JPH10316210A - Storehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a storage which can appropriately manage not only articles stored in a storage but also articles temporarily taken out of the storage. SOLUTION: A storage for storing articles received through an entrance is provided with an entrance opening / closing detection device 22 for detecting opening / closing of an entrance of an article, and article information for detecting article information including a type of an article passing through the entrance. Reader 17
, A history database 20 for storing the history of articles including article information, and a display device 14 for displaying desired article information. The article information read by the article information reading device 17 and stored in the storage device 20. Based on the article information on the article, a status indicating the storage state of the article is generated, and the generated status is stored in the history database in association with the article.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a storage having a function of managing inventory of articles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, a storage for accommodating an article, for example, a refrigerator, having a function of managing the article has been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-28845
No. 6 discloses a refrigerator with an article management function. In this refrigerator, information about the food is obtained by reading a bar code attached to the food, and the information and the current date information are managed together. The information includes a name, a quantity, a manufacturing date, a freshness guarantee term, and the like. The freshness warning light is turned on based on the result of comparing the current date information with the freshness guarantee expiration date. Further, the color of the freshness warning light can be changed according to the result of comparing the freshness guarantee period and the current date. Thus, the user can obtain the freshness information of the stored food.

[0003] Reading from a bar code involves tracing the bar code with a bar code reader, lightly touching the bar code, or moving the bar code in front of a laser scanner. After reading the information with the barcode, the user specifies whether to put the food with the barcode in the refrigerator or to take it out of the refrigerator. Also, by pressing the quantity button for the number of foods to be taken in and out, the number of foods to be taken in and out can be designated.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 4-295584, 4-295584, 4-347484.
JP-A-6-137949 also discloses a refrigerator capable of displaying a warning about a food whose expiration date has passed, or JP-A-6-159909 discloses a refrigerator.
There is disclosed a refrigerator capable of giving notice of expiration according to a date input in advance.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional storage, particularly the refrigerator, although the food currently stored in the refrigerator can be managed, information on the food stored and consumed in the past is handled. Not.
For this reason, it is not possible to point out a bias in the type of stored food, that is, a bias in the type of food to be consumed.

[0006] Further, since only information on foods currently stored in the refrigerator is managed, it is not possible to urge purchase, for example, in anticipation of the date of stock out.

Further, if information on the food is read out using a bar code attached to the food every time the food is taken in and out, the burden on the user increases. This burden increases as the number of foods to be taken in and out increases. not to mention,
When putting foods in and out of the refrigerator, putting a plurality of foods in and out of the refrigerator is a very common way of using the refrigerator, and therefore places a heavy burden on the user in daily use. In order to save the trouble of reading a barcode using a scanner, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
Japanese Patent No. 177076 discloses that a place where an item is to be placed is determined, the weight of the item placed at the specific place is measured using a weight sensor, and whether or not the item is newly stored is determined. A technique for determining is disclosed. However, in this technique, it is necessary to predetermine the item and the place where the item is to be arranged, and there is a problem that the structure of the refrigerator is complicated in order to cope with many items.

Further, a similar problem may occur in a storage (eg, a heat storage or a warehouse) for storing articles other than the refrigerator.

An object of the present invention is to provide a storage that can appropriately manage not only articles stored in a storage but also articles temporarily taken out of the storage.

[0010] It is another object of the present invention to provide a storage which can prevent a person other than the owner from taking out an article outdoors.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a storage which can read information of an article and register or update the read information without complicated operations.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an entrance / exit opening / closing detecting device for detecting opening / closing of an entrance / exit of an article, an article information reading apparatus for detecting article information including a type of an article passing through the entrance / exit, The article information reading device, comprising: a history database storing a history of articles including the article information; and a display device for displaying desired article information, wherein the article information is stored through an entrance. Based on the article information read by, and based on the article information about the article stored in the storage device, the status database includes a status generation unit that generates a status indicating the storage state of the article, the generated status, in the history database, This is achieved by a storage configured to store the information in association with the article.

According to the present invention, since the status is stored in association with the article, the storage state of the article can be appropriately managed.

The status includes a storage state indicating that the article is currently stored in the storage, a use state indicating that the article is temporarily taken out, and a status in which the article is taken out. And an end-of-use state indicating a used state. As a result, it is possible to manage not only the articles currently stored in the storage, but also the articles taken out of the storage.

[0015] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the status generating means uses the status of the article whose status is in use when a predetermined time has elapsed since the status was in use. It is configured to be in an end state.

In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the article information includes item information indicating an item to which the article belongs, and based on the item information and the status, an article of an item is out of stock. An out-of-stock detecting means is provided for detecting that there is. Further, the apparatus may be provided with an out-of-stock predicting means for predicting a time when an article of a certain item will be out of stock based on the item information and the status. According to such an embodiment, it is possible to appropriately manage articles.

The out-of-stock predicting means refers to the status stored in the history database to calculate the number of used articles and the consumption of the articles per unit time. Preferably, it is configured to predict when it will run out.

In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the history database is further provided with a person detecting means for detecting a person who enters or leaves the article, and associates the person who received the article with the article. Is configured to be stored. As a result, it is possible to associate the stored person with the article. For example, when an article is delivered, a person detected by the person detection means,
It is possible to compare with the warehousing person stored in the history database corresponding to the article, and if they do not match, emit a warning sound or display a warning image on a display device.

[0019] In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the article information includes a delivery deadline indicating the date and time when the article should be delivered, and further refers to the delivery deadline to determine whether the article delivery time has passed. The system includes a delivery time limit determining means for determining whether or not the article has expired, and a means for generating a warning sound or a warning image when the product delivery time limit has passed.

