Patent Application
20190063994
The present application claims priority to and the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-037337 filed Feb. 29, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to an inspection apparatus and an inspection system.
A food product management system for managing the deterioration status of a food product is known. For example, patent literature (PTL) 1 discloses a food product management system that collects information related to the deterioration status of a food product stored in a container and manages the deterioration status.
PTL 1: JP2005173675A
An inspection apparatus according to an embodiment includes a container, a detector, a color information acquisition interface, and a controller. The container stores a specimen. The detector detects a substance emitted by the specimen stored in the container. The color information acquisition interface acquires information related to the color of the specimen stored in the container. The controller judges a quality of the specimen on the basis of the substance detected by the detector and the information related to the color acquired by the color information acquisition interface.
An inspection system according to an embodiment includes a detection apparatus and an inspection apparatus. The detection apparatus includes a container that stores a specimen, a detector that detects a substance emitted by the specimen stored in the container, a color information acquisition interface that acquires information related to a color of the specimen stored in the container, and a communication interface that transmits information related to the substance detected by the detector and the information related to the color acquired by the color information acquisition interface to the inspection apparatus. The inspection apparatus includes a communication interface that receives the information related to the substance and the information related to the color from the detection apparatus and a controller that judges a quality of the specimen on the basis of the received information related to the substance and the received information related to the color.
In the accompanying drawings:
The food product management system disclosed in PTL 1 continuously monitors the deterioration status of the food product stored in the container. Therefore, when the user of the food product management system disclosed in PTL 1 wishes to learn the deterioration status of a food product not stored in the container, for example, he cannot do so immediately. The present disclosure can improve the usefulness of an inspection apparatus and an inspection system.
Embodiments are described below in detail with reference to the drawings.
The inspection apparatus 10 executes an inspection process in accordance with a predetermined inspection operation while a specimen is stored in the container 11. In other words, when the inspection apparatus 10 is to execute the inspection process, the user stores the specimen inside the container 11. While the specimen is stored in the container 11, the inspection apparatus 10 uses the detector 12 to detect a substance emitted by the specimen. Along with detecting a substance using the detector 12, the inspection apparatus 10 acquires information related to a color (color information) of the specimen, stored in the container 11, using the color information acquisition interface 13. The inspection apparatus 10 judges the quality of the specimen on the basis of the information related to the substance detected by the detector 12 and the color information acquired by the color information acquisition interface 13. The inspection apparatus 10 executes the inspection process in this way in accordance with the inspection operation. The notification interface 15 provides notification of the result of the inspection process. An example of the specimen being a food product is described below in the present embodiment.
The container 11 is, for example, sealable. The specimen is removably stored in a containment chamber (inspection chamber) 11a of the container 11. The container 11 includes a pivotable lid 11b. The user of the inspection apparatus 10 opens the lid 11b and stores a food product in the containment chamber 11a. The lid 11b need not be pivotable. It suffices for the lid 11b to be capable of sealing the containment chamber 11a. For example, the container 11 may include a lid 11b that is slidable upward or sideways. The container 11 for example includes a tray, on the bottom of the containment chamber 11a, on which the food product can be placed.
The detector 12 detects a substance emitted by the food product that is the specimen. The detector 12 may, for example, be an odor sensor that detects an odor emitted by the food product. The detector 12 may, for example, be a gas sensor that detects a gas emitted by the food product. Specifically, the detector 12 includes a sensitive membrane and a transducer. The sensitive membrane adsorbs gas molecules that are the source of the odor, and the transducer converts detection of the gas molecules in the sensitive membrane into an electric signal.
The detector 12 may, for example, be provided with a quartz crystal resonator type odor sensor that includes a sensitive membrane, made of an organic thin film, and a quartz crystal resonator. The quartz crystal resonator type odor sensor detects an odor by a change in the resonance frequency of the quartz crystal resonator when gas molecules are adsorbed on the sensitive membrane. The quartz crystal resonator functions as a transducer that converts detection of gas molecules into an electric signal.
The detector 12 may, for example, be provided with a semiconductor gas sensor. The semiconductor gas sensor detects the gas concentration by a change in the resistance of a metal oxide semiconductor when gas molecules are adsorbed on the metal oxide semiconductor. The oxide semiconductor functions as a transducer that converts detection of gas molecules into an electric signal. The detector 12 may, for example, be provided with an infrared absorption spectrum type gas sensor, an electrochemical gas sensor, a contact combustion type gas sensor, a biosensor, or the like.
