Method and system for manual control of autonomous floor cleaner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11771283-B2
Application number	US-201816211323-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2018
Priority date	Dec 6, 2017
Publication date	Oct 3, 2023
Grant date	Oct 3, 2023

Abstract

A system and method for selectively manually controlling an autonomous floor cleaner includes an autonomous floor cleaner and a remote control device, such as a smartphone. The smartphone can have a downloaded application for controlling one or more functions of the cleaning robot, including manually directing the movement of the cleaning robot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for manually controlling an autonomous floor cleaner, comprising:
wirelessly connecting a smartphone to an autonomous floor cleaner comprising an autonomously moveable housing, a controller carried by the housing, a drive system, and an airflow path through the autonomously moveable housing comprising an air inlet and an air outlet, a suction nozzle positioned to confront a floor surface and defining the air inlet, a collection chamber, and a suction source for generating a working air stream through the airflow path;
selecting a user-determined boundary of the floor surface;
detecting a touch on a touchscreen display of the smartphone;
fixing the relative position of the autonomous floor cleaner with respect to the smartphone via a virtual tether upon the detection of the touch on the touchscreen display;
activating the suction source of the autonomous floor cleaner upon the detection of the touch on the touchscreen display;
detecting acceleration of the smartphone representing a gesture by a user holding the smartphone, wherein detecting acceleration of the smartphone comprises detecting a pose of the smartphone, wherein detecting acceleration includes detecting a first acceleration of the smartphone in a direction away from the user and detecting a second acceleration of the smartphone representing the user directing the autonomous floor to initially extend away from the smartphone then return;
transforming the detected acceleration of the smartphone into movement instructions, including transforming the detected acceleration of the smartphone into movement instructions that emulate a handle to an upright vacuum cleaner wherein interaction between the smartphone and the autonomous floor cleaner automatically relaxes such that the virtual tether stretches to enhance coverage area of the autonomous floor cleaner;
adjusting the movement instructions in response to the user-determined boundary of the floor surface;
executing the movement instructions by the controller and driving the autonomous floor cleaner over the floor surface, while simultaneously maintaining the fixed relative position of the autonomous floor cleaner with respect to the smartphone via the virtual tether and respecting the user-determined boundary of the floor surface.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising displaying a virtual button on the touchscreen display of the smartphone, wherein detecting the touch on the touchscreen display comprises detecting a touch at a location on the touchscreen display corresponding to the virtual button.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising activating at least one of a brush motor or a pump of the autonomous floor cleaner upon the detection of the touch on the touchscreen display.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising overriding the movement instructions based on input from at least one sensor onboard the autonomous floor cleaner.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises a camera, a stereo camera, an obstacle sensor, a bump sensor, a side wall sensor, a cliff sensor, an accelerometer, a lift-up sensor, and/or a floor condition sensor.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising performing a data smoothing operation on the data representing the pose of the smartphone prior to transforming the data into the movement instructions.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
transforming the data representing the pose of the smartphone into display instructions for a user interface of the touchscreen display of the smartphone, wherein the display instructions comprises instructions to display a representation of the autonomous floor cleaner and instructions to display a representation of a vacuum cleaner handle;
executing the display instructions on the smartphone; and
displaying the user interface on the touchscreen display of the smartphone.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein transforming the detected acceleration of the smartphone into movement instructions comprises applying a scaling factor to the detected first acceleration and the detected second acceleration.

9. The method of claim 1 , comprising wirelessly communicating the movement instructions from the smartphone to the controller of the autonomous floor cleaner.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
transforming the detected acceleration of the smartphone, including the first acceleration and the second acceleration, into display instructions for a user interface of the touchscreen display of the smartphone;
executing the display instructions on the smartphone; and
displaying the user interface on the touchscreen display of the smartphone.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the display instructions comprises instructions to display a representation of a vacuum cleaner handle.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein transforming the detected acceleration, including the first acceleration and the second acceleration, comprises executing a display algorithm by a processor of the smartphone, and converting the data representing the pose of the smartphone into 2D Cartesian coordinates, and wherein the display instructions comprise instructions to place an indicia of the autonomous floor cleaner on the touchscreen display of the smartphone at a location corresponding to the 2D Cartesian coordinates.

13. The method of claim 10 , comprising performing a data smoothing operation on the data representing the pose of the smartphone prior to transforming the data into the display instructions.

14. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
displaying a first virtual button on the touchscreen display of the smartphone corresponding to a first motor speed for the suction source;
displaying a second virtual button on the touchscreen display of the smartphone corresponding to a second motor speed for the suction source;
wherein detecting the touch on the touchscreen display comprises detecting a touch at a location on the touchscreen display corresponding to the first virtual button or the second virtual button; and
wherein activating the suction source comprises operating the suction source at the first motor speed upon detection of the touch at a location corresponding to the first virtual button, or operating the suction source at the second motor speed upon detection of the touch at a location corresponding to the second virtual button.

15. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
detecting a predetermined user gesture by a user holding the smartphone;
unfixing the relative position of the autonomous floor cleaner with respect to the smartphone upon the detecting the predetermined user gesture; and
executing movement instructions by the controller to control the drive system and move the autonomous floor cleaner over the floor surface based on the predetermined user gesture.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein executing the movement instructions by the controller and driving the autonomous floor cleaner over the floor surface includes simultaneously maintaining the fixed relative position of the autonomous floor cleaner with respect to the smartphone via the virtual tether and avoiding the user-selected boundary of the floor surface.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein executing the movement instructions by the controller and driving the autonomous floor cleaner over the floor surface includes simultaneously maintaining the fixed relative position of the autonomous floor cleaner with respect to the smartphone via the virtual tether and staying contained within the user-selected boundary of the floor surface.

18. The method of claim 1 , including rec

Assignees

• Bissell Inc

Inventors

• Brown Adam
• Buehler Eric D
• Smith Derek E
• Vankampen David

Classifications

• A47L9/2857 Primary

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

• A47L5/00

  Structural features of suction cleaners · CPC title

• A47L9/0411

  driven by electric motor · CPC title

• A47L9/2805

  Parameters or conditions being sensed · CPC title

• A47L9/2826

  the condition of the floor · CPC title