Method, apparatus, storage medium, and cleaning device for controlling a cleaning device

Abstract

A method for controlling a cleaning device, an apparatus, a storage medium, and a cleaning device, wherein the method for controlling a cleaning device includes the step of controlling the lifting assembly to perform a first operation when it is necessary for the lifting assembly of the cleaning device to perform a first operation and move to a second reach position, if it is determined that the current first position of the lifting assembly is the opposite reach position to the second reach position, and determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position based on a first drive current obtained during the process of the lifting assembly performing the first operation. This invention can improve the robustness of the lifting assembly of the cleaning device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] (Cross-Reference to Related Applications) The present disclosure claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application filed on September 15, 2023, with application number 202311198530.7 and entitled "Cleaning Device Control Method, Apparatus, Storage Medium and Cleaning Device", and the entire content of said Chinese Patent Application is incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of cleaning device control, and specifically to a cleaning device control method, apparatus, storage medium and cleaning device.

Background Art

[0003] By arranging a lifting assembly, such as a lifting main brush module, in a cleaning device, the lifting main brush module can be controlled to lift in scenes where there is water on the ground, thereby avoiding problems such as damage to the device itself, bacterial growth, and odor generation after dust collection caused by water entering the dust box. However, in related technologies, abnormalities are prone to occur when the lifting assembly controlling the cleaning device performs the lifting function, which leads to high error frequency and reduced robustness of the lifting assembly. Based on this, how to improve the robustness of the lifting assembly of a cleaning device is an urgent technical problem to be solved.

Summary of Invention

[0004] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a cleaning device control method, apparatus, storage medium and cleaning device that can improve the robustness of the lifting assembly of a cleaning device based on the technical solution provided by the present disclosure. Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following detailed description, or may be partially learned through practice of the present disclosure.

[0005] A first embodiment of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a method for controlling a cleaning device, the cleaning device comprising a lifting assembly, the lifting assembly being used to perform a lifting motion, the method comprising: in response to a first control command, obtaining whether the current first position of the lifting assembly is a first reach position, the first reach position including a lower reach position or an upward reach position; in response that the first position is a first reach position, controlling the lifting assembly to perform a first motion to move toward a second reach position, the second reach position being a reach position opposite to the first reach position; obtaining a first drive current to drive the lifting assembly to perform the first motion; and determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting assembly has moved toward the second reach position.

[0006] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the cleaning device further includes a reach switch, of which the step of obtaining whether the current first position of the lifting assembly is a first reach position includes the step of using the reach switch to detect whether the first position is a first reach position.

[0007] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method, based on the above-described scheme, further includes: controlling the lifting assembly to perform a second operation in response that the first position is not the first reachable position, wherein the second operation is opposite in direction to the operation of the first operation; obtaining a second drive current to drive the lifting assembly to perform the second operation; and controlling the lifting assembly to perform the first operation if, within a first predetermined time, it is obtained that the second drive current does not exceed a first current threshold, and within a second predetermined time, it is obtained that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reachable position, wherein the first predetermined time is less than the second predetermined time.

[0008] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the method further includes the step of determining that the reach switch has failed if, within a first predetermined time, it is not obtained that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold, and within a second predetermined time, it is not obtained that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position, and performing a first protective action on the lifting assembly.

[0009] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the first protective action includes controlling the lifting assembly to stop moving and / or controlling the cleaning device to report an error.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the method further includes: controlling the lifting assembly to perform the first operation if it is obtained that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within a first predetermined time; and, if the lifting assembly has moved to the first position, controlling the lifting assembly to perform the second operation and obtaining a second drive current to drive the lifting assembly to perform the second operation until it is no longer obtained that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, or until the number of times the lifting assembly performs the second operation exceeds a predetermined threshold; and repeating the process of obtaining a second drive current to drive the lifting assembly to perform the second operation.

[0011] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above scheme, the method further includes the step of determining that the lifting assembly has failed if the number of executions exceeds a predetermined threshold, and performing a second protective action on the lifting assembly.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the step of determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position based on the first drive current, based on the above-described scheme, includes the step of determining that the lifting assembly has failed if, within a third predetermined time, the first drive current exceeds a second current threshold, and performing a second protective action on the lifting assembly.

[0013] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the second protective action includes controlling the lifting assembly to stop moving and / or controlling the cleaning device to transmit presentation information to the user.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the step of determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position based on the first drive current, based on the above-described scheme, includes the step of determining that the lifting assembly has failed if, within a third predetermined time, the first drive current exceeds a second current threshold, and performing a second protective action on the lifting assembly.

[0015] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method, based on the above-described scheme, further includes the step of determining that the lifting assembly has moved to a second reachable position if, within a third predetermined time, the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold, and within a fourth predetermined time, the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold, wherein the fourth predetermined time is greater than the third predetermined time.

[0016] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method, based on the above-described scheme, further includes the step of determining that the lifting assembly has moved to a second reachable position if, within a fourth predetermined time, the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold and the first drive time for driving the lifting assembly to perform the first operation reaches the fourth predetermined time, wherein the fourth predetermined time is greater than the third predetermined time.

[0017] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the method further includes the steps of triggering the execution of a self-calibration operation in response to a second control command, and determining a second current threshold and a fourth predetermined time based on the self-calibration operation, wherein the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time are configured to determine whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position.

[0018] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the step of determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time based on the above-described scheme includes: obtaining whether the current second position of the lifting assembly is the first reach position; if the second position is the first reach position, controlling the lifting assembly to perform the first operation; obtaining whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current that drives the lifting assembly to perform the first operation, and recording the second drive time that drives the lifting assembly to perform the first operation; if an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, using the first drive current corresponding to the time the overcurrent occurs as the reference current and the second drive time corresponding to the time the overcurrent occurs as the reference time; and determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time based on the reference current and the reference time.

[0019] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the step of determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time based on the above-described scheme, based on the reference current and the reference time, includes the step of determining the reference current as the second current threshold if the reference current is less than the first set current, and the step of obtaining the fourth predetermined time by adjusting the reference time according to a predetermined adjustment ratio if the reference time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time, wherein the predetermined adjustment ratio is less than 1.

[0020] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method, based on the above-described scheme, further includes the steps of determining a second setting current as a second current threshold if the reference current is greater than or equal to the first setting current, wherein the second setting current is less than the first setting current; and determining a third setting time as a fourth predetermined time if the reference time is less than or equal to the first setting time, or if the reference time is greater than or equal to the second setting time, wherein the third setting time is greater than the first setting time and less than the second setting time.

[0021] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method, based on the above-described scheme, further includes the steps of: controlling the lifting assembly to perform the second operation if the second position is not the first reachable position, and obtaining whether the lifting assembly has moved to the first reachable position; controlling the lifting assembly to perform the first operation if it has been determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reachable position; and determining the second set current as the second current threshold and the third set time as the fourth predetermined time if it has not been determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reachable position.

[0022] A second embodiment of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a control device for a cleaning device, the cleaning device comprising a lifting assembly, the lifting assembly being used to perform a lifting motion, the device comprising: an acquisition unit configured to acquire, in response to a first control command, whether the current first position of the lifting assembly is a first reach position, the first reach position including a lower reach position or an upward reach position; a control unit configured to control, in response that the first position is a first reach position, the lifting assembly to perform a first motion to move toward a second reach position, the second reach position being a reach position opposite to the first reach position; an acquisition unit configured to acquire a first drive current to drive the lifting assembly to perform the first motion; and a determination unit configured to determine, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting assembly has moved toward the second reach position.

[0023] A third embodiment of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable recording medium in which at least one program code is stored, and which is loaded and executed by a processor to perform an operation performed by any one of the first embodiments.

