Robot moving method and related device

Abstract

The invention provides a robot moving method and a related device, and the method comprises the steps: receiving at least one moving instruction from a server, and the at least one moving instruction comprises a first type of moving instruction and / or a second type of moving instruction; when the at least one movement instruction comprises a first type of movement instruction, moving to a first reservation path point according to a first movement field; and when the at least one movement instruction comprises a second type of movement instruction and it is determined that the target robot meets a movement condition according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot, moving to a second reservation path point according to a second movement field. The moving efficiency of the robot can be improved, and the physical loss of the robot is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application belongs to the field of robots, and specifically relates to a robot movement method and related devices. Background Art

[0002] When the current robot moves, it only moves based on the movement instructions issued by the system. Each robot is completely independent of the other robots, and the robot body will not sense other robots. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of the robot when moving, the instructions issued by the system need to ensure that there is no risk of collision between robots. Therefore, the system will reserve a certain distance of movement path for the robot, and these reserved movement paths cannot be reserved by other robots. When there are conflicting path points in the movement paths of multiple robots, the reserved path points corresponding to some robots can only reach before the conflicting path points, that is, the movement end point in the movement instruction received by the robot is the reserved path point before the conflicting path point. Then, the robot will assume that the last position point indicated by the movement instruction is the movement end point according to the movement instruction. Therefore, the robot will slowly stop before reaching the last position point until it receives the next instruction and then starts moving again. In this way, the robot needs to go through a process of decelerating to a standstill and then accelerating, which will increase the physical loss of the robot and extend the time it takes for the robot to reach its destination. Summary of the invention

[0003] The present application proposes a robot movement method and related devices to improve the movement efficiency of the robot and reduce the physical loss of the robot.

[0004] In a first aspect, the present application provides a robot movement method, which is applied to a target robot in a mobile control system, wherein the mobile control system includes at least one robot and a server, and the at least one robot includes the target robot, and the method includes:

[0005] Receive at least one movement instruction from a server, the at least one movement instruction includes a first type of movement instruction and / or a second type of movement instruction, the first type of movement instruction includes a first movement field, the second type of movement instruction includes a condition field and a second movement field, the first movement field includes a first reservation path point, the second movement field includes a second reservation path point, the second movement field and a third movement field in the first type of movement instruction received by a reference robot have conflicting path points, and the condition field is associated with the reference robot;

[0006] When the at least one movement instruction includes the first type of movement instruction, moving to the first reserved path point according to the first movement field;

[0007] When the at least one movement instruction includes the second type of movement instruction, and when it is determined that the target robot meets the movement condition according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot, the target robot moves to the second reserved path point according to the second movement field.

[0008] Furthermore, the method further includes: when the movement condition is not met, decelerating the movement based on the current speed until the reference robot leaves the conflicting path point, and then accelerating the movement to the second reserved path point.

[0009] Furthermore, determining whether the target robot satisfies the movement condition based on the condition field and the state of the reference robot includes: determining whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point before the target robot enters the conflict path point; if the reference robot has left the conflict path point, determining that the target robot satisfies the movement condition.

[0010] Furthermore, the condition field includes the conflict path point and the reference robot list corresponding to the conflict path point, and determining whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point includes: obtaining a space-time motion curve of the reference robot, the space-time motion curve being used to indicate the relationship between the arrival position and time during the movement of the reference robot; and determining whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point based on the space-time motion curve.

[0011] Furthermore, the method also includes: if it is determined that the reference robot has not reached the conflict path point, determining a first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point based on the space-time motion curve; determining a second time required for the target robot to move to the conflict path point; if the time interval between the second time and the first time is greater than a preset interval, determining that the target robot meets the movement condition.

[0012] Furthermore, the method also includes: if it is determined that the reference robot has not reached the conflict path point, determining a first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point based on the space-time motion curve; determining a second time required for the target robot to move to the conflict path point; if the first time is less than the second time, and the time interval between the second time and the first time is greater than a preset interval, determining that the target robot meets the movement condition.

[0013] Furthermore, the decelerating movement based on the current speed includes: when the moving condition is not met, determining the previous first scheduled path point of the second scheduled path point in the moving path as the end point; determining the acceleration according to the end point; and decelerating to move toward the end point based on the current speed and the acceleration.

[0014] Furthermore, the decelerated movement based on the current speed includes: obtaining a space-time motion curve of the reference robot, the space-time motion curve being used to indicate the relationship between the arrival position and time during the movement of the reference robot; determining a first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point according to the space-time motion curve; obtaining a current distance between the target robot and the conflict path point; determining a target speed after deceleration according to a third time and the current distance, the third time being greater than the first time; and decelerating from the current speed to the target speed according to the second movement field and moving to the second scheduled path point.

[0015] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot movement method, which is applied to a server in a mobile control system, wherein the mobile control system includes at least one robot and the server, wherein the at least one robot includes a target robot, and the method includes:

[0016] At least one movement instruction is sent to the target robot, the at least one movement instruction includes a first type of movement instruction and / or a second type of movement instruction, the first type of movement instruction includes a first movement field, the second type of movement instruction includes a condition field and a second movement field, the first movement field includes a first reserved path point, the second movement field includes a second reserved path point, there is a conflicting path point between the second movement field and the third movement field in the first type of movement instruction received by the reference robot, the condition field is associated with the reference robot, the first type of movement instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the first reserved path point in the first movement field, and the second type of movement instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the second reserved path point in the second movement field when it is determined that a preset condition is met according to the condition field and the status of the reference robot.