[0020] In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, an article information reading device is arranged around an entrance of the storage. This article information reading device,
It is preferable that information stored in the wireless tag attached to the article is read. Thereby, the user can register or update the article information without requiring a complicated procedure.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a refrigerator as an example of a storage, and manages articles (such as foods) in the refrigerator.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an electronic circuit for controlling a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, an electronic circuit for controlling the refrigerator includes an operation control unit 11 and a communication device 1.
2, input device 13, display device 14, open / closed person detection device 1
5, an article information reading device 17, a speaker 18, a timing device 19, a storage device 20, a voice database 21, and an entrance / exit opening / closing detecting device 22.

The operation control section 11 controls the other components described above. The storage device 20 stores a program executed by the operation control unit 11 and necessary data. As the storage device, for example, a hard disk device or a floppy disk device can be used.

The communication device 12 exchanges data with other information devices as described later. In this embodiment, the communication device 12 is a telephone line or a LAN (Local Area).
Network) is connected to a communication line (not shown).
By this communication device 12, for example, when an article (for example, food) is stored in a refrigerator, data indicating the price of the article is transmitted to a personal computer and used as data in a household account book stored in the personal computer. By doing so, it is possible to save the trouble of inputting to the household account book. It is also possible to specify a product name and order the product online.

The input device 13 operates to allow a user to input desired information. In the present embodiment, the input device 13 is composed of a stylus pen, but may be a touch panel or the like.

The display device 14 displays various kinds of information on articles stored in the refrigerator. In this embodiment, since the display device 14 is an input display integrated tablet, the display device 14 can receive an input with a stylus pen. Alternatively, a display or a television of a personal computer may be used as the display device 14.

The open / closed person detecting device 15 identifies the person who opened and closed the door. For example, the function is realized by incorporating a fingerprint recognition device into a handle of a refrigerator door and identifying a person by a fingerprint. Alternatively, a camera may be arranged near the door, and a person may be identified based on the pupil transferred to the camera image.

The article information reading device 17 reads information on the article from the article information holding device 16 added to the article when the article is taken in and out of the refrigerator. In order to read the above information, the article information reading device 1
7 checks whether or not the article information holding device 16 is attached to the article, and if so, reads the information from the article information holding apparatus 16 when the article is taken in and out. On the other hand, if not attached, it is preferable that the item of the article can be determined based on the result of image processing of the color or shape of the article. In the present embodiment, the article information reading device 17 is installed at the doorway of the refrigerator. When a user puts goods in and out,
Since the article always passes through the entrance of the refrigerator, the user does not need a special operation for causing the article information reading apparatus 17 to read the information of the article information holding device 16.

The speaker 18 is connected to an audio database (DB) 21. Various voices are stored in the voice DB 21 in advance, and various voice signals can be output in response to an instruction from the operation control unit 11 and reproduced by the speaker 18. Voice DB21
May be a ROM (Read Only Memory), but may form a part of the storage device 20.

The entrance / exit opening / closing detection device 22 detects the opening / closing of the entrance / exit of the refrigerator. When the entrance is opened, a signal indicating the opening is given to the operation control unit 11. In addition, the timekeeping device 19 can measure the current date and time (year, month, day, and time).

In this embodiment, an article information holding device 16 is added to each article. The article information holding device 16 stores therein at least a set of an ID number for specifying the article, a expiration date, and data indicating an item to which the article belongs. For example, a wireless tag can be used as the article information holding device 16.

The electronic circuit configured as described above is housed, for example, at a predetermined position in refrigerator 30 shown in FIG. The refrigerator 30 includes a freezer compartment 31 and a refrigerator compartment 32, each of which is provided with a door. Door 3 of refrigerator compartment 32
The handle 3 is provided with an opening / closing person detecting device 15 and the door 3
An article information reading device 17 is arranged at the edge of the third. The handle of the door 34 of the freezer compartment 31 is also provided with the open / closed person detecting device 15, and the article information reading device 17 is arranged at the edge (not shown). Further, the display device 14 and the speaker 18 are provided on the front surface of the door 34 of the freezer compartment 31. The display device 14
The speaker 18 is not necessarily provided on the door of the freezer compartment 31, and may be provided on the front surface of the door 33 of the refrigerator compartment 32.

As will be described in detail later, for example, the user opens the door 33 of the refrigerator compartment 32 to open the article information holding device 1.
When trying to put the article 40 to which the 6 has been added into the refrigerator compartment 32, the article information reading device 17 reads information stored in the article information holding device 16. This operation is also performed when an article is to be put into the freezer compartment 32.

Further, the refrigerator 30 is connected to an external device by the communication device 12 (see FIG. 1), and can communicate with the external device. In FIG. 2, refrigerator 30 is connected to portable terminal 50 and external server 60.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of software for controlling the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, software for controlling the refrigerator is provided with a history database (D) for storing the history of articles stored in or out of the refrigerator.
B) 201 and a door opening / closing processing program 20 executed when the refrigerator doors (33, 34 in FIG. 2) are opened / closed.
3, a status determination program 204 for determining the state of the article once stored in the refrigerator, an expiration detection program 205 for managing the expiration date of the article, a scheduler 206, and a use for executing statistical processing relating to the use of the article. A frequency counting program 207.