To adsorb different types of gas molecules, for example, the detector 12 may be provided with a plurality of types of sensitive membranes or metal oxides. The detector 12 may be provided with a plurality of quartz crystal resonator type odor sensors, a plurality of semiconductor gas sensors, or a combination of these sensors. The detector 12 transmits the electric signal converted by the transducer to the below-described controller as odor-related information. The detector 12 is, for example, located inside the container 11. In
The color information acquisition interface 13 acquires color information of the specimen stored in the container 11. The color information acquisition interface 13 is, for example, a camera such as a digital camera and captures an image of the appearance of the specimen to acquire the color information. The color information acquisition interface 13 is not, however, limited to being a camera. The color information acquisition interface 13 can be any device capable of acquiring the color information of the specimen. For example, the color information acquisition interface 13 may be a color sensor using a light emitting diode (LED) as a light source. In
The deodorizer 14 performs a deodorization process on the inside of the container 11. For example, the deodorizer 14 is configured by a degassing apparatus, a deodorizing apparatus, or the like. When the deodorizer 14 is configured to include a degassing apparatus, the deodorizer 14 deodorizes the container 11 by expelling (degassing) gas molecules from inside the container 11 to the outside. When the deodorizer 14 is configured to include an ozone deodorizing apparatus, the deodorizer 14 discharges ozone into the container 11. The discharged ozone decomposes gas molecules to deodorize the inside of the container 11. When the deodorizer 14 is configured to include an oxygen cluster deodorizing apparatus, the deodorizer 14 ionizes the oxygen molecules inside the container 11. The ionized oxygen molecules (oxygen cluster ions) subject gas molecules inside the container 11 to ion decomposition to deodorize the inside of the container 11.
The deodorizer 14 is, for example, located inside the container 11. In
The notification interface 15 provides notification of the result of the inspection process by the inspection apparatus 10. The notification interface 15 can, for example, provide notification by a visual method using image, character, or color display, light emission, or the like; an auditory method using audio or the like; or a combination of these methods. To provide notification with a visual method, the notification interface 15 may be a display device that provides notification by displaying images or characters. The notification interface 15 may, for example, provide notification by emitting light with an LED or the like. To provide notification with an auditory method, the notification interface 15 may be a speaker or other such sound generating device that provides notification by outputting an alarm, audio guidance, or the like. The notification interface 15 is not limited to providing notification by a visual or auditory method. Any method recognizable by the subject may be adopted. For example, the notification interface 15 may provide notification with a vibration pattern or the like.
In the example in
The input interface 16 accepts operation input from the user and may be configured by operation buttons (operation keys), for example. The input interface 16 may, for example, be a touchscreen. An input region that accepts operation input from the user may be displayed on a portion of the display device that is the notification interface 15, and the input interface 16 may accept touch operation input by the user to this input region. The user may, for example, instruct the inspection apparatus 10 to start inspection by operating the input interface 16 (by an inspection operation).
The controller 17 is a processor that controls and manages the inspection apparatus 10 overall, starting with the functional blocks of the inspection apparatus 10. The controller 17 is a processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU), that executes a program prescribing control procedures. Such a program is, for example, stored in the memory 18 or on an external storage medium.
To provide control and processing capability for executing various functions, as described below in greater detail, the inspection apparatus 10 is provided with the controller 17, which includes one or more processors 17a.
In various embodiments, the one or more processors 17a may be implemented as a single integrated circuit or as a plurality of communicatively connected integrated circuits and/or discrete circuits. The one or more processors 17a can be implemented with a variety of known techniques.
In an embodiment, the processor 17a includes one or more circuits or units configured to execute one or more data calculation procedures or processes by executing instructions stored in related memory, for example. In another embodiment, the processor 17a may be firmware (such as discrete logic components) configured to execute one or more data calculation procedures or processes.
In various embodiments, the processor 17a may include one or more processors, controllers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, field programmable gate arrays, any combination of these devices or structures, or a combination of other known devices and structures, to execute the below-described functions.
