Patent Application
20180106523
The present subject matter relates generally to refrigerator appliances, and more particularly to systems and methods for tracking and preserving a food inventory in a refrigerator appliance.
Refrigerator appliances generally include a cabinet that defines a chilled chamber. A wide variety of food items may be stored within the chilled chamber. The low temperature of the chilled chamber relative to ambient atmosphere assists with increasing a shelf life of the food items stored within the chilled chamber.
However, various different food items may have differing storage requirements. For example, the optimal temperature, humidity and/or atmospheric composition for one food item may differ from that of another food item, e.g., a meat or dairy product may last longer at a temperature that would be too cold for some fruits or vegetables.
Also, it can be difficult to accurately monitor storage conditions for the various food items as compared to a safe storage threshold for the food item(s). For example, the shelf life of a food item is influenced by storage temperature and storage time. Yet, the temperature within the chilled chamber may fluctuate, such as when the refrigerator door is opened frequently or left open for an extended period of time, or in case of a power outage.
Accordingly, a refrigerator with features for increasing the storage shelf life of food items therein would be useful.
The present subject matter provides a refrigerator appliance and related methods. Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be apparent from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
In a first exemplary embodiment, a refrigerator appliance is provided. The refrigerator appliance includes a cabinet defining a food storage chamber, a user interface, an environmental control system, a plurality of compartments disposed within the food storage chamber, each compartment of the plurality of compartments defining a food storage sub-chamber, at least one of the food storage sub-chambers having independently controlled environmental conditions, the independently controlled environmental conditions of the at least one food storage sub-chamber comprising temperature and humidity, at least one sensor associated with each food storage sub-chamber having independently controlled environmental conditions, and a controller in operative communication with the user interface, the environmental control system, and the at least one sensor, the controller operable to identify a food item, determine preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item, and provide an indication of which of the food storage sub-chambers most closely matches the determined preferred storage conditions.
In a second exemplary embodiment, a method of tracking a food inventory in a refrigerator appliance is provided. The refrigerator appliance comprising a controller, a plurality of food storage sub-chambers, at least one of the food storage sub-chambers having independently controlled temperature and humidity, and at least one sensor associated with each food storage sub-chamber having independently controlled environmental conditions. The method includes identifying a food item with a scanner in operative communication with the controller, adding an entry associated with the food item to an inventory log stored in a memory of the refrigerator controller, retrieving food storage data related to the identified food item, the food storage data comprising preferred temperature and humidity for storage of the identified food item, and indicating with a user interface element of the refrigerator which of the food storage sub-chambers most closely matches the retrieved preferred temperature and humidity for storage of the identified food item.
In a third exemplary embodiment, a method of tracking and preserving a food inventory in a refrigerator appliance is provided. The refrigerator appliance comprising a controller, a plurality of food storage sub-chambers, at least one of the food storage sub-chambers having independently controlled environmental conditions, and at least one sensor associated with each food storage sub-chamber having independently controlled environmental conditions. The method includes identifying a food item with a scanner in operative communication with the controller, adding an entry associated with the food item to an inventory log stored in a memory of the refrigerator controller, retrieving food storage data related to the identified food item, the food storage data comprising preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item and a safe storage threshold for the identified food item, recording the retrieved food storage data in the inventory log entry associated with the food item, monitoring the storage time of the food item, monitoring the storage temperature of the food item over time by monitoring temperature with one of the sensors, flagging the inventory log entry associated with the food item when the food item approaches the safe storage threshold, and notifying a user of the flagged food item.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures.
Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
Refrigerator appliance 100 includes an insulated cabinet or housing 120 (
As seen in the exemplary embodiment illustrated in
In various embodiments, any number of food storage sub-chambers having independently controller environmental conditions may be provided. As illustrated in
Operation of the refrigerator appliance 100 can be regulated by a controller 134 that is operatively coupled to a user interface 136. Interface 136 provides selections for user manipulation of the operation of refrigerator appliance 100 to modify environmental conditions therein, such as temperature selections, etc. Controller 134 may regulate operation of various components of the refrigerator appliance 100 in response to programming and/or user manipulation of the user interface 136. The controller may include one or more memory devices and one or more microprocessors, CPUs or the like, such as general or special purpose microprocessors operable to execute programming instructions or micro-control code associated with operation of refrigerator appliance 100. The memory may represent random access memory such as DRAM, or read only memory such as ROM or FLASH. In some embodiments, the processor executes programming instructions stored in memory. The memory may be a separate component from the processor or may be included onboard within the processor. In some embodiments, a battery backup may be provided for controller 134 in the event of a power loss.
