Determining states and modifying environments according to states

• US 8,982,217 B1
• Filed: 08/13/2012
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Hickman, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Czekaj, Dave
• Assistant Examiner(s): LI, TRACY Y
• Application Number:
  US13/572,855
• Time in Patent Office: 946 Days
• Field of Search: 348/158, 700/245
• US Class Current: 348/158
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

Methods and systems for determining states of environments and modifying the environments according to the states are disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes a robot device determining for an environment a state comprising a plurality of state attributes for the environment. The method further includes receiving a request for the state and, in response to receiving the request, modifying the environment to comprise at least some of state attributes. The robot device may determine the state by receiving indications of at least some of the state attributes from some or all of a user, a server, another robot device, and another device. The attributes may be user attributes for a particular user, or may be event attributes for a particular type of event. The request may take the form of a request from a user, a calendar event, or a user arrival.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a first robot device capturing an image of an arrangement of an environment;

based on the image, determining at least a portion of a first state describing the arrangement of the environment using a first plurality of state attributes;

accessing a calendar of the environment, wherein the calendar indicates a plurality of requests for states at corresponding predetermined times;

identifying from the calendar a particular calendar event that indicates a request for the first state at a predetermined time receiving a request for an additional state at the predetermined time, the additional state having a second plurality of state attributes;

identifying, by the first robot device, common state attributes and compatible state attributes between the first state and the additional state based on the first plurality of state attributes and the second plurality of state attributes; and

the first robot device instructing one or more other robot devices to modify the environment at the predetermined time using at least one mechanical actuator based on at least one of the common state attributes and compatible state attributes.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information associated with at least one of the first plurality of state attributes from at least one of a user, a server, another robot device, and another device; and

based on the image and the received information, determining at least a portion of the first state.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at least a portion of the first state from at least one of a server, another robot device, and another device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of state attributes comprise at least one of user attributes, event attributes, and temporal attributes.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request comprises at least one of a request from a user, a calendar event, and a user arrival.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining at least a portion of the first state comprises determining at least a portion of the first state in response to the request.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying a server with the image; and

in response to querying the server, receiving at least a portion of the first state.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying conflicting state attributes between the first state and the additional state based on the first plurality of state attributes and the second plurality of state attributes;

resolving the conflicting state attributes to produce resolved state attributes; and

causing the environment to be modified based on at least one of the resolved state attributes.

9. The method of claim 1:

wherein the common state attributes comprise attributes included in both the first plurality of state attributes and the second plurality of state attributes, and

wherein the compatible states attributes comprise attributes that are only included in one of the first plurality of state attributes and the second plurality of state attributes and do not conflict with state attributes of the other one of the first plurality of state attributes and the second plurality of state attributes.

10. A device comprising:

a detector configured to capture an image of an arrangement of an environment;

at least one processor; and

data storage comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor to;

based on the image, determine at least a portion of a first state describing the arrangement of the environment using a first plurality of state attributes;

access a calendar of the environment, wherein the calendar indicates a plurality of requests for states at corresponding predetermined times;

identify from the calendar a particular calendar event that indicates a request for the first state at a predetermined time;

receive a request for an additional state at the predetermined time, the additional state having a second plurality of state attributes;

identify common state attributes and compatible state attributes between the first state and the additional state based on the first plurality of state attributes and the second plurality of state attributes; and

instruct one or more robot devices to modify the environment at the predetermined time based on at least one of the common state attributes and compatible state attributes.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the data storage further comprises information associated with a plurality of states including the first state.

12. The device of claim 10, further comprising at least one sensor coupled to the at least one processor and configured to sense at least one of the first plurality of state attributes.

13. The device of claim 10, further comprising a user-interface coupled to the at least one processor and configured to receive information associated with at least one of the first plurality of state attributes from a user.

14. The device of claim 10, further comprising a server interface coupled to the at least one processor and configured to receive at least one of (i) information associated with at least one of the first plurality of state attributes and (ii) at least a portion of the first state from a server.

15. The device of claim 10, further comprising a device interface coupled to the at least one processor and configured to receive information associated with at least one of the first plurality of state attributes from another device.

16. The device of claim 10, further comprising at least one mechanical actuator coupled to the at least one processor and configured to modify the environment.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

capturing an image of an arrangement of an environment;

based on the image, determining at least a portion of a first state describing the arrangement of the environment using a first plurality of state attributes;

accessing a calendar of the environment, wherein the calendar indicates a plurality of requests for states at corresponding predetermined times;

identifying from the calendar a particular calendar event that indicates a request for the first state at a predetermined time;

receiving a request for an additional state at the predetermined time, the additional state having a second plurality of state attributes;

identifying common state attributes and compatible state attributes between the first state and the additional state based on the first plurality of state attributes and the second plurality of state attributes; and

instructing one or more robot devices to modify the environment at the predetermined time using at least one mechanical actuator based on at least one of the common state attributes and compatible state attributes.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the functions further comprise:

receiving at least a portion of the first state from at least one of a server and a device.