ROBOT CLEANER, ROBOT CLEANER SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD OF THE SAME

• US 20150182088A1
• Filed: 12/29/2014
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: KIM, Bongju, CHOE, Suuk, LEE, Sunghun
• Granted Patent: US 9,750,382 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 2201/022 Recharging of batteries
• 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 9/009 Carrying-vehicles; Arrangements of trollies or wheels; Means for avoiding mechanical obstacles
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/1409 Rigid filtering receptacles dust collecting receptacles for cyclones A47L9/1683
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2805 Parameters or conditions being sensed
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2873 Docking units or charging stations for autonomous or robotic vacuum cleaners A47L2201/02
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 9/2894 Details related to signal transmission in suction cleaners
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0044 by providing the operator with a computer generated representation of the environment of the vehicle, e.g. virtual reality, maps maps used for automatic navigation G05D1/0274; flight directors G01C23/005

Abstract

A robot cleaner includes a case, a suction device provided in the case, a suction nozzle for sucking dust from a floor by driving of the suction device, a dust collection device for collecting foreign substances contained in the air sucked via the suction nozzle, a driving unit for allowing the case to drive automatically, a controller for controlling the driving of the suction device and the driving unit, and for generating cleaning history information comprising map information on a cleaning area and moving path information, a memory unit for storing the cleaning history information; and a wireless communication module provided in the case to transmit the cleaning history information to the external terminal, when the external terminal asks the cleaning history information.

Claims

1. A robot cleaner comprising:

a case;

a suction device provided in the case;

a suction nozzle configured to suck dust from a floor by driving of the suction device;

a dust collection device for collecting foreign substances contained in the air sucked via the suction nozzle;

a drive module including wheels to allow movement;

a controller configured to control the driving of the suction device and the drive module, and configured to generate cleaning history information, the cleaning history information including map information on a cleaning area and moving path information;

a memory configured to store the cleaning history information; and

a wireless communication module provided in the case and configured to transmit the cleaning history information to an external terminal upon receipt of a signal requesting cleaning history information transmitted from an external terminal.

2. The robot cleaner of claim 1, wherein the cleaning history information includes bibliographical information for distinguishing a series of cleanings from start to end of the cleanings from other cleanings, and

the robot cleaner creates the bibliographical information as an individual list.

3. The robot cleaner of claim 2, wherein the bibliographical information includes at least one of a cleaning date, a cleaning start time, a cleaning end time and a cleaning mode.

4. The robot cleaner of claim 2, wherein a plurality of individual lists are stored in a chronological order.

5. The robot cleaner of claim 4, wherein a preset number of individual lists are stored, and when the preset number has been reached, a new individual list replaces an oldest individual list for storage.

6. The robot cleaner of claim 2, wherein the robot cleaner starts to record the cleaning history information when the cleaning starts, and

the robot cleaner stores the individual list based on the recorded cleaning information when the cleaning ends normally.

7. The robot cleaner of claim 6, wherein the normal ending of the cleaning comprises at least one of restituting of the robot cleaner to a recharging base after the cleaning, restituting of the robot cleaner after charging a battery and external inputting of the cleaning ending.

8. The robot cleaner of claim 2, wherein the individual list is not stored by the robot cleaner when the cleaning ends abnormally.

9. The robot cleaner of claim 2, wherein the robot cleaner stores a map file corresponding to a map information on a cleaning area for each of the individual lists and a moving path file corresponding to the moving path information.

10. The robot cleaner of claim 9, wherein the robot cleaner transmits the individual list and the moving path file separately.

11. The robot cleaner of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication module comprises a Wi-Fi module provided with an Access Point (AP) by the robot cleaner.

12. The robot cleaner of claim 11, further comprising:

an NFC module provided in the case to provide an AP (Access Point) information to an external terminal via NFC communication for access to the AP.

13. A control method of a robot cleaner comprising:

transmitting an AP (Access Point) information of a Wi-Fi module embedded in a case of the robot cleaner to an external terminal via NFC module;

allowing access to the AP by an external terminal after authentication of the AP information received from an external terminal; and

communicating via Wi-Fi with an external terminal using the AP of the robot cleaner,

wherein the communicating step comprises,

receiving a request for cleaning history information from an external terminal;

transmitting the cleaning history information to an external terminal, the cleaning history information including map information of a cleaning area and moving path information of the robot cleaner.

14. The control method of the robot cleaner of claim 13, wherein the cleaning history information includes an individual list of bibliographical information for distinguishing a series of cleanings from start to end of the cleanings from other cleanings, and

the individual list and the moving path file corresponding to the moving path are separately transmitted by a request for each file by an external terminal.

15. The control method of the robot cleaner of claim 14, wherein the robot cleaner receives a request by an external terminal for map information and moving path information corresponding to specific bibliographical information.

16. A control method for a robot cleaner system including a robot cleaner and an external terminal, the control method comprising:

establishing a wireless communication between the external terminal with the robot cleaner;

sending a request to the robot cleaner for cleaning history information by the external terminal;

transmitting the cleaning history information including map information of a cleaning area and moving path information of the robot cleaner to the external terminal; and

displaying a map on an external display of the external terminal and a moving path of the robot cleaner on the map based on the received cleaning history information.

17. The control method of the robot cleaner of claim 16, wherein the moving path is displayed by playing a video file, and at least one of menus for selecting video play speed adjustment, video playing or video pausing is displayed on the external terminal.

18. The control method of the robot cleaner of claim 16, wherein during the step of establishing communication, a state information of the robot cleaner is transmitted to the external terminal, and

after the communication has been established, the state information of the robot cleaner is displayed on a widget type initial screen of the external terminal.

19. The control method of the robot cleaner of claim 16, wherein after the communication establishment step, a cleaning diary menu is displayed on an initial screen of the external terminal to request the robot cleaner for a cleaning history file corresponding to the cleaning history information.

20. A robot cleaner system comprising:

a robot cleaner configured to provide cleaning history information including map information of a cleaning area and moving path information; and

a mobile terminal configured to request the robot cleaner for the cleaning history information, to display a map based on the received cleaning history information and to display a sequential moving path of the robot cleaner on the displayed map.