Self-propelling cleaner

• US 20050188494A1
• Filed: 02/04/2005
• Published: 09/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Takenaka, Hiroyuki
• Application Number:
  US11/051,176
• Publication Number:
  US 20050188494A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 15/319
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/04 Automatic control of the travelling movement; Automatic obstacle detection
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0219 ensuring the processing of the whole working surface
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/027 comprising intertial navigation means, e.g. azimuth detector inertial navigation G01C21/16; inertial navigation combined with non-inertial navigation instruments G01C21/165

Abstract

When receiving an area value of a cleaning area and its shape that is a rectangle or a circle, a self-propelling cleaner 1 decides on a cleaning area having the input shape (rectangle or circle) and size and decides to employ, as a movement route to be taken in cleaning the cleaning area, a spiral movement route having the center of the cleaning area as a start point. Therefore, whether the cleaning area is rectangular or circular, the cleaning area can be cleaned without leaving no non-cleaned regions and almost no regions outside the cleaning area are cleaned. That is, the cleaning area can be cleaned efficiently.

Claims

1. A self-propelling cleaner comprising:

a main body;

an autonomous propelling unit that autonomously propels the main body;

a suction unit that rotates a suction fan to collect dust within the main body from a nozzle formed at the main body;

a cleaning area determining information receiving unit that receives an input of cleaning area determining information to be used for determining a cleaning area;

a cleaning area determining unit that determines a cleaning area on the basis of the cleaning area determining information received by the cleaning area determining information receiving unit, and that determines a movement route of the main body in the cleaning are;

a cleaning unit that operates the suction unit to collect dust from the nozzle while controlling the autonomous propelling unit to propel the main body along the movement route determined by the cleaning area determining unit; and

a movement distance detecting unit that detects a movement distance of the main body moved by the autonomous propelling unit,

wherein the cleaning area determining information receiving unit receives a planer dimension of the cleaning area,

wherein the cleaning area determining unit employs, as the cleaning area, a rectangular or circular area having the planer dimension received by the cleaning area determining information receiving unit and having a position of the main body as the center of the cleaning area, and determines the moving route to be a spiral route having the center of the cleaning area as a start point,

wherein the cleaning area determining information receiving unit receives a shape type indicating whether the cleaning area is rectangular or circular in shape in addition to an area value of the cleaning area,

wherein the cleaning area determining unit determines a shape of the cleaning area on the basis of the shape type received by the cleaning area determining information receiving unit, and

wherein the cleaning unit calculates a start-to-end distance from the start point to an end point along the movement route in the cleaning area determined by the cleaning area determining unit, and finishes cleaning of the cleaning area when the movement distance of the main body that has been detected by the movement distance detecting unit since a start of the cleaning of the cleaning area has reached the start-to-end distance.

2. A self-propelling cleaner comprising:

a main body;

an autonomous propelling unit that autonomously propels the main body;

a suction unit that rotates a suction fan to collect dust within the main body from a nozzle formed at the main body;

a cleaning area determining information receiving unit that receives an input of cleaning area determining information to be used for determining a cleaning area;

a cleaning area determining unit that determines a cleaning area on the basis of the cleaning area determining information received by the cleaning area determining information receiving unit, and that determines a movement route of the main body in the cleaning are; and

a cleaning unit that operates the suction unit to collect dust from the nozzle while controlling the autonomous propelling unit to propel the main body along the movement route determined by the cleaning area determining unit,

wherein the cleaning area determining information receiving unit receives a planer dimension of the cleaning area, and

wherein the cleaning area determining unit employs, as the cleaning area, a rectangular or circular area having the planer dimension received by the cleaning area determining information receiving unit and having a position of the main body as the center of the cleaning area, and determines the moving route to be a spiral route having the center of the cleaning area as a start point.

3. The self-propelling cleaner according to claim 2, wherein the planer dimension includes at least one of a size of the cleaning area and a shape of the cleaning area.

4. The self-propelling cleaner according to claim 2, wherein the cleaning area determining information receiving unit receives a shape type indicating whether the cleaning area is rectangular or circular in shape in addition to an area value of the cleaning area, and

wherein the cleaning area determining unit determines a shape of the cleaning area on the basis of the shape type received by the cleaning area determining information receiving unit.

5. The self-propelling cleaner according to claim 2, further comprising a movement distance detecting unit that detects a movement distance of the main body moved by the autonomous propelling unit,

wherein the cleaning unit calculates a start-to-end distance from the start point to an end point along the movement route in the cleaning area determined by the cleaning area determining unit, and finishes cleaning of the cleaning area when the movement distance of the main body that has been detected by the movement distance detecting unit since a start of the cleaning of the cleaning area has reached the start-to-end distance.