Control method and refrigerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016169576-A1
Application number	US-201514958536-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 3, 2015
Priority date	Dec 11, 2014
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A control method is provided for controlling a refrigerator that is connected to one or more electrical apparatuses, in which the refrigerator includes a door/drawer and a processor. The control method causes the processor to sense a change in an opened state or a closed state of the door/drawer and receive state information indicating an operation state of the one or more electrical apparatuses from the one or more electrical apparatuses, which are operable when the user is. The processor determines whether the user is cooking based on the received state information, and notifies the user of different information each time a change in the opened state or the closed state is sensed if a change in the opened state or the closed state is sensed when a determination is made that the user is cooking.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A control method for controlling a refrigerator that is connected to one or more electrical apparatuses, wherein
the refrigerator, comprises a processor, and includes at least one of a door and a drawer, and the control method comprising causing the processor to;
sense a change in an opened state or a dosed state of at least one of the door and the drawer,
receive state information indicating an operation state of the one or more electrical apparatuses from the one or more electrical apparatuses, the one or more electrical apparatuses each being an electrical apparatus that is operable when a user is cooking,
determine whether the user is cooking based on the received state information, and
notify the user of different information each time the change in the opened state or the dosed state is sensed, if the change in the opened state or the dosed state is sensed when a determination is made that the user is cooking.

2 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein
the refrigerator is further connected to a server that stores the information of which the user is to be notified, and the control method further causes the processor to receive the information from the server.

3 . The control method according to claim 2 , wherein
the control method further causes the processor to:
receive a plurality of sets of the information and priority information indicating an order of notification of the plurality of sets of the information from the server; and
notify the user of the different information each time the change in the opened state or the dosed state is sensed in accordance with the priority information.

4 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein
the control method further causes the processor to determine whether the user is cooking in accordance with:
a time at which an operation of the electrical apparatus is started as indicative of a time at which the user starts cooking, and
a time at which the operation of the electrical apparatus is ended or a time at which a predetermined time has elapsed after an end of the operation of the electrical apparatus as indicative of a time which the user ends cooking.

5 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein
the refrigerator is connected to a plurality of the electrical apparatuses, and the control method further causes the processor to determine whether the user is cooking based on operation states of the electrical apparatuses.

6 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein
the electrical apparatus is at least one of an induction heating cooker, a lighting fixture, a ventilating fan, a microwave oven, an electric carpet, and a food processor.

7 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein
the electrical apparatus is an information terminal having a display, and the control method further causes the processor to determine whether the user is cooking in accordance with:
if the processor receives, as the state information, first information indicating a start of displaying a recipe related to cooking on the display, a time at which the processor receives the first information as a time at which the user starts cooking
if the processor receives, as the state information, second information indicating an end of the displaying the recipe on the display, a time at which the processor receives the second information as a time at which the user ends cooking.

8 . The control method according to claim 7 , wherein
the control method further causes the processor to:
receive cooking steps contained in a recipe from an online site via the information terminal;
specify a first cooking step of the cooking steps, the first cooking step which is being performed, based on the received state information; and
notify the user of information on a second cooking step which is a step following the specified first cooking step.

9 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein
the control method further causing the processor to:
identify a person who opened or closed at least one of the door and the drawer;
determine whether the person identified is the user, and
notify the user of the information if a determination is made that the person is the user.

10 . The control method according to claim 9 , wherein
the refrigerator includes a camera that takes an image of a face of the person, and the control method further causes the processor to:
take an image of the face of the person using the camera; and
identify the person by performing facial recognition processing on the image.

11 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein
the refrigerator includes a speaker that outputs audio data, and a notification of the information is provided via the speaker.

12 . A refrigerator provided with at least one of a door and a drawer, the refrigerator comprising:
a processor; a memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including: sensing a change in an opened state or a closed state of at least one of the door and the drawer; providing notification of information when a change in the opened state or the dosed state is sensed; acquiring state information indicating an operation state of an electrical apparatus, different from the refrigerator, connected to the refrigerator, and operable when a user is cooking; and determining whether the user is cooking based on the acquired state information, wherein in the providing, notification of different information every time the sensing portion senses a change in the opened state or the dosed state if the determining determines that the user is cooking and the sensing senses a change in the opened state or the dosed state.

13 . A control method for controlling an information delivery apparatus that is connected to a refrigerator including at least one of a door and a drawer and one or more electrical apparatuses, each being different from the refrigerator, and configured to notify a user of information, wherein
the electrical apparatuses are each an electrical apparatus operable when the user is cooking, the information delivery apparatus includes a processor, and the control method causes the processor to:
receive, from the refrigerator, opening-closing information indicating a sensed change in an opened state or a dosed state of at least one of the door and the drawer,
receive, from the one or more electrical apparatuses, state information indicating an operation state of the one or more electrical apparatuses,
determine whether or not the user is cooking based on the received state information, and
notify the user of different information every time the opening-closing information is received if the opening-closing information is received when a determination is made that the user is cooking.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Corp America

Inventors

• Takaki Toshimasa
• Kimura Ryohei

Classifications

• F25D2700/02

  Sensors detecting door opening · CPC title

• H04L2012/2841

  Wireless · CPC title

• H04L12/2825

  Reporting to a device located outside the home and the home network (access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with telemetering systems H04M11/002) · CPC title

• G05B19/0426

  Programming the control sequence · CPC title

• F25D23/12

  Arrangements of compartments additional to cooling compartments; Combinations of refrigerators with other equipment, e.g. stove · CPC title