# US 11,993,892 B2 · Laundry folding appliance including a closet inventory management system

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- Number: US 11,993,892 B2
- Document ID: US11993892B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/203,077
- Filed: 2021-03-16
- Published: 2022-09-22
- Granted: 2024-05-28
- Earliest claimed: 2021-03-16
- Assignees: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.
- Applicants: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.
- Inventors: Nasib AlHaffar; Juan Manuel Huerta; Abdel Hamad
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11993892B2

## CPC

- D06F 89/02: of textile articles to be worn, e.g. shirts
- G06F 18/214: Generating training patterns; Bootstrap methods, e.g. bagging or boosting
- G06Q 10/087: Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
- G06Q 10/0877: {by inventory control or reporting using inventory tracking or counting}
- G06Q 30/0282: Rating or review of business operators or products
- G06T 1/0014: {Image feed-back for automatic industrial control, e.g. robot with camera (robots B25J19/023)}
- G06V 10/82: using neural networks
- G06V 20/52: Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects (recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69)
- D06F: LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING

## Abstract

A laundry folding appliance includes one or more folding panels mechanically coupled to a cabinet and at least partially defining a folding surface for receiving articles of clothing. An actuating assembly selectively pivots the folding panels to fold the articles of clothing and a camera assembly is positioned in view of the folding surface. A controller obtains one or more images using the camera assembly, identifies the laundry articles positioned on the folding surface by analyzing the one or more images using a laundry identification model, adds the laundry articles to a closet inventory list, and subsequently provides a clothing recommendation selected from the closet inventory list based at least in part on a recommendation model.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A laundry folding appliance comprising:
a cabinet;
one or more folding panels mechanically coupled to the cabinet and at least partially defining a folding surface;
an actuating assembly for selectively folding the one or more folding panels;
a camera assembly positioned in view of the folding surface; and
a controller operably coupled to the actuating assembly and the camera assembly, the controller being configured to:
obtain one or more images using the camera assembly;
identify one or more laundry articles positioned on the folding surface by analyzing the one or more images using a laundry identification model;
operate the actuating assembly to selectively pivot the one or more folding panels to fold the one or more laundry articles positioned on the folding surface;
add the one or more laundry articles to a closet inventory list; and
provide a clothing recommendation selected from the closet inventory list based at least in part on a recommendation model, wherein the recommendation model generates the clothing recommendation based at least in part on weather data.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 1, wherein the laundry identification model analyzes the one or more images using a machine learning image recognition process to identify the one or more laundry articles.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 2, wherein the machine learning image recognition process comprises at least one of a convolution neural network (“CNN”), a region-based convolution neural network (“R-CNN”), a deep belief network (“DBN”), or a deep neural network (“DNN”) image recognition process.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 2, wherein the machine learning image recognition process comprises at least one of image classification, image segmentation, key point detection, or feature extraction.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine when an article of clothing has been worn or used; and
remove the article of clothing from the closet inventory list.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 1, wherein the recommendation model generates the clothing recommendation based on the closet inventory list and at least one of a plurality of selection metrics.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 6, wherein the plurality of selection metrics comprises fashion algorithms or outfit combinations.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 1, wherein the recommendation model generates recommendations using at least one a contextual bandits approach, few shot learning, or decision trees.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 1, wherein the actuating assembly comprises:
a plurality of drive motors, each of the plurality of drive motors being mechanically coupled to one of the one or more folding panels for independently moving the one or more folding panels between a lowered position and a raised position.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 1, wherein the camera assembly comprises a camera mounted above the folding surface along a vertical direction.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 1, further comprising:
a user interface panel, wherein the clothing recommendation is provided through the user interface panel.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 1, wherein the controller is in operative communication with a remote device through an external network, and wherein the clothing recommendation is provided through the remote device.

### Claim 13

A method of operating a laundry folding appliance, the laundry folding appliance comprising one or more folding panels mechanically coupled to a cabinet and at least partially defining a folding surface, an actuating assembly for selectively folding the one or more folding panels, and a camera assembly positioned in view of the folding surface, the method comprising:
obtaining one or more images using the camera assembly;
identifying one or more laundry articles positioned on the folding surface by analyzing the one or more images using a laundry identification model;
operating the actuating assembly to selectively pivot the one or more folding panels to fold the one or more laundry articles positioned on the folding surface;
adding the one or more laundry articles to a closet inventory list; and
providing a clothing recommendation selected from the closet inventory list based at least in part on a recommendation model, wherein the recommendation model generates the clothing recommendation based at least in part on weather data.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the laundry identification model analyzes the one or more images using a machine learning image recognition process to identify the one or more laundry articles.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the machine learning image recognition process comprises at least one of a convolution neural network (“CNN”), a region-based convolution neural network (“R-CNN”), a deep belief network (“DBN”), or a deep neural network (“DNN”) image recognition process.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the machine learning image recognition process comprises at least one of image classification, image segmentation, key point detection, or feature extraction.

### Claim 17 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the recommendation model generates the clothing recommendation based on the closet inventory list and at least one of a plurality of selection metrics.

### Claim 18 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the recommendation model generates recommendations using at least a contextual bandits approach, few shot learning, or decision trees.

### Claim 19 (depends on 1)

The laundry folding appliance of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:
receive a user selection of one item of clothing; and
recommend a complementary garment to the one item of clothing selected by the user.

### Claim 20 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, further comprising:
receiving a user selection of one item of clothing; and
recommending a complementary garment to the one item of clothing selected by the user.