Automated lawn mower
First Claim
1. A method for controlling the operation of an automated vehicle in accordance with stored coordinate information compared with calculated coordinate position determined from the solution of simultaneous circle equations, said method including:
- measuring the angles between continuous wave radio frequency transmitters placed in a right angle configuration around an area to be cut,calculating a coordinate position of said automated vehicle from said solution of simultaneous circle equations defined by said angles and dimensions between said continuous wave transmitters,generating control signals to steer said automated vehicle in the direction of the next point of said stored coordinate information.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An improved automated, self propelled lawn mower (14) utilizing a rotating directional loop antenna (36) that determines its position within the cutting area by measuring the angle between transmitters(20A, B, & C) placed in a known configuration beyond the cutting area, and by calculating the solution of simultaneous circle equations (96 & 98) defined by that configuration. Orientation is determined by comparing present and previous positions. Stored path information is compared with the calculated position to determine steering signals which direct the mower to move directly toward the next point in the desired path. When the mower reaches that point the next coordinates are retrieved from memory and the process is repeated similarly for all successive points in the path. The simplicity of programming the path makes this automated lawn mower very versatile and flexible.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for controlling the operation of an automated vehicle in accordance with stored coordinate information compared with calculated coordinate position determined from the solution of simultaneous circle equations, said method including:
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measuring the angles between continuous wave radio frequency transmitters placed in a right angle configuration around an area to be cut, calculating a coordinate position of said automated vehicle from said solution of simultaneous circle equations defined by said angles and dimensions between said continuous wave transmitters, generating control signals to steer said automated vehicle in the direction of the next point of said stored coordinate information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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- 4. A guidance system to control a self propelled lawn mower and operative to determine its location in accordance with a simultaneous solution of a set of circle equations defined by angles between continuous wave radio frequency transmitters in a known geometrical configuration, including a directional sensing means to detect a line of sight of each of said continuous wave radio frequency transmitters.
Specification