Cleaning device control method, storage medium and cleaning device

Abstract

A method for controlling a cleaning device, in which the cleaning device includes a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action, includes: acquiring, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position comprising a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position; controlling, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; acquiring a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT / CN2024 / 117941 filed on September 10, 2024, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202311198530.7 filed on September 15, 2023, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of the controlling of cleaning devices, and in particular, to a method for controlling a cleaning device, a storage medium, and a cleaning device.BACKGROUND

[0003] In a cleaning device, by configuring a lifting / lowering assembly, such as a lifting / lowering main brush assembly, the lifting / lowering main brush assembly can be controlled to be lifted in a scenario 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. SUMMARY

[0004] According to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, provided is a method for controlling a cleaning device. The cleaning device includes a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action, and the method includes: acquiring, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position including a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position; controlling, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; acquiring a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0005] According to a second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, provided is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores at least one program code, and the at least one program code is loaded and run by a processor to implement a method for controlling a cleaning device. The cleaning device includes a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action, and the method includes: acquiring, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position including a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position; controlling, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; acquiring a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0006] According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, provided is a cleaning device. The cleaning device includes a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action; and one or more processors and one or more memories, where the one or more processors is configured to: acquire, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position comprising a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position; control, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; acquire a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and determine, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] The drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and are used in conjunction with the specification to explain the principles of the present disclosure. Apparently, the drawings in the following description are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, and those of ordinary skill in the art may still derive other drawings from these drawings without creative efforts. In the drawings:

[0008] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of the principle of performing a lifting / lowering action by a lifting / lowering assembly in the related art;

[0009] FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0010] FIG. 3 illustrates a detailed schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0011] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0012] FIG. 5 illustrates a detailed schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0013] FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of acquiring whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0014] FIG. 7 illustrates a detailed schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0015] FIG. 8 illustrates an overall schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 9 illustrates an overall schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0017] FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0018] FIG. 11 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Exemplary embodiments will now be described more comprehensively with reference to the drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments may be implemented in various forms, and should not be understood as being limited to the examples described herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided to make the present disclosure more comprehensive and complete, and comprehensively convey the idea of the exemplary embodiments to those skilled in the art.

[0020] In addition, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a full understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the technical solutions of the present disclosure may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or other methods, components, apparatuses, steps, and the like may be employed. In other cases, well-known methods, apparatuses, implementations, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] The block diagrams shown in the drawings are merely functional entities, which do not necessarily correspond to physically independent entities. That is, these functional entities may be implemented in the form of software, or in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or across different networks and / or processor apparatuses and / or microcontroller apparatuses.

[0022] The flowcharts shown in the drawings are merely illustrative and do not necessarily include all of the contents and operations / steps, nor are they necessarily executed in the order described. For example, some operations / steps may be further subdivided, while other operations / steps may be combined or partially combined. Therefore, the actual execution order may vary depending on the actual situation.

[0023] It should be noted that “a plurality of” mentioned herein means two or more. The term “and / or” is merely a way to describe an association relationship between associated objects, indicating that three possible relationships may exist. For example, “A and / or B” can represent: the existence of A alone, the simultaneous existence of A and B, and the existence of B alone. The character “ / ” generally indicates an “or” relationship between the associated objects before and after the “ / ”.

[0024] It should be noted that the terms “first”, “second”, and the like in the specification, claims, and the above drawings of the present disclosure are defined to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the objects used in such a way are interchangeable in proper circumstances, such that the embodiments of the present disclosure described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described.

[0025] For clearer descriptions of the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present disclosure, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Apparently, the described embodiments are merely some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

[0026] In a cleaning device, by configuring a lifting / lowering assembly, such as a lifting / lowering main brush assembly, the lifting / lowering main brush assembly can be controlled to be lifted in a scenario 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 the related art, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly of the cleaning device to perform a lifting / lowering function is prone to malfunctions, resulting in a high error-reporting frequency and reducing the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly. Accordingly, how to improve the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly of the cleaning device is an urgent technical problem to be solved.

[0027] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions of the present disclosure, the background of the technical solutions of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 1.

[0028] It should be noted that the cleaning device referred to in the present disclosure may be an intelligent device with a cleaning function, including but not limited to a sweeper, a mopping machine, and the like, and the cleaning device being a sweeper is taken as an example for illustration below.

[0029] It should also be noted that the lifting / lowering assembly referred to in the present disclosure may be an assembly with a lifting / lowering function, including but not limited to a lifting / lowering main brush assembly, a lifting / lowering mop assembly, and the like.

[0030] Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic diagram of the principle of performing a lifting / lowering action by a lifting / lowering assembly in the related art is illustrated.

[0031] In this field, if a sweeper's main brush assembly does not have a lifting / lowering function, then during cleaning of a floor with liquid (e.g., water) by the sweeper, liquid may enter the sweeper's dust box. After liquid enters the dust box, problems such as bacterial growth, damage to the sweeper, damage to the fan after dust collection, and odor generation may occur. However, if the sweeper is configured with a lifting / lowering main brush assembly having a lifting / lowering function, this problem can be solved.

[0032] In the related art, the principle that the sweeper controls the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a lifting / lowering action is as follows:

[0033] Two in-place switches are provided in the sweeper, one for detecting whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to a lifting in-place position, and one for detecting whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to a lowering in-place position.

[0034] If the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper performs a lifting action and moves in the lifting direction to the lifting in-place position, during the execution of the lifting action, the drive motor is controlled to rotate in the forward direction, thereby causing the drive motor to drive the primary drive gear to rotate, then causing the tensioning structure to shorten the tension rope such that the lifting / lowering assembly is lifted. If the lifting / lowering assembly is lifted to the lifting in-place position, the corresponding in-place switch is triggered to feed back a lifting-in-place signal to the sweeper, such that the sweeper can acquire that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the lifting in-place position.

[0035] If the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper performs a lowering action and moves in the lowering direction to the lowering in-place position, during the execution of the lowering action, the drive motor is controlled to rotate in the reverse direction, thereby causing the drive motor to drive the primary drive gear to rotate, then causing the tensioning structure to lengthen the tension rope such that the lifting / lowering assembly is lowered. If the lifting / lowering assembly is lowered to the lowering in-place position, the corresponding in-place switch is triggered to feed back a lowering-in-place signal to the sweeper, such that the sweeper can acquire that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the lowering in-place position.

[0036] If the in-place switch has a fault, the sweeper will report an error. It can be understood that since the sweeper in the related art determines whether the lifting / lowering assembly is lifted to the lifting in-place position or lowered to the lowering in-place position based on two in-place switches, the configuration of the two in-place switches increases the frequency of error reporting by the sweeper, thereby reducing the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly. Based on this, the present disclosure provides a method for controlling a cleaning device to overcome this defect, so as to improve the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper.

[0037] The method for controlling a cleaning device provided by the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0038] Referring to FIG. 2, a schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated, which specifically includes the following steps S110 to S140.

[0039] In S110, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position is acquired. The first in-place position is a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position.

[0040] It should be noted that the first control instruction is used to instruct the lifting / lowering assembly to move to a second in-place position, and the second in-place position is an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position. For example, if the first control instruction indicates that the lifting / lowering assembly needs to move to the lifting in-place position (i.e., the second in-place position), the first in-place position is the lowering in-place position.

[0041] It should also be noted that the first control instruction may be a control instruction sent to the sweeper by the user through the client, or may be a control instruction generated by the user touching a corresponding key on the sweeper, or may be a control instruction generated in other ways.

[0042] It should further be noted that the sweeper may determine whether the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position by acquiring the in-place signal fed back by the in-place switch. The in-place switch is configured to detect whether the first position is the first in-place position. If the in-place switch detects that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position, the in-place switch feeds back an in-place signal to the sweeper. The in-place switch may be a microswitch, a photo interrupter sensor, or the like.

[0043] In step S110, after the sweeper acquires whether the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position, two results may appear. A first result is that the first position is the first in-place position, and a second result is that the first position is not the first in-place position. Specific implementations corresponding to the two results will be described in detail below.

[0044] For the first result, the following step S120 may be performed.

[0045] Further referring to FIG. 2, in S120, if the first position is the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a first action to move towards the second in-place position. The second in-place position is an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position.

[0046] It should be noted that the first action performed by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper corresponds to the second in-place position. For example, if the second in-place position is a lifting in-place position, the first action is a lifting action; and if the second in-place position is a lowering in-place position, the first action is a lowering action.

[0047] In step S120, if the first control instruction instructs the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper to ascend to the lifting in-place position, and if the sweeper acquires that the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the lowering in-place position, the sweeper directly controls the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a lifting action to move to the lifting in-place position.

[0048] For the second result, the steps shown in FIG. 3 may be performed.

[0049] Referring to FIG. 3, a detailed schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. The method specifically includes steps S120A to S122A.

[0050] In S120A, if the first position is not the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a second action. The action direction of the second action is opposite to that of the first action.

[0051] It can be understood that in step S120, the purpose of controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action by the sweeper is to enable the lifting / lowering assembly to move to the first in-place position, and then perform the first action to move to the second in-place position, thereby completing the instruction of the first control instruction.

[0052] It should be noted that the second action performed by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper corresponds to the first in-place position. If the first in-place position is a lifting in-place position, the first action is a lifting action; and if the first in-place position is a lowering in-place position, the first action is a lowering action.

[0053] Further referring to FIG. 3, in S121A, a second drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action is acquired.

[0054] In step S121A, the sweeper may drive the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action by means of a drive motor. In this case, the second drive current is the operating current of the drive motor in the process in which the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper performs the second action.

[0055] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, there may be three cases in the process of performing step S121A by the sweeper, and the specific implementation of each case will be described below.

[0056] In step S121A, a first possible case is that “the sweeper does not acquire the second drive current exceeding a first current threshold within a first preset time and acquires the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position within a second preset time”. In this case, the following step S122A may be performed.

[0057] In S122A, if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired within the second preset time, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the first action. The first preset time is less than the second preset time.

[0058] The setting of the logical determination parameters involved in step S122A will be described in detail below.

[0059] For the setting of the second preset time and the first preset time:

[0060] In some embodiments, the second preset time may be determined based on the historical records of performing the second action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. Specifically, a first time consumed by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper historically moving from the second in-place position to the first in-place position is acquired, and the maximum value among the first times is used as the second preset time.