[0017] Furthermore, before sending at least one moving instruction to the target robot, the method also includes: acquiring a starting point and a destination of the target robot; determining a moving path of the target robot according to the starting point and the destination; making a path point reservation according to the moving path to obtain the first reserved path point or the second reserved path point; and generating the at least one moving instruction based on the first reserved path point and / or the second reserved path point.

[0018] Furthermore, the reservation of path points according to the moving path includes: determining the path points to be reserved according to the moving path; when the path points to be reserved are in a released state, reserving the path points to be reserved to obtain the first reserved path points; when the path points to be reserved are in an occupied state, obtaining the second reserved path points.

[0019] Furthermore, the generating of the at least one movement instruction based on the first reservation path point and / or the second reservation path point includes: generating the first type of movement instruction based on the first reservation path point, the first type of movement instruction including the first movement field, and the first movement field including the first reservation path point; determining the reference robot corresponding to the second reservation path point, the reference robot being a robot that puts the second reservation path point in the occupied state, generating the second type of movement instruction based on the second reservation path point and the reference robot, the second type of movement instruction including the second movement field and the condition field, the second movement field including the second reservation path point, and the condition field including the reference robot list.

[0020] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot moving device, which is applied to a target robot in a mobile control system, wherein the mobile control system includes at least one robot and a server, wherein the at least one robot includes the target robot, and the device includes:

[0021] A receiving unit, configured to receive at least one movement instruction from a server, wherein the at least one movement instruction includes a first type of movement instruction and / or a second type of movement instruction, wherein the first type of movement instruction includes a first movement field, and the second type of movement instruction includes a condition field and a second movement field, wherein the first movement field includes a first reservation path point, and the second movement field includes a second reservation path point, wherein the second movement field and a third movement field in the first type of movement instruction received by a reference robot have conflicting path points, and the condition field is associated with the reference robot;

[0022] a first moving unit, configured to move to the first reserved path point according to the first moving field when the at least one moving instruction includes the first type of moving instruction;

[0023] The second moving unit is used to move to the second reserved path point according to the second moving field when the at least one moving instruction includes the second type of moving instruction and it is determined that the target robot meets the moving condition according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot.

[0024] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot mobile device, which is applied to a server in a mobile control system, wherein the mobile control system includes at least one robot and the server, wherein the at least one robot includes a target robot, and the device includes:

[0025] A sending unit is used to send at least one movement instruction to the target robot, wherein the at least one movement instruction includes a first type of movement instruction and / or a second type of movement instruction, the first type of movement instruction includes a first movement field, the second type of movement instruction includes a condition field and a second movement field, the first movement field includes a first reserved path point, the second movement field includes a second reserved path point, there is a conflicting path point between the second movement field and the third movement field in the first type of movement instruction received by the reference robot, the condition field is associated with the reference robot, the first type of movement instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the first reserved path point in the first movement field, and the second type of movement instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the second reserved path point in the second movement field when it is determined that a preset condition is met according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot.

[0026] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot comprising a processor, a memory, a communication interface, and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, and the program comprises instructions for executing the steps in the first aspect of the embodiment of the present application.

[0027] In the sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a server, comprising a processor, a memory, a communication interface, and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, and the program includes instructions for executing the steps in the second aspect of the embodiment of the present application.

[0028] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer storage medium having a computer program / instructions stored thereon, and the computer program / instructions are executed by a processor to implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect or the second aspect above.

[0029] It can be seen that in the present application, when the movement instruction received by the target robot includes the first type of movement instruction, it moves to the first reserved path point according to the first movement field, and when the movement instruction includes the second type of movement instruction, and the target robot is determined to meet the movement condition according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot, it moves to the second reserved path point according to the second movement field. When the current movement path of the target robot conflicts with the current movement path of other robots, the conflict path point of the conflicting section can also be reserved. On the premise of ensuring that the target robot does not collide with other robots, the target robot tries not to slow down, thereby improving the efficiency of robot movement and reducing the physical loss of the robot. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0031] Figure 1 This is a path conflict schematic diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Figure 2 It is a motion time-space curve diagram provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the composition of the mobile control system provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Figure 4 is a structural schematic diagram of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Figure 5 It is a flowchart of a robot movement method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Figure 6 is another path conflict schematic diagram provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Figure 7 is another motion time-space curve diagram provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 8 is a flow chart of another robot movement method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Fig. 9 This is a block diagram of a first functional unit composition of a robot mobile device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Fig.10This is a block diagram of a second functional unit composition of a robot mobile device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Fig.11 This is a block diagram of the third functional unit composition of a robot mobile device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the solution of the present application, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0043] The terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims of this application and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally includes steps or units that are not listed, or optionally includes other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0044] Reference to "embodiments" herein means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with the embodiments may be included in at least one embodiment of the present application. The appearance of the phrase in various locations in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it an independent or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive with other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

[0045] See also Figure 1 ,like Figure 1 At the intersection shown in the figure, robots A and B will pass through the intersection at similar times, that is, there are conflicting path points in the movement paths of robots A and B. Robot A first reserves a movement path. At this time, in order to avoid collisions between robots, the server will only reserve the position before the intersection when reserving the movement path for robot B, and send a movement instruction to robot B. This movement instruction will only make robot B move to the front of the intersection, so that robot B avoids robot A before the intersection. That is, Figure 2As shown in , during the time period reserved by robot A, robot B cannot pass through the conflicting path point, and can only decelerate to a standstill before the conflicting path point and then wait for the end of the time period reserved by robot A (or robot A leaves the conflicting path point). When robot A passes through the conflicting path point, the conflicting path point is released, and the server reserves the conflicting path point and the moving path after the conflicting path point for robot B, and then sends a moving instruction to robot B again. Robot B starts to pass through and leave the intersection based on the moving instruction. That is, the moving instructions currently issued by the server are all first-class moving instructions. At this time, robot B needs to decelerate to a standstill and then accelerate to leave during the entire process of moving, which will increase the physical loss of the robot and prolong the time it takes for the robot to reach its destination.

