Household consumable item automatic replenishment system including intelligent refrigerator
First Claim
1. A household consumable item automatic replenishment system for automatically maintaining a desired inventory of household consumable items, the household consumable item automatic replenishment system comprising:
- a refrigerated compartment having an indoor access through which consumable items are removed for use and having an outdoor access through which the refrigerated compartment is restocked;
an unrefrigerated compartment having an indoor access through which consumable items are removed for use and having an outdoor access through which the unrefrigerated compartment is restocked;
an automated inventory system comprising;
a plurality of sensors configured to provide information representative of an inventory of the refrigerated compartment and the unrefrigerated compartment;
an inventory processor coupled to the sensors for processing the information representative of the inventory of the refrigerated compartment and the unrefrigerated compartment so as to make a list of items which are to be replenished; and
an automated ordering system comprising a telecommunications device coupled to cooperate with the inventory processor to communicate at least a portion of the list to at least one vendor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A household consumable item automatic replenishment system automatically maintains a desired inventory of household consumable items. The household consumable item automatic replenishment system has a refrigerator compartment having an indoor access and an outdoor access and an unrefrigerated compartment having an indoor access and an outdoor access. An automatic inventory system has a plurality of sensors configured to provide information representative of an inventory of the refrigerated compartment and the unrefrigerated compartment. An inventory processor is coupled to the sensors to process the information representative of the inventory of the refrigerated compartment and the unrefrigerated compartment, so as to make a list of items which are to be replenished. An automatic ordering system comprises a telecommunications device coupled to cooperate with the inventory processor to communicate at least a portion of the list to at least one vendor.
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Citations
52 Claims
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1. A household consumable item automatic replenishment system for automatically maintaining a desired inventory of household consumable items, the household consumable item automatic replenishment system comprising:
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a refrigerated compartment having an indoor access through which consumable items are removed for use and having an outdoor access through which the refrigerated compartment is restocked;
an unrefrigerated compartment having an indoor access through which consumable items are removed for use and having an outdoor access through which the unrefrigerated compartment is restocked;
an automated inventory system comprising;
a plurality of sensors configured to provide information representative of an inventory of the refrigerated compartment and the unrefrigerated compartment;
an inventory processor coupled to the sensors for processing the information representative of the inventory of the refrigerated compartment and the unrefrigerated compartment so as to make a list of items which are to be replenished; and
an automated ordering system comprising a telecommunications device coupled to cooperate with the inventory processor to communicate at least a portion of the list to at least one vendor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for automatically maintaining a desired inventory of household consumable items, the method comprising the steps of:
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removing items from at least one of a refrigerated compartment and an unrefrigerated compartment via an indoor access thereof;
sensing information representative of an inventory of the refrigerated compartment and the unrefrigerated compartment;
processing information representative of the inventory of the refrigerated compartment and the unrefrigerated compartment so as to make a list of items which are to be replenished;
automatically communicating at least a portion of the list to at least one vendor to effect automatic ordering; and
restocking at least one of the refrigerated and the unrefrigerated compartments via an outdoor access thereto. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An intelligent refrigerator comprising:
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a refrigerated compartment for storing perishable food items;
an automated inventory system comprising;
a plurality of sensors configured to provide information representative of an inventory of the refrigerated compartment, at least one of the sensors further configured to trigger a start of a storage time in the refrigerated compartment; and
an inventory processor coupled to the sensors for processing the information representative of the inventory of the refrigerated compartment so as to make a list of items which are to be replenished, the inventory processor being configured to add an item to the list after the item has been in the refrigerated compartment for a predetermined length of time. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method for automatically maintaining a desired inventory of consumable items in a refrigerator, the method comprising the steps of:
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sensing information representative of an inventory of the refrigerator;
trigerring a start of storage time for the inventory of refrigerator; and
processing information representative of the inventory of refrigerator so as to make a list of items which are to be replenished, the inventory processor being configured to add an item to the list after the item has been in the refrigerator for a predetermined length of time. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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Specification