The software is stored in the storage device 20. Alternatively, part or all of the software may be stored in a portable storage medium such as a floppy disk and read by a storage medium reading device. In addition, these software are operated by the operation control unit 11 (see FIG. 1) as necessary, and
Alternatively, it is read from a portable storage medium.

In the history DB 201, information read from the article information holding device 16 by the article information reading device 17 is stored. This information includes at least the goods I
D, expiration date and item. Further, a status indicating the state of the article (ie, whether the article has been completely consumed, is in use and has been temporarily removed, or is currently stored in the refrigerator), and the article has been stored. The date and time (purchase date and time) and the name (owner) of the person who received the goods are stored.

The out-of-stock forecasting program 203 predicts when the stored articles will be out of stock.
From the number of goods received so far and the storage period,
The consumption time of the article is calculated. From the calculated consumption time, the time when the article is out of stock can be predicted.

The status determination program 204 determines, for each article, a status indicating whether the article is stored in the refrigerator, is temporarily taken out of the refrigerator, or has not been stored after consumption. . For example, consider a case where mayonnaise and jam are stored in a refrigerator. When these items are taken out of the refrigerator and used, they are not used all at once, but are often used slightly and returned to the refrigerator again. In this way, when the storage is temporarily released, the status becomes "in use".
In addition, the status is “end of use” when the storage has been completed and has not been saved, and the status is “during storage” when it is actually stored in the refrigerator. However, the status of “in use” and the status of “use completed” are common in that the article does not actually exist. Therefore,
It is necessary to determine whether “in use” or “end of use”. For this, the time from the removal of the article from the refrigerator to the determination time is used. That is, it is determined that “use has been completed” if a certain time or more has elapsed since the article was removed from the refrigerator. This processing will be described later in detail.

The expiration detection program 205 determines whether the stock is not stored after the expiration date or whether the expiration date is imminent. The expiration detection program 205 reads the expiration date of the article stored in the history DB 201 and compares it with the current date and time. If the current date and time is past the expiration date,
This is displayed on the display device 14. Even if the expiration date has not passed, if there is an article whose expiration date is approaching, the fact is displayed on the display device 14. Whether the expiration date is approaching can be determined by determining whether the time until the expiration date is equal to or less than a certain value. If there is no clear time limit,
Such a thing as “delivery target date” may be set.

The scheduler 206 stores the schedule of the user. The user's schedule is input by the user via the input device 13. Alternatively, the schedule stored in another information device may be downloaded via the communication device 12.

The usage frequency totaling program 207 has a history D
Based on the information stored in B201, the use frequency of articles for each category is totaled. By executing the usage frequency totalizing program 207, the articles stored in the history DB 201 are classified by category, and the number of articles belonging to each category is counted. By displaying the result as a graph and displaying the result on the display device 14, it is possible to inform the user of which category contains more or less articles. For example, if it is known that vegetables are used less frequently, the user can try to use more vegetables for meals. Also, if the user knows that the frequency of use of beer is quite high, the user can be careful to take too much drink.

The door opening / closing processing program 202 is started when an entrance is opened / closed. When the doorway is opened and closed, it often involves the entry and exit of articles. Therefore, it may be said that the door opening / closing processing program 202 starts the processing at the time of entry / exit of an article. When an article is stored in a refrigerator, there are a case where an article that has been temporarily taken out is returned and a case where a new article is stored. If the article that has been temporarily taken out is returned, the history DB 20
The status stored in 1 is changed. When a new article is received, information on the article is registered in the history DB 201. On the other hand, when the article is taken out of the refrigerator, the status stored in the history DB 201 is changed, and the leaving date and time are registered in the history DB 201.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents registered in the history DB 201. The history DB 201 stores an ID number 401, a purchase date and time 402, an item 403, a shelf life 404, an owner 405, an extraction date and time 406, and a status 407 of a stored article. That is, in the history database, a set of data related to the ID number, the purchase date and time, the item, the expiration date, the owner, the removal date and time, and the status is stored corresponding to one article.

The ID number 401 is uniquely determined for each article, and there is no plurality of articles having the same ID number. In this embodiment, the ID number 401 is stored in the article information holding device 16 added to the article in advance.

The purchase date and time 402 indicates the date and time when the article was first stored. The purchase date and time 402 is the date and time when the information of the article is read by the article information reading device 17. That is, the article information reading device 17
When the information is read from the article information holding device 16, the date and time measured by the timer 19 is read in response to this, and this date and time becomes the purchase date and time.

The item 403 is the item information reading device 17
Corresponds to the item information in the article information holding device 16 added to the article.

Similarly, the expiration date 404 also corresponds to the expiration date information in the article information holding device 16 attached to the article read by the article information reading device 17.

The owner 405 corresponds to the information of the person who has stored the article. This person is identified by the open / closed person detection device 15 when the article is stored in the refrigerator. However, the owner 405 is not essential and may be omitted. However, if it is necessary to prevent a person other than the owner from touching a specific article, the owner 405 must be provided. There is. For example, when a refrigerator is shared by a plurality of persons, each person often stores their own articles in the refrigerator. In such a case,
It is conceivable that a person A accidentally or intentionally takes out an article owned by another person. At this time,
If it is known that the article belongs to another person B, it is possible to prevent the article from being taken out by another person by taking measures such as sounding a warning sound.

