Refrigerator Receptacle Imaging for Remote Food Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional refrigerators lack the ability to provide users with intuitive and easy access to information about the contents stored inside, leading to inconvenience when purchasing food as users often unknowingly buy already stored items or forget necessary items.
Innovation Solution
A refrigerator equipped with a camera that captures images of the storage compartment when the door is open and closed, combining these images to provide a unified view, and displaying this information on a display unit, allowing users to remotely access this information through a terminal device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a camera system with image combining and correction is installed to provide users with information about stored food, then users can intuitively recognize contents without opening the door, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a camera to create visual copies (images) of the food stored in the refrigerator. The camera captures images at different door positions, and these images are combined to create a comprehensive view of stored contents, allowing users to access information about food without physically opening the door.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary system consisting of the camera, control unit, and display unit that mediates between the user and the stored food. Instead of direct visual access requiring door opening, the intermediary camera system captures and transmits visual information, eliminating the need for physical door opening while providing comprehensive food information.
2Loss of information
If the camera captures images at multiple door positions (open and closed states), then a comprehensive view of the receptacle is achieved, but the loss of time for image processing and combining increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit is configured to combine images captured at different door positions into a single corrected image showing the receptacle. This preliminary processing of multiple images into one comprehensive view reduces the time users would otherwise spend manually checking multiple angles or opening the door to assess contents.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a refrigerator. The refrigerator includes a main body having a first storage compartment and a second storage compartment, in which food is stored, a first door configured to open the first storage compartment via pivotal rotation thereof, a second door configured to be moved forward of the second storage compartment to open the second storage compartment, a receptacle configured to be moved along with the second door and received in the second storage compartment, the receptacle serving to store food therein, and a camera installed to the main body to take a picture of the receptacle. The refrigerator further includes a control unit configured to combine a plurality of pictures taken by the camera as the second door is moved and configured to correct the images into an image showing the receptacle.