Patent ID: 11965771
Assignee: WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  F | IPC F  G

Claim 17:
18. An inventory control system for a refrigerator comprising:
a cabinet defining an exterior configured for resting on a surface and an interior;
a door affixed with the cabinet and moveable between an open position and a closed position with respect to the cabinet;
a plurality of mounting blocks disposed in respective locations along a bottom surface of the cabinet and each affixed to the cabinet by at least a first bolt extending through a first hole in the mounting block;
a plurality of feet coupled with the cabinet along a bottom surface thereof each of the feet including a sleeve defining an upper surface, adjustably supporting a respective lower surface of the foot, and attached to the bottom surface of the cabinet by attachment with a respective one of the plurality of mounting blocks, each by at least a second bolt received in a second hole in the respective one of the plurality of mounting blocks and configured to retain the sleeve with the mounting block such that the sleeve is slidably moveable toward and away from the bottom surface of the cabinet;
a plurality of load transducers respectively received within a portion of each of the plurality of mounting blocks and disposed between the cabinet and respective ones of the upper surface of a respective one of the sleeves associated with each of the feet, the slidably moveable attachment of the sleeve to the respective mounting block being such that the upper surface of the sleeve is vertically moveable into contact with the respective one of the plurality of load transducers when supported on a surface by the feet to apply respective portions of the gross weight of the cabinet to each of the plurality of load transducers; and
electronic circuitry including a non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to:
receive a detection signal from the one or more load transducers;
determine that the door of the refrigerator is in the open position using information obtained from the plurality of load transducers and determine an inventory change inside of the refrigerator based on a detected change in a gross weight of the cabinet;
access a stock memory to generate an output indicative of a current inventory in the refrigerator; and

determine that the door of the refrigerator is in the closed position using information obtained from the plurality of load transducers and determine a condition where the gross weight of the cabinet includes an external object weight attributable to an additional object positioned on the exterior of the cabinet when the door is in the closed position and subtract the external object weight from the gross weight of the cabinet prior to generating the output indicative of the current inventory in the refrigerator.