Refrigerator and method for operating the same
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsYoung Hoon Roh, Jung Ho Kim, Jin Chul Cho
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigerator and a method for operating the same. The refrigerator comprises a single media controller installed on a single board together with a refrigerator microcomputer, which controls the entire operation of the refrigerator, for not only displaying information regarding internal environments of the refrigerator on a display unit installed on the outer surface of the refrigerator, but also connecting the refrigerator to an external network, such as the Internet, to enable a user to access the Internet through the refrigerator. Therefore, the refrigerator can be reduced in its assembling time and manufacturing cost and be increased in its assembling efficiency.
Claims11
A refrigerator comprising:
- a microcomputer that controls refrigerating and freezing environments of said refrigerator;
- a display unit that displays information regarding an operating state of said refrigerator;
- a media controller, connectable to an external network, that processes the operating state information for display on said display unit, said media controller and said microcomputer being installed on a single board;
- an input/output unit that inputs signals to and outputs signals from said microcomputer;
- a chipset that controls the input and output signals;
- and
- a central processing unit that processes the signals controlled by the chipset for display on said display unit.
A method for operating a refrigerator, comprising:
- receiving a multimedia associated command at a microcomputer and transmitting the multimedia associated command to a media controller, said microcomputer controlling operation of said refrigerator, and said media controller controlling a multimedia function of said refrigerator;
- processing the multimedia associated command at said media controller, the processing comprising converting a format of the multimedia associated command into a format of said media controller and determining a media type of the format-converted multimedia associated command;
- and
- controlling output of said media controller in accordance with results of the processing.
A method for operating a refrigerator, comprising:
- inputting a refrigerator control command to a media controller and transmitting the inputted command to a microcomputer via a bi-directional buffer, said media controller controlling a multimedia function of said refrigerator, said microcomputer controlling operation of said refrigerator;
- and
- managing and controlling said refrigerator by said microcomputer in response to the transmitted command.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.