Mobile robot for telecommunication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9296109-B2
Application number	US-201414512842-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 13, 2014
Priority date	Mar 20, 2007
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

A system including a mobile telepresence robot, a to telepresence computing device in wireless communication with the robot, and a host computing device in wireless communication with the robot and the telepresence computing device. The host computing device relays User Datagram Protocol traffic between the robot and the telepresence computing device through a firewall.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, in non-transitory storage, configuration information from a mobile telepresence robot;
updating, using a computer processor in communication with the non-transitory storage, a user account stored in the non-transitory storage using the configuration information;
provisioning, using the computer processor, a session initiation protocol address using the configuration information;
receiving, at the computer processor, a Voice-over-Internet Protocol datagram from a remote computing device, the Voice-over-Internet Protocol datagram including a request for establishing a communication connection between the remote computing device and the mobile telepresence robot; and
instantiating, at the computer processor, a communication connection between the remote computing device and the telepresence robot.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising decoding the configuration information using the computer processor.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a confirmation message from the computer processor to the robot after successfully provisioning the session initiation protocol address.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising validating the remote computing device before instantiating the communication connection.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving periodic status updates at the computer processor from the robot and storing the status updates in the non-transitory storage.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a customer support message from the computer processor to the remote computing device in response to a received status update.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising diagnosing a robot operating or networking issue based on a received status update.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying a fleet management interface providing service, health, or operating data related to the robot.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending, from the computer processor, a data packet to an apparent Internet Protocol address associated with the telepresence robot.

10. A hosting device comprising:
a hosting computing device located at a first location, different from a second location of a mobile telepresence robot and a third location of a telepresence computing device in wireless communication with the mobile telepresence robot through a firewall interposed between the mobile telepresence robot and the telepresence computing device, the hosting computing device in wireless communication with the mobile telepresence robot and the telepresence computing device, the host computing device relaying User Datagram Protocol traffic between the mobile telepresence robot and the telepresence computing device through the firewall.

11. The hosting device of claim 10 , wherein the host computing device:
receives periodic status updates from the mobile telepresence robot; and
stores the status updates in non-transitory storage in communication with the hosting computing device.

12. The hosting device of claim 11 , wherein the host computing device decodes the status updates before storing the status updates in a non-transitory storage.

13. The hosting device of claim 11 , wherein the host computing device sends a customer support message to the telepresence computing device in response to a received status update.

14. The hosting device of claim 11 , wherein the host computing device diagnoses a robot operating or networking issue based on a received status update.

15. The hosting device of claim 11 , wherein the host computing device displays a fleet management interface providing service, health, or operating data related to the robot.

16. The hosting device of claim 10 , wherein the host computing device receives configuration information from the robot in response to user configuration of the robot or a messaging account associated with the robot.

17. The hosting device of claim 16 , wherein the host computing device provisions a session initiation protocol address using the configuration information.

18. The hosting device of claim 16 , wherein the host computing device decodes the configuration information and pushes the decoded configuration information to one or more services in communication with the host computing device.

19. The hosting device of claim 16 , wherein the host computing device decodes the configuration information and updates a customer record stored in non-transitory storage.

Assignees

• Irobot Corp

Inventors

• Cross Matthew
• Campbell Tony L

Classifications

• B25J11/0005 Primary

  Manipulators having means for high-level communication with users, e.g. speech generator, face recognition means · CPC title

• H04N21/4788

  communicating with other users, e.g. chatting {(arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104)} · CPC title

• Y10S901/47

  Optical · CPC title

• H04N7/15 Primary

  Conference systems · CPC title

• Y10S901/01

  Mobile robot · CPC title