[0061] In some embodiments, the second preset time may be set based on pre-test results. Specifically, a plurality of sweepers of the same type may be subjected to lifting / lowering function tests. For example, the sweeper is controlled to move from the second in-place position to the first in-place position, and a second time consumed by the sweeper to move from the second in-place position to the first in-place position is recorded, such that a plurality of second times can be acquired. Therefore, the maximum value among the plurality of second times may be selected as the second preset time.

[0062] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the second preset time is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the second preset time may be set to 500 ms.

[0063] In some embodiments, the product of the second preset time and a first set ratio may be used as the first preset time, and the first set ratio is less than 1. The first set ratio may be determined based on historical empirical values, or may be determined based on pre-test results. However, the determination principle is as follows: If the sweeper acquires that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within the first preset time, it can reflect that the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper has a fault.

[0064] For example, assuming that the first set ratio is 0.6, and the second preset time is 500 ms, the first preset time can be determined as 300 ms (0.6 × 500 ms).

[0065] For the setting of the first current threshold:

[0066] It should be noted that the setting of the first current threshold should satisfy the condition that: when the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold, it can reflect that an overcurrent occurs in the second drive current.

[0067] In some embodiments, the first current threshold may be determined based on historical records of performing the second action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. Specifically, execution records in which an overcurrent occurs when the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper performs the second action may be first retrieved, and then first currents corresponding to the overcurrent events recorded in these execution records are extracted, such that a plurality of first currents can be acquired. The average value of the plurality of first currents may be used as the first current threshold.

[0068] In some embodiments, the first current threshold may be determined based on pre-test results. Specifically, a plurality of sweepers of the same type may be subjected to lifting / lowering function tests. For example, a foreign object may be jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper (because if a foreign object is jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly, an overcurrent may occur in the process of performing the lifting / lowering function by the lifting / lowering assembly), then the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is controlled to perform the second action from the second in-place position to move to the first in-place position, and the change of the second drive current is monitored in the process of performing the second action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. If an overcurrent in the second drive current of the sweeper is detected, the corresponding second drive current when the overcurrent occurs is recorded as a second current, such that a plurality of second currents can be acquired, and the average value of the plurality of second currents may be used as the first current threshold.

[0069] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the first current threshold is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the first current threshold may be set to 500 mA.

[0070] In step S121A, a second possible case is that “the sweeper does not acquire the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold within the first preset time and does not acquire the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position within the second preset time”. In this case, the following step S122B may be performed.

[0071] In S122B, if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within the second preset time, it is determined that the in-place switch has a fault, and a first protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0072] In step S122B, it can be understood that, if the in-place switch of the sweeper is normal, when the first drive time is greater than the first preset time and less than the second preset time, the in-place switch can detect that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position. Therefore, if the in-place switch fails to detect that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position under this condition, it means that the in-place switch has a fault.

[0073] In some embodiments, if the in-place switch has a fault, the first protection action performed for the lifting / lowering assembly includes, but is not limited to, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to report an error. It can be understood that if the in-place switch of the sweeper has a fault, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper to stop movement can provide protection for the lifting / lowering assembly. The cleaning device reports an error to indicate that the in-place switch has a fault, and sends a prompt message to the user terminal to prompt the user that the in-place switch has a fault.

[0074] In step S121A, a third possible case is that “the sweeper acquires the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold within the first preset time”. In this case, the following steps S122C to S123C may be performed.

[0075] In S122C, if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is acquired within the first preset time, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the first action.

[0076] It should be noted that in step S122C, the purpose of controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action is to make the lifting / lowering assembly return to the first position, rather than move to the second in-place position.

[0077] In S123C, if the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first position, the step of controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action is resumed, until the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time, or until the number of execution times that the lifting / lowering assembly performs the second action exceeds the preset number threshold.

[0078] It should be noted that in step S123C, if the sweeper acquires that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first position, the sweeper controls the lifting / lowering assembly to re-perform the above step S120A.

[0079] In some embodiments, each time the sweeper performs step S120A, it is recorded as performing the second action once.

[0080] In some embodiments, the preset number threshold may be set to 2 times, 3 times, or the like, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0081] In the process of performing steps S122C to step S123C, the following step S124D may be further performed.

[0082] In S124D, if the number of execution times exceeds the preset number threshold, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and a second protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0083] In some embodiments, when it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, the second protection action performed for the lifting / lowering assembly includes, but is not limited to, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to send a prompt message to the user.

[0084] It can be understood that the malfunction of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper may be caused by a foreign object getting jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly. Therefore, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper to stop movement can provide protection for the lifting / lowering assembly. In addition, the content of the prompt message sent by the sweeper to the user may be prompting the user to inspect the lifting / lowering assembly to remove the foreign object getting jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly; and the method for sending the prompt message to the user may be sending information to the user terminal, performing voice broadcast by the sweeper, and the like.

[0085] For the specific implementation of the third case that occurs in step S121A, if the sweeper acquires, for the first time within the first preset time, that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold, it can be preliminarily determined that the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper has a fault. If the sweeper repeatedly performs step S120A for a plurality of times, and acquires that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within the first preset time each time, it can be determined that the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper has a fault. It can be seen that by repeatedly performing step S120A for a plurality of times, the accuracy in determining, by the sweeper, whether the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault can be improved.

[0086] In summary, through the above description of the three cases that may occur in step S120A, it can be understood that according to the present disclosure, if the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper malfunctions during the execution of the second action, the specific malfunction causes can be determined only through different determination logics, and corresponding protection actions can be performed based on different malfunction causes. Therefore, compared with the related art in which the sweeper reports an error for any malfunction, the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper according to the present disclosure has better robustness.

[0087] Further referring to FIG. 2, in S130, a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action is acquired.

[0088] In some embodiments, a drive motor may be used to drive the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper to perform the first action. In this case, the first drive current is the operating current of the drive motor in the process in which the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper performs the first action.

[0089] Further referring to FIG. 2, in S140, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position is determined based on the first drive current.

[0090] There may be three cases in the process of performing step S140, and the specific implementation of each case will be described below.

[0091] In step S140, a first possible case is that “the sweeper does not acquire the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold within a third preset time and acquires the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold within a fourth preset time”. In this case, the following step S141 may be performed.

[0092] In S141, if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the third preset time and the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within a fourth preset time, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. The fourth preset time is greater than the third preset time.

[0093] The setting of the logical determination parameters involved in step S141 will be described below.

[0094] For the setting of the fourth preset time and the third preset time:

[0095] In some embodiments, the fourth preset time may be determined based on the historical records of performing the first action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. Specifically, a third time consumed by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper historically moving from the first in-place position to the second in-place position may be acquired, and the maximum value among the third times is used as the fourth preset time.

[0096] In some embodiments, the fourth preset time may be determined based on a self-calibration operation. The specific implementation will be described in detail in the subsequent embodiments of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the self-calibration operation. For details, reference may be made to the following steps S410 to S420, which will not be repeated herein.

[0097] In some embodiments, the fourth preset time may be set based on pre-test results. Specifically, in the test, an in-place switch is used to detect whether the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper moves to the second in-place position. In the test, a plurality of sweepers of the same type are subjected to lifting / lowering function tests. For example, the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is controlled to perform a first movement from the first in-place position to move to the second in-place position, and a fourth time consumed by the sweeper to move from the first in-place position to the second in-place position is recorded, such that a plurality of fourth times can be acquired, and the average value of the plurality of fourth times may be used as the fourth preset time.

[0098] In some embodiments, the fourth preset time may be set as a preset time equal to the second preset time.

[0099] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the fourth preset time is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the fourth preset time may be set to 400 ms.

[0100] In some embodiments, the product of a second set ratio and the fourth preset time may be used as the third preset time, and the second set ratio is less than 1. The second set ratio may be determined based on historical empirical values, or may be determined based on pre-test results. However, the determination principle is as follows: If the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within the third preset time, it can reflect that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault.

[0101] For example, assuming that the second set ratio is 0.5, and the fourth preset time is 400 ms, the third preset time can be determined as 200 ms (0.5 ms × 400 ms). Under this setting, in the process of performing step S140 by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper, if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within a time range of [200 ms, 400 ms], it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper moves to the second in-place position.

[0102] For the setting of the second current threshold:

[0103] It should be noted that the setting of the second current threshold should satisfy the condition that: when the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold, it can reflect that an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current.

[0104] In some embodiments, the second current threshold may be determined based on pre-test results. Specifically, a plurality of sweepers of the same type may be subjected to lifting / lowering function tests. For example, a foreign object may be jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper, then the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is controlled to perform the first action from the first in-place position to move to the second in-place position, and the change of the first drive current is monitored in the process of performing the first action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. If an overcurrent in the first drive current of the sweeper is detected, the corresponding first drive current when the overcurrent occurs is recorded as a third current, such that a plurality of third currents can be acquired, and the average value of the plurality of third currents may be used as the second current threshold.

[0105] In some embodiments, the second current threshold may be set to a current threshold equal to the first current threshold.

[0106] In some embodiments, the second current threshold may be determined by performing a self-calibration operation. The specific implementation will be described in detail in the subsequent embodiments of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the self-calibration operation. For details, reference may be made to the following steps S410 to S420, which will not be repeated herein.

[0107] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the second current threshold is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the second current threshold may be set to 500 mA.

[0108] In step S141, in the process of performing the first action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper, if the sweeper acquires that the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within the time range composed of the third preset time and the fourth preset time, it indicates that a short circuit has occurred in the drive motor at this time. Therefore, in this case, it can be considered that the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper has moved to the second in-place position. Based on this, through the implementation of step S141, it can be determined whether the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper moves to the second in-place position even if the in-place switch for detecting whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position is not configured for the sweeper, thereby saving the configuration cost of the sweeper and improving the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper.

[0109] In step S140, a second possible case is that “the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within the third preset time”. In this case, the following step S141A or step S1411A may be performed.

[0110] In S141A, if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within the third preset time, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and the second protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0111] In step S141A, the fault of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper may be caused by a foreign object getting jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly. Therefore, when it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, the second protection action performed by the sweeper for the lifting / lowering assembly includes, but is not limited to, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to send a prompt message to the user.

