Self-propelled cleaning system

Abstract

To provide a self-propelled cleaning system capable of efficiently operating a plurality of self-propelled vacuum cleaners.SOLUTION: The present invention includes: a master cleaner 10 which includes a distance measuring sensor and moves in a room to create first map information; a server 40 which is connected to the master cleaner 10 via a network and stores the first map information; and a plurality of slave cleaners 20, 20a, 20b, 20c which are connected to the server 40 via the network and move in the room on the basis of the first map information. The server 40 creates second map information in which the first map information is divided into a plurality of areas. Each of the plurality of slave cleaners 20, 20a, 20b, 20c cleans its respective area assigned based on the second map information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a self-propelled cleaning system. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1, for example, describes a technology for a self-propelled vacuum cleaner equipped with a parent unit and a child unit. In the technology described in Patent Document 1, the child unit vacuums along obstacles ahead of the parent unit, and when moving through a gap under a bed, the output of a height sensor detects whether the parent unit can pass through. When the child unit completes cleaning, it sends map information to the parent unit indicating the range within which it can move. The parent unit then cleans the range within which it can move based on the received map information. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-124753 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When cleaning a large room such as an office using self-propelled vacuum cleaners, a plurality of self-propelled vacuum cleaners may be operated to perform the cleaning.

[0005] The technology described in Patent Document 1 does not take into consideration the sharing of map information indicating the detected movable range transmitted from the slave unit among multiple self-propelled vacuum cleaners. For this reason, the technology described in Patent Document 1 is not suitable for cleaning large rooms such as offices.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a self-propelled cleaning system that can efficiently operate a plurality of self-propelled cleaners. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a system including a first vacuum cleaner having a distance measuring sensor and moving around a room to create first map information, a server connected to the first vacuum cleaner via a network and storing the first map information, and a plurality of second vacuum cleaners connected to the server via a network and moving around the room based on the first map information, wherein the server 、 Second map information is created by dividing the first map information into a plurality of regions. and save it , each of the plurality of second cleaners The second map information is stored. Cleaning is performed within each assigned area based on the second map information. Furthermore, the plurality of second vacuum cleaners create map information of their respective areas using distance measuring sensors provided therein, compare the created map information with the second map information, and if there is a change in the map information, transmit the changed map information to the server to update the second map information stored in the server. It is characterized by: [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a self-propelled cleaning system that can efficiently operate a plurality of self-propelled cleaners. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a self-propelled cleaning system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] 1 is a control block diagram of a self-propelled cleaning system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a travel area of ​​the main vacuum cleaner 10. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a state in which a plurality of child vacuum cleaners 20 are arranged in divided areas. [Figure 5] 10A and 10B are diagrams showing a traveling state in which the child vacuum cleaner 20 performs cleaning in a divided area. [Figure 6] 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the self-propelled cleaning system according to the embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In principle, identical elements are designated by the same reference numerals in all drawings. Furthermore, descriptions of parts having identical functions will be omitted. Note that the configurations described below are merely examples, and it is not intended that the embodiments of the present invention be limited to the specific embodiments below.

[0011] FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a self-propelled cleaning system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The self-propelled cleaning system 1 is composed of a main vacuum cleaner 10 (first vacuum cleaner) as a first vacuum cleaner, child vacuum cleaners 20 (20a, 20b, 20c, 20d) as second vacuum cleaners, a router 30 installed indoors, a server 40 installed externally by a manufacturer or the like for data processing, and a terminal device 50 owned by a user. The main vacuum cleaner 10 and the child vacuum cleaners 20 are each wirelessly connected to the router 30. The router 30 is connected to the server 40 via a network 60 so as to be able to communicate with it. The terminal device 50 is also connected to the server 40 so as to be able to communicate with it via the router 30 or directly via the network 60.

[0012] 2 is a control block diagram of a self-propelled cleaning system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The self-propelled cleaner of this embodiment includes a main cleaner 10 and a plurality of slave cleaners 20.

