Intelligent shading system with movable base assembly

• US 10,542,799 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2017
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ShadeCraft, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ShadeCraft, LLC
• Inventors: Gharabegian, Armen Sevada
• Primary Examiner(s): Hess, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US15/492,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20170332750A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,013 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A45B 17/00 Tiltable umbrellas
• CPC Class Codes: A45B 2017/005 with additional rotation about a vertical axis
• CPC Class Codes: A45B 2023/0006 Portable, self supported sunshades or weather protections
• CPC Class Codes: A45B 2023/0012 Ground supported umbrellas or sunshades on a single post, e.g. resting in or on a surface there below
• CPC Class Codes: A45B 2025/003 Accessories not covered by groups A45B25/24 - A45B25/30
• CPC Class Codes: A45B 2200/1009 combined with other objects
• CPC Class Codes: A45B 2200/1018 with illuminating devices, e.g. electrical
• CPC Class Codes: A45B 2200/1027 with means for generating solar energy
• CPC Class Codes: A45B 25/143 automatic
• CPC Class Codes: A45B 25/18 Covers detachable A45B15/00; Means for fastening same
• CPC Class Codes: F24S 50/20 for tracking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/47 Mountings or tracking

Abstract

A shading system includes a base assembly, core assembly, a sensor expansion module coupled to the core assembly module, wherein the sensor expansion module includes one or more arm support assemblies; one or more arms connected to the one or more arm support assemblies. The base assembly includes one or more motors, one or more processors; one or more memory modules; a base motor controller; and computer-readable instructions, which when executed communicate movement direction and distance instructions to a base motor controller. The base assembly includes one or more motors, wherein the base motor controller converts the received movement direction and/or distance instructions to movement direction and/or distance commands, and communicates the movement direction and/or distance commands to the one or more motors to physically move the base assembly.

Claims

1. A base assembly, comprising:

a central support connector attached to a central support assembly of an umbrella; and

a base assembly body, the base assembly body comprising;

one or more processors, integrated within the base assembly body;

one or more memory modules, integrated within the base assembly body;

a base motor controller, integrated within the base assembly body;

computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions accessed from the one or memory modules and executable by the one or more processors to communicate instructions to the base motor controller; and

one or more motors communicatively coupled to the base motor controller, the one or more motors integrated within the base assembly body, wherein the one or more motors receive movement commands from the base motor controller related to movement of the base assembly,

wherein the base assembly body has a top surface and a bottom surface, the bottom surface to be positioned parallel with a ground surface and to rest on the ground surface and

the base assembly further comprising a drive assembly, mechanically coupled to the one or more motors, the drive assembly to generate a horizontal physical movement of the base assembly from a first physical location to a second physical location along the ground surface, wherein the computer-readable instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to;

receive sensor measurements from one or more sensor assemblies on a shading system coupled to the central support connector, wherein at least one of the sensor assemblies is located in a tubular section of the central support assembly and integrated in the central support assembly;

generate movement instructions based at least in part on the received sensor measurements; and

communicate the movement instructions to the drive assembly to cause the base assembly to move horizontally from the first physical location to the second physical location.

2. The base assembly of claim 1,

wherein the drive assembly comprises one or more shafts and one or more wheels, and

wherein the one or more motors cause rotation of the one or more shafts and the one or more shafts cause rotation of the one or more wheels to physically move the base assembly a specified horizontal distance and/or direction to the second physical location.

3. The base assembly of claim 1, wherein the drive assembly comprises a conveyer system and one or more treads, and

wherein the one or more motors cause rotation of the conveyer system and the conveyer system causes rotation of the one or more treads to physically move the base assembly a specified distance and/or direction.

4. The base assembly of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable instructions comprise pre-programmed instructions with specified movement direction values and distance instructions,

wherein the computer-readable instructions being executable by the one or more processors to generate additional movement instructions corresponding to the movement direction values and distance values and communicate the additional movement instructions to the base assembly motor controller.

5. The base assembly of claim 1, further comprising one or more environmental sensors that are integrated into the base assembly, the one or more environmental sensors to capture measurements of environmental conditions, and communicate the captured measurements to the one or more processors,

wherein the computer-readable instructions, being further executable by the one or more processors, to analyze the captured measurements of the environmental conditions, generate additional direction and distance movement instructions and communicate the generated additional direction and distance movement instructions to the base motor controller to cause the base assembly to move horizontally to a third physical location.