[0112] In S1411A, if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within the third preset time, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the second action; if the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position, the step of controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action is resumed (that is, returning to perform step S120), and the number of operation times that the lifting / lowering assembly performs the first action is recorded; and if the number of operation times exceeds a preset threshold of operation times, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and the second protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0113] It can be understood that for the second case in step S140, step S141A may be performed, or step S1411A may be performed. In comparison between the two implementations, the implementation of step S1411A can improve the accuracy of determining, by the sweeper, whether the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault.

[0114] In step S140, a third possible case is that “the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the fourth preset time”. In this case, the following step S141B may be performed.

[0115] In S141B, if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the fourth preset time and the first drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action reaches the fourth preset time, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. The fourth preset time is greater than the third preset time.

[0116] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the three cases of step S140, an illustrative explanation will be provided below.

[0117] It is assumed that the fourth preset time is 400 ms, the third preset time is 200 ms, and the second current threshold is 500 mA. The lifting / lowering assembly starts to perform the first action from the first in-place position. If the sweeper acquires that the first drive current exceeds 500 mA within the first drive time of 200 ms, the sweeper considers that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault. If the sweeper acquires that the first drive current exceeds 500 mA within the first drive time of [200 ms, 400 ms], the sweeper considers that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. If the sweeper does not acquire that the first drive current exceeds 500 mA within the first drive time of 400 ms, the sweeper considers that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position when the first drive time reaches 400 ms.

[0118] In summary, through the above detailed description of the three cases that may occur in step S140, it can be understood that in the process in which the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper starts to perform the first action from the first in-place position to move to the second in-place position, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position can be determined by performing logical determination on the first drive current and the first drive time. Therefore, it is not necessary to rely on the in-place switch for detection, such that the configuration cost of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper can be reduced to a certain extent, and the frequency of error reporting for the in-place switch can also be reduced, thereby improving the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. In addition, the sweeper does not need to rely on mechanical limit methods to determine whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position, which can reduce damage to the drive motor to a certain extent.

[0119] The specific implementations of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time in some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below.

[0120] Referring to FIG. 4, a schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated, which specifically includes the following steps S410 to S420.

[0121] In S410, execution of a self-calibration operation is triggered in response to a second control instruction.

[0122] It should be noted that the second control instruction is used to instruct the cleaning device to perform a self-calibration operation. The second control instruction may be a control instruction automatically generated each time the sweeper is restarted, or may be a control instruction sent to the sweeper by the user through the client, or may be a control instruction automatically generated by the sweeper at preset time intervals, or may be a control instruction generated by the user touching a corresponding key on the sweeper, or may be a control instruction generated in other ways.

[0123] It should also be noted that the self-calibration operation includes a series of statements and instructions for instructing the cleaning device to perform operations to acquire the second current threshold and the fourth preset time.

[0124] Further referring to FIG. 4, in S420, the second current threshold and the fourth preset time are determined based on the self-calibration operation.

[0125] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the purpose of performing steps S410 to S420 in the present disclosure, the reasons will be described below.

[0126] In the sweeper, a drive motor is configured to drive the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a lifting / lowering action. However, the lower the ambient temperature of the environment where the drive motor is located, the lower the operating efficiency of the drive motor. It can be understood that if the ambient temperature of the environment where the drive motor is located is lower, the drive motor requires a longer time to drive the lifting / lowering assembly to move to the second in-place position in the process of driving the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper to perform the first action. Similarly, if the ambient temperature of the environment where the drive motor is located is lower, the corresponding second drive current when an overcurrent occurs in the process of driving the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper by the drive motor to perform the first action is smaller.

[0127] It can be seen that if the fourth preset time and the second current threshold corresponding to the ambient temperature are set for the sweeper, the accuracy in determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position by the sweeper can be improved.

[0128] In a user's home, when the sweeper performs the lifting / lowering action of the lifting / lowering assembly each time, the ambient temperature may not always be the same. Therefore, if the sweeper uses a fixed fourth preset time and a fixed second current threshold to logically determine whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position each time the sweeper performs the lifting / lowering action of the lifting / lowering assembly, the accuracy in determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position by the sweeper is inevitably to be reduced.

[0129] In summary, in the present disclosure, by designing steps S410 to S420, the sweeper can re-determine the specific values of the second current threshold and the fourth preset time, such that the re-determined fourth preset time and second current threshold correspond to the ambient temperature of the environment where the sweeper is located, thereby improving the accuracy in determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position by the sweeper.

[0130] In some embodiments, the specific implementation of step S420 may be performed according to the steps shown in FIG. 5.

[0131] Referring to FIG. 5, a detailed schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated, which specifically includes steps S421 to S425.

[0132] In S421, whether a current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position is acquired.

[0133] In some embodiments, an in-place switch may be configured in the sweeper, such that whether the current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is the first in-place position may be detected by means of the in-place switch.

[0134] In some embodiments, whether the current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is the first in-place position may be detected by means of limitation by mechanical structure.

[0135] In S422, if the second position is the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the first action.

[0136] In S423, whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action is acquired, and a second drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action is recorded.

[0137] In S424, if an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, a corresponding first drive current when the overcurrent occurs is used as a reference current, and a corresponding second drive time when the overcurrent occurs is used as a reference time.

[0138] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the above steps S423 to S424, an illustrative explanation will be provided below with reference to FIG. 6.

[0139] Referring to FIG. 6, a schematic diagram of acquiring whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0140] The corresponding first action in FIG. 6 is a lifting action. By acquiring the first drive current in real time in the process of performing the lifting action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper, a variation curve diagram of the first drive current in the process of performing the lifting action shown in FIG. 6 is obtained. It can be seen from FIG. 6 that when the second drive time reaches 400 ms, the first drive current starts to experience overcurrent. Therefore, a corresponding overcurrent threshold in the overcurrent stage (that is, a corresponding first drive current when an overcurrent occurs) may be used as the reference current, and a corresponding second drive time when the overcurrent stage begins (that is, a corresponding second drive time when an overcurrent occurs) may be used as the reference time. Thus, 400 ms in FIG. 6 may be used as the reference time.

[0141] Further referring to FIG. 5, in S425, the second current threshold and the fourth preset time are determined based on the reference current and the reference time.

[0142] There are at least two cases in the process of performing step S425. The specific implementations of the two cases that may occur will be described in detail below.

[0143] In step S425, a first possible case is that “the reference current is less than a first set current, and the reference time is greater than a first set time and less than a second set time”. In this case, the steps shown in FIG. 7 may be performed.

[0144] Referring to FIG. 7, a detailed schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. Specifically, the following steps S4251 to S4252 are included.

[0145] In S4251, if the reference current is less than the first set current, the reference current is determined as the second current threshold.

[0146] In some embodiments, the first set current may be determined based on the historical records of performing the first action by sweepers of the same type. Specifically, execution records in which an overcurrent occurs when the sweepers of the same type perform the first action may be first retrieved, and then fourth currents corresponding to the overcurrent events recorded in these execution records are extracted, such that a plurality of fourth currents can be acquired. The maximum value among the plurality of fourth currents may be used as the first set current.

[0147] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the first set current is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the first set current may be determined as 800 mA. Under this setting, if the reference current is less than 800 mA, the reference current may be directly determined as the second current threshold.

[0148] Further referring to FIG. 7, in 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 preset adjustment ratio to acquire the fourth preset time. The preset adjustment ratio is less than 1.

[0149] In step S4252, the product of the preset adjustment ratio and the reference time may be used as the fourth preset time.

[0150] The setting of the logical determination parameters involved in step S4252 will be described below.

[0151] For the setting of the first set time and the second set time:

[0152] In some embodiments, the first set time and the second set time may be determined based on test results. Specifically, in the test, an in-place switch is used to detect whether the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper moves to the second in-place position. In the test, a plurality of sweepers of the same type are separately placed under different ambient temperatures, then each sweeper is controlled to move from the first in-place position to the second in-place position, and a fifth time consumed by each sweeper to move from the first in-place position to the second in-place position is recorded, such that a plurality of fifth times can be acquired. The maximum value among the fifth times may be used as the second set time, and the minimum value among the fifth times may be used as the first set time.

[0153] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the first set time and the second set time is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the first set time may be set to 200 ms, and the second set time may be set to 500 ms.

[0154] For the setting of the preset adjustment ratio:

[0155] It should be noted that the purpose of setting the preset adjustment ratio is to prevent the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper from completely reaching the top or the bottom. That is, by setting the preset adjustment ratio, when the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is lifted to a position slightly lower than the top, it can be considered that the lifting / lowering assembly has been lifted to the lifting in-place position, or when the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is lowered to a position slightly higher than the bottom, it can be considered that the lifting / lowering assembly has been lowered to the lowering in-place position.

[0156] In some embodiments, the preset adjustment ratio may be set to 0.95, 0.9, or the like, which is not specifically limited in the present disclosure. For example, assuming that the first set time is 200 ms, the second set time is 500 ms, the reference time is 400 ms, and the preset adjustment ratio is 0.9, it may be determined that the reference time 400 ms falls within the time range of [200 ms, 500 ms]. Therefore, 360 ms (0.9 × 400 ms) may be used as the fourth preset time, e.g., T1 shown in FIG. 6.

[0157] In step S425, a second possible case is that “the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, the reference time is less than or equal to the first set time, or the reference time is greater than or equal to the second set time”. In this case, the following steps S4251A to S4252A may be performed.

[0158] In S4251A, if the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, a second set current is determined as the second current threshold. The second set current is less than the first set current.

[0159] In step S4251, the product of a third set ratio and the first set current may be used as the second set current. The third set ratio is less than 1. For example, if the first set current is 800 mA, and the third set ratio is 0.625, the second set current may be 500 mA. Therefore, under this setting, if the reference current is greater than 800 mA, 500 mA may be used as the second current threshold.

[0160] It should be noted that the second set current may also be determined in other ways, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0161] In S4252A, if the reference time is less than or equal to the first set time, or the reference time is greater than or equal to the second set time, a third set time is determined as the fourth preset time. The third set time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time.

[0162] In some embodiments, the third set time may be determined based on the first set time and the second set time. For example, if the first set time is 200 ms and the second set time is 500 ms, a time may be randomly selected within the time range of [200 ms, 500 ms] as the third set time. For example, 400 ms may be selected as the third set time. Therefore, under this setting, if the reference time is 600 ms, 400 ms may be used as the fourth preset time.