[0046] In order to solve the above problems, an embodiment of the present application provides a robot movement method and related devices, and the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0047] See also Figure 3 , Figure 3 The mobile control system 10 shown includes a server 101 and multiple robots 102. The server 101 is respectively connected to the multiple robots 102 for communication, and the multiple robots 102 are also respectively connected to each other for communication. The server 101 is used to plan a moving path for each robot 102 and reserve a path point, and to send a moving instruction to the robot 102, and the robot 102 moves to the destination based on the moving instruction.

[0048] For specific implementation, see Figure 4 , the electronic device 20 can be used to refer to the robot 102 or server 101 mentioned above. The electronic device 20 includes a processor 120, a memory 130, a communication interface 140 and one or more programs 131, wherein the one or more programs 131 are stored in the memory 130 and are configured to be executed by the processor 120, and the one or more programs 131 include instructions for executing any step in the following method embodiment. In a specific implementation, the processor 120 is used to execute any step executed by the target robot or server in the following method embodiment, and when performing data transmission such as sending, the communication interface 140 can be selectively called to complete the corresponding operation.

[0049] See also Figure 5 , Figure 5 is a flow chart of a robot movement method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5 As shown, the robot moving method includes the following steps.

[0050] S210, receiving at least one movement instruction from a server.

[0051] The at least one movement instruction includes a first type of movement instruction and / or a second type of movement instruction, the first type of movement instruction includes a first movement field, and the first movement field includes a first scheduled path point. The second type of movement instruction includes a condition field and a second movement field, and the second movement field includes a second scheduled path point. There is a conflicting path point between the second movement field and a third movement field in the first type of movement instruction received by the reference robot, and the condition field is associated with the reference robot.

[0052] Specifically, the first type of movement instruction means that the robot can directly drive through the first scheduled path point based on the first movement field in the movement instruction, while the second type of movement instruction means that the robot needs to pass the second scheduled path point in the second movement field based on satisfying the condition field. In other words, whether it can pass the second scheduled path point depends on the state of the reference robot.

[0053] For example Figure 6 As shown, the reference robot is currently moving based on the third movement field in the first type of movement instruction. At this time, the third movement field includes the scheduled path point b, or point f and point b, that is, the reference robot needs to move from point a to point b. The second scheduled path points of the target robot include point c, point d, point f and point e, or point c, point d and point e, that is, the target robot needs to move from point c to point e. At this time, the intersection point f of the two paths is the conflicting path point.

[0054] In the specific implementation, since the server has reserved a moving path from point a to point b for the reference robot, the reference robot has a higher priority than the target robot for the conflicting path points. In other words, the reference robot will pass the conflicting path points first, while the target robot needs to pass the conflicting path points based on the state of the reference robot at the conflicting path points.

[0055] S220: When the at least one movement instruction includes the first type of movement instruction, move to the first reserved path point according to the first movement field.

[0056] Among them, when the target robot is currently executing the first type of moving instructions, it means that there is no path conflict between the target robot and other robots at the scheduled path point corresponding to the first type of moving instructions, or the priority of the target robot is higher than that of other robots with which there is a path conflict. At this time, the target robot can move directly to the first scheduled path point. At this time, the first scheduled path point is the moving end point considered by the target robot. Therefore, in a specific implementation, the server can issue multiple first-class moving instructions to the target robot. When the first scheduled path points of these multiple first-class moving instructions are continuous path points, the target robot can merge these multiple continuous path points and move based on the merged moving end point. At this time, the continuous path point indicates that there is no second scheduled path point in the path connected by multiple paths.

[0057] S230: When the at least one movement instruction includes the second type of movement instruction and it is determined that the target robot meets the movement condition according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot, move to the second reserved path point according to the second movement field.

[0058] In a possible embodiment, when the movement condition is not met, the movement is decelerated based on the current speed until the reference robot leaves the conflicting path point, and then the robot is accelerated to move to the second reserved path point.

[0059] For example Figure 6 As shown in the figure, the second reserved path point is point e, or point f and point e. At this time, if the moving condition is met, the target robot can move directly from point c to point e, even if there is a path conflict with the moving path of the reference robot, the target robot can also move directly to point e. If the target robot does not meet the moving condition, the target robot needs to move with point d as the end point, that is, to reach point d and decelerate the movement with a speed of 0, and, in the process of decelerating the movement, wait until the moving condition is met, that is, when the reference robot leaves the conflicting path point f, the target robot accelerates through point f and moves to point e.

[0060] In a possible embodiment, the decelerating movement based on the current speed includes: when the moving condition is not met, determining the previous first scheduled path point of the second scheduled path point in the moving path as the end point; determining the acceleration according to the end point; and decelerating to move toward the end point based on the current speed and the acceleration.

