Multifunctional mobile appliance
First Claim
1. A multifunctional mobile appliance comprising a carriage, means for providing energy for said carriage, means for moving said carriage, receiver means for receiving satellite navigation signals adapted to control the movement of said carriage by said moving means, memory means for receiving and storing location information signals relative to an area over which said carriage is adapted to be moved, means for comparing the satellite navigation signals of said receiver means and the location information signals of said memory means and generating a carriage control signal therefrom, means for controlling the movement of said carriage in response to said carriage control signal to effect movement of said carriage by said moving means along the area, means for performing a task over the area during the movement of said carriage, and means for controlling the operation of said task performing means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is a multifunctional, mobile appliance capable of performing a variety of tasks safely, quietly, without pollution, and out of sight of its owner. Such tasks might include lawn mowing, fertilizing, and edging, floor vacuuming, waxing, and polishing, or rug shampooing. In its preferred implementation, the mobile unit 1 would obtain precise real time and position information using the Real Time Kinematic Global Positioning System. The user initially guides the appliance around the work-area perimeters. The device then uses this information to determine the full working area. Proximity detectors and impact sensors help the appliance avoid unexpected obstacles. The device is quiet enough to perform its task in the middle of the night while its owner is asleep, but can be programmed to work continuously or during any user-specified time interval. The small turning radius of the appliance allows it to follow intricate perimeters. In the instance of a mowing application, the cutting blades are surrounded by a cage that allows grass to enter, but excludes sticks, stones, fingers or toes. The mowing blade assembly can trim over the top of yard edging. The battery-powered device can recharge itself and a wireless link enables the appliance to communicate with its user and a user support network via the World Wide Web.
131 Citations
69 Claims
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1. A multifunctional mobile appliance comprising
a carriage, means for providing energy for said carriage, means for moving said carriage, receiver means for receiving satellite navigation signals adapted to control the movement of said carriage by said moving means, memory means for receiving and storing location information signals relative to an area over which said carriage is adapted to be moved, means for comparing the satellite navigation signals of said receiver means and the location information signals of said memory means and generating a carriage control signal therefrom, means for controlling the movement of said carriage in response to said carriage control signal to effect movement of said carriage by said moving means along the area, means for performing a task over the area during the movement of said carriage, and means for controlling the operation of said task performing means.
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6. The multifunctional mobile appliance as defined in claim I further comprising
a fixed station, second receiver means at said fixed station for receiving satellite navigation signals, said receiver means including RTK-GPS means for effecting precise movement of said carriage over said area, said RTK-GPS means including means for receiving signals from GLONASS satellites. means at said fixed station for extracting error navigation signals from the received satellite navigation signals, means for transmitting the extracted error navigation signals to said carriage movement controlling means, and said carriage movement controlling means including means for correcting said carriage control signal based upon said error signal to thereby refine the accuracy of said carriage control signal prior to effecting the movement of said carriage thereby.
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9. The multifunctional mobile appliance as defined in claim I further comprising
means for inertially navigating said carriage, said inertial navigating means including one of a gyroscope and a magnetometer, and said carriage movement control means being responsive to said inertial navigating means.
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10. The multifunctional mobile appliance as defined in claim I further comprising
means for detecting less than optimal operating conditions within the area over which the carriage is adapted to be moved, and means for adapting the movement of said carriage toward minimizing the degradation in performance caused by said less than optimal conditions.
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12. The multifunctional mobile appliance as defined in claim I further comprising
means for detecting less than optimal operating conditions within the area over which the carriage is adapted to be moved, said detecting means including image-processing software and one of a visible imaging means and an infrared imaging means; - and
means for adapting the movement of said carriage toward minimizing the degradation in performance caused by said less than optimal conditions.
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18. The multifunctional mobile appliance as defined in claim I wherein
said means for providing energy includes converting sunlight into electrical energy.
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27. The multifunctional mobile appliance as defined in claim I further comprising
means for teaching said movement controlling means said location information signals, and said location information signals including data defining at least one perimeter of said area over which the carriage is adapted to be moved taught by said teaching means in the absence of physically guiding said carriage relative to said perimeter.
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28. The multifunctional mobile appliance as defined in claim I further comprising
means for teaching said movement controlling means said location information signals, and said location information signals including data defining at least one perimeter of said area over which the carriage is adapted to be moved taught by said teaching means through the physical guiding of said carriage relative to said perimeter.
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35. The multifunctional mobile appliance as defined in claim I wherein said task performing means is a mower.
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38. The multifunctional mobile appliance as defined in claim I wherein said task performing means includes
a rotating blade assembly, filtration means for permitting vegetation to be cut while preventing blade contact with larger objects, and said filtration means includes thin, closely-spaced, vertical members of stiff but resilient material surrounding said rotating blade assembly.
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45. A method of controlling a mobile appliance comprising the steps of
receiving satellite navigation signals adapted to control the movement of the mobile appliance, receiving and storing location information signals relative to an area inside a building over which the mobile appliance is adapted to be moved, comparing said satellite navigation signals and said location information signals and generating a mobile appliance control signal therefrom, controlling the movement of the mobile appliance in response to said mobile appliance control signal to effect movement of the mobile appliance along said area, and controlling the performance of a task over said area during the movement of said mobile appliance.
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49. A method of controlling a mobile appliance comprising the steps of
establishing a wireless communications link between a communications node and the mobile appliance, connecting said communications node to a public communications utility, and controlling the mobile appliance from said public utility via said communications node.
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53. A method of programming the motion of a mobile appliance that is designed to perform a task over a designated work area using a routing algorithm comprising the steps of
defining geographic perimeter data of an area within which work is adapted to be performed along a path of predetermined width, storing the geographic perimeter data, mapping the area into a plurality of substantially equally spaced grid points with the distance between adjacent grid points corresponding substantially to one of the predetermined path width and a fraction of the predetermined path width, quantizing the direction of movement of the mobile appliance into a set of vectors connecting the grid point representing the present location of the mobile appliance with the grid points immediately adjacent to the present location grid point, initiating the movement of the mobile appliance along the path from one grid point to an adjacent grid point, and recording the sequence of grid points crossed by the mobile appliance toward ensuring that work is performed substantially over the area represented by the grid points.
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65. A vegetation cutting device comprising
a rotating blade assembly, and filtration means for permitting vegetation to be cut while preventing blade contact with larger objects.
Specification