The removal date and time 406 is the date and time when the article was removed from the refrigerator. The date and time are set by the timekeeping device 19.
Is obtained by the timing of

The status 407 is a flag indicating whether the article is currently stored, has been temporarily taken out of the store, or has been consumed and has not been stored. The status 407 is “IN” when the data is currently stored, “MID” when the data is temporarily taken out, and “OUT” when the data has been consumed and has not been stored. That is, among the above-mentioned states, “in storage” corresponds to “IN”, “in use” corresponds to “MID”, and “end of use”
Corresponds to “OUT”. When the status 407 is “IN”, the extraction date 406 is blank. When a new article is received, it has not been removed yet, so the removal date and time 406 is, of course, blank. When the article whose status is "MID" is returned again, the status changes to "IN". However, it is not necessary to take out date 3
It is not necessary to leave 06 blank, and the last extracted time may remain. When the status 307 is “MID” or “OUT”, it indicates that the article is not stored. The history DB 201 stores the removal date / time 406 of the corresponding article.

The processing executed by the electronic circuit of the refrigerator configured as described above will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart schematically showing processing executed in the refrigerator according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, in this process, the door of the refrigerator (for example, the freezer 31 of FIG. 2) is used.
It is determined whether or not the door 34 of the refrigerator compartment 32 and the door 33) of the refrigerator compartment 32 are opened (step 501). If it is determined that the door has been opened (Yes in step 501), a process for opening and closing the door is executed (step 502). If not (No (N) in step 501), it is determined whether a predetermined time has elapsed since the process of step 504 was executed last time (step 503). If the predetermined time has elapsed (Yes in step 503), a list check process is executed (step 504). In step 504, as described later in detail, it is checked whether there is any expired item or whether the item whose status is "MID" has not returned to the refrigerator for a certain period of time. I do. In the refrigerator according to this embodiment, such processing is repeatedly executed.

In step 502, the door opening / closing processing program 202 (see FIG. 3) is started, and after the door is opened, it is determined whether or not an article has entered or exited.
For example, this is realized by determining the moving direction of the article using a sensor (not shown). When an article is stored in the refrigerator, the processing in FIG. 6 is executed, while when the article is taken out of the refrigerator, the processing in FIG. 7 is executed.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process executed when an article is stored in the refrigerator. As shown in FIG. 6, when an article is received, the article information reading device 17 reads information in the article information holding device 16 added to the received article (step 601). As the case where the article is stored, there may be a case where the article is newly stored and a case where the article that has been temporarily taken out is returned. Which of these cases is to be determined,
This is the next step 602.

In step 602, the ID number is extracted from the information read in step 601, and
It is determined whether data relating to the article having the D number is stored in the history DB 201. History DB 201
If relevant data is present in this, this means that the article was temporarily out of stock.
In this case, the process proceeds to step 603. On the other hand, when there is no related data in the history DB 201, this means that the article has been newly stored. In this case, the process proceeds to step 605.

If it is determined that the article that has been temporarily taken out of the refrigerator has been returned to the refrigerator, the removal date and time of the data set (see FIG. 4) associated with the article is cleared. (Step 603). The status is then set to "IN", indicating that the item is currently stored in the refrigerator. Note that, as described above, step 603 is executed.
Is not always necessary, and this processing step may be omitted.

On the other hand, when it is determined that an article has been newly stored, various information obtained from the article information holding device 16 attached to the article is used as a data set corresponding to the article. Register it in the history DB 201. First, the information read in step 601 is converted into separate parameters (step 605). Next, step 60
The date and time when 1 was executed is obtained from the timekeeping device 19,
The date and time is set as the purchase date and time (step 606). Further, the person who opened the refrigerator door identified by the open / closed person detecting device 15 is set as the owner of the article (step 6).
07). However, when the article is shared by a plurality of persons, the processing of step 607 is not necessarily required. In this case, the user may operate the input device 13 to input in advance that the article is shared by a plurality of persons, and the step 607 may be omitted based on the input.

Next, the removal date and time are cleared (step 608). However, step 608 is not always necessary. Thereafter, the status is set to "IN" (step 609). In this way, a data set corresponding to a certain article is prepared. However, there is a case where the capacity of the history DB 201 is insufficient and the data set cannot be stored. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the necessary capacity exists in the history DB 201 (step 610). If the capacity is insufficient (Yes in step 610), the history DB 20
With reference to the extraction date and time of the data set stored in No. 1, the data set relating to the article with the oldest extraction date and time is deleted, and the capacity for registering a new data set is secured (step 611). . After such processing, the data set obtained in steps 605 to 609 is registered in the history DB 201 (step 6).
12). Thus, registration of necessary data is completed.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process executed when an article is taken out of the refrigerator. When an article is taken out of the refrigerator, it is necessary to confirm whether the person taking out the article has taken out an article owned by another person. The processing related to this is executed in steps 705 and 707.

As shown in FIG. 7, when an article is taken out of the refrigerator, the open / close detector 15 identifies the person who has opened the doorway (step 701). Next, the article information reading device 17 reads information in the article information holding device 16 added to the article to be delivered (Step 702). In the article retrieval process, only the ID number of the information needs to be read. Next, the date and time when the doorway was opened are obtained from the timing device 19 (step 703).

Identification of the person who opened the entrance (Step 7)
01), and after reading the ID number of the article to be delivered (step 702), a data set having the read ID number is searched from the history DB 201 (step 704).

After finding the data set corresponding to the article having the corresponding ID number, it is checked whether or not the person who opened the doorway and the owner included in the found data set match ( Step 705). That is, it is checked whether the person who opened the refrigerator door intends to leave another person's goods. If this person is trying to get goods belonging to another person (Yes in step 705)
(Y)), a warning sound is emitted from the speaker 18 (step 707).