[0061] For example Figure 6As shown, the second scheduled path point of the target robot is point f, or point f and point e, and the previous first scheduled path point of the second scheduled path point is point d. At this time, the target robot determines the distance between the current position point c and the terminal point d, and then determines the acceleration based on the distance and the current speed, so that the target robot decelerates and moves to point d. If it is determined that the movement condition is met during the deceleration process, the deceleration can be stopped and the robot can be accelerated to move to point f or point e. If the movement condition is not met during the deceleration process, the target robot is stationary when it moves to d, waiting for the movement condition to be met.

[0062] It can be seen that in this embodiment, when the movement condition is not met, the target robot decelerates and moves with the last first reserved path point as the end point, waiting for the reference robot to leave the conflicting path point, which can improve the safety of the robot during movement.

[0063] In a possible embodiment, the decelerated movement based on the current speed includes: obtaining a space-time motion curve of the reference robot, the space-time motion curve being used to indicate the relationship between the arrival position and time during the movement of the reference robot; determining a first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point according to the space-time motion curve; obtaining a current distance between the target robot and the conflict path point; determining a target speed after deceleration according to a third time and the current distance, the third time being greater than the first time; and decelerating from the current speed to the target speed according to the second movement field and moving toward the second scheduled path point.

[0064] When each robot moves, it can determine the location it wants to move to based on the movement instructions sent by the server, and can determine the time it takes to move to each location based on the robot's movement speed, and then generate a future space-time motion curve. The space-time motion curve is published, so that each robot can view the space-time motion curves published by other robots based on demand to determine the movement of other robots.

[0065] In a specific implementation, each robot can be bound to a unique topic identifier under the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport for Sensor Networks (MQTT-SN) protocol of the sensor network. The topic identifier is used to identify the published space-time motion curve, and each robot can view the space-time motion curve published by the corresponding robot based on the topic identifiers of other robots. In particular, the space-time motion curve can be generated based on the first type of movement instructions of the robot and the movement of the second type of movement instructions when the movement conditions are met. When the movement conditions are not met, the low-priority robot slows down and moves until the high-priority robot leaves the conflicting path point, and the low-priority robot accelerates to move to the second scheduled path point. The low-priority robot will update the subsequent space-time motion curve based on the actual movement situation and publish it again.

[0066] Among them, when obtaining the spatiotemporal motion curve of the reference robot, the target robot can also communicate directly with the reference robot and obtain the current position, moving speed and path points reserved by the server for the reference robot, and then generate the future spatiotemporal motion curve of the reference robot based on the current position, moving speed and reserved path points of the reference robot.

[0067] like Figure 6 As shown, based on the spatiotemporal motion curve published by the reference robot, the target robot can know the first time when the reference robot moves to the conflict path point f. At this time, as long as the target robot moves to the conflict path point f after the first time, there will be no conflict with the reference robot. Therefore, the target speed of the target robot can be determined based on the third time, that is, after the target robot decelerates to the target speed, it will not conflict with the reference robot when it moves to the conflict path point f at the target speed.

[0068] See also Figure 7 , Figure 7 The black curve in the middle is the corresponding space-time motion curve when there is a conflict path point between the target robot and the reference robot, the target robot determines the previous first scheduled path point of the second scheduled path point as the end point, and decelerates to move towards the end point. That is, at this time, during the time period reserved by the reference robot, the target robot stops at the end point and waits for the reference robot to leave the conflict path point, then reserves the conflict path point, and then accelerates to move towards the second scheduled path point. Figure 7The blue curve in the middle is the spatiotemporal motion curve of the target robot decelerating to the target speed and moving to the second scheduled path point when there is a conflict path point between the target robot and the reference robot. Based on the time difference between the two spatiotemporal motion curves, we can intuitively feel that the target robot has a higher movement efficiency in the scheme in which the target robot communicates with the reference robot to determine the spatiotemporal motion curve of the reference robot when there is a conflict path point between the target robot and the reference robot, determines the target speed according to the spatiotemporal motion curve of the reference robot, and decelerates to the target speed and moves to the second scheduled path point.

[0069] It can be seen that in this embodiment, based on the target speed, the target robot moves to the conflict path point after the first time, which can avoid conflict with the reference robot and does not need to decelerate to a standstill and then accelerate, which can reduce equipment loss.

[0070] In a possible embodiment, determining that the target robot satisfies the movement condition based on the condition field and the state of the reference robot includes: determining whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point before the target robot enters the conflict path point; if the reference robot has left the conflict path point, determining that the target robot satisfies the movement condition.

[0071] Among them, before the target robot enters the conflict path point, it can be specifically when the target robot moves to the last first reserved path point before the conflict path point, or it can be when the distance between the position of the target robot and the conflict path point is less than the preset distance, which is not uniquely limited here.

[0072] It can be seen that in this embodiment, if the reference robot leaves the conflict path point before the target robot reaches the conflict path point, it means that the target robot and the reference robot will not collide at the conflict path point. At this time, it is considered that the target robot meets the movement conditions and can move directly to the second reserved path point.

[0073] In a possible embodiment, the condition field includes the conflict path point and the reference robot list corresponding to the conflict path point, and determining whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point includes: obtaining a space-time motion curve of the reference robot, the space-time motion curve being used to indicate the relationship between the arrival position and time during the movement of the reference robot; and determining whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point based on the space-time motion curve.

[0074] Among them, the reference robot list includes the identity information of the reference robot. The target robot can query the topic identifier of the reference robot based on the identity information, and access the topic corresponding to the topic identifier through the MQTT-SN protocol to obtain the spatiotemporal motion curve of the reference robot.