[0024] A fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a cleaning device comprising one or more processors and one or more memories, the one or more memories storing at least one program code, the at least one program code being loaded and executed by the one or more processors to perform an operation performed by any one of the first embodiments.

[0025] In the technical solution of the present disclosure, the cleaning device is provided with a lifting assembly for performing a lifting operation, and a method for determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to a second reaching position comprises: first, in response to a first control instruction, acquiring whether a current first position of the lifting assembly is a first reaching position, wherein the first reaching position is a descending reaching position or an ascending reaching position; next, if the first position is the first reaching position, controlling the lifting assembly to perform a first action and move towards a second reaching position, wherein the second reaching position is a reaching position opposite to the first reaching position; then, acquiring a first driving current that drives the lifting assembly to perform the first action; and finally, determining, based on the first driving current, whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reaching position. As can be seen from the above, in the process of determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reaching position, the cleaning device of the present disclosure only performs logical judgment through the first driving current, and can determine whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reaching position. Therefore, as can be understood, the method for determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reaching position in the present disclosure does not need to rely on a reaching switch for judgment, thereby reducing the arrangement cost of arranging the reaching switch in the cleaning device, reducing the number of error reports for reporting errors when the reaching switch fails, and further improving the robustness of the lifting assembly of the cleaning device.

[0026] The foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] The drawings herein are incorporated into the specification and form a part of the present specification, show embodiments corresponding to the present disclosure, and are used together with the specification to interpret the principle of the present disclosure. Of course, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts. In the drawings,

[0028] [Figure 1] shows a schematic diagram of the principle by which a lifting assembly in the related art performs a lifting operation. [Figure 2] shows a flowchart of a control method for a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] shows a detailed flowchart of a control method for a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] shows a flowchart for determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 5] shows a detailed flowchart for determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] shows a schematic diagram for acquiring whether an overcurrent occurs in the first driving current according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] shows a detailed flowchart for determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time based on the reference current and the reference time according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] shows an overall flowchart of a control method for a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] shows an overall flowchart for determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] shows a block diagram of a control apparatus for a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 11] shows a schematic structural diagram of a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0029] The exemplary embodiments are now described more comprehensively with reference to the drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments can be implemented in multiple forms and should not be understood as being limited to the examples described herein. Rather, by providing these embodiments, the disclosure becomes more comprehensive and complete, and the concepts of the exemplary embodiments are fully conveyed to those skilled in the art.

[0030] Furthermore, the described features, structures, or properties can be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. The following description provides many specific details so that the embodiments of this disclosure may be fully understood. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the technical applications of this disclosure may be implemented without one or more specific details, or that other methods, components, apparatus, steps, etc., may be employed. In other cases, well-known methods, apparatus, implementations, or operations are not illustrated or described in detail so as not to obscure each embodiment of this disclosure.

[0031] The block diagrams shown in the drawings represent only functional entities and do not necessarily have to correspond to physically independent entities. In other words, these functional entities may be implemented by software, by one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or by different networks and / or processor devices and / or microcontroller devices.

[0032] The flowchart shown in the diagram is for illustrative purposes only and does not need to include all content and operations / steps, nor does it need to be performed in the order shown. For example, some operations / steps may be further broken down, some operations / steps may be combined or partially combined, and therefore the actual execution order may be changed depending on the actual situation.

[0033] In this specification, "plural" refers to two or more. The term "and / or" describes the relationship between related objects and indicates that three types of relationships are possible. For example, A and / or B can refer to three situations: A existing alone, A and B existing simultaneously, and B existing alone. The letter " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0034] It should be noted that terms such as “first,” “second,” etc., in the specification and claims of this disclosure and in the drawings are for distinguishing similar subjects and are not necessarily intended to describe a specific order or sequence. Subjects used in this manner should be understood to be interchangeable under appropriate circumstances so that the embodiments of this disclosure described herein may be implemented in an order other than that shown or described.

[0035] To further clarify the object, technical concept, and advantages of the present invention, the technical concept in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings of the embodiments; however, obviously, the embodiments described are only some embodiments of the present invention, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art will know that all other embodiments obtained without creative work are all within the scope of the present invention.

[0036] To help those skilled in the art better understand the proposed invention, the background art of the proposed invention will be described in detail below with reference to Figure 1.

[0037] The cleaning devices referred to in this disclosure may be smart devices with cleaning functions, and include, but are not limited to, vacuum cleaners and mopping machines. In the following explanations, we will use a vacuum cleaner as an example of a cleaning device.

[0038] The lifting assemblies referred to in this disclosure include, but are not limited to, a lifting main brush module, a lifting mop module, and other modules having a lifting function.

[0039] Referring to Figure 1, a schematic diagram of the principle by which a lifting assembly in related technology performs lifting and lowering operations is shown. In this field, if the main brush module of a vacuum cleaner does not have a lifting function, when the vacuum cleaner cleans a floor where liquid (e.g., water) is present, the liquid may enter the vacuum cleaner's dust box. After the liquid enters the dust box, problems such as bacterial growth, damage to the vacuum cleaner, damage to the fan after dust collection, and odor generation can occur. However, by equipping the vacuum cleaner with a lifting main brush module that has a lifting function, this problem can be solved.

[0040] In related technologies, the principle by which a vacuum cleaner controls a lifting assembly to perform a lifting motion is as follows: The vacuum cleaner is equipped with two in-place switches: one used to detect whether the lifting assembly has moved to its upper reach position, and the other used to detect whether the lifting assembly has moved to its lower reach position.

[0041] When the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner performs an upward movement and moves upward to the upward reach position, the drive motor is controlled to rotate in the forward direction during the upward movement, thereby driving the first-order transmission teeth to rotate, which in turn drives the extension structure to shorten the rope and raise the lifting assembly. When the lifting assembly has risen and reached the upward reach position, the corresponding reach switch is triggered to feed back an upward reach signal to the vacuum cleaner, thereby allowing the vacuum cleaner to know that the lifting assembly has moved to the upward reach position.

[0042] When the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly performs a downward movement and moves down to the lowered end position, the drive motor is controlled to reverse during the downward movement, thereby driving the first-class transmission teeth to rotate, which in turn drives the extension structure to extend the rope and lower the lifting assembly. When the lifting assembly has descended and reached the lowered end position, the corresponding reach switch is triggered to feed back a lowered end signal to the vacuum cleaner, thereby allowing the vacuum cleaner to know that the lifting assembly has moved to the lowered end position.

[0043] In the event of a failure of the reach switch, the vacuum cleaner will notify and understand the error. In the relevant technology, the vacuum cleaner determines whether the lifting assembly has risen or lowered to a predetermined position based on two reach switches. However, the arrangement of two reach switches increases the frequency of error notifications by the vacuum cleaner, thereby reducing the robustness of the lifting assembly. Based on this, the present disclosure provides a method for controlling a cleaning device to overcome this drawback and improve the robustness of the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner.

[0044] The control method for the cleaning device provided by this disclosure will be described in detail below, with reference to the drawings. Referring to Figure 2, a flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown, which specifically includes the following steps S110 to S140.

[0045] S110, in response to the first control command, the system obtains whether the current first position of the lifting assembly is the first reach position, and the first reach position is either the lower reach position or the upper reach position.

[0046] The first control command is used to instruct the lifting assembly to move to a second reach position, the second reach position being the opposite of the first reach position. For example, if the first control command instructs the lifting assembly to move to an upward reach position (i.e., a second reach position), the first reach position is the downward reach position.

[0047] The first control command may be a control command sent by the user to the vacuum cleaner via a client, a control command generated when the user touches a corresponding button on the vacuum cleaner, or a control command generated by other means.