A person trying to steal an article may ignore the warning sound and take out the article. Further, there is a case where a person who has received an article shared by a plurality of persons is different from a person who intends to leave the article. Even in such a case, in the present embodiment, since the retrieval history of the article is stored, even if the article disappears from the refrigerator, it is possible to obtain a clue for finding the article. For this reason, for example, it is preferable to store the access history for each of the articles registered in the history DB 201.

This access history includes at least the person who left the article and the date and time when the article was left. The access history may be stored in the history DB 201, or may be stored in the article information holding device 16 using any means. In the former case, a pointer to an area where an access history is stored for each article is held.
In the latter case, when the article is delivered, the person who left the article and the date and time of the delivery are stored in the article information holding device 16 using the communication device 12 or the like.

If the determination in step 705 is yes (Y), it is determined whether or not the article has passed the expiration date (step 706). This is realized by comparing the expiration date of the data set corresponding to the article with the current time (date and time) obtained in step 703. If the expiration date has passed, that is, if the expiration date has passed (yes (Y) in step 706), a warning sound is emitted (step 707).

After such processing, the retrieval date and time of the data set corresponding to the retrieved article in the history DB 201 is set to the date and time obtained in step 703 (step 708). Next, in the data set corresponding to the retrieved article in the history DB 201, the status is set to "MI
D "(step 709).

The warning sound emitted in step 707 is
It may be different between the case of trying to leave another person's goods and the case of expiration. Alternatively, the same warning sound may be emitted, and only the fact that there is some warning may be notified by voice, and the actual warning content may be displayed on the display device 14.
Furthermore, a synthesized word may be emitted from the speaker 18 using the data stored in the voice DB 21. For example, it is preferable to give a warning that "it is not yours" when trying to get someone else's, or to give a warning such as "expired" when it expires.

By the processing shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, it is possible to register or update the status of articles stored in the refrigerator or taken out of the refrigerator, the date and time of delivery or storage, and the like.

Next, the list check processing (step 504) executed at regular intervals in FIG.
This will be described in more detail. For example, the list check processing is executed every several hours.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the list check processing. This processing is mainly intended for maintenance of the history DB 201. For example, it is checked whether expired articles are not stored, whether there are articles that are likely to be out of stock, or how long has elapsed since articles that have been temporarily ejected have been ejected.

As shown in FIG. 8, in the list check processing, first, the current date and time are obtained from the time counting device 19 (step 801). Next, by referring to the data set related to all the articles stored in the history DB 201, the expiration date and the current date and time of each of the data sets are compared, and the expiration date of each article is not expired. Is determined. If the expiration date has expired, that is, if the expiration date is before the current date and time (Yes in step 802)
In (Y)), an image including information indicating that the expiration date of the article has expired is displayed on the screen of the display device 14 (step 805). If the expiration date has not expired (No (N) in step 802), the expiration date is compared with the current date and time, and if the period between them is smaller than the predetermined period, It is determined that the expiration date is near (yes (Y) in step 803), and an image including information indicating that the expiration date of the article is near is displayed on the screen of the display device 14 (step 805). In addition, this predetermined period,
The setting can be made by the user operating the input device 13.

Next, the stock-out predicting program 203 is started, and it is determined whether or not there is a stock of the article (step 804). In step 804, it is possible to determine whether the stock is about to run out, not only when the stock is currently running out. The algorithm for determining whether the stock is about to run out will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. If there is an item that is currently out of stock or is about to run out (Yes in step 804)
In (Y)), an image including information indicating the fact is displayed on the screen of the display device 14 (step 805).

After the processing of steps 801 to 805 is completed, the status determination program 204 is started. The status determination program 204 refers to the status from among the data sets relating to all the articles and extracts the articles whose status is "MID" (step 8).
06). If the determination is yes (Y) in step 806, it is determined whether the articles whose status is "MID" have been consumed. More specifically, this determination is performed based on the elapsed time from the date and time stored in the extraction date and time to the current date and time in the data set corresponding to the article. That is, the elapsed time from when the article is taken out of the refrigerator is a criterion.

It is determined whether the elapsed time from the extraction date and time to the current date and time is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (step 80).
7) If the value is equal to or more than the predetermined value (Yes in step 807)
(Y)), the article is regarded as consumed, and the status is set to "OUT" in the corresponding data set (step 808). The user can operate the input device 13 to determine as desired a period during which the status is set to “OUT”, that is, the period for determining that the article has been consumed.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of an image displayed on the screen of the display device 14 according to this embodiment.
The image shown in FIG. 9 shows a warning regarding the expiration date among the images obtained in step 705. As shown in FIG. 9, a table 900 displayed on this image includes an item column 901, a best-before date display column 902, and a supplier column 903.
Is provided. The item column 901 displays the item name of an item whose expiration date has expired or an item whose expiration date is approaching. Further, in the purchaser column 903, a person who has stored the article in the refrigerator is displayed. The user can know who has entered the storage and which item has expired from the set of character strings or numerical values in these columns. For example, by referring to the top column 905, the mother can see that the expiration date of the vegetable salad that has been stored in the refrigerator is imminent, or by referring to the second column 904, The user can understand that the expiration date of the stored milk has expired.

It is to be noted that a warning relating to the expiration date may be issued instead of the display relating to the expiration date. For example, when a person tries to open the door of the refrigerator or passes in front of the refrigerator, a warning sound may be used to notify the person of a warning regarding the expiration date. In this warning, for example, it is conceivable to use the voice DB 21 and issue a word “There is a food whose expiration date has expired”.