[0163] It can be understood that the second set current and the third set time involved in steps S4251A to S4252A are default parameters set in the self-calibration operation of the sweeper. When the sweeper determines an abnormal reference time or reference current during execution of the self-calibration operation, the set default parameters may be used to determine the second current threshold and the fourth preset time.

[0164] In the above step S421, the sweeper acquires whether the current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position, and two results may appear. The first result is that the current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is the first in-place position, and the second result is that the current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is not the first in-place position. Therefore, in the case of the first result, the sweeper performs the above step S422. In the case of the second result, the sweeper performs operations according to the following steps S422A to S424A.

[0165] In S422A, if the second position is not the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the second action, and whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position is acquired.

[0166] In S423A, if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the first action.

[0167] It can be understood that if the sweeper acquires that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position in the process of performing the second action, the sweeper controls the lifting / lowering assembly to continue to perform the above step S422.

[0168] In S424A, if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired, the second set current is determined as the second current threshold, and the third set time is determined as the fourth preset time.

[0169] In step S424A, there are at least the following two implementations.

[0170] In the first implementation, if the sweeper does not acquire that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position within a fifth preset time, when the first drive time reaches the fifth preset time, the second set current is determined as the second current threshold, and the third set time is determined as the fourth preset time.

[0171] In the second implementation, if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within a fifth preset time, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the first action to move to the second position, and when the second position is reached, the process returns to perform the above step S422A. If the number of times of returning to perform step S422A exceeds a 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 preset time.

[0172] It should be noted that the specific implementation of step S424A is not limited in the present disclosure, and may be designed based on actual situations.

[0173] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions of the present disclosure, some embodiments of the present disclosure will be generally described below with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

[0174] Referring to FIG. 8, an overall schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0175] In step 800, a current first position is acquired in response to the first control instruction.

[0176] In step 810, if the first position is the first in-place position, step 820 is performed, or if the first position is not the first in-place position, step 811 is performed.

[0177] In step 820, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a first action.

[0178] In step 830, if the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within the third preset time, step 840 is performed; or if the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold within the third preset time, step 831 is performed.

[0179] In step 840, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and a second protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0180] In step 831, if the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within the fourth preset time, step 8311 is performed; or if the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold within the fourth preset time, step 8311A is performed.

[0181] In step 8311, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0182] In step 8311A, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position when the first drive time reaches the fourth preset time.

[0183] In step 811, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a second action.

[0184] In step 812, if the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within the first preset time, step 813 is performed; or if the second drive current does not exceed the first current threshold within the first preset time, step 8121 is performed.

[0185] In step 813, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to move to the first position, and return to perform step 811; if the number of times of performing the second action does not exceed the preset number of execution times, the lifting / lowering assembly returns to perform step 811; or if the number of times of performing the second action exceeds the preset number of execution times, step 814 is performed.

[0186] In step 814, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and the second protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0187] In step 8121, if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired within the second preset time, step 820 is performed, or if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within the second preset time, step 8122 is performed.

[0188] In step 8122, it is determined that the in-place switch has a fault, and a first protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0189] Referring to FIG. 9, an overall schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0190] In step 900, a current second position is acquired in response to the second control instruction.

[0191] In step 910, if the second position is the first in-place position, step 920 is performed; or if the second position is not the first in-place position, step 911 is performed.

[0192] In step 920, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a first action.

[0193] In step 930, if it is detected that an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, step 940 is performed; or if no overcurrent of the first drive current is detected, step 930 is performed continuously.

[0194] In step 940, a corresponding first drive current when an overcurrent occurs is used as a reference current, and a corresponding second drive time is used as a reference time.

[0195] In step 941, if the reference current is less than the first set current, step 942A is performed; if the reference time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time, step 942A is performed; if the reference current is not less than the first set current, step 942 is performed; and if the reference time is greater than or equal to the first set time, or the reference time is less than or equal to the second set time, step 942 is performed.

[0196] In step 942, the second set current is used as the second current threshold, and the third set time is used as the fourth preset time.

[0197] In step 942A, the reference current is used as the second current threshold, and the reference time is adjusted based on a preset adjustment ratio to obtain the fourth preset time.

[0198] In step 911, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a second action.

[0199] In step 912, if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired, step 920 is performed; or if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired, step 913 is performed.

[0200] In step 913, the second set current is used as the second current threshold, and the third set time is used as the fourth preset time.

[0201] In the technical solutions provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action is provided in the cleaning device, and the method for determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position is as follows: first, acquiring, in response to the first control instruction, whether the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position, where the first in-place position is the lowering in-place position or the lifting in-place position; second, if the first position is the first in-place position, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action to move toward the second in-place position, where the second in-place position is an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; third, acquiring the first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and finally, determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. Through the technical solutions of the present disclosure, at least the following two technical effects can be achieved:

[0202] In the first aspect, in the process of determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position, the cleaning device of the present disclosure can determine whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position only by performing logical determination based on the first drive current. Therefore, it can be understood that, according to the method for determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position of the present disclosure, in one aspect, since the determination does not rely on an in-place switch, the configuration cost of configuring the in-place switch in the cleaning device can be reduced to some extent, and the frequency of error reporting caused by in-place switch failures can be decreased, thereby improving the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly. In another aspect, since the method does not rely on the limitation by mechanical structure for determination, the damage to a driving apparatus (such as a drive motor) for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action can be reduced.

[0203] In the second aspect, in the present disclosure, the second current threshold and the fourth preset time for determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position may be determined through a self-calibration operation, such that the second current threshold and the fourth preset time can be updated periodically, thereby improving the accuracy in determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0204] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for controlling a cleaning device is provided. The cleaning device includes a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action, and the method includes: acquiring, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position including a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position; controlling, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; acquiring a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0205] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the cleaning device further includes an in-place switch, and acquiring whether the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position includes detecting whether the first position is the first in-place position by means of the in-place switch.

[0206] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: controlling, in response to the first position not being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a second action, an action direction of the second action being opposite to that of the first action; acquiring a second drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action; and if the second drive current exceeding a first current threshold is not acquired within a first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired within a second preset time, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action, the first preset time being less than the second preset time.

[0207] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within the second preset time, determining that the in-place switch has a fault, and performing a first protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0208] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the first protection action includes controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to report an error.

[0209] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is acquired within the first preset time, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and if the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first position, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action and acquiring the second drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action again, until the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time, or until a number of execution times that the lifting / lowering assembly performs the second action exceeds a preset number threshold.

[0210] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the number of execution times exceeds the preset number threshold, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and performing a second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0211] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position includes: if the first drive current exceeding a second current threshold is acquired within a third preset time, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and performing the second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0212] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the second protection action includes controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to send a prompt message to a user.

[0213] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position includes: if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within the third preset time, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and performing the second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0214] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the third preset time and the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within a fourth preset time, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position, the fourth preset time being greater than the third preset time.

[0215] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the fourth preset time and the first drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action reaches the fourth preset time, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position, the fourth preset time being greater than the third preset time.

[0216] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: triggering, in response to a second control instruction, execution of a self-calibration operation; and determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the self-calibration operation, where the second current threshold and the fourth preset time are configured to determine whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0217] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time includes: acquiring whether a current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position; controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action if the second position is the first in-place position; acquiring whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action, and recording a second drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; if an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, using a corresponding first drive current when the overcurrent occurs as a reference current, and using a corresponding second drive time when the overcurrent occurs as a reference time; and determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time.

[0218] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time includes: if the reference current is less than a first set current, determining the reference current as the second current threshold; and if the reference time is greater than a first set time and less than a second set time, adjusting the reference time according to a preset adjustment ratio to acquire the fourth preset time, the preset adjustment ratio being less than 1.

[0219] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, determining a second set current as the second current threshold, the second set current being less than the first set current; and if the reference time is less than or equal to the first set time, or the reference time is greater than or equal to the second set time, determining a third set time as the fourth preset time, the third set time being greater than the first set time and less than the second set time.

[0220] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the second position is not the first in-place position, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action, and acquiring whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position; if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired, determining the second set current as the second current threshold, and determining the third set time as the fourth preset time.

[0221] Based on the same inventive concept, one embodiment of the present disclosure provides an apparatus for controlling a cleaning device, which can be configured to perform the method for controlling the cleaning device in the above embodiments of the present disclosure. For details not disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure, reference may be made to the above embodiments of the method for controlling the cleaning device according to the present disclosure.

[0222] Referring to FIG. 10, a block diagram of an apparatus for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0223] As shown in FIG. 10, provided is an apparatus 1000 for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, and the apparatus includes: a first acquiring unit 1001, a control unit 1002, a second acquiring unit 1003, and a determining unit 1004.

[0224] The first acquiring unit 1001 is configured to acquire, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, where the first in-place position is a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position; the control unit 1002 is configured to control, if the first position is the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, where the second in-place position is an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; the second acquiring unit 1003 is configured to acquire a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and the determining unit 1004 is configured to determine, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0225] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the cleaning device further includes an in-place switch configured to acquire whether the first position is the first in-place position.

[0226] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the control unit 1002 is further configured to: control, if the first position is not the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a second action, where the action direction of the second action is opposite to that of the first action; acquire a second drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action; and if the second drive current exceeding a first current threshold is not acquired within a first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired within a second preset time, control the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action. The first preset time is less than the second preset time.

[0227] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the control unit 1002 is further configured to: if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within the second preset time, determine that the in-place switch has a fault, and perform a first protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0228] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the first protection action includes controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to report an error.

[0229] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the control unit 1002 is further configured to: if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is acquired within the first preset time, control the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and if the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first position, return to perform the step of controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action, until the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time, or until the number of execution times that the lifting / lowering assembly performs the second action exceeds the preset number threshold.

[0230] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the control unit 1002 is further configured to: if the number of execution times exceeds the preset number threshold, determine that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and perform a second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0231] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the second protection action includes controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to send a prompt message to a user.

[0232] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the determining unit 1004 is further configured to: if the first drive current exceeding a second current threshold is acquired within a third preset time, determine that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and perform the second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0233] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the determining unit 1004 is further configured to: if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the third preset time and the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within a fourth preset time, determine that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. The fourth preset time is greater than the third preset time.

[0234] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the determining unit 1004 is further configured to: if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the fourth preset time and the first drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action reaches the fourth preset time, determine that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. The fourth preset time is greater than the third preset time.