[0048] Furthermore, the vacuum cleaner can determine whether the current first position of the lifting assembly is the first reach position by acquiring a reach signal fed back from the reach switch. The reach switch is used to detect whether the first position is the first reach position, and when the reach switch detects that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position, it feeds back a reach signal to the vacuum cleaner. The reach switch may be a microswitch, a light-blocking sensor, or the like.

[0049] In step S110, the vacuum cleaner obtains whether the current first position of the lifting assembly is the first reachable position, and then two types of results are obtained. The first type of result is that the first position is the first reachable position, and the second type of result is that the first position is not the first reachable position. Specific embodiments corresponding to these two types of results will be described in detail below.

[0050] For the results of type 1, the following steps S120 can be performed. Continuing to refer to Figure 2, S120, when the first position is the first reachable position, the lifting assembly is controlled to perform a first operation to move toward the second reachable position, which is the opposite reachable position to the first reachable position.

[0051] Furthermore, the first operation performed by the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly coincides with the second reach position. For example, if the second reach position is the raised reach position, the first operation is an upward operation; if the second reach position is the lower reach position, the first operation is a downward operation.

[0052] In step S120, if the first control command instructs the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly to rise to the raised position, the vacuum cleaner, upon learning that the current first position of the lifting assembly is the lowered position, directly controls the lifting assembly to perform an upward movement to move to the raised position.

[0053] The results of Type 2 can be performed according to the steps shown in Figure 3. Referring to Figure 3, a flowchart detailing a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown, specifically including steps S120A to S122A.

[0054] S120A, if the first position is not the first reachable position, the lifting assembly is controlled to perform a second operation, the second operation being in the opposite direction to the first operation.

[0055] To make it clear, in step S120, the purpose of the vacuum cleaner controlling the lifting assembly to perform the second action is to complete the instructions of the first control command by moving the lifting assembly to the first reach position and then moving it to the second reach position by performing the first action.

[0056] Furthermore, the second operation performed by the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly coincides with the first reach position. If the first reach position is the raised reach position, the first operation is an upward movement; if the first reach position is the lower reach position, the first operation is a downward movement.

[0057] Continuing to refer to Figure 3, S121A acquires a second drive current to drive the lifting assembly and perform the second operation. In step S121A, the vacuum cleaner can use a drive motor to drive the lifting assembly to perform a second operation, in which case the second drive current is the operating current of the drive motor during the process in which the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner performs the second operation.

[0058] In the embodiments of this disclosure, three types of situations may occur during the process in which the vacuum cleaner performs step S121A, and specific embodiments of each situation will be described below.

[0059] In step S121A, a possible first type of situation is that "the vacuum cleaner does not obtain the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, and the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position within a second predetermined time," and in this situation, the following can be performed according to step S122A.

[0060] S122A, if it is determined that the second drive current does not exceed the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, and that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position within a second predetermined time, the lifting assembly is controlled to perform the first operation, wherein the first predetermined time is smaller than the second predetermined time.

[0061] The setting of the relevant logical decision parameters in step S122A will be explained in detail below.

[0062] Settings for the second predetermined time and the first predetermined time: In some embodiments, a second predetermined time can be determined based on the history of the vacuum cleaner lifting assembly performing a second operation. Specifically, a first time is obtained for the vacuum cleaner lifting assembly to move from the second destination to the first destination in the history, and the maximum value of each of the first times is set as the second predetermined time.

[0063] In some embodiments, the second predetermined time can be set based on prior test results. Specifically, lifting function tests can be performed on multiple vacuum cleaners of the same type. For example, the vacuum cleaner can be controlled to move from a second reach position to a first reach position, and the second time it takes for the vacuum cleaner to move from the second reach position to the first reach position can be recorded. This allows for obtaining multiple second times, and therefore, the maximum value among these multiple second times can be selected as the second predetermined time.

[0064] This disclosure does not limit the specific method for determining the second predetermined time. For example, the second predetermined time may be set to 500ms.

[0065] In some embodiments, the first predetermined time can be the product of a second predetermined time and a first set ratio, wherein the first set ratio is less than 1. The first set ratio may be determined based on historical experience or on prior test results, but the principle of determination is that if the vacuum cleaner obtains a second drive current that exceeds a first current threshold within the first predetermined time, it should reflect a failure of the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly.

[0066] For example, assuming that the first setting ratio is 0.6 and the second predetermined time is 500ms, it can be obtained that the first predetermined time is 300ms (0.6 * 500ms).

[0067] Settings for the first current threshold: Furthermore, the setting of the first current threshold should satisfy the requirement that an overcurrent occurs in the second drive current when the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold.

[0068] In some embodiments, a first current threshold can be determined based on the history of the vacuum cleaner lifting assembly performing a second operation. Specifically, first, execution records are searched for when an overcurrent occurs during the process of the vacuum cleaner lifting assembly performing a second operation. Next, the corresponding first currents recorded in these execution records at the time of the overcurrent are extracted, thereby obtaining a plurality of first currents, the average of which can be used as the first current threshold.

[0069] In some embodiments, the first current threshold can be determined based on prior test results. Specifically, lifting function tests can be performed on multiple vacuum cleaners of the same type. For example, foreign matter may be jammed in the lifting assembly of a vacuum cleaner (because jamming in the lifting assembly causes an overcurrent to occur when the lifting assembly performs its lifting function), and then the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner may be controlled to move from a second reach position to a first reach position by performing a second operation, while the change in the second drive current can be monitored as the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner performs the second operation. If an overcurrent is detected in the second drive current of the vacuum cleaner, the corresponding second drive current at the time of the overcurrent can be recorded as the second current, thereby obtaining multiple second currents, and the average value of the multiple second currents can be used as the first current threshold.

[0070] This disclosure does not limit the specific method for determining the first current threshold, but exemplifies that the first current threshold may be set to 500 mA.

[0071] In step S121A, a possible second type of situation is that "the vacuum cleaner does not acquire the result that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, and the vacuum cleaner does not acquire the result that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position within a second predetermined time," in which case the following step S122B can be performed.

[0072] S122B, if within a first predetermined time, it is not obtained that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold, and within a second predetermined time, it is not obtained that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position, it is determined that the reach switch has failed, and the first protective operation is performed on the lifting assembly.

[0073] As can be understood in step S122B, if the vacuum cleaner's reach switch is functioning correctly, the reach switch can detect that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position if the first drive time is greater than a first predetermined time and less than a second predetermined time. Therefore, if the reach switch does not detect that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position under these conditions, it means that the reach switch is faulty.

[0074] In some embodiments, if the reach switch fails, the first protective action performed on the lifting assembly includes, but is not limited to, controlling the lifting assembly to stop moving and / or controlling the cleaning device to signal an error. To understand that, if the reach switch of a vacuum cleaner fails, a protective role can be played for the lifting assembly by controlling the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner to stop moving. The cleaning device signals an error indicating that the reach switch has failed and transmits notification information to the user to inform the user that the reach switch has failed.

[0075] In step S121A, a third possible situation is that "the vacuum cleaner obtains that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within a first predetermined time," and in this situation, the following steps S122C to S123C can be performed.

[0076] S122C, if it is determined that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, the lifting assembly is controlled to perform the first operation.

[0077] Furthermore, in step S122C, the purpose of controlling the lifting assembly to perform the first operation is not to move the lifting assembly to the second reachable position, but to return it to the first position.

[0078] S123C, if the lifting assembly has moved to the first position, the process returns to the step of controlling the lifting assembly to perform the second operation until, within the first predetermined time, the second drive current no longer exceeds the first current threshold, or until the number of times the lifting assembly performs the second operation exceeds a predetermined threshold.

[0079] Furthermore, in step S123C, if the vacuum cleaner detects that the lifting assembly has moved to the first position, the vacuum cleaner controls the lifting assembly to perform step S120A again.

[0080] In some embodiments, the vacuum cleaner can record that it has performed the second operation once each time it has performed step S120A.