Next, the processing other than the processing in the case where the stock is already out of the processing in step 804, that is, the processing for determining whether or not the stock out is about to occur, will be described in more detail. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a process of predicting stock out. The process when the stock is already out of stock can be realized by using the status in the data set corresponding to the article in the history DB 201. That is, by referring to the statuses of all the articles included in a certain item, if there is no article whose status is "IN", it can be determined that the item is out of stock, that is, it is out of stock. .

In the stock-out forecasting process, a necessary forecast result can be obtained by using the stock-out forecasting program 203 by using the frequency of use of the article and the time taken until the food is consumed.

As shown in FIG. 10, in this process, first, for each item, all articles whose status is "OUT" are extracted from the corresponding data set (step 1001). Next, the out-of-stock prediction program 203 calculates the consumption amount of each item per unit time (step 1002). This means that its status is "OU
The number of items that are "T" is determined by dividing the number of items consumed by the time spent. The time from the purchase date and time of the data set with the oldest purchase date and time to the retrieval date and time of the most recently retrieved data set (that is, the one with the latest retrieval date and time of the corresponding data set) The unit of time may be "day", "hour", "minute", etc., but may be set in advance by the user.

After calculating the consumption per unit time,
The number of stocks of the articles included in each item is confirmed, and the expected time until the stock is consumed is calculated (step 1003). The stock quantity is the number of articles whose status is “IN” or “MID” among the articles included in a certain item. The consumption time of the stock is obtained by dividing the number of stocks by the consumption per unit time obtained in step 1002.

Next, the stock consumption time is compared with a designated time designated in advance by the user (step 100).
4). The designated time is the time from when the stock out is warned to when the stock becomes out of stock. In other words, it indicates how long (for example, how many hours before) the user wants to be warned that the stock is almost out of stock. In addition, the unit of the consumption time of the stock must be the same as that of the designated time. As a result of the processing in step 1004, if the stock consumption time is longer than the specified time (Yes (Y) in step 1004), the processing ends as it is. However, if the consumption time of the stock is equal to or less than the designated time (No (N) in step 1004), the expected stockout date and time is calculated (step 1005). The estimated out-of-stock date and time is obtained by adding the consumption time of the stock obtained in step 1004 to the removal date and time of the food item whose status is "OUT" most recently among the articles of the item.

When the expected out-of-stock date and time are obtained in this way, the process ends. If it is determined No (N) in the above step 1004 and the expected out-of-stock date and time is calculated, it is determined in step 804 in FIG.
(Y)) Therefore, in step 805, an image including the date and time at which the stock is expected to be out of stock is displayed on the display device 14.
Will be displayed on the screen.

FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 correspond to step 8 in FIG.
If the answer is Yes (Y) at step 04, step 8
5 is an example of an image displayed on the screen of the display device 14 in FIG. FIG. 11 is an image showing a warning when it is determined in step 804 that there is an out-of-stock item, that is, when an article of an item to be stored in the refrigerator is not actually stored.

In FIG. 11, a column 1101 shows an out-of-stock item, a column 1102 shows the date and time when the item was found out of stock, and a column 1103 shows the person who purchased it. The column 1104 displays the current time, and the column 1105 displays an “order” button to be described later.

An article of a certain item is already out of stock (out of stock)
It is preferable that the user be warned that the item frequently used is warned. Therefore, out of stock (out of stock) may be determined by selecting a predetermined item from among items to be warned of being out of stock. For example, by referring to a data set corresponding to the articles registered in the history DB 201, the number of registered articles is obtained for each item, and only the articles whose number is equal to or more than a predetermined number are determined. You may warn of a shortage.

FIG. 12 shows the stock out (out of stock) in step 804 by the stock out prediction process (see FIG. 10).
FIG. 10 is an image showing a warning when it is determined that there is an item in which a close-up occurs.

In FIG. 12, a column 1201 shows an out-of-stock item, a column 1202 shows a stock quantity, that is, the number of articles contained in the item currently stored in the refrigerator, and a column 1203 shows Step 110 of FIG.
In the expected out-of-stock time obtained in No. 5, the column 1204, the person who purchased the stock is shown.

In the refrigerator according to the present embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, when the out-of-stock warning or the expected out-of-stock warning is displayed, by selecting a desired one of the displayed items, data relating to the selected item is transmitted to the communication device. It is possible to transmit the data to an external device via the communication device 12.

For example, in the image shown in FIG. 12, when the user operates the input device 13 to select one of the displayed items, as shown in FIG. , Are displayed with hatching added or inverted. Thereafter, when the user operates the input device 13 to turn on the order button 1105 arranged at the lower right of the screen, data on the selected item is given to the communication device.

For example, consider a case where an external server such as a retail store is connected to communication device 12 via a communication line (not shown). In this case, the communication device 12
Can access the server of the retail store and convey the data required for the order (selected items, their quantity, delivery date) and the like. Note that the payment may be made by cash payment after the food arrives, or electronic currency may be paid to the ordering store via the communication device 12 at the same time as placing the order. Alternatively, the electronic currency may be automatically paid on a designated date.

On the other hand, when the user operates the input device 13 without selecting an item, the order button 11
When 05 is turned on, a food catalog, for example, as shown in FIG. 14 is displayed on the screen of the display device 14.
Data related to this catalog is stored on a communication line (not shown).
May be accepted by the communication device 12 from an external server via the external server, or may be stored in the storage device 20. As a result, the user can use the catalog displayed on the screen
It is possible to select a desired item (commodity) and order it. It is preferable that a product name, a price, and the like be added to the catalog.

