CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0017962, filed on Feb. 15, 2019, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for treating garments, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for treating garments by communicating with a monitoring device.

2. Description of Related Art

In general, garment treatment apparatuses are home appliances for treating garments and may include a washer, a dryer, and the like. The garment treatment apparatuses may be classified into apparatuses having a drum standing in a vertical direction and apparatuses having a drum lying in a horizontal direction. The garment treatment apparatuses need to effectively treat garments by controlling a strength and a treatment time for treating the garments while rotating a drum accommodating the garments therein.

Accordingly, there is demand for a technique capable of effectively treating the garments in the drum by more accurately monitoring a state of the garments in the drum while treating the garments.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, provided are an apparatus and method for treating garments by using movement information of a monitoring device moving in a drum together with the garments.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, provided are a garment treatment apparatus and method capable of adjusting a motion of a drum by using movement information of a monitoring device moving in the drum together with garments.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, provided are a garment treatment apparatus and method capable of adjusting a garment treatment time by using movement information of a monitoring device moving in the drum together with garments.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, provided are a garment treatment apparatus and method capable of disentangling garments by using movement information of a monitoring device moving in the drum together with the garments.

Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the presented embodiments of the disclosure.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, a method, performed by a garment treatment apparatus, of controlling an operation of the garment treatment apparatus includes: establishing wireless communication with a monitoring device placed inside a drum of the garment treatment apparatus; rotating the drum to treat garments; receiving movement information associated with movement of the monitoring device from the monitoring device during the rotating of the drum; and controlling the rotating of the drum based on the movement information received, wherein the monitoring device moves in the drum, that is rotating, together with the garments in the garment treatment apparatus.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, a garment treatment apparatus includes: a communication interface configured to wirelessly communicate with a monitoring device; a drum configured to accommodate garments and the monitoring device therein; a memory storing one or more instructions; and a controller configured to execute the one or more instructions stored in the memory, wherein the controller is further configured, by executing the one or more instructions, to establish wireless communication with the monitoring device placed inside the drum, rotate the drum to treat the garments, receive movement information associated with movement of the monitoring device from the monitoring device during the rotating of the drum, and control the rotating of the drum based on the movement information received, wherein, in a case where the drum is rotating, the monitoring device moves in the drum together with the garments in the garment treatment apparatus.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, a monitoring device configured to be placed inside a garment treatment apparatus includes: a communication interface configured to wirelessly communicate with the garment treatment apparatus; a sensor; a memory storing one or more instructions; and a processor configured to execute the one or more instructions stored in the memory, wherein the processor is further configured, by executing the one or more instructions, to form wireless communication with the garment treatment apparatus, sense movement of the monitoring device caused by rotation of a drum of the garment treatment apparatus during the rotation, of the drum, and provide sensing data associated with the movement of the monitoring device to the garment treatment apparatus, wherein, in a case where the drum is rotating, the monitoring device moves in the drum together with garments in the garment treatment apparatus, and the sensing data that is provided, is used by the garment treatment apparatus to control the rotation of the drum to treat the garments.

