Sberbank officially “received the go-ahead” from Rospatent for the production of smart refrigerators. The initiative to release smart technology was made by the technical director of the bank Alexey Eroshkin at the end of 2018. And now, when Rospatent considered and officially approved the application, the company may prohibit the import of such smart refrigerators into Russia.
What can a patented smart device do? Many sensor sensors and cameras enable the user to monitor the status of products and their quantity in the refrigerator. When food supplies are running out or expired, the equipment informs the owner through a mobile application. Then the user makes a decision: to buy products in the store on their own or to set up an automatic order by indicating the type of products and the required quantity.
The smart fridge communicates with other devices via cellular or Wi-Fi. And the user receives all the necessary information and information about the refrigerator and its contents through the same application or web-interface.
According to lawyers, Sberbank got the right not to invent a smart refrigerator, but to a utility model. That is, having this document in hand, the bank receives the legal right to prohibit the sale, production or import into the territory of the Russian Federation of refrigerators with the above technical specifications. Therefore, there is every chance that our compatriots may not see smart refrigerators of brands such as Samsung, LG and Bosch in the next 10 years.
Representatives of the bank themselves hastened to report that the release of refrigerators is not yet included in their plans. A patent is needed if the company decides to develop the direction of smart technology in the future. But whether representatives of Sberbank are using the right to ban smart refrigerators of other brands is not yet known.