Alternatively, when the product to be purchased is selected from the catalog, the portable terminal 50 is connected via the communication device 12.
The name of the product is transmitted to the portable terminal 50,
You may be comprised so that the required shopping list may be created. With this configuration, the user can bring the portable terminal 50 to a retail store and purchase necessary items with reference to the products included in the shopping list. Further, an article information reading device (see reference numeral 17 in FIG. 1) is provided in the portable terminal 50, and the portable terminal 50 has a necessary commodity near a commodity included in the shopping list at a retail store or the like. This may be notified to the user.

Further, a configuration may be adopted in which foods that are out of stock are automatically ordered. That is, the configuration may be such that necessary items are automatically ordered when the determination is YES (Y) in step 804 of FIG. When the user will be out of the office for a long time, it may not be necessary to place an order. Therefore, the user operates the input device 13
It is preferable to be able to set whether or not to automatically place an order by operating. On the other hand, when many goods (foods) are required by a visitor or the like, it is preferable that an order can be automatically placed more frequently than usual. For example, by setting the schedule of the user in the scheduler 206, the order quantity can be automatically adjusted.

As shown in FIG. 14, in the food catalog, in addition to the illustration column 1401 of the article, the item name and price display section 1402 of the article, and the bite memo section 1 of the article,
Preferably, 403 is provided. Also, a column 1404 is provided,
It is preferable that the user can input the quantity of the article to be ordered. In FIG. 14, after inputting all the quantities of the articles to be ordered is completed, by pressing an order button 1409, necessary data is transmitted to the external server 60 via the communication device 12 and a communication line (not shown). Is done. Pressing a cancel button 1408 cancels the input. Alternatively, when correcting the quantity, a page on which the food is placed may be displayed, and the correct quantity may be input in the field 1405 again.

Further, in the present embodiment, the history D
With reference to the data set corresponding to the article registered in B201, the use frequency (total storage time) of the article is displayed on the display device 1
4 can be displayed on the screen. This is realized by operating the usage frequency totalizing program 207 (see FIG. 2).

FIG. 15 shows a usage frequency totaling program 207.
Created on the screen of the display device 14,
It is a figure showing an example of a graph of the total storage time of goods.

The usage frequency totaling program 207 has a history D
A histogram indicating the use frequency of each item is created based on a data set corresponding to the articles registered in B201. In FIG. 15, the vertical axis 1501 represents the total storage time of the article, and the horizontal axis 1302 represents the item. The total storage time is the sum of the storage times of all items included in the item. The storage time is the time from the purchase date and time to the present for the goods whose status is "IN" or "MID", or from the purchase date and time of the goods whose status is "OUT". This is the time until the extraction date and time.

By displaying the graph shown in FIG. 15 on the screen of the display device 14, the user can know, for example, whether or not there is a bias in food. This is also helpful when purchasing food and the like.

In the above embodiment, the display device 14
Although various images are displayed on the screen of FIG. 16 depending on the case, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, the screen may be divided and various images may be displayed on each of the divided partial screens (fields).

For example, in FIG. 16, the screen is divided into five, and out-of-stock warnings, storage histories, expiration date warnings, article catalogs, and the current date and time are displayed in fields 1601 to 1605, respectively. Here, the out-of-stock warning field 1601 corresponds to the screen shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, and the expiration date warning field 1603 corresponds to the screen shown in FIG. Further, the storage history field 1602 corresponds to the screen shown in FIG. 15, and the article catalog field 1604 corresponds to the screen shown in FIG.

When the user operates the input device 13 to double-tap a desired window, the selected window is zoomed up and displayed on the entire screen of the display device 14. When the user double-tap on the zoom-up screen, the screen returns to the original state. It is apparent that a configuration may be employed in which a plurality of windows may be displayed on the screen of the display device 14.

Finally, the storage form of the data set corresponding to each article stored in the history DB 201 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG.
201 includes a user list 1701.
When any user operates the input device 13,
The name of the user is registered in the user list. The user list stores pointers to data sets (history information) corresponding to the articles received by each user. The data set shown in FIG. 17 substantially corresponds to the data set shown in FIG. ID number 1702, purchase date 1
At the end of 703, item 1704, status 1705, and extraction date 1706, a pointer 1707 indicating the next data set is provided. This pointer stores the start address of the next data set. The owner 405 shown in FIG. 4 corresponds to a user in the user list 1701. Thus, by storing data in the history DB 201, a history of each user can be obtained. By displaying this history on the screen of the display device 14, it is possible to obtain information on the consumption tendency of each user, for example, information that “A drinks only beer”, thereby improving personal health management and the like. It can be made easier.

According to the present embodiment, articles are managed by information indicating the state of the articles once stored in the refrigerator, and a data set related to the articles stored in the history DB is generated or Has been updated. Therefore, it is possible to save the history of the article, and using this,
It is possible to notify the user of various information on the article (for example, inventory, type of stored article, bias thereof, and the like).

Further, since the information of the article information holding device added to the article is read by using the wireless tag, various kinds of information on the article can be read without complicated operation by the user.
It can be read and stored.

Further, since the person who enters or leaves the article can be specified by opening the refrigerator door, it is possible to prevent anyone other than the owner from taking out the article.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the invention described in the claims, and these are also included in the scope of the present invention. Needless to say, this is done.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to a refrigerator. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to various storages such as an insulated storage and a storage where goods can be stored. Is clear. For example,
When applying the present invention to a warehouse, when an object other than the owner of the article attempts to remove the article from the warehouse (FIG. 7).
(Steps 705 and 707), it is preferable to not only generate an alarm sound but also to immediately contact a police or a security company via the communication device 12 or a communication line (not shown). Further, in a warm storage room or a warehouse, the expiration date of the present embodiment can correspond to, for example, an expiration date when articles should be released from the warehouse.