The controller 17 executes the inspection process using the inspection apparatus 10 by controlling the entire inspection apparatus 10. For example, the controller 17 activates the detector 12 and the color information acquisition interface 13 on the basis of predetermined operation input that the user of the inspection apparatus 10 provides to the input interface 16. The detector 12 activated by the controller 17 starts to detect an odor emitted by the food product. The color information acquisition interface 13 activated by the controller 17 starts to acquire the color information. The controller 17 acquires information related to the odor detected by the detector 12 from the detector 12. The controller 17 acquires the color information obtained by the color information acquisition interface 13 from the color information acquisition interface 13.
The controller 17 judges the quality of the food product on the basis of the information related to the odor detected by the detector 12 and the color information acquired by the color information acquisition interface 13. Here, the quality of a food product refers to the properties or qualities of the food product. For example, the detector 12 may include a plurality of different odor sensors that adsorb ethylene, ammonia, alcohol, aldehyde, and sulfur gas molecules. The controller 17 may judge the quality of the food product on the basis of a plurality of signals detected by the plurality of odor sensors and the color information acquired by the color information acquisition interface 13. The components of gas molecules that are the source of the odor emitted by a food product, the ratio of the components, and the like differ depending on the type of food product and the quality of the food product. The color of a food product differs depending on the type of food product and the quality of the food product. Therefore, the controller 17 judges the quality of a food product on the basis of odor-related information, i.e. the components of gas molecules that are the source of the odor, the ratio of the components, and the like, and on the color of the food product. The controller 17 may, for example, judge the quality of the food product on the basis of the outputs of a plurality of odor sensors and the ratio of the outputs. The controller 17 may, for example, judge the quality of the food product on the basis of features (output value, time constant, or the like) of the response of a plurality of odor sensors. The detector 12 may, for example, include a plurality of ethylene, alcohol, sulfur, and ammonia type odor sensors. When judging the quality of a vegetable, for example, the controller 17 may judge that the quality has deteriorated when the outputs of the alcohol, sulfur, and ammonia type odor sensors among the plurality of odor sensor outputs increase to a predetermined value or higher.
To judge the quality of a food product, the controller 17 refers to information (data), stored in the memory 18, associating the odor emitted by a food product and the color of the food product with the quality of the food product.
The quality of the food product may, for example, refer to whether the food product is spoiled. In this case, the controller 17 judges whether the food product is spoiled on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information. The controller 17 may judge the degree of spoiling of the food product.
The quality of the food product may, for example, refer to whether the food product is ripe. In this case, the controller 17 judges whether the food product is ripe on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information. The controller 17 may judge when the food product will be ripe on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information.
The quality of the food product may, for example, refer to the degree of aging of the food product. In this case, the controller 17 judges the degree of aging of a food product, i.e. the degree to which the food product (such as meat) has aged, on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information.
The quality of the food product may, for example, refer to the freshness of the food product. In this case, the controller 17 judges the freshness of a food product, i.e. how fresh the food product is, on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information.
The quality of the food product may, for example, refer to the production area of the food product. In this case, the controller 17 judges the production area of the food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information. Specifically, the controller 17 judges whether the food product is domestic or foreign, for example. The controller 17 may judge the specific production area of the food product.
The quality of the food product may, for example, refer to the extent of residual pesticide in the food product. In this case, the controller 17 judges the extent of residual pesticide in the food product, i.e. the amount of residual pesticides in the food product, on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information.
The quality of the food product is not limited to the above-described examples and may be any other property or quality related to the food product. The controller 17 may judge the odor using a statistical method, such as principal component analysis, or using a neural network. The controller 17 may generate data by performing a learning process in advance to extract the features of the response of a plurality of odor sensors for each quality of a food product. The controller 17 may store the data after learning in the memory 18. The controller 17 may then judge the quality of the food product on the basis of the degree of matching between the data after learning stored in the memory 18 and the data detected by the detector 12. Based on newly detected data, the controller 17 may update the data after learning stored in the memory 18.
Here, the method by which the controller 17 judges the quality of a food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information is described in greater detail through an example.
First, the controller 17 judges the type of food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information. For example, the odor differs in accordance with the type of food product, such as meat, vegetable, or fruit. The color of the food product also differs in accordance with the type of food product. The controller 17 uses these differences in odor and color between types of food products to judge the type of food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information.
