Method for processing a floor

• US 10,459,451 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2016
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vorwerk & Company Interholding Gesellschaft Mit Beschrã¤Nkter Haftung (Vorwerk & Company KG)
• Original Assignee: Vorwerk & Company Interholding Gesellschaft Mit Beschrã¤Nkter Haftung (Vorwerk & Company KG)
• Inventors: Hillen, Lorenz, Meggle, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Anwari, Maceeh
• Application Number:
  US15/564,525
• Publication Number:
  US 20180074509A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,303 Days
• Field of Search: 701 28
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0044 by providing the operator with a computer generated representation of the environment of the vehicle, e.g. virtual reality, maps maps used for automatic navigation G05D1/0274; flight directors G01C23/005
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0248 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0253 extracting relative motion information from a plurality of images taken successively, e.g. visual odometry, optical flow determining position or orientation from images G06T7/70
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30

Abstract

A method for processing, in particular cleaning, a floor of a room using an automatically movable processing device. A map of the room is generated and displayed to a user of the processing device, and the user can select at least one room sub-region in which the processing device is to process or refrain from processing the floor in the generated map. The aim of the invention is to provide a method for processing a floor, wherein the generated map of the room is easier to read for the user. This is achieved in that the map of the room is generated from three-dimensional coordinates of a world coordinate system, each point of a plurality of points of the room and/or of an obstacle arranged in the room being assigned to a three-dimensional coordinate within the world coordinates system.

Claims

1. A method for processing a floor (2) of a room using an automatically movable processing device (1), comprising the following steps:

calculating a three dimensional coordinate within a world coordinate system for each point of a plurality of points of the room and/or of an obstacle (7) arranged in the room,

generating a map of the room from the calculated three-dimensional coordinates, and

displaying the map (3) to a user of the processing device (1), the map being configured so that the user can select at least one sub-region of the room in which the processing device (1) is to process or refrain from processing the floor (2),

wherein the map (3) is displayed as two-dimensional map comprising coded, height information (6), wherein the height information (6) is height information (6) of an obstacle (7), and wherein codes of obstacles of different heights differ.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising measuring the room using a three-dimensionally pivotable laser distance sensor, which is arranged on the processing device (1).

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising measuring the room with a camera (4) arranged on the processing device (1).

4. The method according to claim 3, herein a first picture of the camera (4) is taken from a first room position (R1) of the processing device (1), and wherein a second picture is taken from a second room position (R2) of the processing device (1), wherein picture data contained in the first picture and the second picture are reduced to a plurality of points (5).

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of comparing the reduced picture data of the first picture and of the second picture to one another, and wherein the step of calculating the three-dimensional coordinate of the world coordinate system takes place by means of determining a distance (d) between the first room position (R1) and the second room position (R2) covered by the processing device (1) for each point (5) and/or each line.

6. The method according to claim 5, the step of determining the distance (d) between the first room position (R1) and the second room position (R2) is accomplished using a laser distance sensor, which is arranged on the processing device (1).

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the map (3) is displayed as grid map or line map.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the map (3) of the room is generated using an evaluating unit of the processing device (1).

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the map (3) of the room is generated using an evaluating unit of a mobile end device, which is in data connection with the processing device (1), and/or using an evaluating unit, which is integrated in a data communications network.