit 110 detects that the door of the refrigeration appliance 1 is closed, the controller 200 receives the door of the refrigeration appliance 1 being closed, and the controller 200 controls the lighting unit 101 to start working.

[0088] In one embodiment of this application, the household appliance further includes a display unit 300, which is configured to display the state of an item obtained by the image acquisition unit 102 or the calculation unit 200a, such as the freshness of food.

[0089] Although specific embodiments have been described above, these embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of this application, even when only a single embodiment is described with respect to a particular feature. The feature examples provided in this application are intended to be illustrative and not limiting, unless explicitly stated otherwise. In practice, multiple features may be combined with each other as needed and where technically feasible. Various substitutions, modifications, and alterations are also conceived without departing from the spirit and scope of this application.

Claims

1. A household appliance, comprising Chamber (100); the chamber (100) can be used to contain items; An image acquisition unit (102) is disposed in the chamber (100) for taking pictures of the items in the chamber (100); A lighting unit (101) is disposed within the chamber (100); Its features are: The lighting unit (101) is configured as a surface light source to provide illumination within the chamber (100) when the image acquisition unit (102) is in operation.

2. The household appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that: The lighting unit (101) includes at least a first lighting part (101a) and a second lighting part (101b), which are respectively disposed on both sides of the image acquisition unit (102).

3. The household appliance according to claim 2, characterized in that: The first illumination unit (101a) and the second illumination unit (101b) are constructed as surface light sources of the same size; and / or When the chamber (100) is closed, one of the first illumination unit (101a) and the second illumination unit (101b) is illuminated to provide illumination within the chamber (100) when the image acquisition unit (102) is operating; and / or The first lighting unit (101a) and the second lighting unit (101b) are disposed on the wall of the chamber (100), and the sum of the areas of their light-emitting surfaces is not less than 50% of the wall area or the area of ​​each of their light-emitting surfaces is not less than 25% of the wall area.

4. The household appliance according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that: The illumination unit (101) is disposed on the top wall of the chamber (100), and the image acquisition unit (102) is disposed in the middle or corner of the top of the chamber (100); and / or The illumination range of the illumination unit (101) at least covers the placement area (108) within the cavity (100) adjacent to the image acquisition unit (102); and / or The illumination unit (101) is configured such that when the cavity (100) is illuminated, the light intensity at the object placement area (108) adjacent to the image acquisition unit (102) within the cavity (100) is not less than 1.5 Klux; and / or The lighting unit (101) includes a lamp panel assembly with multiple lamp beads and a light guide assembly located on the light-emitting side of the lighting unit (101) relative to the lamp panel assembly.

5. The household appliance according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that: The image acquisition unit (102) includes a plurality of cameras (104) arranged around the periphery of the illumination unit (101).

6. The household appliance according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that: The household appliance also includes an image processing unit (201), which is used to process the image information captured by the image acquisition unit (102).

7. The household appliance according to claim 6, characterized in that: The image processing unit (201) can at least synthesize image information captured multiple times by one of the image acquisition units (102); and / or The image processing unit (201) can synthesize image information captured by at least a plurality of image acquisition units (102).

8. The household appliance according to claim 7, characterized in that: The image processing unit (201) synthesizes image information by comparing the brightness values ​​of pixels.

9. The household appliance according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that: The household appliance also includes an odor detection unit (103) for detecting odor information in the chamber (100).

10. The household appliance according to claim 9, characterized in that: The odor detection unit (103) includes multiple gas sensors (105), which detect odor information of the gas in the chamber (100) at different temperatures; and / or The odor detection unit (103) includes a temperature and humidity sensor (109), and the detection value of the temperature and humidity sensor (109) is used to calibrate the odor information detected by the gas sensor (105) in the odor detection unit (103).

11. The household appliance according to claim 10, characterized in that: The household appliance also includes a computing unit (200a) configured to determine the state of the item based on image information obtained by the image acquisition unit (102) and odor information obtained by the odor detection unit (103).

12. The household appliance according to claim 1 or 11, characterized in that: The household appliance also includes a display unit (300) configured to display images acquired by the image acquisition unit (102) and / or the state of an item determined by the calculation unit (200a).

Images