Systems and methods for detecting objects on top of laundry treatment appliances

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12331445-B2
Application number	US-202217969047-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2022
Priority date	Oct 19, 2022
Publication date	Jun 17, 2025
Grant date	Jun 17, 2025

Abstract

A laundry operation system includes a laundry treatment appliance including a cabinet defining an exterior surface; a camera directed at the exterior surface to capture one or more images of the exterior surface of the laundry treatment appliance; and a controller operably coupled to the camera, the controller configured to perform an operation. The operation includes obtaining an image of the exterior surface of the laundry treatment appliance; detecting, based on the obtained image, a presence of an object on the exterior surface of the laundry treatment appliance; determining a user of the laundry treatment appliance after detecting the presence of the object; and notifying the user as to the presence of the object on the laundry treatment appliance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laundry operation system comprising:
a laundry treatment appliance comprising a cabinet defining an exterior surface;
a camera directed at the exterior surface to capture one or more images of the exterior surface of the laundry treatment appliance; and
a controller operably coupled to the camera, the controller configured to perform an operation, the operation comprising:
obtaining an image of the exterior surface of the laundry treatment appliance;
detecting, based on the obtained image, a presence of an object on the exterior surface of the laundry treatment appliance;
determining a user of the laundry treatment appliance after detecting the presence of the object; and
notifying the user as to the presence of the object on the laundry treatment appliance.

2. The laundry operation system of claim 1 , wherein the laundry treatment appliance is a first laundry treatment appliance among a plurality of laundry treatment appliances.

3. The laundry operation system of claim 2 , wherein detecting the presence of the object on the exterior surface of the laundry treatment appliance comprises:
determining that the object is contacting the first laundry treatment appliance.

4. The laundry operation system of claim 3 , wherein determining the user of the laundry treatment appliance is a first user of the first laundry treatment appliance.

5. The laundry operation system of claim 4 , wherein the operation further comprises:
detecting an initiation of a laundry cycle by a second user after detecting the presence of the object on the exterior surface of the laundry treatment appliance; and
determining an expiration of a predetermined time period in response to detecting the initiation of the laundry cycle by the second user,
wherein notifying the first user is in response to expiration of the predetermined time period.

6. The laundry operation system of claim 5 , wherein the operation further comprises:
analyzing, by one or more computing devices using a machine learning image recognition model, the obtained image to identify the object;
determining that the object is a laundry load; and
determining that a predetermined area of the exterior surface of the first laundry treatment appliance is covered by the laundry load.

7. The laundry operation system of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined area is at least 30% of the exterior surface, the exterior surface being a top panel of the first laundry treatment appliance.

8. The laundry operation system of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined time period is between 3 minutes and 5 minutes.

9. The laundry operation system of claim 5 , wherein the operation further comprises:
analyzing, by one or more computing devices using a machine learning image recognition model, the obtained image to identify the object; and
determining that the object is not a laundry load, wherein the predetermined time period is between 10 minutes and 20 minutes.

Assignees

• Haier Us Appliance Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Chung Myunggeon

Classifications

• D06F2105/58

  Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user · CPC title

• D06F33/74 Primary

  Responding to irregular working conditions, e.g. malfunctioning of pumps  (safety arrangements for washing machines D06F37/42) · CPC title

• D06F33/32 Primary

  Control of operational steps, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending on the condition of the laundry · CPC title