Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.

Hyeonsoo Moon

Je Kwon Yoon

Khalid Jamal Mashal

Myunggeon Chung

Suzy Kwak

Hoyoung Lee

Jeonghoon Lee

Wonmyung Seo

JaeHyo Lee

Austin Horn

Noushin Mir

A laundry treatment appliance includes a cabinet; a wash tub; a wash basket; and a controller provided within the cabinet to direct a laundry operation. The laundry operation includes receiving a plurality of wash requests from a plurality of unique users, wherein each wash request of the plurality of wash requests comprises an image of a unique laundry load; analyzing, by one or more computing devices using a machine learning image recognition model, each image to evaluate one or more laundry load characteristics of a first unique laundry load and a second unique laundry load; matching a first unique user and a second unique user from the plurality of users, the first user and the second user having a matching laundry load characteristic from the one or more laundry load characteristics; and generating a joint washing cycle subsequent to matching the first and second unique users.

Laundry treatment appliance and method of using the same according to matched laundry loads

A method of operating a washing machine appliance may include obtaining one or more images of the washing machine appliance from a camera assembly of a remote device spaced apart from the cabinet. The method may also include receiving a plurality of angle readings from the remote device and determining a position of the remote device relative to the washing machine appliance based on the plurality of angle readings. The method may further include determining a set camera angle for the camera assembly is met based on the determined position of the remote device. The method may still further include analyzing at least one obtained image using a machine learning image recognition process, estimating a load attribute of a load of clothes within the washing machine appliance based on the analysis, and directing a wash cycle within the washing machine appliance based on the estimated load attribute.

Systems and methods using image recognition processes and determined device orientation for improved operation of a laundry appliance

A method may include obtaining one or more images of the washing machine appliance from a camera assembly of a remote device and detecting a fiducial reference on a front portion of the washing machine appliance within the one or more images. The method may also include comparing the detected fiducial reference to a two-dimensional reference shape in an obtained image of the images and determining a set camera angle for the camera assembly is met based on the comparison in the obtained image. The method may further include analyzing the obtained image using a machine learning image recognition process and estimating a load attribute of a load of clothes within the washing machine appliance based on the analysis. The method may still further include directing a wash cycle within the washing machine appliance based on the estimated load attribute.

Systems and methods using image recognition processes for improved operation of a laundry appliance

A washing machine appliance may include a wash tub, a wash basket, a dispensing assembly, a water hardness sensor, a camera assembly, and a controller. The wash tub may be positioned within a cabinet. The water hardness sensor may be mounted in fluid communication with the wash tub. The camera assembly may be spaced apart from the wash tub. The controller may be communicatively coupled to the water hardness sensor and the camera assembly. The controller may be configured to direct a washing operation. The washing operation may include identifying a wash additive provided to the washing machine appliance, determining a water hardness level of water provided to the washing machine appliance, determining a cycle additive volume based on the identified wash additive and the determined water hardness level, and dispensing the determined cycle additive volume within the wash tub.

Washing machine appliance and methods for varying dispensing based on water hardness

A washing machine appliance includes a wash basket that is rotatably mounted within a wash tub and that defines a wash chamber for receiving a load of clothes. A dispensing assembly selectively dispenses wash fluid through a discharge nozzle into the wash tub and a camera assembly is used to monitor the wash fluid and diagnose issues related to the detergent quantity. Specifically, a controller of the washing machine appliance uses the camera assembly to obtain one or more images of the load of clothes as fresh water is dispensed to determine whether detergent was added manually. The controller further determines whether a smart dispense feature is activated or deactivated and implements a responsive action in response to determining that either 1) detergent is present and the smart dispense feature is activated or 2) detergent is not present and the smart dispense feature is deactivated.

Systems and methods for using artificial intelligence for detergent diagnostics in a washing machine appliance

A washing machine appliance includes a wash basket that is rotatably mounted within a wash tub and that defines a wash chamber for receiving a load of clothes. A camera assembly is used to monitor articles for washing within the wash basket. Specifically, a controller of the washing machine appliance uses the camera assembly to obtain a reference image and one or more test images, which utilize image recognition to assess turn-over of the articles for washing during a given wash cycle. When turn-over performance is inadequate, a controller may adjust one or more operating parameters of the wash cycle to improve performance. Turn-over performance of the wash cycle is determined to be adequate once the image recognition process fails to find adequate correlation between the reference image and the test image a predetermined number of times.

Systems and methods for monitoring turn-over performance

A method of operating a washing machine appliance may include obtaining one or more images of an external basket spaced apart from the washing machine appliance from a camera assembly and analyzing an obtained image of the one or more images using an image recognition process to estimate a fill level of a load of clothes within the external basket. The method may further include matching the estimated fill level to an estimated load size and directing a wash cycle within the washing machine appliance based on the estimated load size.

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Seoul, South Korea

Hyeonsoo Moon