System and method for operating a smart service robot

• US 9,250,622 B2
• Filed: 05/11/2012
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Se Kyong Song
• Original Assignee: Se Kyong Song
• Inventors: Song, Se Kyong, Lee, Myung Kyun, Jun, Young Jin, Lee, Jun Young
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US14/122,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20140136302A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,362 Days
• Field of Search: 700/245, 705/14.4, 705/26.4, 705/27.1, 706/46, 901/50, 901/1, 901/47, 701/408, 318/568.12, 707/706
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1656 characterised by programming, planning systems for manipulators
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4185 characterised by the network communication
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31422 Upload, download programs, parameters from, to station to, from server
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40089 Tele-programming, transmit task as a program, plus extra info needed by robot

Abstract

A system and method for operating a smart service robot includes: an integrated control server for storing and managing a plurality of service applications and providing a relevant service application according to a service application request from an intelligent service robot; and the intelligent service robot for requesting a specific service application from the integrated control server and downloading the application in order to provide a corresponding service. Accordingly, when a user using the intelligent service robot needs an application which is related to the operation of the intelligent service robot and which is for a specific purpose, the application for the specific purpose is easily downloaded online in order to be applied to the intelligent service robot of the user. Thus, the services that the robot provides are optimized for certain purposes and used.

Claims

1. A system for operating a smart service robot, comprising:

an integrated control server storing and managing a plurality of service applications, and providing a corresponding service application according to a specific service application request from an intelligent service robot; and

at least one intelligent service robot requesting and downloading the specific service application onto the integrated control server to provide the corresponding service,

wherein the integrated control server receives operating result and state information for each service application from each intelligent service robot, and stores and statistically digitizes the result and state information and calculates and adjusts a priority of services by the intelligent service robot by evaluating satisfaction, utilization, and conformity for the services to continuously update and manage an optimal service application suitable for a context.

2. The system for operating a smart service robot of claim 1, wherein:

the integrated control server judges whether corresponding service application identification information is present in an application database according to a service application request from the intelligent service robot and acquires the service application from the application database and provides the acquired service application to the intelligent service robot when the corresponding service application identification information is present in the application database.

3. The system for operating a smart service robot of claim 2, wherein:

the integrated control server outputs a service application registration request signal to request new registration of the service application when the corresponding service application identification information is not present in the application database.

4. The system for operating a smart service robot of claim 3, wherein:

the integrated control server maps a service scenario application and a content application newly prepared by an operator or a provider with the service application identification information to register the mapped service scenario application and content application, and the service application identification information in the application database.

5. An intelligent service robot comprising:

a communication unit performing communication with an integrated control server through a communication network;

a storage unit storing service applications downloaded from the integrated control server through the communication unit;

a user interface unit receiving a service application downloading request command from a user;

an application updating unit transmitting, when the service application downloading request command is input through the user interface unit, a service application request signal to the integrated control server through the communication unit, and receives a corresponding service application from the integrated control server and stores the received service application in the storage unit; and

a service execution controlling unit extracting, when execution of at least one service application among service applications stored in the storage unit is requested, information on the execution requested service application from the storage unit to provide a corresponding service,

wherein the service application includes a recognition application constituted by recognition technology acquiring context information when the intelligent service robot performs a specific-purpose service, a service scenario application corresponding to robot intelligence which stepwise provides a robot service according to the recognition application information, and a content application used to express a unit scenario.

6. The intelligent service robot of claim 5, further comprising:

a context recognizing unit recognizing at least one context information among a service context, a surrounding context, and user information and transmits the recognized context information to the service execution controlling unit and the integrated control server,

wherein the service execution controlling unit decides a required operation based on the context information from the context recognizing unit and acquires a service scenario and a content depending on a corresponding operation from the storage unit to perform the corresponding operation.

7. The intelligent service robot of claim 5, wherein:

the service application request signal includes user identification information, intelligent service robot identification information, and service application identification information downloading-requested by a user.

8. The intelligent service robot of claim 5, wherein:

when execution of a service application selected through the user interface unit is requested, the service execution control unit calls a service scenario mapped with identification information of the selected service application from the storage unit and calls a content for operating according to the called scenario from the storage unit to provide a service corresponding to the service application.

9. The intelligent service robot of claim 5, further comprising:

a scenario editing unit editing an event, an action, and a context constituting the service scenario stored in the storage unit and editing one service scenario through connection among contexts.