The controller 134 may be positioned in a variety of locations throughout refrigerator appliance 100. In the illustrated embodiment, the controller 134 may be located within the door 126. In such an embodiment, input/output (“I/O”) signals may be routed between the controller and various operational components of refrigerator appliance 100. Through user interface panel 136, a user may select various operational features and modes and monitor the operation of refrigerator appliance 10. In one embodiment, the user interface panel 136 may represent a general purpose I/O (“GPIO”) device or functional block. In some embodiments, the user interface 136 may include input components, such as one or more of a variety of electrical, mechanical or electro-mechanical input devices including rotary dials, push buttons, and touch pads. The user interface 136 may include a display component, such as a digital or analog display device designed to provide operational feedback to a user. The user interface 136 may be in communication with the controller 134 via one or more signal lines or shared communication busses.
From evaporator 170, vaporized refrigerant flows to compressor 164, which operates to increase the pressure of the refrigerant. This compression of the refrigerant raises its temperature, which is lowered by passing the gaseous refrigerant through condenser 166 where heat exchange with ambient air takes place so as to cool the refrigerant. A fan 172 is used to pull air across condenser 166, as illustrated by arrows A, so as to provide forced convection for a more rapid and efficient heat exchange between the refrigerant and the ambient air.
Expansion device 168 further reduces the pressure of refrigerant leaving condenser 166 before being fed as a liquid to evaporator 170. Collectively, the vapor compression cycle components in a refrigeration circuit, associated fans, and associated compartments are sometimes referred to as a sealed refrigeration system operable to force cold air through refrigeration compartments 122, 124. The refrigeration system depicted in
The exemplary refrigerator appliance 100 of
In some embodiments, e.g., as shown in
In various embodiments, the scanner 138 may be a visual scanner in communication with controller 134. In such embodiments, controller 134 may be configured for image-based processing, e.g., to identify a food item. For example, scanner 138 may be a visual scanner for reading two-dimensional bar codes such as QR codes which are then decodes by controller 134. As another example, scanner 138 may be a visual scanner and the controller 134 may be configured to identify the food item by comparison to a stored image of a known or previously-identified food item. Providing a visual scanner 138 may permit more detailed identification of the scanned food item, such as identifying the size, shape, and/or volume of the food item. Such detailed identification may permit, for example, a determination of which food storage sub-chamber(s) has or have sufficient available space for storing the identified item.
Features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be combined with another embodiment to arrive at yet another embodiment. For example, some embodiments may include manual entry of food item identification via user interface 136 in combination with a visual scanner 138. In such embodiments, the controller may be configured to learn food items that were manually entered so subsequent food items of the same type could be visually identified using scanner 138 without manually entering the identification information.
The refrigerator appliance 100 and in particular, controller 134 thereof, may be operable to determine preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item. Such determination may be based on retrieving food storage data related to the identified food item. The retrieved food storage data may include preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item and a safe storage threshold for the identified food item. The food storage data may be stored in and retrieved from a memory of the refrigerator controller 134, or may be retrieved from a remote location. For example, the food storage data may be retrieved via a network. Some embodiments may include retrieving at least one recipe from a recipe database, as will be discussed in further detail hereinbelow. The recipe database may be stored in an onboard memory or remotely, in a similar manner as the food storage data.
The refrigerator appliance 100 may also be configured for indicating which of the food storage sub-chambers most closely matches the retrieved preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item. In some embodiments, indicating which of the food storage sub-chambers most closely matches the retrieved preferred environmental conditions may include indicating with a user interface element of the refrigerator. In some embodiments, the preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item may include temperature, humidity, and atmospheric composition. In some embodiments, the user interface element may be provided as a separate indicator 150 (
It should be noted that controllers 134 as disclosed herein are capable of and may be operable to perform any methods and associated method steps as disclosed herein.
For example, referring to
In some embodiments, method 200 may include the step 210 of identifying a food item with a scanner 138 in operative communication with the controller 134. For example, as discussed above, a scanner 138 may be integrated into the refrigerator appliance 100 or separately formed with a wireless or wired connection therebetween.
