Electronic care and content clothing label
First Claim
1. A method of operating a washing machine with the aid of a processor, comprising:
- providing the processor with a database comprising at least a garment identification (ID), and care and content information for a garment;
determining, by the processor, information encoded in the garment, the information comprising the garment identification (ID) stored within a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag within the garment;
retrieving, by the processor, from the database care and content information of the garment associated with the garment ID, the care and content information comprising washing instructions for the garment;
receiving, by the processor, from the database an update to the care and content information of the garment and reducing consumption of non-sustainable materials contained in a clothing label by avoiding re-creation of the clothing label;
automatically grouping the garment with a plurality of garments having the same washing instructions; and
operating, by the processor, the washing machine in accordance with the care and content information for the garment.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The technology disclosed here encodes a clothing item ID as an alphanumeric code within the clothing item, such as within a radio-frequency identification tag. A clothing item cleaning appliance, such as a cell phone, or a washing machine reads the clothing item ID from the clothing item, and retrieves the care and content information from a database maintained on a cloud. For example, the care and content information can include operating settings of the washing machine. The washing machine can adjust its settings and wash the clothing item in accordance with the care and content information of the clothing item. The care and content information stored in the database can be organized in optimized data structures enabling efficient responses to received queries, and efficient updates to the information stored in the data structures.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of operating a washing machine with the aid of a processor, comprising:
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providing the processor with a database comprising at least a garment identification (ID), and care and content information for a garment; determining, by the processor, information encoded in the garment, the information comprising the garment identification (ID) stored within a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag within the garment; retrieving, by the processor, from the database care and content information of the garment associated with the garment ID, the care and content information comprising washing instructions for the garment; receiving, by the processor, from the database an update to the care and content information of the garment and reducing consumption of non-sustainable materials contained in a clothing label by avoiding re-creation of the clothing label; automatically grouping the garment with a plurality of garments having the same washing instructions; and operating, by the processor, the washing machine in accordance with the care and content information for the garment.
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2. A method comprising:
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obtaining, by a processor, information encoded in a clothing item, the information comprising a clothing item identification (ID); retrieving, by the processor, from a database care and content information of the clothing item, the care and content information associated with the clothing item ID in the database; receiving, by the processor, from the database an update to the care and content information of the clothing item and reducing consumption of non-sustainable materials contained in a clothing label by avoiding re-creation of the clothing label; automatically grouping the clothing item with a plurality of clothing items having care and content information corresponding to the care and content information of the clothing item; and operating, by the processor, a clothing item cleaning appliance in accordance with the care and content information associated with the clothing item ID. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system comprising:
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a code reader obtaining information encoded in a clothing item, the information comprising an identification (ID) of the clothing item; a receiving module obtaining the ID from the code reader; a database communication module retrieving from a database care and content information for the clothing item, the care and content information associated with the ID in the database, and the database communication module receiving an update to the care and content information of the clothing item from the database; an appliance communication module; automatically grouping the clothing item with a plurality of clothing items having care and content information corresponding to the care and content information of the clothing item; and the appliance communication module operating a clothing item cleaning appliance in accordance with the care and content information of the clothing item. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method comprising:
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obtaining, by a processor, information encoded in a clothing item, the information comprising a clothing item identification (ID); retrieving, by the processor, from a database care and content information of the clothing item, the care and content information associated with the clothing item ID in the database; receiving, by the processor, from the database an update to the care and content information of the clothing item thereby reducing consumption of non-sustainable materials contained in a clothing label by avoiding re-creation of the clothing label; and operating, by the processor, a clothing item cleaning appliance in accordance with the care and content information associated with the clothing item ID.
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Specification