Interactive Refrigerator Manager
Sal Amato, John Martelle, Jake Thibault, Charles Steiner, George Lehaf
E-322 Homework 7
April 13, 2012
Implementation Block Diagram:
Functional Block Diagram:
Hardware:
Software:
How it works: You will be faced with the home display of the tablet where you can choose from
the options of what you would like to accomplish. The most used function would be the imaging
of the products you buy for your fridge. You can accomplish this by selecting the corresponding
function on the home display. This function works in a few steps. First the processor registers the
function you chose. Then it initializes the 3 MP CMOS camera and corresponding camera
display. When you take the picture, the processor then uses the 802.11 WiFI transmitter to send
it to our dedicated SQL servers and other computers running image processing software. After
the computer does the image processing, it will query our database to retrieve the product
information then store it in the corresponding customers account storage. This information will
stay in the account until the food is cooked or it has gone bad. In the latter case our servers will
send a message to the tablet alerting the customer that they should remove the item and then it
will direct the customer to sales that might be going on in their area.
Best Design
The two distinctive implementation block diagrams depicted above describe both the software
and hardware components of our system. Therefore, they will be combined as a whole to create
our project. This design is optimal because we allow both hardware and software entities to
connect to alike attributes. For instance, they both connect to the internet to reach the server,
another processor, and the database. Combining the entities, the design will be more simple and
efficient. From viewing the two diagrams, it can be seen that from the top-level of our design,
both software and hardware have similar features and will be implemented together smoothly for
a great design.
Design Constraints
A) Economic- Constraints regarding economic variables will rely heavily on the status of the
economy. This is a very high-tech technology equipment and therefore will also cost
significantly more than a normal refrigerator. There is also the factor that refrigerators last a
normal of at least 7 years. Therefore, if customers can’t install this technology directly into their
current refrigerator system, then this product won’t be purchased until customers are in need of a
new fridge. There will be exceptions for consumers who enjoy having the latest technology.
However, since both refrigerator and tablets are both expensive amounts of equipment, the
economy is the biggest constraint our product will face.
B) Environmental- Normal environmental constraints include pollution, traffic issues, poor
infrastructure, and lack of adequate resources. Concerning the interactive refrigerator system, the
only environmental issues that arrive would involve power and wireless database capabilities.
The issues concerning power will arise when power grids fail and any loss of electricity occurs.
For this product to be successful, the customers must have a reliable power source that can
power up both the refrigerator and tablet. This is a low-risk constraint since it is normally not
found to be an issue. The second possible issue would involve wireless database capabilities
because if the surrounding environment of the refrigerator location has no wireless capabilities,
many of the functions become useless. This is more of a medium-risk issue, but it is normal that
wireless capabilities are now found in most surround locations.
C) Health and Safety- Constraints in this area can heavily affect our product. Due to the fact that
our system is a food storage system and that the tablet technology will be controlling many
different variables affect the refrigerator, it is possible for many errors to arise. For instance, if
there is a glitch that occurs in the program, it can control the temperature of the refrigerator and
spoil foods which can cause sickness to the customer. There is also the issue of the tablet
powering down. The product will have to have the capability of running the refrigerator without
the need of the tablet 100% of the time. Both of these risks will be low after careful
programming is applied.
D) Manufacturability--There will not be many manufacturing constraints regarding this project
due to the fact that both refrigerators and tablets are current products. Combining the two
together will involve some integration and small tweaks within the product designs. However,
these issues are expected and will not cause any issues.
E) Sustainability--Sustainability regarding the refrigerator will not be an issue since that part of
the product will highly reflect the refrigerator systems that are currently developed and lasting
years in the world. However, there is a possible issue when considering the life span of a tablet
versus the life span of a refrigerator. When a fridge is expected to last for at least 7 years, most
tablets are expected to last around 2 years. Since we are not creating a tablet in itself, it will be
looked at to incorporate a method to allow tablets to be replaceable within the refrigerator. This
way, the entire technology won’t die down after 2 years and will be able to last the normal 7 year
life span of a stand refrigerator.
Professional and Ethical Responsibilities
Ethical responsibilities include both environmental and economic responsibility. In order for a
company to be marketable it must have a strong public relations department. Environmentalists
are always looking for ways to shut down factories and fir corporations for adherence to
standards. Open and honest communication is key to successful PR. Along with these inherent
responsibilities ethical standards must be set and met by all employees. The choice of design
(where components come from and how they are assembled) can have a very strong ethical
impact. In the case of the interactive refrigerator manager no one can directly be harmed by the
product in its intended purpose (unlike a weapon), however the manufacturing process can have
a great impact on people. Choice of components and location of plant are all factors that could
affect people and therefore become ethical in nature.
Multidisciplinary teamwork planning
The project will be broken up and will require engineers of EE, ME, and CE fields. The EE’s
will concentrate on the integration between the tablet and the refrigerator, the application of all
the electrical devices, and the connection to the internet. The CE’s will concentrate on the
development of the online database, the online storage area, and the programming concerned
within this project. The ME’s will only have a small responsibility of fitting the tablet and
refrigerator in the most optimal design.
SWOT
Strength- Easy to use, Environmentally safe, inexpensive, new technology, appealing, mostly
recyclable, high-tech design features
Weakness- Programming from scratch, Creating database from scratch, Using external company
for online database at first
Opportunity- Opportunity for a new technology that could hit big on the market, also room for
expansion to other applications using same idea behind the technology
Threats- Integrating with a large amount of different refrigerator companies will be difficult