Method for operating a floor-cleaning device and floor-cleaning device

• US 10,478,037 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2016
• Issued: 11/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robart GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robart GmbH
• Inventors: Duenne, Markus, Schahpar, Michael, Artes, Harold
• Primary Examiner(s): Kornakov, Mikhail
• Assistant Examiner(s): Campbell, Natasha N
• Application Number:
  US15/014,778
• Publication Number:
  US 20160150933A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,385 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/06 Control of the cleaning action for autonomous devices; Automatic detection of the surface condition before, during or after cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2805 Parameters or conditions being sensed
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2894 Details related to signal transmission in suction cleaners
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30

Abstract

A method for operating a self-propelling and self-steering floor-cleaning device is provided, wherein at least one map of at least one room to be cleaned is storable in a storage unit of the floor-cleaning device, as is a user-predeterminable cleaning plan having one or more cleaning tasks, wherein at least one cleaning task is associated with a particular room that is identifiable from a map, and the floor-cleaning device is placed in a room. In order to provide a method of this kind that enables efficient execution of the cleaning plan, when the cleaning plan is executed, the floor-cleaning device determines whether the room in which it is placed is the particular room, and, if the result of this determination is negative, performance of the cleaning task is not carried out, is interrupted, or is ended. A floor-cleaning device for performing the method is also provided.

Claims

1. A method for operating a self-propelling and self-steering floor-cleaning device, wherein at least one map of at least one room to be cleaned is stored in a storage unit of the floor-cleaning device, as is a user-predeterminable cleaning plan having one or more cleaning tasks, wherein at least one cleaning task is associated with a particular room that is identifiable from the at least one map, and the floor-cleaning device is placed in a room, the method comprising:

when the cleaning plan is executed, analyzing, with a control unit of the floor-cleaning device, at least one sensor signal of a sensor unit of the floor-cleaning device for features indicative of the room the floor-cleaning device is in;

checking for presence of the features in the at least one map stored in the storage unit; and

determining whether the room in which the floor-cleaning device is placed is the particular room;

wherein, if the result of this determination is negative, performance of the cleaning task associated with the particular room is not carried out, is interrupted or is ended.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the floor-cleaning device determines, before the start of performing the cleaning task, whether the floor-cleaning device is located in the particular room.

3. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein, if the result of determination is negative, the floor-cleaning device sends a communication thereof to the user.

4. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the floor-cleaning device makes a change to the cleaning plan if the result of the determination is negative.

5. The method in accordance with claim 4, wherein the cleaning task is deleted from the cleaning plan, or is deferred in a sequence of cleaning tasks in the cleaning plan.

6. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the floor-cleaning device determines whether a map of the room in which it is positioned is stored in the storage unit, and whether the cleaning plan has a cleaning task associated with this room, and wherein if so this cleaning task is performed.

7. The method in accordance with claim 6, wherein the method is performed if the rooms are physically separated from one another and there are physical limits in the maps associated with the rooms.

8. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein, if the result of determination is negative, cleaning of the room in which the floor-cleaning device is located is performed, regardless of whether the cleaning plan has a cleaning task associated with this room.

9. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein, in order to determine in which room the floor-cleaning device is located, at least one of a position of the room in at least one spatial dimension, an orientation of the room, features of boundaries of the room, features of a floor surface of the room, features of objects arranged or included in the room, features of a charging station that is arranged in the room for the floor-cleaning device and features of an emptying station that is arranged in the room for the floor-cleaning device are taken into consideration.

10. The method in accordance with claim 9, wherein objects that are arranged in the room are identified by reference to at least one mark or labeling that is detected by the floor-cleaning device.

11. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein, to determine in which room the floor-cleaning device is located, at least one of a height sensor, a position sensor, a compass sensor, an optical sensor, a magnetic field sensor, an acoustic sensor, an electromagnetic sensor and a touch sensor is used by the floor-cleaning device.

12. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the signals of two or more sensors are analyzed to find out whether the floor-cleaning device is located in the particular room, and a negative determination is only established if the analysis of the signals of the two or more sensors gives the result that this is not the case.

13. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein height information is stored in combination with or as a component of a map of a room.

14. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein maps of rooms are created by the floor-cleaning device and are stored in the storage unit, the maps being linked to the respective rooms.

15. A self-propelling and self-steering floor-cleaning device comprising:

a travelling gear configured to move the floor-cleaning device on a floor surface;

a cleaning unit configured to clean the floor surface;

a control unit coupled to the travelling gear and the cleaning unit;

a storage unit that is coupled to the control unit, at least one map of at least one room to be cleaned as well as a user-predeterminable cleaning plan having one or more cleaning tasks stored in the storage unit, at least one cleaning task being associated with a particular room that is identifiable from a map; and

a sensor unit that is coupled to the control unit;

wherein, when the cleaning plan is executed, the control unit;

is configured to analyze at least one sensor signal of the sensor unit for features indicative of the room the floor-cleaning device is in;

is configured to check for presence of the features in the at least one map stored in the storage unit; and

is configured to determine whether the room in which the floor-cleaning device is placed is the particular room; and

wherein, if the result of this determination is negative, the control unit is configured to not carry out, interrupt or end performance of the cleaning task associated with the particular room.

16. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 15, wherein, before the start of performance of the cleaning task, it is determined whether the floor-cleaning device is located in the particular room.

17. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 15, wherein the floor-cleaning device includes a communication unit that is coupled to the control unit, and wherein, if the result of determination is negative, a communication thereof is transmissible to a user.

18. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 15, wherein, if the result of determination is negative, a change in the cleaning plan is made by the control unit.

19. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 18, wherein the cleaning task is deleted from the cleaning plan or is deferred in a sequence of cleaning tasks in the cleaning plan.

20. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 15, wherein it is determinable by the control unit whether a map of the room in which the floor-cleaning device is positioned is stored in the storage unit, and whether the cleaning plan has a cleaning task associated with this room, and wherein if so this cleaning task is performed by the floor-cleaning device.

21. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 20, wherein the cleaning task is performed if the rooms are physically separated from one another and there are physical limits in the maps associated with the rooms.

22. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 15, wherein, if the result of determination is negative, cleaning of the room in which the floor-cleaning device is located is performable by the floor-cleaning device regardless of whether the cleaning plan has a cleaning task associated with this room.

23. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 15, wherein, in order to determine in which room the floor-cleaning device is located, at least one of a position of the room in at least one spatial dimension, an orientation of the room, features of boundaries of the room, features of a floor surface of the room, features of objects arranged or included in the room, features of a charging station that is arranged in the room for the floor-cleaning device and features of an emptying station that is arranged in the room for the floor-cleaning device are taken into consideration.

24. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 23, wherein objects that are arranged in the room are identified by reference to at least one mark or labeling that is detectable by the floor-cleaning device by means of the sensor unit.

25. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 15, wherein the sensor unit includes at least one of a height sensor, a position sensor, a compass sensor, an optical sensor, an acoustic sensor, a magnetic field sensor, an electromagnetic sensor and a touch sensor.

26. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 15, wherein the signals of two or more sensors of the sensor unit are analyzable by the control unit to find out whether the floor-cleaning device is located in the particular room, and a negative determination is only established if the analysis of the signals of the two or more sensors gives the result that this is not the case.

27. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 15, wherein height information is storable in combination with or as a component of a map of a room.

28. The floor-cleaning device in accordance with claim 15, wherein maps of rooms are generable by the floor-cleaning device and are storable in the storage unit, the maps being linked to the respective rooms.