Robot cleaner

• US 9,820,625 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2015
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: T P, Divya, Gautam, Sumit, Kumar, Dharshan
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nolan, Peter D
• Application Number:
  US14/593,572
• Publication Number:
  US 20150250372A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,047 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4011 Regulation of the cleaning machine by electric means; Control systems and remote control systems therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/04 Automatic control of the travelling movement; Automatic obstacle detection
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/06 Control of the cleaning action for autonomous devices; Automatic detection of the surface condition before, during or after cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2826 the condition of the floor
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/028 using a RF signal

Abstract

A robot cleaner includes a main body, a moving device to move the main body, and a control unit at the main body to recognize an area requiring cleaning. When the control unit recognizes the area requiring cleaning while in a standby state of the robot cleaner, the control unit controls the moving device so that the main body moves from a standby position to the area requiring cleaning to clean the area based on the control unit recognizing the area requiring cleaning.

Claims

1. A robot cleaner comprising:

a main body;

a moving device to move the main body;

a control unit at the main body to recognize an area requiring cleaning;

a camera at the main body to take an image in a vicinity of the main body; and

a memory in which reference image information acquired by taking an image in the vicinity of the main body when the area is clean, and map information are stored,

wherein, when the control unit recognizes the area requiring cleaning while in a standby state of the robot cleaner, the control unit controls the moving device so that the main body moves from a standby position to the area requiring cleaning to clean the area based on the control unit recognizing the area requiring cleaning, and

wherein the control unit recognizes the area requiring cleaning by using the reference image information stored in the memory and image information related to an image subsequently taken by the camera, and

recognizes coordinate information of the area requiring cleaning from the map information.

2. The robot cleaner according to claim 1, wherein, when the control unit recognizes the area requiring cleaning, the control unit controls the moving device so that the main body moves to the area requiring cleaning without receiving a cleaning command.

3. The robot cleaner according to claim 2, further comprising a communication unit at the main body to communicate with an external detection device,

wherein the control unit recognizes the area requiring cleaning when the communication unit receives information related to the area requiring cleaning from the external detection device.

4. The robot cleaner according to claim 3,

wherein the communication unit receives the image information including information related to the area requiring cleaning from the external detection device, and

the control unit uses the received image information and the map information stored in the memory to recognize a coordinate of the area requiring cleaning.

5. The robot cleaner according to claim 3, wherein the communication unit receives the coordinate information of the area requiring cleaning from the external detection device.

6. The robot cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the camera so that the camera intermittently or continuously takes an image while in the standby state of the robot cleaner.

7. The robot cleaner according to claim 1, wherein when, the cleaning is completed on the area requiring cleaning, the control unit controls the moving device so that the main body moves to the standby position.

8. A robot cleaner comprising:

a main body;

a moving device to move the main body; and

a control unit at the main body to recognize a cleaning restriction area,

wherein when the control unit recognizes an area requiring cleaning while in a standby state of the robot cleaner, the control unit controls the moving device such that the main body cleans the area requiring cleaning based on the control unit recognizing the area requiring cleaning except for the cleaning restriction area, and

when a proportion of the cleaning restriction area to an entire cleaning target area is greater than a reference proportion, the control unit controls the robot cleaner to stop the cleaning and to return to a standby position.

9. The robot cleaner according to claim 8, wherein the control unit recognizes the cleaning restriction area while the main body is traveling.

10. The robot cleaner according to claim 8, further comprising a human body detection mechanism at the main body to detect a human body,

wherein the control unit recognizes the cleaning restriction area by using information acquired from the human body detection mechanism.

11. The robot cleaner according to claim 10, wherein the human body detection mechanism comprises at least one of a camera and an infrared sensor.

12. The robot cleaner according to claim 10, further comprising a memory at the main body to store map information,

wherein the control unit partitions a virtual area comprising an area where a person detected by the human body detection mechanism exists on a map with a virtual wall to set an area in the virtual wall as the cleaning restriction area.

13. The robot cleaner according to claim 8, further comprising a communication unit at the main body to communicate with an external detection device,

wherein the control unit recognizes the cleaning restriction area when the communication unit receives information of the cleaning restriction area from the external detection device.

14. A robot cleaner comprising:

a main body;

a moving device to move the main body;

a control unit at the main body to recognize an area requiring cleaning;

a communication unit at the main body to communicate with an external detection device; and

a memory at the main body to store map information,

wherein, when the control unit recognizes the area requiring cleaning while in a standby state of the robot cleaner, the control unit controls the moving device so that the main body moves from a standby position to the area requiring cleaning to clean the area based on the control unit recognizing the area requiring cleaning, and

wherein the communication unit receives image information including information related to the area requiring cleaning from the external detection device, and

the control unit uses the received image information and the map information stored in the memory to recognize a coordinate of the area requiring cleaning.