After judging the type of food product, the controller 17 then judges the quality of the food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information. For example, suppose the controller 17 judges that the type of food product is beef. The controller 17 then judges the production area of the food product, for example, as the quality of the food product. In other words, the controller 17 judges whether the beef stored in the container 11 is domestic or foreign. When the beef is foreign, the controller 17 judges whether the beef is American, Australian, or the like, for example.
After judging the production area of the beef, the controller 17 further judges the degree of aging of the beef and whether the beef is spoiled, for example, as other qualities of the food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information. For example, suppose that the odor produced by beef changes from a mature aroma to a foul smell over time. Suppose also that the color of beef changes in order from pink to red, dull red, and dark red over time. The controller 17 judges the degree of aging of the beef and whether the beef is spoiled by judging the stage, among the aforementioned changes, of the odor and color of the food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information.
The controller 17 provides notification of information related to the judged quality of the food product through the notification interface 15 as the result of the inspection process. As described above, the notification method may be any method recognizable by the subject. When the notification interface 15 is a display device, as illustrated in
The controller 17 stores information related to the judged quality of the food product in the memory 18 as history data, for example.
Before or after the detector 12 detects an odor, the controller 17 may execute a refresh process to refresh the inside of the container 11. The refresh process is a process to reduce factors that can cause detection errors during odor detection by the detector 12. The controller 17 may, for example, execute the refresh process by activating the deodorizer 14 to degas or deodorize the inside of the container 11. The controller 17 may, for example, execute the refresh process by resetting the detector 12. By being reset, the detector 12 can use the internal state of the container 11 at the time of resetting as a reference to detect a change in the odor inside the container 11 due to an odor emitted by a food product newly stored in the container 11, for example.
The controller 17 can improve the accuracy of odor detection by executing the refresh process before odor detection. The controller 17 can improve the accuracy of odor detection during the next detection process by executing the refresh process after odor detection.
The memory 18 may be configured with a semiconductor memory, a magnetic memory, or the like. The memory 18 stores a variety of information, programs for causing the inspection apparatus 10 to operate, and the like and also functions as a working memory. For example, the memory 18 stores information (data) associating the odor emitted by a food product and the color of the food product with the quality of the food product. The memory 18 may, for example, store the result of the detection process by the inspection apparatus 10 as history data.
Next, with reference to the flowchart in
To inspect the quality of a food product using the inspection apparatus 10, the user first opens the lid 11b of the inspection apparatus 10 and places the food product to be inspected in the container 11. The user then closes the lid 11b to seal the container 11. Subsequently, the user instructs the inspection apparatus 10 to start the inspection process by operating the input interface 16 (by an inspection operation).
Once the user provides the predetermined operation input, the controller 17 starts the process in
First, the controller 17 executes the refresh process by, for example, activating the deodorizer 14 (step S11).
Next, the controller 17 activates the detector 12 and the color information acquisition interface 13 (step S12). By being activated by the controller 17, the detector 12 starts to detect an odor emitted by the food product stored in the container 11. By being activated by the controller 17, the color information acquisition interface 13 starts to acquire the color information of the food product stored in the container 11.
From the detector 12, the controller 17 acquires the odor-related information obtained by the detector 12 (step S13).
From the color information acquisition interface 13, the controller 17 acquires the color information obtained by the color information acquisition interface 13 (step S14).
The controller 17 judges the type of food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information (step S15).
Next, the controller 17 judges the quality of the food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information. Specifically, the controller 17 judges the production area of the food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information (step S16).
The controller 17 judges the degree of aging of the food product and whether the food product is spoiled as the qualities of the food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information (step S17).
The controller 17 provides notification of information related to the qualities of the food product judged in step S16 and step S17 through the notification interface 15 (step S18). The user can learn the qualities of the food product by the notification from the notification interface 15.
The controller 17 stores the information related to the qualities of the food product judged in step S16 and step S17 in the memory 18 (step S19).
In accordance with an inspection operation, the inspection apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment thus uses the detector 12 to detect an odor emitted by a food product stored in the container 11 and uses the color information acquisition interface 13 to acquire color information of the food product stored in the container 11. On the basis of the information related to the detected odor and the color information, the inspection apparatus 10 judges the quality of the food product. Therefore, when the user wishes to learn the quality of a food product, the user can do so immediately by placing the food product in the container 11 and causing the inspection apparatus 10 to execute the inspection process. Accordingly, the inspection apparatus 10 allows the quality of a food product to be inspected in accordance with user need, thereby improving usefulness as compared to known apparatuses.