[0081] In some embodiments, the predetermined threshold number may be set to 2, 3, or the like, but this disclosure is not limited to these examples.

[0082] During the process of executing steps S122C to S123C, the following step S124D can also be executed.

[0083] S124D, if the number of executions exceeds the predetermined threshold, it is determined that the lifting assembly has failed, and a second protective action is performed on the lifting assembly.

[0084] In some embodiments, if it is determined that the lifting assembly has failed, the second protective action performed on the lifting assembly may include, but is not limited to, controlling the lifting assembly to stop moving and / or controlling the cleaning device to transmit presentation information to the user.

[0085] To make it clear, the cause of the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly malfunction could be that foreign objects are stuck in the lifting assembly, and therefore, controlling the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly to stop moving can protect the lifting assembly. Furthermore, the information that the vacuum cleaner sends to the user may be a suggestion to the user to clean the foreign objects stuck in the lifting assembly by inspecting it, and the method of sending this information to the user may be by sending information to the user and the vacuum cleaner making an audio announcement.

[0086] Regarding specific embodiments of the third type of situation that occurs in step S121A, if the vacuum cleaner first obtains that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, it can be tentatively determined that the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly has failed. If the vacuum cleaner repeats step S120A multiple times and each time obtains that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, it can be definitively determined that the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly has failed. As can be seen from this, by repeating step S120A multiple times, the accuracy of the vacuum cleaner's determination of whether or not the lifting assembly has failed can be improved.

[0087] As can be understood from the above description of the three possible situations that may occur in step S120A, the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner of this disclosure can determine the specific cause of the abnormality using only different judgment logic when an abnormality occurs in the process of performing the second operation, and can perform a corresponding protective action based on the different cause of the abnormality. Therefore, the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner of this disclosure has greater robustness than the vacuum cleaner in related technology which performs error notification processing for any abnormality.

[0088] Continuing to refer to Figure 2, step S130 obtains a first drive current to drive the lifting assembly and perform the first operation.

[0089] In some embodiments, a drive motor can be used to drive the lifting assembly of a vacuum cleaner to perform a first operation, in which case the first drive current is the operating current of the drive motor during the process in which the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner performs the first operation.

[0090] Continuing to refer to Figure 2, step S140 determines whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position based on the first drive current.

[0091] During the process of executing step S140, three different situations may occur, and specific embodiments of each situation will be described below.

[0092] In step S140, the first possible situation is that "the vacuum cleaner does not obtain the first drive current to exceed the second current threshold within a third predetermined time, and obtains the first drive current to exceed the second current threshold within a fourth predetermined time," and in this situation, the following steps can be performed according to step S141.

[0093] S141, if the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold within a third predetermined time, and the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within a fourth predetermined time, it is determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position, and the fourth predetermined time is greater than the third predetermined time.

[0094] The following describes the setting of the relevant logical decision parameters in step S141. Settings for the fourth predetermined time and the third predetermined time: In some embodiments, a fourth predetermined time can be determined based on the history of the vacuum cleaner lifting assembly performing a first operation. Specifically, a third time is obtained in the history for the vacuum cleaner lifting assembly to move from the first reach to the second reach, and the maximum value of each of the third times can be the fourth predetermined time.

[0095] In some embodiments, the fourth predetermined time can be determined based on a self-calibration operation, and specific embodiments are described in detail in subsequent embodiments in which the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time are determined based on a self-calibration operation, specifically referring to the following steps S410 to S420, which are therefore omitted from this description.

[0096] In some embodiments, the fourth predetermined time can be set based on prior test results. Specifically, in the test test, a reach switch is used to detect whether or not the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner has moved to a second reach position. In the test test, a lifting function test is performed on multiple vacuum cleaners of the same type, for example, a first movement is performed so that the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner moves from a first reach position to a second reach position, and the fourth time it takes for the vacuum cleaner to move from the first reach position to the second reach position is recorded, thereby obtaining multiple fourth times, and the average value of the multiple fourth times can be set as the fourth predetermined time.

[0097] In some embodiments, the fourth predetermined time can be set to a predetermined time equal to the second predetermined time. This disclosure does not limit the specific method for determining the fourth predetermined time. For example, the fourth predetermined time may be set to 400ms.

[0098] In some embodiments, the product of the second setting ratio and the fourth predetermined time can be the third predetermined time, and the second setting ratio is less than 1. The second setting ratio may be determined based on historical empirical values ​​or based on prior test results, but the principle of determination is that if the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within the third predetermined time, it can reflect that the lifting assembly has failed.

[0099] For example, assuming that the second setting ratio is 0.5 and the fourth predetermined time is 400ms, the third predetermined time can be obtained to be 200ms (0.5ms * 400ms). In this setting, if, during the process of executing step S140, the vacuum cleaner lifting assembly determines that it has moved to the second destination position if the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within the time range of [200ms, 400ms].

[0100] Settings for the second current threshold: Furthermore, the setting of the second current threshold should satisfy the requirement that it be able to reflect the occurrence of an overcurrent in the first drive current when the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold.

[0101] In some embodiments, the second current threshold may be determined based on prior test results. Specifically, lifting function tests can be performed on multiple identical vacuum cleaners, for example, if foreign matter gets stuck in the lifting assembly of a vacuum cleaner, and then the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner is controlled to move from a first reach position to a second reach position by performing a first operation, and the change in the first drive current can be monitored during the process of the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner performing the first operation, and if an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current of the vacuum cleaner, the corresponding first drive current at the time of the overcurrent can be recorded as a third current, thereby obtaining multiple third currents, and the average value of the multiple third currents can be used as the second current threshold.

[0102] In some embodiments, the second current threshold can be set to a current threshold equal to the first current threshold.

[0103] In some embodiments, the second current threshold can be determined by performing a self-calibration operation, and specific embodiments are described in detail in the following embodiments in which the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time are determined based on the self-calibration operation, and specifically refer to the following steps S410 to S420, and therefore the description is omitted here.

[0104] This disclosure does not limit the specific method for determining the second current threshold. For example, the second current threshold can be set to 500 mA.

[0105] In step S141, if, during the process of the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly performing a first operation, the vacuum cleaner obtains a value in which the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within a time range consisting of a third predetermined time and a fourth predetermined time, it means that the drive motor is short-circuited at that time, and therefore, in that situation, the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly is deemed to have already moved to the second reach position. Based on this, the embodiment of step S141 makes it possible to determine whether the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position even if the vacuum cleaner is not equipped with a reach switch to detect whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position, thereby reducing the placement cost of the vacuum cleaner and improving the robustness of the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly.

[0106] In step S140, a possible second type of situation is that "within a third predetermined time, it is obtained that the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold," and in this situation, the following steps S141A or S1411A can be performed.

[0107] S141A, if it is determined that the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within a third predetermined time, it is determined that the lifting assembly has failed and a second protective action is performed on the lifting assembly.

[0108] In step S141A, the cause of the failure of the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly may be that foreign matter is lodged in the lifting assembly. Therefore, if it is determined that the lifting assembly has failed, the second protective action performed by the vacuum cleaner on the lifting assembly includes, but is not limited to, controlling the lifting assembly to stop moving and / or controlling the cleaning device to transmit information to the user.

[0109] S1411A, if it is determined that the first drive current exceeds a second current threshold within a third predetermined time, the lifting assembly is controlled to perform the second operation, and if the lifting assembly moves to the first reach position, the process returns to the step of controlling the lifting assembly to perform the first operation (i.e., returns to step S120), and the number of times the lifting assembly performs the first operation is recorded, and if the number of executions exceeds a predetermined execution count threshold, it is determined that the lifting assembly has failed and a second protective operation is performed on the lifting assembly.

