Shoe dryer and control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11408679-B2
Application number	US-202017015990-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2020
Priority date	Sep 10, 2019
Publication date	Aug 9, 2022
Grant date	Aug 9, 2022

Abstract

A shoe dryer including a main body, a shoe receiver provided inside the main body and configured to receive a shoe, a blower configured to blow air toward the shoe received in the shoe receiving portion, a camera configured to obtain an image of the shoe by photographing the shoe received in the shoe receiver, and a control device configured to recognize information about the shoe from the image of the shoe obtained by the camera, and control a direction of air blown by the blower based on the information about the shoe.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A shoe dryer comprising:
a main body;
a shoe receiver provided inside the main body and configured to receive a shoe;
a blower configured to blow air toward the shoe received in the shoe receiver;
a camera configured to obtain an image of the shoe by photographing the shoe received in the shoe receiver; and
a control device configured to recognize information about the shoe from the image of the shoe obtained by the camera and control a direction of air blown by the blower based on the information about the shoe.

2. The shoe dryer of claim 1 , wherein:
the information about the shoe includes position information of a mouth portion of the shoe, and
the control device controls the direction of air blown by the blower to face toward a center of the mouth portion of the shoe.

3. The shoe dryer of claim 2 , wherein the center of the mouth portion of the shoe is a center of a circle or an ellipse that is approximated to a shape of an upper surface of the mouth portion of the shoe.

4. The shoe dryer of claim 1 , wherein:
the blower includes a blowing nozzle, and
the blowing nozzle is provided to be rotatable.

5. The shoe dryer of claim 4 , wherein the blowing nozzle includes a guide plate formed adjacent to a center of a flow path of the blowing nozzle and is configured to guide an air current.

6. The shoe dryer of claim 4 , wherein the blowing nozzle includes an opening/closing mechanism formed at a suction port or a discharge port of the blowing nozzle and is configured to open and close a flow path of the suction port or the discharge port.

7. The shoe dryer of claim 4 , wherein the blower further includes an extension nozzle coupled to the blowing nozzle and is extended into the shoe received in the shoe receiver.

8. The shoe dryer of claim 4 , further comprising a driving unit configured to rotate the blowing nozzle to adjust a direction of discharged air from the blowing nozzle.

9. The shoe dryer of claim 8 , wherein the driving unit includes a motor that configured to determine an amount of movement of the blowing nozzle based on a driving power waveform.

10. The shoe dryer of claim 4 , wherein:
the blowing nozzle includes a plurality of blowing nozzles, and
the plurality of blowing nozzles include a first blowing nozzle configured to blow air toward a right shoe and a second blowing nozzle configured to blow air toward a left shoe.

11. The shoe dryer of claim 10 , wherein the first blowing nozzle has a direction controlled independent of a direction of the second blowing nozzle.

12. The shoe dryer of claim 1 , wherein:
the shoe receiver includes a first shoe receiver having a first partition to receive one pair of shoes and a second shoe receiver provided below the first shoe receiver and having a second partition to receive another pair of shoes, and
the first partition is detachably provided.

13. The shoe dryer of claim 1 , further comprising an accessary receiver provided inside the main body and configured to receive a shoe accessary.

14. The shoe dryer of claim 1 , further comprising:
a manipulation portion configured to display the information about the shoe; and
a display element indicating a direction in which air is blown by the blower, the display element configured to perform manipulation on the display element using a finger or speech.

15. A method of controlling a shoe dryer including a shoe receiver configured to receive a shoe, and a blower configured to blow air toward the shoe received in the shoe receiver, the method comprising:
acquiring an image of the shoe received in the shoe receiver by photographing the shoe;
recognizing information about the shoe from the acquired image of the shoe; and
controlling a direction of air blown by the blower based on the information about the shoe.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein:
the recognized information about the shoe includes position information of a mouth portion of the shoe, and
the direction of air blown by the blower is controlled to face toward a center of the mouth portion of the shoe.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the center of the mouth portion of the shoe is a center of a circle or an ellipse that is approximated to a shape of an upper surface of the mouth portion of the shoe.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising determining an existence of a trigger to image the shoe.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising setting an operating mode according to the recognized information about the shoe.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the operating mode includes at least one of a temperature of air blown by the blower, a wind volume of air blown by the blower, a wind speed of air blown by the blower, and an operating time of the shoe dryer.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ohnari Hiroto
• Fukuoka Daisuke
• Takenoshita Kazutoshi
• Nakagawa Suguru
• Fujiyoshi Toshiyuki

Classifications

• F26B21/37

  Velocity of flow; Quantity of flow · CPC title

• F26B21/35

  Temperature; Pressure · CPC title

• F26B21/30 Primary

  Controlling, e.g. regulating, parameters of gas supply · CPC title

• F26B21/50

  Ducting arrangements from the source of air or other gases to the materials or objects being dried · CPC title

• F26B21/452

  characterised by the steam generating means · CPC title