[0235] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the apparatus for controlling a cleaning device of the present disclosure further includes a self-calibration unit. The self-calibration unit is configured to: trigger, in response to a second control instruction, execution of a self-calibration operation; and determine the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the self-calibration operation.

[0236] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the self-calibration unit is further configured to: acquire whether a current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position; control the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action if the second position is the first in-place position; acquire whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action, and record a second drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; if an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, use a corresponding first drive current when the overcurrent occurs as a reference current, and use a corresponding second drive time when the overcurrent occurs as a reference time; and determine the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time.

[0237] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the self-calibration unit is further configured to: if the reference current is less than a first set current, determine the reference current as the second current threshold; and if the reference time is greater than a first set time and less than a second set time, adjust the reference time according to a preset adjustment ratio to acquire the fourth preset time. The preset adjustment ratio is less than 1.

[0238] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the self-calibration unit is further configured to: if the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, determine a second set current as the second current threshold, where the second set current is less than the first set current; and if the reference time is less than or equal to the first set time, or the reference time is greater than or equal to the second set time, determine a third set time as the fourth preset time, where the third set time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time.

[0239] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the self-calibration unit is further configured to: if the second position is not the first in-place position, control the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action, and acquire whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position; if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired, control the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired, determine the second set current as the second current threshold, and determine the third set time as the fourth preset time.

[0240] Based on the same inventive concept, one embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores at least one computer program instruction, and the at least one computer program instruction is loaded and run by a processor to implement the operations performed in the above method.

[0241] Based on the same inventive concept, one embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a cleaning device.

[0242] Referring to FIG. 11, a schematic structural diagram of a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. The cleaning device includes one or more memories 1104, one or more processors 1102, and at least one computer program (computer program instruction) stored in the memory 1104 and capable of being run on the processor 1102. When running the computer program, the processor 1102 implements the method described above.

[0243] In FIG. 11, a bus architecture (represented by a bus 1100) is illustrated. The bus 1100 may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and the bus 1100 connects various circuits including one or more processors represented by the processor 1102 and a memory represented by the memory 1104. The bus 1100 may also connect together various other circuits, such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, and power management circuits. These are well known in the art and thus will not be further described herein. A bus interface 1105 provides interfaces between the bus 1100 and a receiver 1101, and a sender 1103. The receiver 1101 and the sender 1103 may be the same element, namely, a transceiver, which provides a unit for communicating with various other apparatuses over a transmission medium. The processor 1102 is responsible for managing the bus 1100 and general processing, and the memory 1104 may be configured to store data used by the processor 1102 during operation.

[0244] The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by the processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by the processor, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium, or may be transmitted via a computer-readable medium. Other embodiments and implementations fall within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the functions described above may be implemented using software executed by the processor, hardware, firmware, hardwired connection, or any combination thereof. In addition, various functional units may be integrated into one processing unit, or various units may physically exist separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0245] In the several embodiments provided in the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed technical content may be implemented in other manners. The apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units may be a division based on logical function and may be implemented in other ways in an actual situation. For example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. In addition, the displayed or discussed coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between each other may be achieved through some interfaces, and indirect coupling or communication connection between the units or modules may also be in electrical or other forms.

[0246] The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and components used as a control apparatus may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place, or may be distributed across a plurality of units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0247] The integrated units may be stored in one computer-accessible storage medium if they are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of the present disclosure essentially, or the part contributing to the prior art, or all or some of the technical solutions may be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in one storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. The foregoing storage media include various media capable of storing computer program instructions, such as a USB flash drive, a read-only memory (ROM, read-only memory), a random access memory (RAM, random access memory), a portable hard disk, a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

[0248] The above are only embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. For those skilled in the art, the present disclosure can be modified and varied. Any modification, equivalent substitution, improvement, and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure shall all fall within the scope of the claims of the present disclosure.

Examples

Embodiment Construction

[0019] Exemplary embodiments will now be described more comprehensively with reference to the drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments may be implemented in various forms, and should not be understood as being limited to the examples described herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided to make the present disclosure more comprehensive and complete, and comprehensively convey the idea of the exemplary embodiments to those skilled in the art.

[0020] In addition, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a full understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the technical solutions of the present disclosure may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or other methods, components, apparatuses, steps, and the like may be e...

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT / CN2024 / 117941 filed on September 10, 2024, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202311198530.7 filed on September 15, 2023, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of the controlling of cleaning devices, and in particular, to a method for controlling a cleaning device, a storage medium, and a cleaning device.BACKGROUND

[0003] In a cleaning device, by configuring a lifting / lowering assembly, such as a lifting / lowering main brush assembly, the lifting / lowering main brush assembly can be controlled to be lifted in a scenario 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. SUMMARY

[0004] According to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, provided is a method for controlling a cleaning device. The cleaning device includes a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action, and the method includes: acquiring, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position including a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position; controlling, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; acquiring a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0005] According to a second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, provided is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores at least one program code, and the at least one program code is loaded and run by a processor to implement a method for controlling a cleaning device. The cleaning device includes a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action, and the method includes: acquiring, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position including a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position; controlling, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; acquiring a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0006] According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, provided is a cleaning device. The cleaning device includes a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action; and one or more processors and one or more memories, where the one or more processors is configured to: acquire, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position comprising a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position; control, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; acquire a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and determine, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] The drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and are used in conjunction with the specification to explain the principles of the present disclosure. Apparently, the drawings in the following description are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, and those of ordinary skill in the art may still derive other drawings from these drawings without creative efforts. In the drawings:

[0008] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of the principle of performing a lifting / lowering action by a lifting / lowering assembly in the related art;

[0009] FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0010] FIG. 3 illustrates a detailed schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0011] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0012] FIG. 5 illustrates a detailed schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0013] FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of acquiring whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0014] FIG. 7 illustrates a detailed schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0015] FIG. 8 illustrates an overall schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 9 illustrates an overall schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0017] FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0018] FIG. 11 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Exemplary embodiments will now be described more comprehensively with reference to the drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments may be implemented in various forms, and should not be understood as being limited to the examples described herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided to make the present disclosure more comprehensive and complete, and comprehensively convey the idea of the exemplary embodiments to those skilled in the art.

[0020] In addition, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a full understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the technical solutions of the present disclosure may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or other methods, components, apparatuses, steps, and the like may be employed. In other cases, well-known methods, apparatuses, implementations, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] The block diagrams shown in the drawings are merely functional entities, which do not necessarily correspond to physically independent entities. That is, these functional entities may be implemented in the form of software, or in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or across different networks and / or processor apparatuses and / or microcontroller apparatuses.

[0022] The flowcharts shown in the drawings are merely illustrative and do not necessarily include all of the contents and operations / steps, nor are they necessarily executed in the order described. For example, some operations / steps may be further subdivided, while other operations / steps may be combined or partially combined. Therefore, the actual execution order may vary depending on the actual situation.

[0023] It should be noted that “a plurality of” mentioned herein means two or more. The term “and / or” is merely a way to describe an association relationship between associated objects, indicating that three possible relationships may exist. For example, “A and / or B” can represent: the existence of A alone, the simultaneous existence of A and B, and the existence of B alone. The character “ / ” generally indicates an “or” relationship between the associated objects before and after the “ / ”.

[0024] It should be noted that the terms “first”, “second”, and the like in the specification, claims, and the above drawings of the present disclosure are defined to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the objects used in such a way are interchangeable in proper circumstances, such that the embodiments of the present disclosure described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described.

[0025] For clearer descriptions of the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present disclosure, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Apparently, the described embodiments are merely some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

[0026] In a cleaning device, by configuring a lifting / lowering assembly, such as a lifting / lowering main brush assembly, the lifting / lowering main brush assembly can be controlled to be lifted in a scenario 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 the related art, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly of the cleaning device to perform a lifting / lowering function is prone to malfunctions, resulting in a high error-reporting frequency and reducing the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly. Accordingly, how to improve the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly of the cleaning device is an urgent technical problem to be solved.

[0027] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions of the present disclosure, the background of the technical solutions of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 1.

[0028] It should be noted that the cleaning device referred to in the present disclosure may be an intelligent device with a cleaning function, including but not limited to a sweeper, a mopping machine, and the like, and the cleaning device being a sweeper is taken as an example for illustration below.

[0029] It should also be noted that the lifting / lowering assembly referred to in the present disclosure may be an assembly with a lifting / lowering function, including but not limited to a lifting / lowering main brush assembly, a lifting / lowering mop assembly, and the like.

[0030] Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic diagram of the principle of performing a lifting / lowering action by a lifting / lowering assembly in the related art is illustrated.

[0031] In this field, if a sweeper's main brush assembly does not have a lifting / lowering function, then during cleaning of a floor with liquid (e.g., water) by the sweeper, liquid may enter the sweeper's dust box. After liquid enters the dust box, problems such as bacterial growth, damage to the sweeper, damage to the fan after dust collection, and odor generation may occur. However, if the sweeper is configured with a lifting / lowering main brush assembly having a lifting / lowering function, this problem can be solved.

[0032] In the related art, the principle that the sweeper controls the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a lifting / lowering action is as follows:

[0033] Two in-place switches are provided in the sweeper, one for detecting whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to a lifting in-place position, and one for detecting whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to a lowering in-place position.

[0034] If the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper performs a lifting action and moves in the lifting direction to the lifting in-place position, during the execution of the lifting action, the drive motor is controlled to rotate in the forward direction, thereby causing the drive motor to drive the primary drive gear to rotate, then causing the tensioning structure to shorten the tension rope such that the lifting / lowering assembly is lifted. If the lifting / lowering assembly is lifted to the lifting in-place position, the corresponding in-place switch is triggered to feed back a lifting-in-place signal to the sweeper, such that the sweeper can acquire that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the lifting in-place position.

[0035] If the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper performs a lowering action and moves in the lowering direction to the lowering in-place position, during the execution of the lowering action, the drive motor is controlled to rotate in the reverse direction, thereby causing the drive motor to drive the primary drive gear to rotate, then causing the tensioning structure to lengthen the tension rope such that the lifting / lowering assembly is lowered. If the lifting / lowering assembly is lowered to the lowering in-place position, the corresponding in-place switch is triggered to feed back a lowering-in-place signal to the sweeper, such that the sweeper can acquire that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the lowering in-place position.