The exemplary method 200 may further include a step 220 of adding an entry associated with the food item to an inventory log stored in a computer memory. In some exemplary embodiments, the computer memory may be a memory onboard the refrigerator controller 134. In some exemplary embodiments, the computer memory may be remotely located and accessed by the controller 134 via a network. The inventory log may comprise various items of information regarding the identified food item. For example, storage time, storage location, preferred storage conditions, and safe storage threshold(s), among other such data, may be included in the entry associated with the identified food item in the stored inventory log according to various exemplary embodiments. Additionally, the inventory log may be updated, e.g., by scanning food items with scanner 138 again when the items are removed from the refrigerator 100, in which case the entry associated with the food item may be deleted from the inventory log. In such embodiments, e.g., when the removed food item is the last food item in the food storage sub-chamber from which the item was removed, the food storage sub-chamber may then be made available for other food items, e.g., by modifying environmental conditions, as discussed herein. In another example, when the environmental conditions in the food storage sub-chamber are set to accommodate multiple food items with varying preferred environmental conditions, the environmental conditions of the food storage sub-chamber may be set at a compromise or intermediate value in order to most closely match more than one set of preferred storage conditions. Thus, when a food item is removed from the food storage sub-chamber, the environmental conditions within may be modified to more closely match the preferred storage conditions of the remaining items in the food storage sub-chamber.
The exemplary method 200 may further include a step 230 of retrieving food storage data related to the identified food item. In some embodiments, the food storage data may include preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item. The food storage data may be retrieved from a memory onboard the refrigerator controller 134 in some embodiments, while other embodiments may include retrieving food storage data related to the identified food item from a remote location, such as via a network.
The exemplary method 200 may further include a step 240 of comparing sensed environmental conditions of the plurality of food storage sub-chambers to the retrieved preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item to determine whether to modify the environmental conditions of one of the plurality of food storage sub-chambers to approximate the preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item.
The exemplary method 200 may further include a step 245 of modifying the environmental conditions of one of the plurality of food storage sub-chambers to approximate the preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item.
The exemplary method 200 may further include a step 250 of indicating with a user interface element of the refrigerator which of the food storage sub-chambers most closely matches the preferred environmental conditions for the identified food item. For example, the step 250 may include indicating the food storage sub-chamber which most closely matches the retrieved preferred temperature, humidity, and/or atmospheric composition for storage of the identified food item. In some instances, it may be determined in the comparing step 240 that a food storage sub-chamber approximating the preferred environmental conditions for storage of the food item is already available, i.e., in such cases, the modifying step 245 may not be necessary. In other embodiments, the step 250 of indicating with a user interface element of the refrigerator which of the food storage sub-chambers most closely matches the retrieved preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item may include indicating the modified food storage sub-chamber, i.e., the food storage sub-chamber wherein the environmental conditions were modified in step 245.
As another example,
In some embodiments, method 300 may include the step 310 of identifying a food item with a scanner 138 in operative communication with the controller 134. For example, as discussed above, a scanner 138 may be integrated into the refrigerator appliance 100 or separately formed with a wireless or wired connection therebetween.
The exemplary method 300 may further include a step 320 of adding an entry associated with the food item to an inventory log stored in a memory of the refrigerator controller 134.
The exemplary method 300 may further include a step 330 of retrieving food storage data related to the identified food item. In some embodiments, the food storage data may include an preferred temperature, humidity, and atmospheric composition for storage of the identified food item. The food storage data may be retrieved from a memory of the refrigerator controller 134 in some embodiments, while other embodiments may include retrieving food storage data related to the identified food item from a remote location, such as via a network.
The exemplary method 300 may further include a step 340 of recording a location indicator in the inventory log entry associated with the food item.
The exemplary method 300 may further include a step 350 of tracking the total volume of food items stored in each storage sub-chamber, and comparing the volume of food items placed in each storage sub-chamber to a maximum storage volume of each food storage sub-chamber. In such embodiments, the step 330 of retrieving food storage data related to the identified food item may further include retrieving a volume of the identified food item. In other embodiments, when scanner 138 is a visual scanner, the controller 134 may be configured to estimate the volume of the identified food item based on image recognition. Tracking the volume of food items placed in each storage sub-chamber may deducting the volume of each food item that is removed from the food storage sub-chamber from the tracked total stored volume. For example, the method 300 may include scanning each food item with scanner 138 a subsequent time when it is removed from the refrigerator 100 and then deducting the volume of that food item.
The exemplary method 300 may further include a step 360 of indicating which of the food storage sub-chambers most closely matches the retrieved preferred temperature, humidity, and atmospheric composition and has sufficient remaining storage capacity to accommodate the identified food item. For example, if a user buys a copious amount of meat and dairy products but relatively little produce, a first food storage sub-chamber having independently controlled environmental conditions may have suitable environmental conditions for storing meat and dairy but lack available storage capacity, while a second food storage sub-chamber having independently controlled environmental conditions may have available storage capacity but lack suitable environmental conditions for storing meat and dairy. In such cases, environmental conditions in the second food storage sub-chamber having independently controlled environmental conditions may be modified to more closely approximate the preferred environmental conditions for storing meat and/or dairy and the second food storage sub-chamber having independently controlled environmental conditions may be indicated.
