Patent ID: 11918131
Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
Field: Other consumer goods (Other fields)
Classification: CPC A  F  G | IPC A  F

Claim 0:
1. A refrigerator comprising:
a cabinet installable at a door or a wall, the cabinet having a storage compartment to store an article;
an outdoor-side door connected to a front surface of the cabinet to open or close the storage compartment;
an input portion disposed at one side of the outdoor-side door or the cabinet, the input portion being provided to input information therethrough;
a controller configured to control the input portion so that, when a set condition is satisfied, the input portion is activated so that the input of the information is enabled, and when another set condition is satisfied, the input portion is inactivated; and
a cold air supply device disposed in the cabinet, the cold air supply device to supply cold air to the storage compartment,
wherein the cold air supply device comprises:
a thermoelectric element;
a cold sink that is in contact with a heat absorption surface of the thermoelectric element;
a heat sink that is in contact with a heat generation surface of the thermoelectric element;
a cold air circulation fan disposed at a side of the cold sink to cause air of the storage compartment to forcibly flow so that the air of the storage compartment is heat-exchanged with the cold sink; and
a heat dissipation fan disposed at a side of the heat sink to cause the outside air to forcibly flow so that the outside air is heat-exchanged with the heat sink,

wherein the controller is configured to:
perform incoming authentication for releasing a lock state of the outdoor-side door when incoming authentication information is received through the input portion by matching with pre-stored incoming reference information, in a state in which the input portion is activated, and
perform of any one of deletion, initialization, or reset of the pre-stored reference information when the lock state of the door is released.