Further, in the above embodiment, entry or exit of articles is determined by a sensor or the like, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, first, the information added to the article is read, and it is determined whether or not the same ID exists in the history DB.
If the status is “MID” by referring to the status in the data set including the ID number, it is determined that the temporarily removed article is to be re-stocked, and the processes of steps 603 and 604 are performed. Execute and the status is "I
In the case of "N", it may be determined that the vehicle is leaving the refrigerator, and a process substantially corresponding to FIG. 7 may be executed.

In this specification, means does not always mean physical means, but also includes a case where the function of each means is realized by software.
Further, the function of one means or member may be realized by two or more physical means or members, or the function of two or more means or members may be realized by one means or member. .

[0110]

According to the present invention, since the articles are managed based on the information indicating the state of the articles in the storage, it is possible to easily obtain out-of-stock or expired articles in the storage. In addition, by predicting the date and time of stock out and notifying the user of the date and time, and by enabling the user to specify and place an order, shortage of the item can be avoided. In addition, by notifying the expiration date, the security of the articles in the storage (for example, the safety of food) can be maintained.

Further, according to the present invention, by managing the person who has received the article, it is possible to prevent a person different from the person who has entered the article from leaving the article, and to prevent theft. .

Further, according to the present invention, the storage history of articles is managed, and the storage history is presented to the user. For example, in the case of a refrigerator, it is possible to notice a bias or the like of foods taken by a user.

That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a storage that can appropriately manage not only the articles stored in the storage but also the articles temporarily taken out of the storage. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an electronic circuit for controlling a refrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an appearance of a refrigerator to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of software for controlling the refrigerator according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of contents registered in a history DB 201;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart schematically showing processing executed in the refrigerator according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed when an article is stored in the refrigerator according to the present embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process that is executed when an article is retrieved from the refrigerator according to the present embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a list check process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a screen of the display device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process of predicting stock out according to the embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a screen of the display device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a screen of the display device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a screen of the display device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a screen of the display device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a screen of the display device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a screen of the display device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining a storage mode of a data set corresponding to each article stored in the history DB according to the embodiment;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 operation control unit 12 communication device 13 input device 14 display device 15 open / closed person detection device 17 article information reading device 18 speaker 19 timekeeping device 20 storage device 21 voice DB 22 entrance / exit opening / closing detection device

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. An entrance / exit opening / closing detection device for detecting opening / closing of an entrance / exit of an article, an article information reading apparatus for detecting article information including a type of an article passing through the entrance / exit, and a history of an article including the article information. And a display device for displaying desired article information, the article information read by the article information reading device, and a storage device. A status generation unit that generates a status indicating a storage state of the article based on the article information on the article stored in the
A storage, wherein the storage is configured to be stored in the history database in association with an article. 2. The status includes a storage state indicating that the article is currently stored in the storage, an in-use state indicating that the article is temporarily taken out, and a use state in which the article is taken out. The storage according to claim 1, further comprising a use end state indicating a state in which the storage is completed. 3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said status generating means sets the status of the article in use state to a use end state when a predetermined time has elapsed since the article was in use state. 3. The storage according to claim 2, wherein the storage is performed. 4. The article information includes item information indicating an item to which the article belongs, and based on the item information and the status,
4. The storage according to claim 1, further comprising an out-of-stock detecting means for detecting that an article of a certain item is out of stock. 5. The article information includes item information indicating an item to which the article belongs, and further, based on the item information and the status,
4. An out-of-stock predicting means for predicting when an article of an item will be out of stock.
The storage according to any one of claims 4 and 4. 6. The out-of-stock predicting means refers to the status stored in the history database to calculate the number of articles whose use has been completed and the amount of articles consumed per unit time. The storage according to claim 5, wherein the storage is configured to predict when the stock will run out. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a person detecting unit for detecting a person who enters or leaves the article, and stores a person who has received the article in the history database in association with the article. The storage according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: 8. Further, when an article is unloaded, a person detected by the person detecting means is compared with a warehousing person stored in the history database corresponding to the article, and these do not match. 8. An alarm sound generating means for generating an alarm sound in such a case.
A storage according to any one of the preceding claims. 9. Further, when an article is taken out of the warehouse, the person detected by the person detection means is compared with the warehousing person stored in the history database corresponding to the article, and they do not match. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an alarm image generating unit configured to generate an image indicating an alarm, wherein the alarm image is displayed on a display device.
9. The storage according to any one of claims 8 to 8. 10. The article information includes a delivery time limit indicating a date and time when the article should be delivered, and further refers to the delivery time limit to determine whether or not the article delivery time has passed. The storage according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising: a determination unit; and a second alarm sound generation unit that generates an alarm sound when the delivery period of the article has passed. . 11. The article information includes a delivery deadline indicating a date and time when the article should be delivered, and further refers to the delivery deadline to determine whether the article has passed the delivery deadline. Determining means, and second alarm image generating means for generating an image indicating an alarm when the article has expired, so that the alarm image is displayed on a display device. The storage according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein 12. The storage according to claim 1, wherein the article information reading device is disposed around an entrance of the storage. 13. The storage according to claim 12, wherein the article information reading device is configured to read information stored in a wireless tag attached to the article.