[0013] In addition to a drive mechanism not shown, the parent vacuum cleaner 10 is equipped with a parent control unit 11 (first vacuum cleaner control unit) that controls the parent vacuum cleaner 10, a communication unit 12 that communicates with the router 30, a drive control unit 13 that drives a driving motor not shown, a map creation unit 14 that creates a map of the room using information from a LiDER (Light Detection and Ranging) ranging sensor not shown, and a memory unit 15 that stores the map information created by the map creation unit 14 and the control programs for the parent control unit 11 and the drive control unit 13.

[0014] In addition to a drive mechanism not shown, the handheld vacuum cleaner 20 is equipped with a handheld vacuum controller 21 (second vacuum cleaner controller) that controls the handheld vacuum cleaner 20, a communication unit 22 that communicates with the router 30, a drive controller 23 that drives a travel motor not shown, a map creator 24 that creates a map of the room using information from a LiDAR (a distance measuring sensor not shown), and a memory unit 25 that stores the map information created by the map creator 24 and control programs for the handheld vacuum cleaner control unit 21 and the drive controller 23. Note that although only one handheld vacuum cleaner 20 is shown in Fig. 2, there are multiple handheld vacuum cleaners 20 as shown in Fig. 1, and each of the handheld vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d has a similar configuration.

[0015] The router 30 includes a communication unit 31 that communicates with the master vacuum cleaner 10, the slave vacuum cleaner 20, the terminal device 50, and the server 40.

[0016] The server 40 stores the following information: user management information 41, which is the user's registration details; parent unit map information 42 (first map information), which is map information created by the parent unit vacuum cleaner 10; child unit map information 43 (second map information), which is map information created by dividing the parent unit map information 42 into multiple areas; parent unit drive information 44, which is information about the operating status of the parent unit vacuum cleaner 10; and child unit drive information 45, which is information about the operating status of the child unit vacuum cleaner 20.

[0017] The terminal device 50 includes a communication unit 51 that communicates with the router 30 and the server 40, and an operation display unit 52 that is operated by the user and displays information.

[0018] Next, the travel of the self-propelled vacuum cleaner will be described with reference to Figs. 3 to 6. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the travel area of ​​the main vacuum cleaner 10. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which a plurality of child vacuum cleaners 20 are arranged in a divided area. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a travel state in which the child vacuum cleaners 20 clean in the divided area. Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the self-propelled cleaning system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] To use the self-propelled cleaning system, a user first registers as a user on the terminal device 50. After registering as a user, the user is assigned an individual user ID and password. The user connects to the server 40 using the user ID and password, and then instructs the parent vacuum cleaner 10 to operate the device. The server 40 receives the instruction to operate the device. The server 40 sends a driving command to the parent vacuum cleaner 10 via the router 30 (step S101). The driving information of the parent vacuum cleaner 10 is sent to the server 40 as parent vacuum cleaner drive information 44.

[0020] In the parent vacuum cleaner 10, the communication unit 12 receives the travel command from the server 40, and the drive control unit 13 drives the travel motor. The parent vacuum cleaner 10 travels along the wall 71 of the room 70 to clean (FIG. 3). The parent control unit 11 of the parent vacuum cleaner 10 also drives the LiDER. The map creation unit 14 of the parent vacuum cleaner 10 creates a map of the room 70 based on the information from the LiDER (step S102).

[0021] The master unit control unit 11 of the master unit vacuum cleaner 10 transmits the map created by the map creation unit 14 to the server 40 via the router 30 (step S103). The server 40 stores the received map information as master unit map information 42 (step S104). The master unit map information 42 includes obstacles 80a, 80b, 80c, and 80d.

[0022] The server 40 also divides the stored master unit map information 42 into a plurality of regions (step S105). For example, if the master unit map information 42 (area of ​​the room 70) is 10 m long and 20 m wide and the region is to be divided into four regions, each region is divided so that it is 5 m long and 10 m wide. The divided regions are assigned region information such as region A, region B, region C, and region D (FIG. 4). The divided regions A, region B, region C, and region D are stored in the server 40 as slave unit map information 43 for each of the slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d.