[0036] If the in-place switch has a fault, the sweeper will report an error. It can be understood that since the sweeper in the related art determines whether the lifting / lowering assembly is lifted to the lifting in-place position or lowered to the lowering in-place position based on two in-place switches, the configuration of the two in-place switches increases the frequency of error reporting by the sweeper, thereby reducing the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly. Based on this, the present disclosure provides a method for controlling a cleaning device to overcome this defect, so as to improve the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper.

[0037] The method for controlling a cleaning device provided by the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0038] Referring to FIG. 2, a schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated, which specifically includes the following steps S110 to S140.

[0039] In S110, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position is acquired. The first in-place position is a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position.

[0040] It should be noted that the first control instruction is used to instruct the lifting / lowering assembly to move to a second in-place position, and the second in-place position is an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position. For example, if the first control instruction indicates that the lifting / lowering assembly needs to move to the lifting in-place position (i.e., the second in-place position), the first in-place position is the lowering in-place position.

[0041] It should also be noted that the first control instruction may be a control instruction sent to the sweeper by the user through the client, or may be a control instruction generated by the user touching a corresponding key on the sweeper, or may be a control instruction generated in other ways.

[0042] It should further be noted that the sweeper may determine whether the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position by acquiring the in-place signal fed back by the in-place switch. The in-place switch is configured to detect whether the first position is the first in-place position. If the in-place switch detects that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position, the in-place switch feeds back an in-place signal to the sweeper. The in-place switch may be a microswitch, a photo interrupter sensor, or the like.

[0043] In step S110, after the sweeper acquires whether the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position, two results may appear. A first result is that the first position is the first in-place position, and a second result is that the first position is not the first in-place position. Specific implementations corresponding to the two results will be described in detail below.

[0044] For the first result, the following step S120 may be performed.

[0045] Further referring to FIG. 2, in S120, if the first position is the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a first action to move towards the second in-place position. The second in-place position is an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position.

[0046] It should be noted that the first action performed by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper corresponds to the second in-place position. For example, if the second in-place position is a lifting in-place position, the first action is a lifting action; and if the second in-place position is a lowering in-place position, the first action is a lowering action.

[0047] In step S120, if the first control instruction instructs the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper to ascend to the lifting in-place position, and if the sweeper acquires that the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the lowering in-place position, the sweeper directly controls the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a lifting action to move to the lifting in-place position.

[0048] For the second result, the steps shown in FIG. 3 may be performed.

[0049] Referring to FIG. 3, a detailed schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. The method specifically includes steps S120A to S122A.

[0050] In S120A, if the first position is not the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a second action. The action direction of the second action is opposite to that of the first action.

[0051] It can be understood that in step S120, the purpose of controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action by the sweeper is to enable the lifting / lowering assembly to move to the first in-place position, and then perform the first action to move to the second in-place position, thereby completing the instruction of the first control instruction.

[0052] It should be noted that the second action performed by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper corresponds to the first in-place position. If the first in-place position is a lifting in-place position, the first action is a lifting action; and if the first in-place position is a lowering in-place position, the first action is a lowering action.

[0053] Further referring to FIG. 3, in S121A, a second drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action is acquired.

[0054] In step S121A, the sweeper may drive the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action by means of a drive motor. In this case, the second drive current is the operating current of the drive motor in the process in which the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper performs the second action.

[0055] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, there may be three cases in the process of performing step S121A by the sweeper, and the specific implementation of each case will be described below.

[0056] In step S121A, a first possible case is that “the sweeper does not acquire the second drive current exceeding a first current threshold within a first preset time and acquires the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position within a second preset time”. In this case, the following step S122A may be performed.

[0057] In S122A, if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired within the second preset time, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the first action. The first preset time is less than the second preset time.

[0058] The setting of the logical determination parameters involved in step S122A will be described in detail below.

[0059] For the setting of the second preset time and the first preset time:

[0060] In some embodiments, the second preset time may be determined based on the historical records of performing the second action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. Specifically, a first time consumed by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper historically moving from the second in-place position to the first in-place position is acquired, and the maximum value among the first times is used as the second preset time.

[0061] In some embodiments, the second preset time may be set based on pre-test results. Specifically, a plurality of sweepers of the same type may be subjected to lifting / lowering function tests. For example, the sweeper is controlled to move from the second in-place position to the first in-place position, and a second time consumed by the sweeper to move from the second in-place position to the first in-place position is recorded, such that a plurality of second times can be acquired. Therefore, the maximum value among the plurality of second times may be selected as the second preset time.

[0062] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the second preset time is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the second preset time may be set to 500 ms.

[0063] In some embodiments, the product of the second preset time and a first set ratio may be used as the first preset time, and the first set ratio is less than 1. The first set ratio may be determined based on historical empirical values, or may be determined based on pre-test results. However, the determination principle is as follows: If the sweeper acquires that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within the first preset time, it can reflect that the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper has a fault.

[0064] For example, assuming that the first set ratio is 0.6, and the second preset time is 500 ms, the first preset time can be determined as 300 ms (0.6 × 500 ms).

[0065] For the setting of the first current threshold:

[0066] It should be noted that the setting of the first current threshold should satisfy the condition that: when the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold, it can reflect that an overcurrent occurs in the second drive current.

[0067] In some embodiments, the first current threshold may be determined based on historical records of performing the second action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. Specifically, execution records in which an overcurrent occurs when the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper performs the second action may be first retrieved, and then first currents corresponding to the overcurrent events recorded in these execution records are extracted, such that a plurality of first currents can be acquired. The average value of the plurality of first currents may be used as the first current threshold.

[0068] In some embodiments, the first current threshold may be determined based on pre-test results. Specifically, a plurality of sweepers of the same type may be subjected to lifting / lowering function tests. For example, a foreign object may be jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper (because if a foreign object is jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly, an overcurrent may occur in the process of performing the lifting / lowering function by the lifting / lowering assembly), then the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is controlled to perform the second action from the second in-place position to move to the first in-place position, and the change of the second drive current is monitored in the process of performing the second action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. If an overcurrent in the second drive current of the sweeper is detected, the corresponding second drive current when the overcurrent occurs is recorded as a second current, such that a plurality of second currents can be acquired, and the average value of the plurality of second currents may be used as the first current threshold.

[0069] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the first current threshold is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the first current threshold may be set to 500 mA.

[0070] In step S121A, a second possible case is that “the sweeper does not acquire the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold within the first preset time and does not acquire the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position within the second preset time”. In this case, the following step S122B may be performed.

[0071] In S122B, if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within the second preset time, it is determined that the in-place switch has a fault, and a first protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0072] In step S122B, it can be understood that, if the in-place switch of the sweeper is normal, when the first drive time is greater than the first preset time and less than the second preset time, the in-place switch can detect that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position. Therefore, if the in-place switch fails to detect that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position under this condition, it means that the in-place switch has a fault.

[0073] In some embodiments, if the in-place switch has a fault, the first protection action performed for the lifting / lowering assembly includes, but is not limited to, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to report an error. It can be understood that if the in-place switch of the sweeper has a fault, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper to stop movement can provide protection for the lifting / lowering assembly. The cleaning device reports an error to indicate that the in-place switch has a fault, and sends a prompt message to the user terminal to prompt the user that the in-place switch has a fault.

[0074] In step S121A, a third possible case is that “the sweeper acquires the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold within the first preset time”. In this case, the following steps S122C to S123C may be performed.

[0075] In S122C, if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is acquired within the first preset time, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the first action.

[0076] It should be noted that in step S122C, the purpose of controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action is to make the lifting / lowering assembly return to the first position, rather than move to the second in-place position.

[0077] In S123C, if the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first position, the step of controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action is resumed, until the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time, or until the number of execution times that the lifting / lowering assembly performs the second action exceeds the preset number threshold.

[0078] It should be noted that in step S123C, if the sweeper acquires that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first position, the sweeper controls the lifting / lowering assembly to re-perform the above step S120A.

[0079] In some embodiments, each time the sweeper performs step S120A, it is recorded as performing the second action once.

[0080] In some embodiments, the preset number threshold may be set to 2 times, 3 times, or the like, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0081] In the process of performing steps S122C to step S123C, the following step S124D may be further performed.

[0082] In S124D, if the number of execution times exceeds the preset number threshold, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and a second protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0083] In some embodiments, when it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, the second protection action performed for the lifting / lowering assembly includes, but is not limited to, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to send a prompt message to the user.

[0084] It can be understood that the malfunction of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper may be caused by a foreign object getting jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly. Therefore, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper to stop movement can provide protection for the lifting / lowering assembly. In addition, the content of the prompt message sent by the sweeper to the user may be prompting the user to inspect the lifting / lowering assembly to remove the foreign object getting jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly; and the method for sending the prompt message to the user may be sending information to the user terminal, performing voice broadcast by the sweeper, and the like.

[0085] For the specific implementation of the third case that occurs in step S121A, if the sweeper acquires, for the first time within the first preset time, that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold, it can be preliminarily determined that the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper has a fault. If the sweeper repeatedly performs step S120A for a plurality of times, and acquires that the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within the first preset time each time, it can be determined that the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper has a fault. It can be seen that by repeatedly performing step S120A for a plurality of times, the accuracy in determining, by the sweeper, whether the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault can be improved.

[0086] In summary, through the above description of the three cases that may occur in step S120A, it can be understood that according to the present disclosure, if the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper malfunctions during the execution of the second action, the specific malfunction causes can be determined only through different determination logics, and corresponding protection actions can be performed based on different malfunction causes. Therefore, compared with the related art in which the sweeper reports an error for any malfunction, the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper according to the present disclosure has better robustness.

[0087] Further referring to FIG. 2, in S130, a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action is acquired.

[0088] In some embodiments, a drive motor may be used to drive the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper to perform the first action. In this case, the first drive current is the operating current of the drive motor in the process in which the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper performs the first action.

[0089] Further referring to FIG. 2, in S140, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position is determined based on the first drive current.

[0090] There may be three cases in the process of performing step S140, and the specific implementation of each case will be described below.

[0091] In step S140, a first possible case is that “the sweeper does not acquire the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold within a third preset time and acquires the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold within a fourth preset time”. In this case, the following step S141 may be performed.