6. The base assembly of claim 1, further comprising one or more directional sensors that are integrated into the base assembly, the one or more directional sensors to calculate measurements related to location of the shading system and communicate the captured measurements related to location of the shading system to the one or more processors,

wherein the computer-readable instructions, being further executable by the one or more processors, to analyze the captured measurements related to location of the shading system, generate additional direction and distance movement instructions and communicate the generated additional direction and distance movement instructions to the base motor controller to cause the base assembly to move horizontally to a third physical location.

7. The base assembly of claim 1, further comprising one or more proximity sensors, the one or more proximity sensors to generate an indicator that an object is present near the base assembly and to calculate a location of the object, and communicate the generated indicator and the calculated location of the object to the one or more processors,

wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executable by the one or more processors, analyze the captured location of the object, generate direction and distance movement instructions, based at least in part on the captured location, and communicate the generated direction and distance movement instructions to the base motor controller to cause the base assembly to move horizontally to a third physical location.

8. The base assembly of claim 1, further comprising a wireless transceiver integrated within the base assembly, the wireless transceiver to receive generated direction and distance movement instructions from an external computing device and to communicate the received direction and distance movement instructions to the base motor controller to cause the base assembly to move horizontally to a third physical location.

9. A shading system, comprising:

a core assembly;

a sensor expansion module coupled to the core assembly module, wherein the sensor expansion module comprises;

one or more arm support assemblies;

one or more arms connected to the one or more arm support assemblies;

a shading fabric attached at least one of the one or more arms; and

one or more solar panel assemblies to convert solar energy into electrical energy; and

a base assembly, the base assembly coupled to the core assembly via a core assembly connector, the base assembly comprising;

one or more processors, integrated within the base assembly;

one or more memory modules, integrated within the base assembly;

a base motor controller, integrated within the base assembly body; and

computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions accessed from the one or memory modules and executable by the one or more processors to communicate movement direction and distance instructions to a base motor controller;

one or more motors, integrated within the base assembly body, communicatively coupled to the base motor controller, wherein the base motor controller converts the received movement direction and/or distance instructions to movement direction and/or distance commands, and communicates the movement direction and/or distance commands to the one or more motors to physically move the base assembly in a horizontal direction, based at least in part, on the received movement direction and distance commands

wherein the base assembly body has a top surface and a bottom surface, the bottom surface to be positioned parallel with a ground surface and to rest on the ground surface and

the base assembly further comprising a drive assembly, mechanically coupled to the one or more motors, the drive assembly to generate a horizontal physical movement of the base assembly from a first physical location to a second physical location along the ground surface; and

one or more environmental sensors that are integrated into the base assembly, the one or more environmental sensors to capture measurements of environmental conditions, and communicate the captured measurements to the one or more processors,

wherein the computer-readable instructions, being further executable by the one or more processors, to analyze the captured measurements of the environmental conditions, and based at least in part on the one or more analyses, generate direction and distance movement instructions and communicate the generated direction and distance movement instructions to the base motor controller to cause the base assembly to move horizontally to a third physical location.

10. The shading system of claim 9, further comprising one or more sensors, wherein one of the one or more sensors is a directional sensor which generates location measurements of the shading system, and

the computer-readable instructions being further executable by the one or more processors to analyze solar measurements from the one or more solar panel assemblies and the location measurements from the directional sensor to calculate a light source heading and to generate additional movement direction and/or distance instructions based, at least in part, on the solar measurements and the light source heading.

11. The shading system of claim 9, further comprising one or more sensors, wherein the one or more sensors are environmental sensors, the environmental sensors capturing measurements of environmental conditions in an area around the shading system and communicating the captured measurements of environmental conditions to the base assembly, and

the computer-readable instructions being further executable by the one or more processors to analyze the captured measurements of the environmental conditions, generate additional movement direction and distance instructions;

and communicate the generated movement direction and/or distance instructions to the base motor controller to cause the base assembly to move horizontally to a third physical location.

12. The shading system of claim 9, further comprising one or more sensors, wherein the one or more sensors are proximity sensors, the proximity sensors generating an indicator that an object is within an area of the shading system and calculating a location of the object with respect to the base assembly, and communicating the generated indicator and the calculated location of the object, and

the computer-readable instructions being further executable by the one or more processors to analyze the calculated location of the object, generate additional movement direction and distance instructions, based at least in part, on the calculated location of the object;

and communicate the generated additional movement direction and/or distance instructions to the base motor controller to cause the base assembly to move horizontally to a third physical location.

