Household appliance interfaceable with a biometric monitoring system

• US 9,687,150 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2015
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool EMEA SpA (Whirlpool Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Whirpool EMEA SPA
• Inventors: Matarazzi, Filippo, Ratti, Carlo Filippo, Pedrazzo, Marco Maria
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): MORTELL, JOHN F
• Application Number:
  US14/677,100
• Publication Number:
  US 20150282710A1
• Time in Patent Office: 817 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: F24C 7/08 Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: F24C 7/085 on baking ovens
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2500/06 Stock management
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2700/04 Sensors detecting the presence of a person
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2700/08 Sensors using Radio Frequency Identification [RFID]
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 29/00 Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices

Abstract

The present invention relates to a household appliance (301) comprising means (302) for obtaining at least one piece of information about at least one food (303) with which the household appliance (301) is interacting, and further configured for transmitting (304) the piece of information to a biometric monitoring system (101, 601) of a user (201).

Claims

1. A household appliance comprising:

an image sensor configured to acquire one or more images of at least one food interacting with the household appliance;

a processor configured to utilize the acquired images of the least one food to derive at least one piece of information about the at least one food with which said household appliance is interacting; and

a module configured for transmitting said at least one piece of information about the at least one food to a biometric monitoring system of a user.

2. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein said biometric monitoring system comprises monitoring means for monitoring at least one vital parameter of the user in real time.

3. The household appliance according to claim 2, wherein said monitoring means comprise at least one of a photoplethysmograph, a thermometer, a dermal electrode, and an accelerometer.

4. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein said at least one piece of information about the at least one food comprises at least one of a food typology and a food preparation typology.

5. The household appliance according to claim 4, wherein the food preparation typology comprises information about a preparation cycle being carried out by said household appliance.

6. The household appliance according to claim 4, wherein the image sensor is a visible or invisible image sensor and the processor is configured to gather said at least one piece of information about the at least one food without contact.

7. The household appliance according to claim 1, comprising wireless transmission means for transmitting said at least one piece of information about the at least one food via a Bluetooth protocol or a WiFi protocol.

8. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein said biometric monitoring system comprises a device wearable by said user.

9. The household appliance according to claim 8, wherein said household appliance is configured to transmit said at least one piece of information about the at least one food directly to said device wearable by said user.

10. The household appliance according to claim 8, wherein said biometric monitoring system further comprises a processing device, wherein said household appliance is configured to transmit said at least one piece of information about the at least one food to said processing device, and wherein said device wearable by said user is configured to transmit biometric information to said processing device.

11. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein said household appliance comprises an oven, and said at least one piece of information about the at least one food relates to a food being cooked in said oven.

12. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein a display of the biometric monitoring system displays selected data based on utilizing the at least one piece of information about the at least one food in conjunction with particular information associated with vital information regarding at least one vital parameter of the user.

13. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein said biometric monitoring system of the user is configured to store at least one piece of information about the at least one food.