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, impulse radio means for generating 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 navigation signals of said impulse radio 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
A user can place the multifunctional mobile appliance in a work area bounded by a set of impulse radio, or GPS, transceivers. The appliance independently and accurately maps the work area and proceeds to perform one or more tasks over that area, as directed by the user. These tasks include, but are not limited to, mowing, vacuuming, scrubbing, waxing, and polishing. The user may control, through the World Wide Web, what tasks are performed where and when. Both the user and the appliance can make use of services that are provided on the Internet to enhance the performance of the appliance. The appliance is safe, silent, self-sufficient, nimble, and non-polluting. It is equipped with sensors to enable it to avoid obstacles and other less than optimal operating conditions.
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Citations
48 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, impulse radio means for generating 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 navigation signals of said impulse radio 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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41. A method of controlling a mobile appliance comprising the steps of
transmitting and receiving impulse radio navigation signals adapted to control the movement of the mobile appliance, learning and storing location information signals relative to an area over which the mobile appliance is adapted to be moved, comparing said impulse radio 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, controlling the performance of a task over said area during the movement of the mobile appliance, and adapting the movement of the mobile appliance to minimize the effect of less than optimal operating conditions for the performance of said task.
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46. A vegetation-cutting device comprising
a rotating blade assembly, filtration means surrounding said blade assembly, said filtration means prevents contact between said blade assembly and objects whose dimensions are substantially equal to the diameter of a finger, said filtration means includes thin, closely-spaced, members of stiff but resilient material, and said blade assembly includes blades mounted substantially at a perimeter of one of a disk and a cylinder.
Specification