[0092] In S141, if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the third preset time and the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within a fourth preset time, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. The fourth preset time is greater than the third preset time.

[0093] The setting of the logical determination parameters involved in step S141 will be described below.

[0094] For the setting of the fourth preset time and the third preset time:

[0095] In some embodiments, the fourth preset time may be determined based on the historical records of performing the first action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. Specifically, a third time consumed by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper historically moving from the first in-place position to the second in-place position may be acquired, and the maximum value among the third times is used as the fourth preset time.

[0096] In some embodiments, the fourth preset time may be determined based on a self-calibration operation. The specific implementation will be described in detail in the subsequent embodiments of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the self-calibration operation. For details, reference may be made to the following steps S410 to S420, which will not be repeated herein.

[0097] In some embodiments, the fourth preset time may be set based on pre-test results. Specifically, in the test, an in-place switch is used to detect whether the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper moves to the second in-place position. In the test, a plurality of sweepers of the same type are subjected to lifting / lowering function tests. For example, the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is controlled to perform a first movement from the first in-place position to move to the second in-place position, and a fourth time consumed by the sweeper to move from the first in-place position to the second in-place position is recorded, such that a plurality of fourth times can be acquired, and the average value of the plurality of fourth times may be used as the fourth preset time.

[0098] In some embodiments, the fourth preset time may be set as a preset time equal to the second preset time.

[0099] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the fourth preset time is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the fourth preset time may be set to 400 ms.

[0100] In some embodiments, the product of a second set ratio and the fourth preset time may be used as the third preset time, and the second set ratio is less than 1. The second set ratio may be determined based on historical empirical values, or may be determined based on pre-test results. However, the determination principle is as follows: If the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within the third preset time, it can reflect that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault.

[0101] For example, assuming that the second set ratio is 0.5, and the fourth preset time is 400 ms, the third preset time can be determined as 200 ms (0.5 ms × 400 ms). Under this setting, in the process of performing step S140 by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper, if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within a time range of [200 ms, 400 ms], it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper moves to the second in-place position.

[0102] For the setting of the second current threshold:

[0103] It should be noted that the setting of the second current threshold should satisfy the condition that: when the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold, it can reflect that an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current.

[0104] In some embodiments, the second current threshold may be determined based on pre-test results. Specifically, a plurality of sweepers of the same type may be subjected to lifting / lowering function tests. For example, a foreign object may be jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper, then the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is controlled to perform the first action from the first in-place position to move to the second in-place position, and the change of the first drive current is monitored in the process of performing the first action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. If an overcurrent in the first drive current of the sweeper is detected, the corresponding first drive current when the overcurrent occurs is recorded as a third current, such that a plurality of third currents can be acquired, and the average value of the plurality of third currents may be used as the second current threshold.

[0105] In some embodiments, the second current threshold may be set to a current threshold equal to the first current threshold.

[0106] In some embodiments, the second current threshold may be determined by performing a self-calibration operation. The specific implementation will be described in detail in the subsequent embodiments of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the self-calibration operation. For details, reference may be made to the following steps S410 to S420, which will not be repeated herein.

[0107] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the second current threshold is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the second current threshold may be set to 500 mA.

[0108] In step S141, in the process of performing the first action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper, if the sweeper acquires that the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within the time range composed of the third preset time and the fourth preset time, it indicates that a short circuit has occurred in the drive motor at this time. Therefore, in this case, it can be considered that the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper has moved to the second in-place position. Based on this, through the implementation of step S141, it can be determined whether the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper moves to the second in-place position even if the in-place switch for detecting whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position is not configured for the sweeper, thereby saving the configuration cost of the sweeper and improving the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper.

[0109] In step S140, a second possible case is that “the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within the third preset time”. In this case, the following step S141A or step S1411A may be performed.

[0110] In S141A, if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within the third preset time, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and the second protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0111] In step S141A, the fault of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper may be caused by a foreign object getting jammed in the lifting / lowering assembly. Therefore, when it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, the second protection action performed by the sweeper for the lifting / lowering assembly includes, but is not limited to, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to send a prompt message to the user.

[0112] In S1411A, if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within the third preset time, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the second action; if the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position, the step of controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action is resumed (that is, returning to perform step S120), and the number of operation times that the lifting / lowering assembly performs the first action is recorded; and if the number of operation times exceeds a preset threshold of operation times, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and the second protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0113] It can be understood that for the second case in step S140, step S141A may be performed, or step S1411A may be performed. In comparison between the two implementations, the implementation of step S1411A can improve the accuracy of determining, by the sweeper, whether the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault.

[0114] In step S140, a third possible case is that “the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the fourth preset time”. In this case, the following step S141B may be performed.

[0115] In S141B, if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the fourth preset time and the first drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action reaches the fourth preset time, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. The fourth preset time is greater than the third preset time.

[0116] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the three cases of step S140, an illustrative explanation will be provided below.

[0117] It is assumed that the fourth preset time is 400 ms, the third preset time is 200 ms, and the second current threshold is 500 mA. The lifting / lowering assembly starts to perform the first action from the first in-place position. If the sweeper acquires that the first drive current exceeds 500 mA within the first drive time of 200 ms, the sweeper considers that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault. If the sweeper acquires that the first drive current exceeds 500 mA within the first drive time of [200 ms, 400 ms], the sweeper considers that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. If the sweeper does not acquire that the first drive current exceeds 500 mA within the first drive time of 400 ms, the sweeper considers that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position when the first drive time reaches 400 ms.

[0118] In summary, through the above detailed description of the three cases that may occur in step S140, it can be understood that in the process in which the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper starts to perform the first action from the first in-place position to move to the second in-place position, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position can be determined by performing logical determination on the first drive current and the first drive time. Therefore, it is not necessary to rely on the in-place switch for detection, such that the configuration cost of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper can be reduced to a certain extent, and the frequency of error reporting for the in-place switch can also be reduced, thereby improving the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper. In addition, the sweeper does not need to rely on mechanical limit methods to determine whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position, which can reduce damage to the drive motor to a certain extent.

[0119] The specific implementations of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time in some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below.

[0120] Referring to FIG. 4, a schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated, which specifically includes the following steps S410 to S420.

[0121] In S410, execution of a self-calibration operation is triggered in response to a second control instruction.

[0122] It should be noted that the second control instruction is used to instruct the cleaning device to perform a self-calibration operation. The second control instruction may be a control instruction automatically generated each time the sweeper is restarted, or may be a control instruction sent to the sweeper by the user through the client, or may be a control instruction automatically generated by the sweeper at preset time intervals, or may be a control instruction generated by the user touching a corresponding key on the sweeper, or may be a control instruction generated in other ways.

[0123] It should also be noted that the self-calibration operation includes a series of statements and instructions for instructing the cleaning device to perform operations to acquire the second current threshold and the fourth preset time.

[0124] Further referring to FIG. 4, in S420, the second current threshold and the fourth preset time are determined based on the self-calibration operation.

[0125] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the purpose of performing steps S410 to S420 in the present disclosure, the reasons will be described below.

[0126] In the sweeper, a drive motor is configured to drive the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a lifting / lowering action. However, the lower the ambient temperature of the environment where the drive motor is located, the lower the operating efficiency of the drive motor. It can be understood that if the ambient temperature of the environment where the drive motor is located is lower, the drive motor requires a longer time to drive the lifting / lowering assembly to move to the second in-place position in the process of driving the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper to perform the first action. Similarly, if the ambient temperature of the environment where the drive motor is located is lower, the corresponding second drive current when an overcurrent occurs in the process of driving the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper by the drive motor to perform the first action is smaller.

[0127] It can be seen that if the fourth preset time and the second current threshold corresponding to the ambient temperature are set for the sweeper, the accuracy in determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position by the sweeper can be improved.

[0128] In a user's home, when the sweeper performs the lifting / lowering action of the lifting / lowering assembly each time, the ambient temperature may not always be the same. Therefore, if the sweeper uses a fixed fourth preset time and a fixed second current threshold to logically determine whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position each time the sweeper performs the lifting / lowering action of the lifting / lowering assembly, the accuracy in determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position by the sweeper is inevitably to be reduced.

[0129] In summary, in the present disclosure, by designing steps S410 to S420, the sweeper can re-determine the specific values of the second current threshold and the fourth preset time, such that the re-determined fourth preset time and second current threshold correspond to the ambient temperature of the environment where the sweeper is located, thereby improving the accuracy in determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position by the sweeper.

[0130] In some embodiments, the specific implementation of step S420 may be performed according to the steps shown in FIG. 5.

[0131] Referring to FIG. 5, a detailed schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated, which specifically includes steps S421 to S425.

[0132] In S421, whether a current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position is acquired.

[0133] In some embodiments, an in-place switch may be configured in the sweeper, such that whether the current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is the first in-place position may be detected by means of the in-place switch.

[0134] In some embodiments, whether the current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is the first in-place position may be detected by means of limitation by mechanical structure.

[0135] In S422, if the second position is the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the first action.

[0136] In S423, whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action is acquired, and a second drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action is recorded.

[0137] In S424, if an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, a corresponding first drive current when the overcurrent occurs is used as a reference current, and a corresponding second drive time when the overcurrent occurs is used as a reference time.

[0138] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the above steps S423 to S424, an illustrative explanation will be provided below with reference to FIG. 6.

[0139] Referring to FIG. 6, a schematic diagram of acquiring whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0140] The corresponding first action in FIG. 6 is a lifting action. By acquiring the first drive current in real time in the process of performing the lifting action by the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper, a variation curve diagram of the first drive current in the process of performing the lifting action shown in FIG. 6 is obtained. It can be seen from FIG. 6 that when the second drive time reaches 400 ms, the first drive current starts to experience overcurrent. Therefore, a corresponding overcurrent threshold in the overcurrent stage (that is, a corresponding first drive current when an overcurrent occurs) may be used as the reference current, and a corresponding second drive time when the overcurrent stage begins (that is, a corresponding second drive time when an overcurrent occurs) may be used as the reference time. Thus, 400 ms in FIG. 6 may be used as the reference time.

[0141] Further referring to FIG. 5, in S425, the second current threshold and the fourth preset time are determined based on the reference current and the reference time.

[0142] There are at least two cases in the process of performing step S425. The specific implementations of the two cases that may occur will be described in detail below.