[0075] It can be seen that in this embodiment, whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point is determined based on the spatiotemporal motion curve of the reference robot, which reduces the calculation amount of the target robot and improves the accuracy of judging the movement of the reference robot.

[0076] In a possible embodiment, the method further includes: if it is determined that the reference robot has not reached the conflict path point, determining a first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point based on the space-time motion curve; determining a second time required for the target robot to move to the conflict path point; if the time interval between the second time and the first time is greater than a preset interval, determining that the target robot meets the movement condition.

[0077] Before the target robot enters the conflict path point, the reference robot has not moved to the conflict path point. At this time, the first time and the second time required for the reference robot and the target robot to move to the conflict path point can be determined. If the time interval between the first time and the second time is greater than the preset interval, that is, no matter whether the reference robot reaches the path conflict point first or the target robot reaches the path conflict point first, the reference robot and the target robot will not collide, then it is considered that the target robot meets the movement condition. In this case, the target robot does not need to slow down or wait for the reference robot to pass the conflict path point first, and can move to the second scheduled path point at the current speed.

[0078] It can be seen that in this embodiment, when the time interval between the target robot and the reference robot moving to the conflicting path point is large, the target robot can move directly to the second scheduled path point at the current speed, which can improve the efficiency of the robot movement.

[0079] In a possible embodiment, the method further includes: if it is determined that the reference robot has not reached the conflict path point, determining a first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point based on the space-time motion curve; determining a second time required for the target robot to move to the conflict path point; if the first time is less than the second time, and the time interval between the second time and the first time is greater than a preset interval, determining that the target robot meets the movement condition.

[0080] Among them, before the target robot enters the conflict path point, the reference robot has not moved to the conflict path point. Then, based on the first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point and the second time required for the target robot to move to the conflict path point, if the time interval between the second time and the first time is greater than the preset interval, it indicates that the target robot and the reference robot will not collide, and the first time is less than the second time, it is determined that the target robot meets the movement conditions and can pass the conflict path point before the target robot.

[0081] It can be seen that in this embodiment, when the movement conditions are met, the target robot can preferentially leave the conflicting path point and move directly to the second reserved path point to improve the efficiency of the robot's movement.

[0082] See also Figure 8 The present application also provides a robot movement method, which is applied to a server in a mobile control system. The robot movement method includes the following steps.

[0083] S810, sending at least one movement instruction to the target robot.

[0084] Wherein, the at least one movement instruction includes a first type of movement instruction and / or a second type of movement instruction, the first type of movement instruction includes a first movement field, the second type of movement instruction includes a condition field and a second movement field, the first movement field includes a first reserved path point, the second movement field includes a second reserved path point, there is a conflicting path point between the second movement field and the third movement field in the first type of movement instruction received by the reference robot, the condition field is associated with the reference robot, the first type of movement instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the first reserved path point in the first movement field, and the second type of movement instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the second reserved path point in the second movement field when it is determined that a preset condition is met according to the status of the condition field and the reference robot.

[0085] In a possible embodiment, before sending at least one movement instruction to the target robot, the method also includes: acquiring the starting point and destination of the target robot; determining the moving path of the target robot based on the starting point and the destination; reserving path points according to the moving path to obtain the first reserved path points or the second reserved path points; and generating the at least one movement instruction based on the first reserved path points and / or the second reserved path points.

[0086] Among them, the server can determine at least one path point to be reserved based on the movement requirements of the target robot, and then determine whether there is a path point in a locked state among the at least one path point to be reserved. If so, it means that the path point to be reserved has been reserved by a robot with a higher priority. At this time, it can be determined that the path point to be reserved that has been reserved by a robot with a higher priority is the second reserved path point of the target robot, and the other path points in the at least one path point to be reserved are the first reserved path points of the target robot.

[0087] It can be seen that in this embodiment, the reserved path points and the types of reserved path points are determined based on the situation corresponding to the moving path of the target robot, thereby improving the intelligence of the path point reservation for the target robot.

[0088] In a possible embodiment, the reservation of the path point according to the moving path includes: determining the path point to be reserved according to the moving path; when the path point to be reserved is in a released state, reserving the path point to be reserved to obtain the first reserved path point; when the path point to be reserved is in an occupied state, obtaining the second reserved path point.

[0089] Among them, the server can determine the type of path point to be reserved in real time based on the actual reservation status of the path points included in the current moving path. That is, if the path point to be reserved has been reserved by other robots, then the path point to be reserved is considered to be the second reserved path point; otherwise, the path point to be reserved is determined to be the first reserved path point.

[0090] It can be seen that in this embodiment, the server first determines the path point to be reserved, and then determines the type of the path point to be reserved according to the status of the path to be reserved, which can improve the flexibility of the server in determining the reserved path point.

[0091] In a possible embodiment, generating the at least one movement instruction based on the first reserved path point and / or the second reserved path point includes: generating the first type of movement instruction based on the first reserved path point, the first type of movement instruction including the first movement field, and the first movement field including the first reserved path point; determining the reference robot corresponding to the second reserved path point, the reference robot being a robot that puts the second reserved path point in the occupied state, generating the second type of movement instruction based on the second reserved path point and the reference robot, the second type of movement instruction including the second movement field and the condition field, the second movement field including the second reserved path point, and the condition field including the reference robot list.

[0092] It can be seen that in this embodiment, the server generates different movement instructions based on different types of reserved path points, so that the target robot can move based on the corresponding movement instructions, thereby improving the intelligence and safety of the target robot's movement.

