Method for operating an automatically moving floor processing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10694913-B2
Application number	US-201816001346-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2018
Priority date	Jun 9, 2017
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

Abstract

A method for operating a floor processing device that moves automatically within an environment, has a detection system of the floor processing device that detects features of a surface to be cleaned and compares them with reference features of carpets. Upon detection of a carpet, it is determined whether and where the carpet has fringes, and the fringes are aligned in a defined direction relative to the carpet by means of a combing attachment of the floor processing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating a floor processing device that moves automatically within an environment, comprising the following steps:
detecting with a detection system of the floor processing device features of a surface to be cleaned;
comparing the features to be cleaned with reference features of carpets,
upon detection of a carpet, determining whether and where the carpet has fringes, and
upon a determination of fringes in the carpet, aligning the fringes in a defined direction relative to the carpet with a combing attachment of the floor processing device.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, before the step of aligning the fringes of the carpet, the floor processing device initially processes an area of the environment and/or carpet that has no fringes.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a step of generating a travel strategy and/or travel route of the floor processing device depending on a detected position and/or a desired orientation of the fringes on the carpet.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a step of storing a position and orientation of a detected carpet and a position and/or orientation of the fringes in an area map of the floor processing device.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein during the step of aligning the fringes, the floor processing device travels onto the carpet and leaves the carpet in a direction corresponding to a desired orientation of the fringes.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the floor processing device travels over an edge area of the carpet having no fringes.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the combing attachment comprises a bristle roller that rotates around a rotational axis aligned essentially parallel to the carpet during a floor processing operation.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein during the step of aligning, a speed and/or rotational direction of the bristle roller is varied for combing and/or traversing the fringes.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the combing attachment is lifted from the surface when traversing already aligned fringes.

Assignees

• Vorwerk Co Interholding

Inventors

• Erkek David
• Hackert Georg
• Isenberg Gerhard
• Ortmann Roman
• Schmidt Andreas

Classifications

• A47L7/0085 Primary

  adapted for special purposes not related to cleaning · CPC title

• A47L7/009

  Details of suction cleaner tools for additional purposes · CPC title

• A47L2201/00

  Robotic cleaning machines, i.e. with automatic control of the travelling movement or the cleaning operation · CPC title

• A47L11/4055

  for lifting the tools to a non-working position · CPC title

• A47L2201/06

  Control of the cleaning action for autonomous devices; Automatic detection of the surface condition before, during or after cleaning · CPC title