Apparatus and method for treating shoes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12186444-B2
Application number	US-202117356286-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2021
Priority date	Jun 24, 2020
Publication date	Jan 7, 2025
Grant date	Jan 7, 2025

Abstract

A shoe treating apparatus including a shelf part including at least one shelf, a motor part configured to control tilting of the at least one shelf, a sensor part including at least one sensor, and a processor electrically connected to the motor part and the sensor part is provided. The processor may identify an approach of a user by using the at least one sensor, and, based on the identified user approach, generate a control signal for adjusting a tilt angle of the at least one shelf to adjust the tilting of the at least one shelf. A method of operating a shoe treating apparatus is also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A shoe treating apparatus, comprising:
at least one storage space;
at least one shelf tiltably mounted in the at least one storage space;
a motor part configured to control tilting of the at least one shelf;
at least one sensor; and
a processor electrically connected to the motor part and the at least one sensor,
wherein the processor is configured to:
identify a height of a user by using the at least one sensor,
generate a control signal for adjusting a tilt angle of the at least one shelf based on the identified user height, and
transmit the generated control signal to the motor part to adjust the tilt angle of the at least one shelf based on the identified user height.

2. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a memory,
wherein the processor is further configured to:
acquire the tilt angle of the at least one shelf corresponding to the height of the identified user from the memory, and
generate the control signal based on the acquired tilt angle of the at least one shelf.

3. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a door to open and close the at least one storage space,
wherein the processor is further configured to:
identify, by the at least one sensor, whether the door is opened, and
based on the door being opened, stop an operation being performed in the at least one storage space while allowing the at least one shelf to continue tilting.

4. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a display,
wherein the processor is further configured to:
identify the user through the at least one sensor,
identify a position at which at least one shoe corresponding to the identified user is placed in the at least one storage space, and
display state information of the at least one shoe corresponding to the identified position by the display.

5. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to display the identified position by the display.

6. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising an upper cabinet,
wherein the at least one storage space is in the upper cabinet, and
wherein the state information comprises a current state of treating the at least one shoe through adjusting at least one of a temperature and a humidity inside the upper cabinet based on at least one of a material, a type, or a condition of the at least one shoe.

7. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises a camera, and
wherein the processor is further configured to:
acquire, by the camera, an image of the at least one shoe, and
compare the acquired image with a pre-stored image to identify the position at which the at least one shoe corresponding to the identified user is placed.

8. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the at least one shelf comprises a plurality of shelves,
wherein the processor is further configured to, through an identifier allocated for each of the plurality of shelves in the shelf part, identify the position at which the at least one shoe corresponding to the identified user is placed, and
wherein the identifier comprises information for distinguishing a shelf on which at least one shoe of each of a plurality of users is placed.

9. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising a door to open and close the at least one storage space,
wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one of a weight sensor, a camera, or a distance measurement sensor disposed in the at least one storage space, and
wherein the processor is further configured to:
identify the user,
identify whether the door is opened,
when the door is identified as having been opened, identify, by the at least one of the weight sensor, the camera, or the distance measurement sensor, whether the at least one shoe is stored, and
when the at least one shoe is identified as having been stored, determine that the at least one stored shoe is a shoe corresponding to the user.

10. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one of a camera, an infrared (IR) sensor, a door open/close sensor, a knock-on sensor, a weight sensor, a distance measurement sensor, or a fingerprint sensor.

11. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one shelf comprises a plurality of shelves, and
wherein the processor is further configured to control a tilting direction of each shelf of the plurality of shelves to be different from an adjacent shelf of the plurality of shelves.

12. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one shelf comprises a plurality of shelves, and
wherein the processor is further configured to:
control a first shelf which is located at a lowest position among the plurality of shelves to move in a vertical direction by the motor part, and
control at least one second shelf disposed above the first shelf to tilt by the motor part.

13. The shoe treating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a cabinet, the at least one storage space being located in the cabinet; and
a light emitting element disposed in the cabinet,
wherein the processor is further configured to cause the at least one light emitting element to emit light based on the identified user approach.

14. A method of operating a shoe treating apparatus, the method comprising:
identifying a height of a user using at least one sensor;
generating, by a processor, a control signal for adjusting a tilt angle of at least one shelf based on the identified user height in at least one storage space of the shoe treating apparatus; and
transmitting the generated control signal to a motor part to adjust the tilt angle of the at least one shelf based on the identified user height.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein generating the control signal comprises:
acquiring a tilt angle of the at least one shelf corresponding to the identified user height; and
generating the control signal on the basis of the acquired tilt angle of the at least one shelf.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
identifying, by using the at least one sensor, whether a door of the shoe treating apparatus is opened; and
based on opening the door, stopping an operation being performed in the at least one storage space while allowing the at least one shelf to continue tilting.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the identifying the approach of the user comprises:
identifying the user through the at least one sensor;
identifying a position at which at least one shoe corresponding to the identified user is placed in the at least one storage space; and
displaying condition information on the at least one shoe corresponding to the identified position through a display.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the at least one shelf comprises a plurality of shelves, and
wherein transmitting the generated control signal controls a tilting direction of each shelf of the plurality of shelves to be different from an adjacent shelf of the plurality of shelves.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Yoo Hyunsun
• Choi Jeong Guen
• Oh Joohyeon
• Lim Jae Myung
• Han Byoungjoon
• Lee Sang Yoon
• Kim Hyunju
• Seong Jeaseok

Classifications

• A47B61/04

  for shoes, hats, umbrellas, or the like {(shoe racks as an implement for the manufacture of shoes A43D117/00)} · CPC title

• A61L2202/14

  Means for controlling sterilisation processes, data processing, presentation and storage means, e.g. sensors, controllers, programs · CPC title

• A61L2202/122

  Chambers for sterilisation · CPC title

• A61L2/24 Primary

  Apparatus using programmed or automatic operation · CPC title

• A61L2/10

  Ultraviolet [UV] radiation · CPC title