[0110] To make it clearer, for the second type of situation that occurs in step S140, step S141A may be performed, or step S1411A may be performed. Comparing the two embodiments, step S1411A can improve the accuracy with which the vacuum cleaner determines whether or not the lifting assembly has failed.

[0111] In step S140, a third possible situation is that "the first drive current has not exceeded the second current threshold within the fourth predetermined time," and in this situation, the following step S141B can be performed.

[0112] S141B, if within a fourth predetermined time, the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold, and the first drive time for driving the lifting assembly to perform the first operation reaches the fourth predetermined time, it is determined that the lifting assembly moves to the second reach position, and the fourth predetermined time is greater than the third predetermined time.

[0113] To help those skilled in the art better understand the three types of situations in step S140, the following examples will be provided. Assume that a fourth predetermined time is 400ms, a third predetermined time is 200ms, and a second current threshold is 500mA. The lifting assembly begins performing a first operation from a first reach position. If the vacuum cleaner obtains a first drive current exceeding 500mA within a first drive time of 200ms, the lifting assembly is deemed to have failed. If the vacuum cleaner obtains a first drive current exceeding 500mA within a first drive time of [200ms, 400ms], the lifting assembly is deemed to have moved to a second reach position. If the vacuum cleaner has not obtained a first drive current exceeding 500mA within a first drive time of 400ms, the vacuum cleaner is deemed to have moved the lifting assembly to a second reach position when the first drive time reaches 400ms.

[0114] As can be understood from the above detailed explanation of the three possible situations in step S140, by logically determining the first drive current and the first drive time during the process in which the vacuum cleaner lifting assembly moves from the first reach position to the second reach position by performing the first operation, it is possible to determine whether or not the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position. Therefore, there is no need to rely on detection by the reach switch, the placement cost of the vacuum cleaner lifting assembly can be reduced to some extent, the number of error notifications to the reach switch can be reduced, and the robustness of the vacuum cleaner lifting assembly can be improved. In addition, the vacuum cleaner does not need to rely on a method of mechanical position limiting to determine whether or not the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position, and damage to the drive motor can be reduced to some extent.

[0115] The following describes in detail specific embodiments of determining a second current threshold and a fourth predetermined time in some of the embodiments of this disclosure. Referring to Figure 4, a flowchart for determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown, which specifically includes the following steps S410 to S420.

[0116] S410, in response to the second control command, triggers the execution of a self-calibration operation. The second control command is used to instruct the cleaning device to perform a self-calibration operation. The second control command may be a control command that is automatically generated each time the vacuum cleaner is restarted, a control command that the user sends to the vacuum cleaner by a client, a control command that the vacuum cleaner automatically generates at predetermined time intervals, a control command that is generated when the user touches a corresponding button on the vacuum cleaner, or a control command that is generated by any other method.

[0117] The self-calibration operation includes a series of words and commands that guide the cleaning device to operate to obtain the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time.

[0118] Continuing to refer to Figure 4, step S420 determines the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time based on the self-calibration operation. To help those skilled in the art better understand the purpose of performing steps S410 to S420 in this disclosure, the reasons are explained below.

[0119] In a vacuum cleaner, a drive motor is used to drive the lifting assembly and perform the lifting motion. However, the lower the ambient temperature in which the drive motor is located, the lower the operating efficiency of the drive motor. To understand this, the lower the ambient temperature in which the drive motor is located, the longer the time required for the drive motor to drive the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner to move it to the second destination position in the process of driving the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner to perform the first motion. Similarly, the lower the ambient temperature in which the drive motor is located, the smaller the corresponding second drive current when an overcurrent occurs in the process of driving the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner to perform the first motion.

[0120] As can be seen, by setting a fourth predetermined time and a second current threshold that match the ambient temperature for the vacuum cleaner, the accuracy with which the vacuum cleaner determines whether or not the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position can be improved.

[0121] When a vacuum cleaner performs the lifting and lowering operation of a lifting assembly in a user's home, the ambient temperature at which it is located is not necessarily the same each time. Therefore, if the vacuum cleaner uses a fixed fourth predetermined time and a second current threshold to logically determine whether the lifting assembly has moved to a second destination position each time it performs the lifting and lowering operation, the accuracy of the vacuum cleaner's determination of whether the lifting assembly has moved to a second destination position will inevitably decrease.

[0122] As described above, in this disclosure, by designing steps S410 to S420, the vacuum cleaner can re-determine the specific values ​​of the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time, thereby matching the re-determined fourth predetermined time and second current threshold with the ambient temperature in which the vacuum cleaner is located, and further improving the accuracy with which the vacuum cleaner can determine whether or not the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position.

[0123] In some embodiments, a specific embodiment of step S420 can be carried out according to the steps shown in Figure 5. Referring to Figure 5, a detailed flowchart of an embodiment of the present disclosure for determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time is shown, specifically including steps S421 to S425.

[0124] S421, determine whether the current second position of the lifting assembly is the first reachable position.

[0125] In some embodiments, a reach switch can be placed on the vacuum cleaner so that it can detect whether the current second position of the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly is the first reach position.

[0126] In some embodiments, whether the current second position of the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly is the first reachable position can be detected by a method of limiting the position of the mechanical structure.

[0127] S422, if the second position is the first reachable position, the lifting assembly is controlled to perform the first operation.

[0128] S423, the system obtains whether or not an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current that drives the lifting assembly to perform the first operation, and records the second drive time for driving the lifting assembly to perform the first operation.

[0129] S424, If an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, the first drive current corresponding to the time the overcurrent occurs is set as the reference current, and the second drive time corresponding to the time the overcurrent occurs is set as the reference time.

[0130] To help those skilled in the art better understand steps S423 to S424 described above, an example will be given below with reference to Figure 6. Referring to Figure 6, a schematic diagram is shown of an embodiment of the present disclosure that determines whether or not an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current.

[0131] The corresponding first operation in Figure 6 is the upward operation. By acquiring the first drive current in real time during the upward operation of the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly, a curve diagram of the first drive current change when performing the upward operation shown in Figure 6 is obtained. As can be seen from Figure 6, when the second drive time reaches 400 ms, an overcurrent begins to occur in the first drive current. Therefore, the corresponding overcurrent threshold in the overcurrent stage (i.e., the first drive current when the overcurrent occurs) can be used as the reference current, and the corresponding second drive time at the start of the transition to the overcurrent stage (i.e., the corresponding second drive time when the overcurrent occurs) can be used as the reference time, i.e., 400 ms in Figure 6 can be used as the reference time.

[0132] Continuing to refer to Figure 5, in S425, the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time are determined based on the reference current and the reference time.

[0133] During the process of executing step S425, at least two types of situations can occur, and specific embodiments of these two possible situations will be described in detail below.

[0134] In step S425, the first type of situation that may occur is that "the reference current is less than the first set current, the reference time is greater than the first set time, and less than the second set time," and in this situation, the procedure can be carried out according to the steps shown in Figure 7.

[0135] Referring to Figure 7, a detailed flowchart is shown of an embodiment of the present disclosure for determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time based on the reference current and the reference time. Specifically, it includes the following steps S4251 to S4252.

[0136] S4251, If ​​the reference current is smaller than the first set current, the reference current is determined as the second current threshold.

[0137] In some embodiments, the first set current can be determined based on the history of each identical vacuum cleaner performing a first operation. Specifically, the execution records of each identical vacuum cleaner performing a first operation can be searched, and then the corresponding fourth currents recorded in these execution records at the time of overcurrent can be extracted. This allows for obtaining a plurality of fourth currents, and the maximum value of these plurality of fourth currents can be set as the first set current.

[0138] This disclosure does not limit the specific method for determining the first set current. For example, the first set current may be determined to be 800 mA, and in this setting, if the reference current is less than 800 mA, the reference current may be directly determined as the second current threshold.

