US 11,940,211 B2
Refrigerator appliance with smart door alarm
Haitian Hu, Louisville, KY (US); and Hairong Li, Louisville, KY (US)
Assigned to Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc., Wilmington, DE (US)
Filed by Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc., Wilmington, DE (US)
Filed on Feb. 14, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/670,803.
Prior Publication US 2023/0258398 A1, Aug. 17, 2023
Int. Cl. F25D 29/00 (2006.01)
CPC F25D 29/008 (2013.01) [F25D 2700/02 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operating a refrigerator appliance, the refrigerator appliance comprising a cabinet defining a food storage chamber with a door movably coupled to the cabinet whereby the door is movable between a closed position where the food storage chamber is at least partially enclosed by the door and an open position where the door permits access to the food storage chamber, and a sensor operable to detect a presence and identity of a user, the method comprising:
downloading an initial version of an intentional door opening detection software from a remote server;
detecting an opening of the door after downloading the initial version of the intentional door opening detection software from the remote server;
obtaining an input with the sensor after detecting the opening of the door, the sensor comprising a camera assembly, the input comprising an image of the user;
determining the identity of the user by comparing the image of the user to a stored image of a known user;
determining that the opening of the door was intentional, wherein determining that the opening of the door was intentional comprises receiving a user input that indicates the opening of the door was intentional;
disabling a door alarm of the refrigerator appliance temporarily based on the determination that the opening of the door was intentional;
transmitting the input obtained from the sensor and the identity of the user to the remote server from the refrigerator appliance after determining that the opening of the door was intentional;
building an updated version of the intentional door opening detection software by the remote server based on the input obtained from the sensor and the identity of the user; and
transmitting the updated version of the intentional door opening detection software from the remote server to the refrigerator appliance.