13. The shading system of claim 9,

wherein the core assembly further comprises one or more additional processors;

one or more additional memory modules; and

additional computer-readable instructions stored in the one or more additional memory modules;

the additional computer-implementable instructions accessed from the one or more additional memory modules and executable by the one or more processors to perform voice recognition on audio files or spoken commands received by the shading system, generate additional movement direction and distance instructions, based at least in part, on the audio files or spoken commands, and communicate the generated additional movement direction and/or distance instructions to the base motor controller to cause the base assembly to move horizontally to a third physical location.

14. The shading system of claim 9,

wherein the core assembly module further comprises one or more additional processors;

one or more additional memory modules; and

additional computer-readable instructions stored in the one or more additional memory modules;

the additional computer-implementable instructions accessed from the one or more additional memory modules and executable by the one or more processors to communicate audio files or spoken commands received by the shading system to a remote server for voice recognition, to receive from the remote server converted voice commands based, at least in part, on audio files or spoken commands, to generate the movement direction and distance instructions based at least in part on the converted voice commands, and communicate the generated movement direction and/or distance instructions to the base motor controller.

15. The shading system of claim 9, further comprising one or more sensors, wherein the one or more sensors are environmental sensors, the environmental sensors capturing measurements of environmental conditions in area around the shading system and communicating the captured measurements of environmental conditions;

wherein the core assembly further comprises one or more additional processors;

one or more additional memory modules; and

additional computer-readable instructions stored in the one or more additional memory modules; and

wherein the additional computer-readable instructions further executable by the processor to analyze the captured measurements of the environmental conditions, generate additional movement direction and distance instructions; and

communicate the generated additional movement direction and/or distance instructions to the base motor controller in the base assembly to cause the base assembly to move horizontally to a third physical location.

16. The shading system of claim 9,

further comprising one or more sensors, wherein the one or more sensors are proximity sensors, the proximity sensors generating an indicator an object is within an area of the shading system and calculating a location of the object and communicating the generated indicator and the calculated location of the object with respect to the shading system;

wherein the core assembly further comprises one or more additional processors;

one or more additional memory modules; and

additional computer-readable instructions stored in the one or more additional memory modules;

wherein the additional computer-readable instructions further executable by the one or more additional processors to analyze the calculated location of the object, generate additional movement direction and distance instructions based at least in part on the calculated location of the object; and

communicate the generated additional movement direction and/or distance instructions to the base motor controller to cause the base assembly to move horizontally to a third physical location.

17. A shading system, comprising:

a core assembly;

a sensor expansion module coupled to the core assembly module, wherein the sensor expansion module comprises;

one or more arm support assemblies;

one or more arms connected to the one or more arm support assemblies;

a shading fabric attached at least one of the one or more arms; and

one or more solar panel assemblies to convert solar energy into electrical energy; and

a base assembly, the base assembly coupled to the core assembly via a core assembly connector, the base assembly comprising;

one or more processors, integrated within the base assembly;

one or more memory modules, integrated within the base assembly;

a base motor controller, integrated within the base assembly body; and

computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions accessed from the one or memory modules and executed by the one or more processors to communicate movement direction and distance instructions to a base motor controller;

one or more motors, integrated within the base assembly body, communicatively coupled to the base motor controller, wherein the base motor controller converts the received movement direction and/or distance instructions to movement direction and/or distance commands, and communicates the movement direction and/or distance commands to the one or more motors to physically move the base assembly in a horizontal direction, based at least in part, on the received movement direction and distance commands

wherein the base assembly body has a top surface and a bottom surface, the bottom surface to be positioned parallel with a ground surface and to rest on the ground surface, and

the base assembly further comprising a drive assembly, mechanically coupled to the one or more motors, the drive assembly to generate a horizontal physical movement of the base assembly from a first physical location to a second physical location along the ground surface, and

further comprising a camera, integrated within the base assembly, to capture video of an area around the base assembly, wherein the computer-readable instructions further executable by the one or more processors to analyze the captured video to identify objects, to generate the movement direction and distance instructions based on the identified object, and to communicate the generated movement direction and/or distance instructions to the base motor controller to cause the base assembly to move from the first physical location to the second physical location.