[0139] Continuing to refer to Figure 7, in step S4252, if the reference time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time, the reference time is adjusted according to a predetermined adjustment ratio to obtain the fourth predetermined time, the predetermined adjustment ratio being less than 1.

[0140] In step S4252, the product of a predetermined adjustment ratio and the reference time can be set to the fourth predetermined time.

[0141] The following describes the setting of the relevant logical decision parameters in step S4252. Settings for the first and second set times: In some embodiments, the first and second setting times can be determined based on the results of a test. Specifically, in a test, a reach switch is used to detect whether the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner has moved to a second reach position. In the test, multiple vacuum cleaners of the same type are placed at different ambient temperatures, and then each vacuum cleaner is controlled to move from a first reach position to a second reach position, and the fifth time it takes for each vacuum cleaner to move from the first reach position to the second reach position is recorded, thereby obtaining multiple fifth times, the maximum value of each fifth time being set as the second setting time, and the minimum value of each fifth time being set as the first setting time.

[0142] This disclosure does not limit the specific methods for determining the first and second setting times. For example, the first setting time may be set to 200 ms, and the second setting time may be set to 500 ms.

[0143] Settings for the predetermined adjustment ratio: The purpose of setting the predetermined adjustment ratio is to prevent the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly from reaching its top or bottom completely. In other words, by setting the predetermined adjustment ratio, when the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly rises to a position slightly below the top, it can be considered that the lifting assembly has already risen to the predetermined position, or when the vacuum cleaner's lifting assembly descends to a position slightly above the bottom, it can be considered that the lifting assembly has already descended to the predetermined position.

[0144] In some embodiments, the predetermined adjustment ratio may be set to 0.95, 0.9, etc., and this disclosure is not limited to these examples. For example, assuming that the first setting time is 200ms, the second setting time is 500ms, the reference time is 400ms, and the predetermined adjustment ratio is 0.9, it can be determined that the reference time of 400ms is within the time range of [200ms, 500ms], in which case 360ms (0.9 * 400ms) can be set to the fourth predetermined time, for example, T1 shown in Figure 6.

[0145] In step S425, the second type of situation that may occur is when "the reference current is equal to or greater than the first set current, the reference time is equal to or less than the first set time, or the reference time is equal to or greater than the second set time," and in this situation, the following steps S4251A to S4252A can be performed.

[0146] S4251A, if the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, the second set current is determined as the second current threshold, and the second set current is less than the first set current.

[0147] In step S4251, the product of the third setting ratio and the first setting current can be used as the second setting current. The third setting ratio is less than 1. For example, if the first setting current is 800mA and the third setting ratio is 0.625, the second setting current can be 500mA, and therefore, in this setting, if the reference current is greater than 800mA, 500mA can be used as the second current threshold.

[0148] The second set current can also be determined by other methods, and this disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0149] S4252A, if the reference time is less than or equal to the first set time, or if the reference time is greater than or equal to the second set time, the third set time is determined as the fourth predetermined time, and the third set time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time.

[0150] In some embodiments, the third setting time can be determined based on the first and second setting times. For example, if the first setting time is 200ms and the second setting time is 500ms, one time within the time range [200ms, 500ms] can be randomly selected as the third setting time. For example, 400ms can be selected as the third setting time. Therefore, in this setting, if the reference time is 600ms, 400ms can be the fourth predetermined time.

[0151] To make it clear, the relevant second set current and third set time in steps S4251A to S4252A are default parameters set during the vacuum cleaner's self-calibration operation. If the vacuum cleaner detects an abnormal reference time or reference current during the self-calibration operation, the set default parameters can be used to determine the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time.

[0152] In step S421 above, the vacuum cleaner obtains whether the current second position of the lifting assembly is the first reachable position. Two possible results occur: the first result is that the current second position of the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner is the first reachable position, and the second result is that the current second position of the lifting assembly of the vacuum cleaner is not the first reachable position. Therefore, in the case of the first result, the vacuum cleaner performs step S422 above. In the case of the second result, the vacuum cleaner performs the following steps S422A to S424A.

[0153] S422A, if the second position is not the first reachable position, the lifting assembly is controlled to perform the second operation, and it is determined whether the lifting assembly has moved to the first reachable position.

[0154] S423A, when it is determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position, the system controls the lifting assembly to perform the first operation.

[0155] To make it understandable, when the vacuum cleaner, in the process of performing the second operation, obtains that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position, it is controlled to continue performing step S422.

[0156] S424A, if it has not been determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position, the second set current is determined as the second current threshold, and the third set time is determined as the fourth predetermined time.

[0157] In step S424A, there are at least two types of embodiments. In the first embodiment, if the vacuum cleaner has not obtained that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position within a fifth predetermined time, when the first driving time reaches the fifth predetermined time, the second set current is determined as the second current threshold, and the third set time is determined as the fourth predetermined time.

[0158] In the second embodiment, if it is not obtained that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position within the fifth predetermined time, the lifting assembly is controlled to move to the second position by performing the first operation, and when it reaches the second position, the process returns to step S422A. If the number of times the process returns to step S422A exceeds the set number of times, the second set current is determined as the second current threshold, and the third set time is determined as the fourth predetermined time.

[0159] Furthermore, this disclosure is not limited to specific embodiments of step S424A, and can be designed according to actual circumstances.

[0160] To better understand the technical proposal of this disclosure, several embodiments of this disclosure will be described below with reference to Figures 8 and 9. Referring to Figure 8, an overall flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0161] Step 800: In response to the first control command, the current first position is obtained.

[0162] In step 810, if the first position is the first reachable position, step 820 is performed; otherwise, step 811 is performed.

[0163] Step 820: Control the lifting assembly to perform the first operation.

[0164] In step 830, if the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within a third predetermined time, step 840 is performed; if the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold within a third predetermined time, step 831 is performed.

[0165] Step 840: It is determined that the lifting assembly has failed, and a second protective action is performed on the lifting assembly.

[0166] In step 831, if the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within the fourth predetermined time, step 8311 is performed; if the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold within the fourth predetermined time, step 8311A is performed.

[0167] Step 8311, it is determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the second reachable position.

[0168] Step 8311A: When the first drive time reaches a fourth predetermined time, it is determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position.

[0169] Step 811: Control the lifting assembly to perform the second operation.

[0170] In step 812, if the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, step 813 is performed; if the second drive current does not exceed the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, step 8121 is performed.

[0171] Step 813 controls the lifting assembly to move to the first position, and then returns to step 811 to perform the second operation. If the number of executions does not exceed a predetermined number, the system returns to step 811 to perform the second operation. If the number of executions exceeds a predetermined number, step 814 is performed.

[0172] Step 814: It is determined that the lifting assembly has failed, and a second protective action is performed on the lifting assembly.

[0173] In step 8121, if it is determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reachable position within a second predetermined time, step 820 is performed; otherwise, if it is not determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reachable position within a second predetermined time, step 8122 is performed.

[0174] Step 8122, it is determined that the reach switch has failed and a first protective action is performed on the lifting assembly.

[0175] Referring to Figure 9, an overall flowchart for determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0176] Step 900: In response to the second control command, the current second position is obtained.

[0177] In step 910, if the second position is the first reachable position, step 920 is performed; otherwise, step 911 is performed.

[0178] Step 920: Control the lifting assembly to perform the first operation.

[0179] In step 930, if it is determined that an overcurrent has occurred in the first drive current, step 940 is performed; otherwise, step 930 is continued.

[0180] Step 940: The corresponding first drive current when an overcurrent occurs is set as the reference current, and the corresponding second drive time is set as the reference time.

