Artificial intelligence robot cleaner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11540690-B2
Application number	US-201916655024-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 16, 2019
Priority date	Aug 23, 2019
Publication date	Jan 3, 2023
Grant date	Jan 3, 2023

Abstract

Provided is a robot cleaner. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner includes a traveling driving unit configured to allow the artificial intelligence robot cleaner to travel in an indoor space of a home, a cleaning unit configured to remove pollutants, a sensor configured to acquire data that is used to identify a plurality of members, and a processor configured to control the traveling driving unit and the cleaning unit so as to determine one or more subordinate spaces corresponding to each of the plurality of members among a plurality of subordinate spaces by using the data and a map of the indoor space, determine a return time of some or all of the plurality of members, determine a cleaning priority of the plurality of subordinate spaces based on the return time, and perform cleaning according to the cleaning priority.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An artificial intelligence robot cleaner comprising:
at least one driving motor configured to move the artificial intelligence robot cleaner in an indoor space of a home;
cleaning unit configured to remove dust or foreign substances for performing cleaning;
a sensor configured to acquire data used to identify a plurality of individuals; and
a processor configured to:
determine one or more subordinate spaces corresponding to each of the plurality of individuals among a plurality of subordinate spaces by using the acquired data and a map of the indoor space,
determine a return time of at least one of the plurality of individuals,
determine a cleaning priority of the plurality of subordinate spaces based on the determined return time, wherein the cleaning priority of the plurality of subordinate spaces is determined by prioritizing a subordinate space associated with a single individual before a subordinate space associated with multiple individuals when the single individual is associated with multiple subordinate spaces, and
perform cleaning according to the determined cleaning priority,
wherein the processor is further configured to:
skip the cleaning of a specific subordinate space when an individual associated with the specific subordinate space among the one or more subordinate spaces has entered the specific subordinate space, and
continue performing the cleaning of the specific subordinate space even when an individual not associated with the specific subordinate space has entered the subordinate space.

2. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to: control the robot cleaner to clean a first subordinate space of a first individual according to a preset cleaning priority and clean a second subordinate space of a second individual after cleaning the first subordinate space.

3. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 2 , wherein, based on a prediction that the second individual returns to the home before the first individual, the processor is further configured to: control the robot cleaner to clean the second subordinate space of the second individual and to clean the first subordinate space of the first individual after cleaning the second subordinate space.

4. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 3 , wherein, based on the prediction that the second individual returns to the home before the first individual, and based on the cleaning being performed according to the preset cleaning priority, based on a prediction that cleaning of the second subordinate space cannot be completed before the second individual returns to the home, the processor is further configured to: control the robot cleaner to clean the second subordinate space of the second individual first and clean the first subordinate space of the first individual after cleaning the second subordinate space.

5. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 3 , wherein, based on the prediction that the second individual returns to the home before the first individual, the processor is further configured to: control the robot cleaner to clean a third subordinate space of the second individual after cleaning the second subordinate space and clean the first subordinate space of the first individual after cleaning the third subordinate space.

6. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 5 , wherein the second subordinate space comprises a subordinate space of the second individual occupied solely by the second individual, and
the third subordinate space comprises a subordinate space of the second individual occupied together with other individuals.

7. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 2 , wherein, based on a prediction that the plurality of individuals do not return to the home before cleaning of the indoor space is completed, the processor is further configured to: control the robot cleaner to perform the cleaning according to the preset cleaning priority.

8. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to: determine the return time based on at least one of schedule information of the plurality of individuals, a return pattern of the plurality of individuals, or a conversation of the plurality of individuals.

9. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 8 , further comprising a communicator configured to communicate with terminals of the plurality of individuals,
wherein the processor is further configured to: receive the schedule information of the plurality of individuals and determine the return time by using the schedule information of the plurality of individuals.

10. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to: acquire the return pattern of the plurality of individuals by using the acquired data to identify the plurality of individuals and determine the return time based on the return pattern.

11. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 8 , further comprising:
a microphone configured to receive the conversation of the plurality of individuals; and
a communicator is further configured to: communicate with the plurality of individuals,
wherein the processor is further configured to determine the return time based on at least one of a voice conversation received through the microphone, a voice conversation during a call received through the communicator, or a text conversation received through the communicator.

12. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 3 , wherein, based on the prediction that the second individual returns to the home before the first individual, the processor is further configured to: control the robot cleaner to enter the second subordinate space of the second individual, and when the second individual is not present in the second subordinate space, the processor is further configured to: control the robot cleaner to clean the second subordinate space first.

13. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 3 , wherein, based on the prediction that the second individual returns to the home before the first individual, the processor is further configured to: control the robot cleaner to enter the second subordinate space of the second individual first, and when an individual different from the second individual exists in the second subordinate space, the second subordinate space is cleaned first.

14. The artificial intelligence robot cleaner according to claim 3 , wherein, based on the prediction that the second individual returns to the home before the first individual, the processor is further configured to: control the robot cleaner to enter the second subordinate space of the second individual first, and when the second individual is not present in the second subordinate space, a subordinate space different from the second subordinate space is cleaned first.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Chae Jonghoon

Classifications

• A47L11/4066

  Propulsion of the whole machine · CPC title

• A47L2201/04

  Automatic control of the travelling movement; Automatic obstacle detection · CPC title

• A47L9/2857

  User input or output elements for control, e.g. buttons, switches or displays · 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

• A47L9/009

  Carrying-vehicles; Arrangements of trollies or wheels; Means for avoiding mechanical obstacles · CPC title