Refrigerator appliances and methods for tracking stored items

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11288506-B2
Application number	US-201916582158-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2019
Priority date	Sep 25, 2019
Publication date	Mar 29, 2022
Grant date	Mar 29, 2022

Abstract

A refrigerator appliance, as provided herein, may include a cabinet defining a chilled chamber, a door rotatably hinged to the cabinet, a camera module, and a controller. The camera module may be mounted to the cabinet. The controller may be operably coupled to the camera module. The controller may be configured to initiate an operation routine. The operation routine may include receiving a purchase invoice, initiating an item recognition sequence within the refrigerator appliance, generating an initial recognition attempt of a first stored item based on the item recognition sequence, comparing the initial recognition attempt of the first stored item to the purchase invoice, generating a modified recognition attempt of the first stored item based on the comparison of the initial recognition attempt the first stored item to the purchase invoice, and recording a descriptor of the first stored item to an inventory within the refrigerator appliance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerator appliance comprising:
a cabinet defining a chilled chamber;
a door being rotatably hinged to the cabinet to provide selective access to the chilled chamber;
a camera module mounted to the cabinet; and
a controller operably coupled to the camera module, the controller being configured to initiate an operation routine comprising
receiving a purchase invoice,
initiating an item recognition sequence within the refrigerator appliance, initiating the item recognition sequence comprising initiating a first image capture sequence at the camera module,
generating an initial recognition attempt of a first stored item based on the item recognition sequence,
comparing the initial recognition attempt of the first stored item to the purchase invoice,
generating a modified recognition attempt of the first stored item based on the comparison of the initial recognition attempt the first stored item to the purchase invoice, and
recording a descriptor of the first stored item to an inventory within the refrigerator appliance,

wherein generating the initial recognition attempt of the first stored item based on the item recognition sequence comprises assigning a recognition score for the first stored item based on a two-dimensional image of the first image capture sequence, and
wherein generating the modified recognition attempt comprises altering the recognition score for the first stored item based on the purchase invoice.

2. The refrigerator appliance of claim 1 , wherein the purchase invoice comprises an item identifier of a purchased item, wherein the initial recognition attempt and the modified recognition attempt comprise an estimated identifier of the first stored item.

3. The refrigerator appliance of claim 1 , wherein the purchase invoice comprises a unit count of a purchased item, wherein the initial recognition attempt and the modified recognition attempt comprise an estimated unit count of the first stored item.

4. The refrigerator appliance of claim 1 , wherein the purchase invoice comprises a date stamp of a date of purchase for a purchased item.

5. The refrigerator appliance of claim 1 , wherein the purchase invoice is received from a retailer point of sale server.

6. The refrigerator appliance of claim 5 , further comprising receiving expiration data relating to one or more purchased items.

7. The refrigerator appliance of claim 1 , further comprising requesting user confirmation of the modified recognition attempt.

8. The refrigerator appliance of claim 1 , wherein recording prompts an external search for information relating to one or more purchased items.

9. The refrigerator appliance of claim 1 , wherein the camera module is mounted within a cabinet at a top portion of a chilled chamber
wherein generating the initial recognition attempt of the first stored item based on the item recognition sequence includes identifying the first stored item based on the two-dimensional image of the first image capture sequence.

10. A method of operating a refrigerator appliance, the method comprising:
receiving a purchase invoice;
initiating an item recognition sequence within the refrigerator appliance, initiating the item recognition sequence comprising initiating a first image capture sequence at a camera module;
generating an initial recognition attempt of a first stored item based on the item recognition sequence;
comparing the initial recognition attempt of the first stored item to the purchase invoice;
generating a modified recognition attempt of the first stored item based on the comparison of the initial recognition attempt the first stored item to the purchase invoice; and
recording a descriptor of the first stored item to an inventory within the refrigerator appliance,
wherein generating the initial recognition attempt of the first stored item based on the item recognition sequence comprises assigning a recognition score for the first stored item based on a two-dimensional image of the first image capture sequence, and
wherein generating the modified recognition attempt comprises altering the recognition score for the first stored item based on the purchase invoice.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the purchase invoice comprises an item identifier of a purchased item, wherein the initial recognition attempt and the modified recognition attempt comprise an estimated identifier of the first stored item.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the purchase invoice comprises a unit count of a purchased item, wherein the initial recognition attempt and the modified recognition attempt comprise an estimated unit count of the first stored item.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the purchase invoice comprises a date stamp of a date of purchase for a purchased item.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the purchase invoice is received from a retailer point of sale server.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising receiving expiration data relating to one or more purchased items.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising requesting user confirmation of the modified recognition attempt.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein recording prompts an external search for information relating to one or more purchased items.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the camera module is mounted within a cabinet at a top portion of a chilled chamber of the refrigerator appliance, and
the initial recognition attempt of the first stored item based on the item recognition sequence includes identifying the first stored item based on the two-dimensional image of the first image capture sequence.

Assignees

• Haier Us Appliance Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Ryu Choon Jae
• Schroeder Michael Goodman
• Kyriacou Stephanos

Classifications

• H04N23/51

  Housings · CPC title

• H04N23/54

  Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils · CPC title

• G06F18/22

  Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures · CPC title

• G06V20/00 Primary

  Scenes; Scene-specific elements (control of digital cameras H04N23/60) · CPC title

• G06K9/6201

  Physics · mapped topic