The inspection apparatus 10 judges the quality of the specimen on the basis of the odor-related information acquired by the detector 12 and the color information acquired by the color information acquisition interface 13. Therefore, the judgement accuracy improves as compared to when the quality of the specimen is judged only on the basis of the odor-related information acquired by the detector 12.
The inspection apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment allows one inspection apparatus 10 to inspect the quality of a plurality of food products by switching of the food product stored in the container 11.
The inspection apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment has been described as including the detector 12 that detects an odor, the color information acquisition interface 13 that acquires color information, and the controller 17 that judges the quality of a food product. However, the detector and the color information acquisition interface on the one hand and the functional unit that judges the quality on the other hand may be provided in separate apparatuses capable of communicating with each other. An example configuration in this case is described as the second embodiment with reference to
The detection apparatus 30 may, for example, be configured as a container that includes a lid, as in the inspection apparatus 10 illustrated in
The controller 37 controls and manages the detection apparatus 30 overall, starting with the functional blocks of the detection apparatus 30. To provide control and processing capability for executing various functions, the controller 37 may include at least one processor 37a. The controller 37 does not judge the quality of a food product, unlike the controller 17 described with reference to
From the inspection apparatus 40, the controller 37 acquires information related to the quality of a food product judged by the inspection apparatus 40. Upon acquiring the information related to the quality of the food product, the controller 37 provides notification of the information related to the quality of the food product through the notification interface 35. The controller 37 stores the information related to the quality of the food product in the memory 38.
The communication interface 39 exchanges a variety of information with the inspection apparatus 40 by wired or wireless communication. For example, the communication interface 39 transmits the odor-related information and the color information to the inspection apparatus 40. For example, the communication interface 39 receives the information related to the quality of the food product from the inspection apparatus 40. The odor-related information may, for example, be transmitted from the detection apparatus 30 to the inspection apparatus 40 each time the controller 37 acquires the odor-related information from the detector 32. The odor-related information may, for example, be transmitted when the user provides predetermined operation input to the detection apparatus 30. The color information may similarly be transmitted each time the controller 37 acquires the color information from the color information acquisition interface 33. The color information may, for example, be transmitted when the user provides predetermined operation input to the detection apparatus 30.
The inspection apparatus 40 may, for example, be configured as a server. The inspection apparatus 40 includes a controller 47, a memory 48, and a communication interface 49.
The controller 47 controls and manages the inspection apparatus 40 overall, starting with the functional blocks of the inspection apparatus 40. To provide control and processing capability for executing various functions, the controller 47 may include at least one processor 47a. The controller 47 judges the quality of the food product on the basis of the odor-related information and the color information received by the communication interface 49 from the detection apparatus 30. At this time, the controller 47 refers to information (data), stored in the memory 48, associating the odor emitted by a food product and the color of the food product with the quality of the food product to judge the quality of the food product. The controller 47 transmits information related to the judged quality of the food product to the detection apparatus 30 through the communication interface 49.
By communicating with the detection apparatus 30 over the network 50, the communication interface 49 transmits and receives a variety of information. For example, the communication interface 49 receives the odor-related information and the color information from the detection apparatus 30. For example, the communication interface 49 transmits the information related to the quality of the food product to the detection apparatus 30.
In the inspection system 20 illustrated as an example in
Since the inspection apparatus 40 that is a server judges the quality of the food product, the data in the memory 48 referred to by the controller 47 of the inspection apparatus 40 can be updated as necessary in the inspection system 20. In other words, the quality of the food product is judged on the basis of updated data in the inspection system 20.
The present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments, and a variety of modifications and changes are possible. For example, the functions and the like included in the components, steps, or the like may be reordered in any logically consistent way. Furthermore, components, steps, or the like may be combined into one or divided.
For example, the detector 12 has been described in the above embodiment as being an odor sensor that detects an odor emitted by a food product, but the detector 12 may be a sensor other than an odor sensor. For example, the detector 12 may be a gas sensor that detects odorless gas molecules emitted by the specimen.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-037337 | Feb 2016 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2017/005884 | 2/17/2017 | WO | 00 |