[0023] Server 40 transmits slave unit map information 43, divided into multiple areas, to multiple slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d via router 30 (step S106). At this time, slave unit map information 43 also includes information on the assigned areas that each of slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d is responsible for. For example, area A is assigned to slave vacuum cleaner 20a, area B to slave vacuum cleaner 20b, area C to slave vacuum cleaner 20c, and area D to slave vacuum cleaner 20d.

[0024] Having received the slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d from the server 40, they move to their respective areas as shown in Fig. 4 (step S107). The slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d receive the slave vacuum cleaners' map information 43, which is stored in the memory units 25 of the respective slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d. The travel information of the slave vacuum cleaners 20 is transmitted to the server 40 as slave vacuum cleaner drive information 45.

[0025] After moving to their respective areas, slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d start cleaning in their respective areas as shown in Fig. 5 (step S108). Slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d perform cleaning in their respective areas based on slave map information 43.

[0026] In addition, the slave unit control units 21 of the slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d drive the LiDER. The map creation units 24 of the slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d create maps of each area (slave unit map information 43') based on the LiDER information. The slave unit control units 21 compare the slave unit map information 43 created based on the master unit map information 42 with the slave unit map information 43' created by the slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d, and determine whether there has been a change in the slave unit map information 43 (step S109). If there has been a change in the slave unit map information 43 created based on the master unit map information 42 (YES in step S109), the slave unit map information 43' created by the slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d is sent to the server 40 via the router 30 as updated slave unit map information 43'. After transmitting the updated map information to server 40, slave vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d finish cleaning. Server 40 stores updated slave vacuum cleaner map information 43' (step S104).

[0027] If there is no change in the slave unit map information 43 created by the master unit vacuum cleaner 10 (NO in step S109), the slave units vacuum cleaners 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d finish cleaning.

[0028] As described above, according to this embodiment, the parent unit map information created by the parent unit vacuum cleaner 10 is divided into multiple areas to create child unit map information, and multiple child unit vacuum cleaners 20 clean their respective areas based on that child unit map information, so that multiple child unit vacuum cleaners 20 can be operated efficiently to clean a room.

[0029] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, it is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations. [Explanation of symbols]

[0030] 1...Self-propelled cleaning system 1, 10...Main vacuum cleaner (first vacuum cleaner), 11...Main unit control unit (first vacuum cleaner control unit), 12...Communication unit, 13...Drive control unit, 14...Map creation unit, 15...Memory unit, 20, 20a, 20b, 20c...Sub vacuum cleaner (second vacuum cleaner), 21...Sub unit control unit (second vacuum cleaner control unit), 22...Communication unit, 23...Drive control unit, 24...Map creation unit, 25...Memory unit, 30...Router, 31...Communication unit, 40...Server, 41...User management information, 42...Main unit map information, 43...Sub unit map information, 44...Main unit drive information, 45...Sub unit drive information, 50...Terminal device, 51...Communication unit, 52...Operation display unit, 60...Network

Claims

1. a first vacuum cleaner having a distance measuring sensor that moves around a room and creates first map information; a server that is connected to the first vacuum cleaner via a network and stores the first map information; and a plurality of second vacuum cleaners that are connected to the server via a network and move around a room based on the first map information, the server creates and stores second map information by dividing the first map information into a plurality of regions; each of the plurality of second cleaners stores the second map information and performs cleaning in a respective assigned area based on the stored second map information; Furthermore, the plurality of second vacuum cleaners create map information of their respective areas using distance measuring sensors provided therein, compare the created map information with the second map information, and if there is a change in the map information, send the changed map information to the server to update the second map information stored on the server.

2. The self-propelled cleaning system according to claim 1, A terminal device connectable to a network is provided, A self-propelled cleaning system, characterized in that a travel command is sent to the first cleaner by operating the terminal device.

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