Floor Machine and Surface Cleaning Within a Field of RFID Tags
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A floor cleaning machine operating in a region of RFID tags comprising:
- a floor maintenance tool carried by the floor cleaning machine, said floor maintenance tool performing a floor cleaning task as the floor cleaning machine traverses the region; and
an REID system including an REID reader accessing one or more of a plurality of RFID tags distributed throughout the region as the floor cleaning machine traverses the region during a cleaning session.
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Abstract
A machine and method of use for cleaning a floor surface by traversing the floor field with a floor cleaning machine having an RFID system and accessing a plurality of RFID tags within the floor field to determine a position of the cleaning machine within the floor field during a cleaning session. An electronic map may be generated by and/or stored on the floor cleaning machine or may be remotely accessed during the floor cleaning session. A variety of information relating to machine operation characteristics and/or performance can be collected during the cleaning session in combination with machine location information from the RFID system.
31 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A floor cleaning machine operating in a region of RFID tags comprising:
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a floor maintenance tool carried by the floor cleaning machine, said floor maintenance tool performing a floor cleaning task as the floor cleaning machine traverses the region; and an REID system including an REID reader accessing one or more of a plurality of RFID tags distributed throughout the region as the floor cleaning machine traverses the region during a cleaning session. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of operating a portable floor cleaning machine, comprising:
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dispersing a plurality of RFID tags throughout a floor field within which the location of the cleaning machine is to be identified; traversing the flooring field with the cleaning machine during a cleaning operation; accessing one or more of the RFID tags during said cleaning operation; and utilizing information received during said accessing to determine the relative position of the cleaning machine based at least in part on said map. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
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12. A method of floor cleaning machine localization comprising:
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mapping signals emitted by a plurality of RFID tags distributed throughout a region of the floor field to define a floor map; traversing the floor field during a floor cleaning operation; and accessing one or more RFID tags and the floor map during said traversing to determine a location of the cleaning machine during the cleaning operation. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. A method of operating a floor cleaning machine comprising:
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cleaning a floor surface by traversing the floor field with the floor cleaning machine, during said cleaning, accessing a RFID tag; and utilizing information received during said accessing to determine a position of the cleaning machine within the floor field. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 20)
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19. The method of claim 19 wherein the electronic map is stored on the cleaning machine or stored at a remote location or both.
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21. A method of operating a floor cleaning machine comprising:
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cleaning a floor surface by traversing the floor field with the floor cleaning machine, during said cleaning, accessing a plurality of RFID tags; and utilizing information received during said accessing to determine a floor cleaning machine performance characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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Specification