Referring now to
The method 400 may include the step 410 of identifying a food item in response to a user input. In some embodiments, the user input may be provided via a scanner in operative communication with the controller, in a similar manner as discussed hereinabove, e.g., with respect to method 200 and method 300. In some embodiments, the user input may be manually entered, e.g., via user interface 136.
The method 400 may include the step 420 of adding an entry associated with the food item to an inventory log stored in a memory of the refrigerator controller, in a similar manner as discussed hereinabove, e.g., with respect to method 200 and method 300.
The method 400 may include the step 430 of retrieving food storage data related to the identified food item. The food storage data may comprise preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item and a safe storage threshold for the identified food item. The retrieved safe storage threshold for the identified food item may comprise a temperature parameter and a time parameter. The temperature parameter and time parameter of the safe storage threshold may be multiplied to arrive at a safe storage threshold defined in units of temperature times time. For example, in some embodiments, the safe storage threshold may include a maximum temperature and a corresponding maximum storage time at the maximum temperature, e.g., a particular food item may have a safe storage threshold defined in terms of a maximum number of hours at a given temperature. In some embodiments, the safe storage threshold temperature parameter and time parameter may be defined by ranges of values, e.g., a minimum temperature, a maximum temperature and a maximum time.
The method 400 may include the step 440 of recording the retrieved safe storage threshold in the inventory log entry associated with the food item.
The method 400 may include the step 450 of monitoring storage time of the food item. Monitoring the storage time of the food item may include adding a time stamp to the entry associated with the food item to an inventory log stored in a memory of the refrigerator controller. In addition to monitoring storage time, method 400 may include a step 452 of monitoring storage temperature of the food item over time. The storage temperature may be monitored by monitoring temperature with one of the sensors 152. Thus, in some embodiments the exemplary method 400 may include a step 454 of creating a time-temperature curve for the stored food item based on the monitored storage time and the monitored storage temperature, and calculating the area under the time-temperature curve. The area under the time-temperature curve may then be compared to a safe storage threshold when the safe storage threshold is defined in units of temperature times time. The area under the time-temperature curve may be calculated by any suitable method, such as integration or Riemann sum. In other embodiments, method 400 may include determining an average value of the monitored storage temperature of the food item over time.
The method 400 may include the step 460 of flagging the inventory log entry associated with the food item when the food item approaches the safe storage threshold. In some embodiments, flagging the inventory log entry associated with the food item when the food item approaches the safe storage threshold comprises flagging the inventory log entry associated with the food item when the area under the time-temperature curve approaches the product of the safe storage threshold temperature parameter and the safe storage threshold time parameter.
The method 400 may include the step 470 of notifying a user of the flagged food item. Such notification may, in some exemplary embodiments, be provided via a display of user interface 136. In other embodiments, the notification may be provided via a separate hand-held device such as a cell phone or smart phone. In exemplary embodiments wherein the hand-held device is a standard cell phone or a smart phone, the notification may be provided via SMS message. In exemplary embodiments wherein the hand-held device is a smart phone, the notification may be provided via an application.
The method 400 may include the step 480 of retrieving at least one recipe from a recipe database, the at least one recipe comprising a list of ingredients, the list of ingredients including the flagged food item. The method 400 may further include a step 482 of generating a shopping list based on the retrieved recipe, the shopping list consisting of all ingredients in the list of ingredients not currently associated with an entry in the stored inventory log. In some embodiments, the shopping list may include less than all ingredients in the list of ingredients not currently associated with an entry in the stored inventory log, e.g., some ingredients that are not normally stored in a refrigerator, such as dry goods, e.g., rice, pasta, flour, may be on the list of ingredients but not included in the shopping list. The method 400 may further include a step 484 of notifying the user of the recipe and the shopping list. In some embodiments, the notification of step 470 may be combined or simultaneous with the notifications of step 484. In other embodiments, the notification of step 470 may be provided separately and at a separate time from the notifications of step 484.
In some embodiments, method 400 may further include steps of modifying the environmental conditions of one of the plurality of food storage sub-chambers to approximate the retrieved preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item, and indicating with a user interface element which of the food storage sub-chambers most closely matches the retrieved preferred environmental conditions for storage of the identified food item, in a similar manner as discussed hereinabove, e.g., with respect to steps 240 and/or 250 of method 200.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.
