METHOD FOR OPERATING A SELF-TRAVELING FLOOR TREATMENT APPARATUS

• US 20180267528A1
• Filed: 03/14/2018
• Published: 09/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vorwerk & Company Interholding Gesellschaft Mit Beschrã¤Nkter Haftung (Vorwerk & Company KG)
• Original Assignee: Vorwerk & Company Interholding Gesellschaft Mit Beschrã¤Nkter Haftung (Vorwerk & Company KG)
• Inventors: ORTMANN, Roman, ISENBERG, Gerhard
• Granted Patent: US 11,163,301 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 11/4094 Accessories to be used in combination with conventional vacuum-cleaning devices
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2201/04 Automatic control of the travelling movement; Automatic obstacle detection
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0016 characterised by the operator's input device input arrangements for computing systems in general G06F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0038 by providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras located onboard the vehicle, e.g. tele-operation images analyzed by a computer and used for automatic navigation G05D1/0246
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0227 using mechanical sensing means, e.g. for sensing treated area

Abstract

In a method for operating a self-traveling floor treatment apparatus, a recording device of the floor treatment apparatus records a recording of an environment of the floor treatment apparatus, which concerns a time period, and the recording is displayed for a user of the floor treatment apparatus on a screen. In order to allow correction of error conditions, the recording is stored and, in case of a defined environmental event and/or apparatus condition of the floor treatment apparatus, a time-defined partial sequence is subsequently extracted from the stored recording and displayed on the screen.

Claims

1. A method for operating a self-traveling floor treatment apparatus, wherein a recording device of the floor treatment apparatus records a recording of an environment of the floor treatment apparatus, which concerns a time period, and wherein the recording is displayed for a user of the floor treatment apparatus on a screen, wherein the recording is stored and, in case of a defined environmental event and/or apparatus condition of the floor treatment apparatus, a time-defined partial sequence is subsequently extracted from the stored recording and displayed on the screen.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the defined apparatus condition occurs when the planned progressive motion of the self-traveling floor treatment apparatus is interrupted or stopped.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the defined environmental event and/or the apparatus condition comprises jamming of the floor treatment apparatus in the environment, blocking of a driving wheel of the floor treatment apparatus, a battery status below a defined minimum value and/or a faulty software status.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the partial sequence is displayed on a screen of an external mobile device.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user remotely controls the floor treatment apparatus manually after the display of the partial sequence.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein multiple options for a reaction to the environmental event and/or the apparatus condition are displayed on the screen, wherein the user subsequently selects at least one option.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user controls an apparatus action of the floor treatment apparatus in reaction to the displayed partial sequence, wherein the user in particular remotely controls a traveling motion of the floor treatment apparatus, activates and/or deactivates a sensor of the floor treatment apparatus and/or an external sensor and/or activates a floor treatment element of the floor treatment apparatus, and wherein a recording is preferably recorded by means of the recording device and/or the environment is illuminated while an apparatus action is carried out.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recording device records images in time intervals of approximately 0.1 to 5 seconds, wherein the images are assembled into an image sequence, and/or wherein the recording device records a video with an image frequency of approximately 1 image per second to 25 images per second.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recording is stored for a time period of at least 5 seconds and up to 60 seconds.

10. A self-traveling floor treatment apparatus with a recording device for recording a recording of an environment of the floor treatment apparatus, which concerns a time period, and with an evaluation and control unit for storing the recording, wherein the control and evaluation unit is designed for subsequently extracting a time-defined partial sequence from the recording of the environment and for displaying this partial sequence on a screen in case of a defined environmental event and/or apparatus condition of the floor treatment apparatus.