[0093] For the above embodiments, please refer to Fig. 9 ,like Fig. 9 As shown, the robot moving device 30 is applied to a target robot in a mobile control system, the mobile control system includes at least one robot and a server, the at least one robot includes the target robot, and the robot moving device 30 includes: a receiving unit 310, used to receive at least one moving instruction from the server, the at least one moving instruction includes a first type of moving instruction and / or a second type of moving instruction, the first type of moving instruction includes a first moving field, the second type of moving instruction includes a condition field and a second moving field, the first moving field includes a first reserved path point, the second moving field includes a second reserved path point, the second moving field and the third moving field in the first type of moving instruction received by the reference robot have conflicting path points, and the condition field is associated with the reference robot; a first moving unit 320, used to move to the first reserved path point according to the first moving field when the at least one moving instruction includes the first type of moving instruction; a second moving unit 330, used to move to the second reserved path point according to the second moving field when the at least one moving instruction includes the second type of moving instruction and it is determined that the target robot meets the moving condition according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot.

[0094] In a possible embodiment, the second moving unit 330 is further used to: when the movement condition is not met, decelerate the movement based on the current speed until the reference robot leaves the conflicting path point, and then accelerate the movement to the second reserved path point.

[0095] In a possible embodiment, in terms of determining that the target robot satisfies the movement condition based on the condition field and the state of the reference robot, the second moving unit 330 is specifically used to: determine whether the reference robot has left the conflict path point before the target robot enters the conflict path point; if the reference robot has left the conflict path point, determine that the target robot satisfies the movement condition.

[0096] In a possible embodiment, the condition field includes the conflict path point and the reference robot list corresponding to the conflict path point. In terms of determining whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point, the second mobile unit 330 is specifically used to: obtain a space-time motion curve of the reference robot, wherein the space-time motion curve is used to indicate the relationship between the arrival position and time during the movement of the reference robot; and determine whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point based on the space-time motion curve.

[0097] In a possible embodiment, the second moving unit 330 is further used to: if it is determined that the reference robot has not reached the conflict path point, determine the first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point according to the space-time motion curve; determine the second time required for the target robot to move to the conflict path point; if the time interval between the second time and the first time is greater than a preset interval, determine that the target robot meets the movement condition.

[0098] In a possible embodiment, the second moving unit 330 is further used to: if it is determined that the reference robot has not reached the conflict path point, determine the first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point according to the space-time motion curve; determine the second time required for the target robot to move to the conflict path point; if the first time is less than the second time, and the time interval between the second time and the first time is greater than a preset interval, determine that the target robot meets the movement condition.

[0099] In a possible embodiment, in terms of the decelerated movement based on the current speed, the second moving unit 330 is specifically used to: when the movement condition is not met, determine the previous first scheduled path point of the second scheduled path point in the moving path as the end point; determine the acceleration according to the end point; and decelerate towards the end point based on the current speed and the acceleration.

[0100] In a possible embodiment, in terms of the decelerated movement based on the current speed, the second moving unit 330 is specifically used to: obtain the space-time motion curve of the reference robot, the space-time motion curve is used to indicate the relationship between the arrival position and time during the movement of the reference robot; determine the first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point according to the space-time motion curve; obtain the current distance between the target robot and the conflict path point; determine the decelerated target speed according to a third time and the current distance, the third time being greater than the first time; decelerate from the current speed to the target speed according to the second movement field and move to the second scheduled path point.

[0101] See also Fig.10 The robot moving device 40 is applied to a server in a mobile control system, the mobile control system includes at least one robot and the server, the at least one robot includes a target robot, the robot moving device 40 includes: a sending unit 410, used to send at least one moving instruction to the target robot, the at least one moving instruction includes a first type of moving instruction and / or a second type of moving instruction, the first type of moving instruction includes a first moving field, the second type of moving instruction includes a condition field and a second moving field, the first moving field includes a first reserved path point, the second moving field includes a second reserved path point, the second moving field and the third moving field in the first type of moving instruction received by the reference robot have conflicting path points, the condition field is associated with the reference robot, the first type of moving instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the first reserved path point in the first moving field, and the second type of moving instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the second reserved path point in the second moving field when it is determined that a preset condition is met according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot.

[0102] In a possible embodiment, before sending at least one movement instruction to the target robot, the robot moving device 40 also includes a generation unit, which is specifically used to: obtain the starting point and destination of the target robot; determine the moving path of the target robot according to the starting point and the destination; make a path point reservation according to the moving path to obtain the first reserved path point or the second reserved path point; and generate the at least one movement instruction based on the first reserved path point and / or the second reserved path point.

[0103] In a possible embodiment, in terms of reserving path points according to the moving path, the robot moving device 40 also includes a generating unit, which is specifically used to: determine the path points to be reserved according to the moving path; when the path points to be reserved are in a released state, reserve the path points to be reserved to obtain the first reserved path points; when the path points to be reserved are in an occupied state, obtain the second reserved path points.

[0104] In one possible embodiment, in terms of generating the at least one movement instruction based on the first reserved path point and / or the second reserved path point, the robot moving device 40 also includes a generation unit, which is specifically used to: generate the first type of movement instruction based on the first reserved path point, the first type of movement instruction includes the first movement field, and the first movement field includes the first reserved path point; determine the reference robot corresponding to the second reserved path point, the reference robot is a robot that makes the second reserved path point in the occupied state, generate the second type of movement instruction based on the second reserved path point and the reference robot, the second type of movement instruction includes the second movement field and the condition field, the second movement field includes the second reserved path point, and the condition field includes the reference robot list.