[0181] Step 941: If the reference current is less than the first set current, perform step 942A. If the reference time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time, perform step 942A. If the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, perform step 942. If the reference time is greater than or equal to the first set time, or if the reference time is less than or equal to the second set time, perform step 942.

[0182] Step 942: The second set current is set to the second current threshold, and the third set time is set to the fourth predetermined time.

[0183] In step 942A, a fourth predetermined time is obtained by setting the reference current as the second current threshold and adjusting the reference time according to a predetermined adjustment ratio.

[0184] Step 911: Control the lifting assembly to perform the second operation.

[0185] In step 912, if it is determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reachable position, step 920 is performed; otherwise, step 913 is performed.

[0186] Step 913: The second set current is set as the second current threshold, and the third set time is set as the fourth predetermined time.

[0187] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the cleaning device includes a lifting assembly for performing a lifting motion, and a method for determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to a second reachable position is to first, in response to a first control command, obtain whether the current first position of the lifting assembly is a first reachable position, and if the first reachable position is a lower reachable position or an upper reachable position, then, if the first position is a first reachable position, control the lifting assembly to perform a first motion to move toward a second reachable position, if the second reachable position is a reachable position opposite to the first reachable position, then obtain a first drive current to drive the lifting assembly to perform the first motion, and finally, based on the first drive current, determine whether the lifting assembly has moved toward the second reachable position. The present disclosure has at least two technical effects.

[0188] In a first aspect, the cleaning device of the present disclosure can determine whether the lifting assembly has moved to a second reach position by making a logical decision based solely on a first drive current in the process of determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to a second reach position. Thus, as can be understood, the method of determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to a second reach position of the present disclosure can, on the one hand, eliminate the need to rely on a reach switch for determination, thereby reducing the placement cost of placing a reach switch within the cleaning device, reducing the number of error notifications that would otherwise be issued in the event of a reach switch failure, and further improving the robustness of the lifting assembly; on the other hand, it can, on the other hand, eliminate the need to rely on a method of positional constraint of the mechanical structure, and therefore reduce damage to the drive device (e.g., drive motor) that drives the lifting assembly to perform the first operation.

[0189] In a second aspect of this disclosure, a second current threshold and a fourth predetermined time for determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to a second reach position can be determined by a self-calibration operation, thereby allowing the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time to be updated periodically, thereby improving the accuracy of determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to a second reach position.

[0190] Based on the same inventive concept, embodiments of the present invention provide a control device for a cleaning device used to perform the cleaning device control method in the embodiments of this disclosure. For details not disclosed in the embodiments of this disclosure, please refer to the embodiments of the cleaning device control method in this disclosure.

[0191] Referring to Figure 10, a block diagram of a control device for a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. As shown in Figure 10, a control device 1000 for a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes an acquisition unit 1001, a control unit 1002, another acquisition unit 1002, and a determination unit 1003.

[0192] Of these, the acquisition unit 1001 is used in response to a first control command to acquire whether the current first position of the lifting assembly is a first reach position, the first reach position being either a lower reach position or an upper reach position; the control unit 1002 is used to control the lifting assembly to perform a first operation to move toward a second reach position if the first position is the first reach position, the second reach position being the reach position opposite to the first reach position; the acquisition unit 1003 is used to acquire a first drive current to drive the lifting assembly to perform the first operation; and the determination unit 1004 is used to determine, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position.

[0193] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the cleaning device further includes a reach switch used to determine whether the first position is the first reach position.

[0194] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the control unit 1002 is further used to control the lifting assembly to perform a second operation if the first position is not the first reachable position, wherein the second operation is in the opposite direction to the first operation, and to obtain a second drive current to drive the lifting assembly to perform the second operation, wherein the lifting assembly to perform the first operation is controlled if, within a first predetermined time, the second drive current does not exceed a first current threshold, and within a second predetermined time, the lifting assembly has moved to the first reachable position, wherein the first predetermined time is less than the second predetermined time.

[0195] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the control unit 1002 is further used to determine that the reach switch has failed and to perform a first protective action on the lifting assembly if, within a first predetermined time, it is not obtained that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold, and within a second predetermined time, it is not obtained that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position.

[0196] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the first protective action includes controlling the lifting assembly to stop moving and / or controlling the cleaning device to report an error.

[0197] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the control unit 1002 is further used to control the lifting assembly to perform the first operation if it is obtained that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, and to return to the step of controlling the lifting assembly to perform the second operation until it is no longer obtained that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, or until the number of times the lifting assembly performs the second operation exceeds a predetermined threshold.

[0198] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the control unit 1002 is further used to determine that the lifting assembly has failed if the number of executions exceeds a predetermined threshold, and to perform a second protective action on the lifting assembly.

[0199] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the second protective action includes controlling the lifting assembly to stop moving and / or controlling the cleaning device to transmit presentation information to the user.

[0200] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the determination unit 1004 is further used to determine that the lifting assembly has failed if it is found that the first drive current exceeds a second current threshold within a third predetermined time, and to perform a second protective action on the lifting assembly.

[0201] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the determination unit 1004 further determines that the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position if, within a third predetermined time, it is determined that the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold, and within a fourth predetermined time, it is determined that the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold, wherein the fourth predetermined time is greater than the third predetermined time.

[0202] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the determination unit 1004 further determines that the lifting assembly has moved to the second destination position if, within a fourth predetermined time, the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold, and the first drive time for driving the lifting assembly to perform the first operation reaches the fourth predetermined time, wherein the fourth predetermined time is greater than the third predetermined time.

[0203] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the control device of the cleaning device of the present disclosure further includes a self-calibration unit which, in response to a second control command, triggers the execution of a self-calibration operation and is used to determine the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time based on the self-calibration operation.

[0204] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the self-calibration unit is further used to obtain whether the current second position of the lifting assembly is the first reach position; if the second position is the first reach position, to control the lifting assembly to perform the first operation; to obtain whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current that drives the lifting assembly to perform the first operation, and to record the second drive time that drives the lifting assembly to perform the first operation; if an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, to use the first drive current corresponding to the time the overcurrent occurs as the reference current, and the second drive time corresponding to the time the overcurrent occurs as the reference time; and to determine the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time based on the reference current and the reference time.

[0205] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the self-calibration unit further determines the reference current as the second current threshold when the reference current is less than the first set current, and obtains a fourth predetermined time by adjusting the reference time according to a predetermined adjustment ratio when the reference time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time, wherein the predetermined adjustment ratio is less than 1.

[0206] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the self-calibration unit is further used to determine a second setting current as a second current threshold when the reference current is greater than or equal to the first setting current, wherein the second setting current is less than the first setting current, and to determine a third setting time as a fourth predetermined time when the reference time is less than or equal to the first setting time, or when the reference time is greater than or equal to the second setting time, wherein the third setting time is greater than the first setting time and less than the second setting time.

[0207] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the above-described scheme, the self-calibration unit is further used to control the lifting assembly to perform the second operation if the second position is not the first reach position, and to obtain whether the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position; to control the lifting assembly to perform the first operation if it has been determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position; and to determine the second set current as the second current threshold and the third set time as the fourth predetermined time if it has not been determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position.

[0208] Based on the same inventive concept, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable storage medium in which at least one computer program instruction is stored, and which is loaded and executed by a processor to realize an operation performed by the method.

[0209] Based on the same inventive concept, embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a cleaning device. Referring to Figure 11, a schematic diagram of the structure of a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown, the cleaning device including one or more memories 1104, one or more processors 1102, and at least one computer program (computer program instructions) stored in the memory 1104 and executable by the processor 1102, the method is realized when the processor 1102 executes the computer program.