10. The intelligent service robot of claim 5, further comprising:

an advertisement information storing unit storing advertisement information including an advertisement, advertiser identification information, and advertisement identification information;

an output unit outputting the advertisement; and

an advertisement execution controlling unit controlling an advertisement stored in the advertisement information storing unit or an advertisement received from the integrated control server through the communication unit to be output through the output unit.

11. The intelligent service robot of claim 10, wherein:

the advertisement execution controlling unit transmits advertisement output information including the number of output times, advertisement identification information, and advertise identification information of each advertisement to the integrated control server through the communication unit.

12. An integrated control server comprising:

a communication unit performing communication with an intelligent service robot through a communication network;

a robot information database storing robot identification information, user identification information, an operating state, robot product information, and a robot content for a plurality of respective intelligent service robots;

an application database storing a service application;

a robot information monitoring unit monitoring context information of the plurality of intelligent service robots connected through the communication unit in real time to update the robot information database;

a subscriber authenticating unit searching the robot information database to perform authentication of a corresponding user when a service application request signal is received from the intelligent service robot through the communication unit; and

an application providing unit judging whether service application identification information included in the service application request signal is present in the application database when the corresponding user is an authenticated user according to an authentication result of the subscriber authenticating unit, and acquiring a corresponding service application from the application database according to the judgment result and providing the acquired service application to the intelligent service robot,

wherein the application providing unit acquires the service application from the application database and providing the acquired service application to the intelligent service robot when the service application identification information is present in the application database, and outputs a service application registration request signal requesting new registration of the service application when the service application identification information is not present in the application database.

13. The integrated control server of claim 12, further comprising:

a robot service managing unit receiving operating result and state information for each service application from each intelligent service robot, and storing and statistically digitizing the result and state information and calculating and adjusting a priority of services performed by the intelligent service robot to continuously update and manage an optimal service application suitable for a context.

14. The integrated control server of claim 12, further comprising:

a scenario editing unit editing receiving a service scenario and a content for a corresponding service application from an operator or a provider and registering the received service scenario and content in the application service or editing the service scenario stored in the application database to update the application database.

15. The integrated control server of claim 12, wherein:

the service application includes a recognition application constituted by recognition technology acquiring context information when the intelligent service robot performs a specific-purpose service, a service scenario application corresponding to robot intelligence which stepwise provides a robot service according to the recognition application information, and a content application used to express a unit scenario.

16. The integrated control server of claim 12, further comprising:

an advertisement information database storing advertise identification information and advertisement identification information for each advertisement; and

an advertisement controlling unit paying, when advertisement output information is received from the intelligent service robot through the communication unit, a predetermined amount of money to a corresponding advertiser based on the number of output times in the advertisement output information.

17. The integrated control server of claim 16, wherein:

the advertisement controlling unit registers a corresponding advertisement in the advertisement information database when advertisement registration is requested from the advertiser.

18. A method for operating a smart service robot, comprising the steps of:

(a) transmitting a service application request signal to an integrated control server when an intelligent service robot receives a service application downloading request command;

(b) performing, by the integrated control server, user authentication by searching a robot information database and judging whether service application identification information included in the service application request signal is present in an application database when a corresponding user is an authenticated user;

(c) acquiring a service application mapped with the service application identification information from the application database and transmitting the acquired service application to the intelligent service robot when the service application identification information is present in the application database according to the judgment result of step (b), and outputting, by the integrated control server, a service application registration request signal to request new registration of the service application when the service application identification information is not present in the application database according to the judgment result of step (b); and

(d) receiving and storing, by the intelligent service robot, the service application.

19. The method for operating a smart service robot of claim 18, further comprising:

after step (d),

calling, by the intelligent service robot, a service scenario mapped with identification information of a corresponding service application from a storage unit when execution of a specific service application is requested, and calling a content for operating according to the called scenario from the storage unit to provide a service corresponding to the service application.

20. The method for operating a smart service robot of claim 18, wherein:

the service application request signal includes user identification information, intelligent service robot identification information, and service application identification information downloading-requested by a user.

21. The method for operating a smart service robot of claim 18, wherein:

step (c) further includes,

receiving, by the integrated control server, a service scenario and a content for the service application of which new registration is requested from an operator or a provider and registering the received service scenario and content in the application database.