[0105] It can be understood that since the method embodiment and the device embodiment are different presentation forms of the same technical concept, the content of the method embodiment part in this application should be synchronously adapted to the device embodiment part and will not be repeated here.

[0106] In the case of an integrated unit, such as Fig.11 As shown. Fig.11 In the embodiment, the robot mobile device 50 includes: a processing module 512 and a communication module 511. The processing module 512 is used to control and manage the actions of the robot mobile device 50, for example, to execute the steps of the receiving unit 310, the first mobile unit 320 and the second mobile unit 330, or to execute the steps of the sending unit 410, and / or to execute other processes of the technology described herein. The communication module 511 is used for the interaction between the robot mobile device 50 and other devices. Fig.11 As shown, the robot mobile device 50 may further include a storage module 513 , and the storage module 513 is used to store program codes and data of the robot mobile device 50 .

[0107] Among them, the processing module 512 can be a processor or a controller, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a general processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute various exemplary logic blocks, modules and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of this application. The processor can also be a combination that implements a computing function, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, and the like. The communication module 511 can be a transceiver, an RF circuit or a communication interface, and the like. The storage module 513 can be a memory.

[0108] All relevant contents of each scenario involved in the above method embodiment can be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, which will not be repeated here. Figure 5 The steps performed by the target robot in the robot moving method shown in the figure, or the robot moving device 50 can perform the above Figure 8 The steps performed by the server in the robot movement method shown.

[0109] The above mainly introduces the scheme of the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of the execution process on the method side. It is understandable that, in order to realize the above functions, the electronic device includes a hardware structure and a software module corresponding to the execution of each function. It should be easily appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments provided herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present application.

[0110] The embodiment of the present application can divide the electronic device into functional units according to the above method example. For example, each functional unit can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing unit. The above integrated unit can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units. It should be noted that the division of units in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation.

[0111] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer storage medium, wherein the computer storage medium stores a computer program for electronic data exchange, wherein the computer program enables a computer to execute part or all of the steps of any method described in the above method embodiments, and the above computer includes an electronic device.

[0112] The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, the computer program product includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program is operable to cause a computer to execute some or all of the steps of any method described in the method embodiment. The computer program product may be a software installation package, and the computer includes an electronic device.

[0113] It should be noted that, for the aforementioned method embodiments, for the sake of simplicity, they are all expressed as a series of action combinations, but those skilled in the art should be aware that the present application is not limited by the described order of actions, because according to the present application, certain steps can be performed in other orders or simultaneously. Secondly, those skilled in the art should also be aware that the embodiments described in the specification are all preferred embodiments, and the actions and modules involved are not necessarily required by the present application.

[0114] In the above embodiments, the description of each embodiment has its own emphasis. For parts that are not described in detail in a certain embodiment, reference can be made to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments.

[0115] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed device can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic, such as the division of the above-mentioned units, which is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units can be electrical or other forms.

[0116] The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0117] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0118] If the above-mentioned integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable memory. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a memory, including a number of instructions to enable a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server or network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the above-mentioned methods of each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned memory includes: U disk, read-only memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), random access memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), mobile hard disk, disk or CD-ROM and other media that can store program codes.

[0119] A person of ordinary skill in the art can understand that all or part of the steps in the various methods of the above embodiments can be completed by instructing related hardware through a program, and the program can be stored in a computer-readable memory, which can include: a flash drive, a read-only memory ROM, a random access memory RAM, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, etc.

[0120] The embodiments of the present application are introduced in detail above. Specific examples are used in this article to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present application. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method and core idea of ​​the present application. At the same time, for general technical personnel in this field, according to the idea of ​​the present application, there will be changes in the specific implementation method and application scope. In summary, the content of this specification should not be understood as a limitation on the present application.

[0121] Although the present invention is disclosed as above, the present invention is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and can make various changes and modifications, including the combination of the above-mentioned different functions and implementation steps, including software and hardware implementation methods, all of which are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A robot moving method, characterized in that: A target robot applied to a mobile control system, the mobile control system comprising at least one robot and a server, the at least one robot comprising the target robot, the method comprising: Receive at least one movement instruction from a server, the at least one movement instruction includes a first type of movement instruction and / or a second type of movement instruction, the first type of movement instruction includes a first movement field, the second type of movement instruction includes a condition field and a second movement field, the first movement field includes a first reservation path point, the second movement field includes a second reservation path point, the second movement field and a third movement field in the first type of movement instruction received by a reference robot have conflicting path points, and the condition field is associated with the reference robot; When the at least one movement instruction includes the first type of movement instruction, moving to the first reserved path point according to the first movement field; When the at least one movement instruction includes the second type of movement instruction, and when it is determined that the target robot meets the movement condition according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot, the target robot moves to the second reserved path point according to the second movement field.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: When the movement condition is not met, the robot moves at a reduced speed based on the current speed until the reference robot leaves the conflicting path point, and then the robot moves at an accelerated speed to the second reserved path point.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The step of determining, according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot, that the target robot satisfies the movement condition comprises: Before the target robot enters the conflict path point, determining whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point; If the reference robot has left the conflict path point, it is determined that the target robot meets the movement condition.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The condition field includes the conflict path point and the reference robot list corresponding to the conflict path point, and the determining whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point includes: Acquire a spatiotemporal motion curve of the reference robot, wherein the spatiotemporal motion curve is used to indicate a relationship between an arrival position and a time during a movement of the reference robot; According to the spatiotemporal motion curve, it is determined whether the reference robot leaves the conflict path point.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: If it is determined that the reference robot has not reached the conflict path point, determining a first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point according to the spatiotemporal motion curve; Determining a second time required for the target robot to move to the conflict path point; If the time interval between the second time and the first time is greater than a preset interval, it is determined that the target robot meets the movement condition.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: If it is determined that the reference robot has not reached the conflict path point, determining a first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point according to the spatiotemporal motion curve; Determining a second time required for the target robot to move to the conflict path point; If the first time is less than the second time, and the time interval between the second time and the first time is greater than a preset interval, it is determined that the target robot meets the movement condition.

7. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The decelerating movement based on the current speed includes: If the movement condition is not met, determining the previous first scheduled path point of the second scheduled path point in the movement path as the end point; determining an acceleration according to the endpoint; Based on the current speed and the acceleration, the vehicle decelerates and travels toward the destination.

8. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The decelerating movement based on the current speed includes: Acquire a spatiotemporal motion curve of the reference robot, wherein the spatiotemporal motion curve is used to indicate a relationship between an arrival position and a time during a movement of the reference robot; Determining a first time required for the reference robot to move to the conflict path point according to the spatiotemporal motion curve; Obtaining the current distance between the target robot and the conflict path point; Determine a target speed after deceleration according to a third time and the current distance, wherein the third time is greater than the first time; The device decelerates from the current speed to the target speed according to the second movement field and moves toward the second scheduled path point.

9. A robot moving method, characterized in that: A server applied to a mobile control system, the mobile control system comprising at least one robot and the server, the at least one robot comprising a target robot, the method comprising: At least one movement instruction is sent to the target robot, the at least one movement instruction includes a first type of movement instruction and / or a second type of movement instruction, the first type of movement instruction includes a first movement field, the second type of movement instruction includes a condition field and a second movement field, the first movement field includes a first reserved path point, the second movement field includes a second reserved path point, there is a conflicting path point between the second movement field and the third movement field in the first type of movement instruction received by the reference robot, the condition field is associated with the reference robot, the first type of movement instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the first reserved path point in the first movement field, and the second type of movement instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the second reserved path point in the second movement field when it is determined that a preset condition is met according to the condition field and the status of the reference robot.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that Before sending at least one movement instruction to the target robot, the method further includes: Obtaining the starting point and destination of the target robot; Determining a moving path of the target robot according to the starting point and the destination; Reserving a path point according to the moving path to obtain the first reserved path point or the second reserved path point; The at least one movement instruction is generated based on the first scheduled waypoint and / or the second scheduled waypoint.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The step of reserving a path point according to the moving path includes: Determine the path point to be reserved according to the moving path; When the path point to be reserved is in a released state, reserving the path point to be reserved to obtain the first reserved path point; When the to-be-reserved path point is in an occupied state, the second reserved path point is obtained.

12. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The generating the at least one movement instruction based on the first scheduled path point and / or the second scheduled path point comprises: generating the first type of movement instruction based on the first reservation path point, wherein the first type of movement instruction includes the first movement field, and the first movement field includes the first reservation path point; Determine the reference robot corresponding to the second reservation path point, the reference robot is a robot that makes the second reservation path point in the occupied state, generate the second type of movement instructions based on the second reservation path point and the reference robot, the second type of movement instructions include the second movement field and the condition field, the second movement field includes the second reservation path point, and the condition field includes the reference robot list.

13. A robot moving device, characterized in that: A target robot applied to a mobile control system, the mobile control system comprising at least one robot and a server, the at least one robot including the target robot, the device comprising: A receiving unit, configured to receive at least one movement instruction from a server, wherein the at least one movement instruction includes a first type of movement instruction and / or a second type of movement instruction, wherein the first type of movement instruction includes a first movement field, and the second type of movement instruction includes a condition field and a second movement field, wherein the first movement field includes a first reservation path point, and the second movement field includes a second reservation path point, wherein the second movement field and a third movement field in the first type of movement instruction received by a reference robot have conflicting path points, and the condition field is associated with the reference robot; a first moving unit, configured to move to the first reserved path point according to the first moving field when the at least one moving instruction includes the first type of moving instruction; The second moving unit is used to move to the second reserved path point according to the second moving field when the at least one moving instruction includes the second type of moving instruction and it is determined that the target robot meets the moving condition according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot.

14. A robot moving device, characterized in that: A server applied to a mobile control system, the mobile control system comprising at least one robot and the server, the at least one robot including a target robot, the device comprising: A sending unit is used to send at least one movement instruction to the target robot, wherein the at least one movement instruction includes a first type of movement instruction and / or a second type of movement instruction, the first type of movement instruction includes a first movement field, the second type of movement instruction includes a condition field and a second movement field, the first movement field includes a first reserved path point, the second movement field includes a second reserved path point, there is a conflicting path point between the second movement field and the third movement field in the first type of movement instruction received by the reference robot, the condition field is associated with the reference robot, the first type of movement instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the first reserved path point in the first movement field, and the second type of movement instruction is used to instruct the target robot to move to the second reserved path point in the second movement field when it is determined that a preset condition is met according to the condition field and the state of the reference robot.

15. A robot, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor, a memory, and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, and the programs include instructions for executing the steps in the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

16. A server, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor, a memory, and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, and the programs include instructions for executing the steps in the method according to any one of claims 9 to 12.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program / instruction stored thereon, characterized in that: The computer program / instructions are executed by a processor to implement the steps of the method described in any one of claims 1 to 8 or any one of claims 9 to 12.

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