[0210] In Figure 11, the bus architecture (represented by bus 1100) can include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and bus 1100 interconnects various circuits, including one or more processors represented by processor 1102 and memory represented by memory 1104. Bus 1100 can further connect various other circuits, such as peripherals, voltage regulators and power management circuits, all of which are known in the art and will not be described further in this specification. Bus interface 1105 provides an interface between bus 1100 and receiver 1101 and transmitter 1103. Receiver 1101 and transmitter 1103 may be the same element, i.e., a transceiver that provides a unit for communicating with various other devices on a transmission medium. Processor 1102 is responsible for managing bus 1100 and general processing, and memory 1104 may be used to store data used by processor 1102 when performing operations.

[0211] The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium, or transmitted through a computer-readable medium. Other embodiments and implementations are within the scope and spirit of this disclosure and the accompanying claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the functions described above may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwire, or any combination thereof. Furthermore, each function unit may be integrated into a single processing unit, each unit may exist physically independently, or two or more units may be integrated into a single unit.

[0212] In some embodiments provided by this disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed technical content may be implemented in other ways. Among these, the embodiments of the apparatus described above are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units may be a division of logical functions, or there may be other methods of division when actually implemented, for example, multiple units or assemblies may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Also, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the indicated or discussed may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interface, unit or module, and may be in an electrical or other form.

[0213] The units described as the separating members may or may not be physically separated, and the control device components may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed among multiple units. Depending on the actual requirements, some or all of these units can be selected to achieve the objectives of this embodiment.

[0214] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software function unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored on a computer-acquirable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the proposed techniques of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form of a software product, which is stored on a storage medium and contains some instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in each embodiment of the present disclosure. The storage medium includes various media capable of storing computer program instructions, such as USB flash drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), mobile hard disks, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0215] The foregoing description is merely an example of the present disclosure and does not limit it, and various modifications and changes are possible for those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made without departing from the spirit and principles of the present disclosure should be included within the scope of the claims of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a cleaning device, The cleaning device includes a lifting assembly, which is used to perform lifting operations. The aforementioned method, Steps include: obtaining whether the current first position of the lifting assembly is a first reach position in response to a first control command, wherein the first reach position includes a lower reach position or an upper reach position; Steps include controlling the lifting assembly to perform a first operation to move toward a second reach position in response to the first reach position being the first reach position, wherein the second reach position is the reach position opposite to the first reach position, The steps include obtaining a first drive current to drive the lifting assembly and perform the first operation, A step of determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position based on the first drive current, A method for controlling a cleaning device, including [a specific feature / function].

2. The cleaning device further includes a reach switch, A method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining whether the current first position of the lifting assembly is a first reach position includes the step of detecting whether the first position is a first reach position using the reach switch.

3. Steps include controlling the lifting assembly to perform a second movement in response to the first position not being the first reachable position, wherein the second movement is in the opposite direction to the movement of the first movement; A step of obtaining a second drive current to drive the lifting assembly and perform the second operation, Steps to control the lifting assembly to perform the first operation if, within a first predetermined time, it is determined that the second drive current does not exceed a first current threshold, and within a second predetermined time, it is determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position, wherein the first predetermined time is less than the second predetermined time. A method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 2, further comprising:

4. A method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of determining that the reach switch has failed and performing a first protective action on the lifting assembly if, within a first predetermined time, it is not obtained that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold, and within a second predetermined time, it is not obtained that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position.

5. The cleaning device control method according to claim 4, wherein the first protective action includes controlling the lifting assembly to stop moving and / or controlling the cleaning device to report an error.

6. If it is determined that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within a first predetermined time, the step of controlling the lifting assembly to perform the first operation, When the lifting assembly moves to the first position, the steps include: controlling the lifting assembly to perform the second operation and re-executing the acquisition of a second drive current to drive the lifting assembly and perform the second operation until the second drive current no longer exceeds the first current threshold within the first predetermined time, or until the number of times the lifting assembly performs the second operation exceeds a predetermined threshold; A method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 3, further comprising:

7. A method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 6, further comprising the step of determining that the lifting assembly is malfunctioning if the number of executions exceeds a predetermined threshold, and performing a second protective operation on the lifting assembly.

8. The method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 7, wherein the second protective action includes controlling the lifting assembly to stop moving and / or controlling the cleaning device to transmit information to the user.

9. The step of determining whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position based on the first drive current is: A method for controlling a cleaning device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, comprising the step of determining that the lifting assembly has failed and performing a second protective action on the lifting assembly if it is determined that the first drive current exceeds a second current threshold within a third predetermined time.

10. A method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 9, further comprising the step of determining that the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position if, within a third predetermined time, it is not obtained that the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold, and within a fourth predetermined time, it is obtained that the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold, wherein the fourth predetermined time is greater than the third predetermined time.

11. A method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 9, further comprising the step of determining that the lifting assembly has moved to a second reach position if, within a fourth predetermined time, the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold, and the first drive time for driving the lifting assembly to perform the first operation reaches the fourth predetermined time, wherein the fourth predetermined time is greater than the third predetermined time.

12. The steps include triggering the execution of a self-calibration operation in response to a second control command, The process further includes the step of determining a second current threshold and a fourth predetermined time based on the self-calibration operation, The method for controlling a cleaning device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time are configured to determine whether or not the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position.

13. The step of determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time is: A step of determining whether the current second position of the lifting assembly is the first reach position, If the second position is the first reach position, the step of controlling the lifting assembly to perform the first operation, The steps include: obtaining whether or not an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current that drives the lifting assembly to perform the first operation, and recording the second drive time for driving the lifting assembly to perform the first operation; If an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, the first drive current corresponding to the time the overcurrent occurs is set as the reference current, and the second drive time corresponding to the time the overcurrent occurs is set as the reference time. A step of determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time based on the reference current and the reference time, A method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 12, including the method described in claim 12.

14. The step of determining the second current threshold and the fourth predetermined time based on the reference current and the reference time is as follows: If the reference current is smaller than the first set current, the step of determining the reference current as the second current threshold, If the reference time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time, the step is to adjust the reference time according to a predetermined adjustment ratio to obtain the fourth predetermined time, wherein the predetermined adjustment ratio is less than 1. A method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 13, including the method described in claim 13.

15. If the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, the step of determining a second set current as the second current threshold, wherein the second set current is less than the first set current, If the reference time is less than or equal to the first set time, or if the reference time is greater than or equal to the second set time, a step of determining the third set time as the fourth predetermined time, wherein the third set time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time. A method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 14, further comprising:

16. If the second position is not the first reachable position, the steps include controlling the lifting assembly to perform the second operation and obtaining whether or not the lifting assembly has moved to the first reachable position. When it is determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position, the step of controlling the lifting assembly to perform the first operation, If it has not been determined that the lifting assembly has moved to the first reach position, the second set current is determined as the second current threshold, and the third set time is determined as the fourth predetermined time. A method for controlling a cleaning device according to claim 15, further comprising:

17. A control device for a cleaning device, The cleaning device includes a lifting assembly, which is used to perform lifting operations, and the control device of the cleaning device is An acquisition unit configured to acquire whether the current first position of the lifting assembly is a first reach position in response to a first control command, wherein the first reach position includes a lower reach position or an upper reach position, A control unit configured to control the lifting assembly to perform a first operation and move toward a second reach position in response to the first reach position being the first reach position, wherein the second reach position is a reach position opposite to the first reach position, An acquisition unit configured to acquire a first drive current that drives the lifting assembly to perform the first operation, A determination unit configured to determine whether the lifting assembly has moved to the second reach position based on the first drive current, A control device for a cleaning device, including the control unit.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, A computer-readable storage medium wherein at least one program code is stored therein, and the operation performed by the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16 is realized when the at least one program code is loaded and executed by a processor.

19. A cleaning device, It comprises one or more processors and one or more memory units, A cleaning device wherein at least one program code is stored in one or more of the memories, and the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16 is realized by loading and executing the at least one program code by the one or more processors.

Images