[0143] In step S425, a first possible case is that “the reference current is less than a first set current, and the reference time is greater than a first set time and less than a second set time”. In this case, the steps shown in FIG. 7 may be performed.

[0144] Referring to FIG. 7, a detailed schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. Specifically, the following steps S4251 to S4252 are included.

[0145] In S4251, if the reference current is less than the first set current, the reference current is determined as the second current threshold.

[0146] In some embodiments, the first set current may be determined based on the historical records of performing the first action by sweepers of the same type. Specifically, execution records in which an overcurrent occurs when the sweepers of the same type perform the first action may be first retrieved, and then fourth currents corresponding to the overcurrent events recorded in these execution records are extracted, such that a plurality of fourth currents can be acquired. The maximum value among the plurality of fourth currents may be used as the first set current.

[0147] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the first set current is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the first set current may be determined as 800 mA. Under this setting, if the reference current is less than 800 mA, the reference current may be directly determined as the second current threshold.

[0148] Further referring to FIG. 7, in 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 preset adjustment ratio to acquire the fourth preset time. The preset adjustment ratio is less than 1.

[0149] In step S4252, the product of the preset adjustment ratio and the reference time may be used as the fourth preset time.

[0150] The setting of the logical determination parameters involved in step S4252 will be described below.

[0151] For the setting of the first set time and the second set time:

[0152] In some embodiments, the first set time and the second set time may be determined based on test results. Specifically, in the test, an in-place switch is used to detect whether the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper moves to the second in-place position. In the test, a plurality of sweepers of the same type are separately placed under different ambient temperatures, then each sweeper is controlled to move from the first in-place position to the second in-place position, and a fifth time consumed by each sweeper to move from the first in-place position to the second in-place position is recorded, such that a plurality of fifth times can be acquired. The maximum value among the fifth times may be used as the second set time, and the minimum value among the fifth times may be used as the first set time.

[0153] It should be noted that the specific method for determining the first set time and the second set time is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the first set time may be set to 200 ms, and the second set time may be set to 500 ms.

[0154] For the setting of the preset adjustment ratio:

[0155] It should be noted that the purpose of setting the preset adjustment ratio is to prevent the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper from completely reaching the top or the bottom. That is, by setting the preset adjustment ratio, when the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is lifted to a position slightly lower than the top, it can be considered that the lifting / lowering assembly has been lifted to the lifting in-place position, or when the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is lowered to a position slightly higher than the bottom, it can be considered that the lifting / lowering assembly has been lowered to the lowering in-place position.

[0156] In some embodiments, the preset adjustment ratio may be set to 0.95, 0.9, or the like, which is not specifically limited in the present disclosure. For example, assuming that the first set time is 200 ms, the second set time is 500 ms, the reference time is 400 ms, and the preset adjustment ratio is 0.9, it may be determined that the reference time 400 ms falls within the time range of [200 ms, 500 ms]. Therefore, 360 ms (0.9 × 400 ms) may be used as the fourth preset time, e.g., T1 shown in FIG. 6.

[0157] In step S425, a second possible case is that “the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, the reference time is less than or equal to the first set time, or the reference time is greater than or equal to the second set time”. In this case, the following steps S4251A to S4252A may be performed.

[0158] In S4251A, if the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, a second set current is determined as the second current threshold. The second set current is less than the first set current.

[0159] In step S4251, the product of a third set ratio and the first set current may be used as the second set current. The third set ratio is less than 1. For example, if the first set current is 800 mA, and the third set ratio is 0.625, the second set current may be 500 mA. Therefore, under this setting, if the reference current is greater than 800 mA, 500 mA may be used as the second current threshold.

[0160] It should be noted that the second set current may also be determined in other ways, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0161] In S4252A, if the reference time is less than or equal to the first set time, or the reference time is greater than or equal to the second set time, a third set time is determined as the fourth preset time. The third set time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time.

[0162] In some embodiments, the third set time may be determined based on the first set time and the second set time. For example, if the first set time is 200 ms and the second set time is 500 ms, a time may be randomly selected within the time range of [200 ms, 500 ms] as the third set time. For example, 400 ms may be selected as the third set time. Therefore, under this setting, if the reference time is 600 ms, 400 ms may be used as the fourth preset time.

[0163] It can be understood that the second set current and the third set time involved in steps S4251A to S4252A are default parameters set in the self-calibration operation of the sweeper. When the sweeper determines an abnormal reference time or reference current during execution of the self-calibration operation, the set default parameters may be used to determine the second current threshold and the fourth preset time.

[0164] In the above step S421, the sweeper acquires whether the current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position, and two results may appear. The first result is that the current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is the first in-place position, and the second result is that the current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly of the sweeper is not the first in-place position. Therefore, in the case of the first result, the sweeper performs the above step S422. In the case of the second result, the sweeper performs operations according to the following steps S422A to S424A.

[0165] In S422A, if the second position is not the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the second action, and whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position is acquired.

[0166] In S423A, if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the first action.

[0167] It can be understood that if the sweeper acquires that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position in the process of performing the second action, the sweeper controls the lifting / lowering assembly to continue to perform the above step S422.

[0168] In S424A, if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired, the second set current is determined as the second current threshold, and the third set time is determined as the fourth preset time.

[0169] In step S424A, there are at least the following two implementations.

[0170] In the first implementation, if the sweeper does not acquire that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position within a fifth preset time, when the first drive time reaches the fifth preset time, the second set current is determined as the second current threshold, and the third set time is determined as the fourth preset time.

[0171] In the second implementation, if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within a fifth preset time, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform the first action to move to the second position, and when the second position is reached, the process returns to perform the above step S422A. If the number of times of returning to perform step S422A exceeds a 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 preset time.

[0172] It should be noted that the specific implementation of step S424A is not limited in the present disclosure, and may be designed based on actual situations.

[0173] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions of the present disclosure, some embodiments of the present disclosure will be generally described below with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

[0174] Referring to FIG. 8, an overall schematic flowchart of a method for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0175] In step 800, a current first position is acquired in response to the first control instruction.

[0176] In step 810, if the first position is the first in-place position, step 820 is performed, or if the first position is not the first in-place position, step 811 is performed.

[0177] In step 820, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a first action.

[0178] In step 830, if the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within the third preset time, step 840 is performed; or if the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold within the third preset time, step 831 is performed.

[0179] In step 840, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and a second protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0180] In step 831, if the first drive current exceeds the second current threshold within the fourth preset time, step 8311 is performed; or if the first drive current does not exceed the second current threshold within the fourth preset time, step 8311A is performed.

[0181] In step 8311, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0182] In step 8311A, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position when the first drive time reaches the fourth preset time.

[0183] In step 811, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a second action.

[0184] In step 812, if the second drive current exceeds the first current threshold within the first preset time, step 813 is performed; or if the second drive current does not exceed the first current threshold within the first preset time, step 8121 is performed.

[0185] In step 813, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to move to the first position, and return to perform step 811; if the number of times of performing the second action does not exceed the preset number of execution times, the lifting / lowering assembly returns to perform step 811; or if the number of times of performing the second action exceeds the preset number of execution times, step 814 is performed.

[0186] In step 814, it is determined that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and the second protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0187] In step 8121, if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired within the second preset time, step 820 is performed, or if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within the second preset time, step 8122 is performed.

[0188] In step 8122, it is determined that the in-place switch has a fault, and a first protection action is performed for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0189] Referring to FIG. 9, an overall schematic flowchart of determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0190] In step 900, a current second position is acquired in response to the second control instruction.

[0191] In step 910, if the second position is the first in-place position, step 920 is performed; or if the second position is not the first in-place position, step 911 is performed.

[0192] In step 920, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a first action.

[0193] In step 930, if it is detected that an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, step 940 is performed; or if no overcurrent of the first drive current is detected, step 930 is performed continuously.

[0194] In step 940, a corresponding first drive current when an overcurrent occurs is used as a reference current, and a corresponding second drive time is used as a reference time.

[0195] In step 941, if the reference current is less than the first set current, step 942A is performed; if the reference time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time, step 942A is performed; if the reference current is not less than the first set current, step 942 is performed; and if the reference time is greater than or equal to the first set time, or the reference time is less than or equal to the second set time, step 942 is performed.

[0196] In step 942, the second set current is used as the second current threshold, and the third set time is used as the fourth preset time.

[0197] In step 942A, the reference current is used as the second current threshold, and the reference time is adjusted based on a preset adjustment ratio to obtain the fourth preset time.

[0198] In step 911, the lifting / lowering assembly is controlled to perform a second action.

[0199] In step 912, if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired, step 920 is performed; or if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired, step 913 is performed.

[0200] In step 913, the second set current is used as the second current threshold, and the third set time is used as the fourth preset time.

[0201] In the technical solutions provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action is provided in the cleaning device, and the method for determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position is as follows: first, acquiring, in response to the first control instruction, whether the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position, where the first in-place position is the lowering in-place position or the lifting in-place position; second, if the first position is the first in-place position, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action to move toward the second in-place position, where the second in-place position is an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; third, acquiring the first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and finally, determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. Through the technical solutions of the present disclosure, at least the following two technical effects can be achieved:

[0202] In the first aspect, in the process of determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position, the cleaning device of the present disclosure can determine whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position only by performing logical determination based on the first drive current. Therefore, it can be understood that, according to the method for determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position of the present disclosure, in one aspect, since the determination does not rely on an in-place switch, the configuration cost of configuring the in-place switch in the cleaning device can be reduced to some extent, and the frequency of error reporting caused by in-place switch failures can be decreased, thereby improving the robustness of the lifting / lowering assembly. In another aspect, since the method does not rely on the limitation by mechanical structure for determination, the damage to a driving apparatus (such as a drive motor) for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action can be reduced.

[0203] In the second aspect, in the present disclosure, the second current threshold and the fourth preset time for determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position may be determined through a self-calibration operation, such that the second current threshold and the fourth preset time can be updated periodically, thereby improving the accuracy in determining whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0204] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for controlling a cleaning device is provided. The cleaning device includes a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action, and the method includes: acquiring, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position including a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position; controlling, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; acquiring a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0205] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the cleaning device further includes an in-place switch, and acquiring whether the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position includes detecting whether the first position is the first in-place position by means of the in-place switch.

[0206] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: controlling, in response to the first position not being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a second action, an action direction of the second action being opposite to that of the first action; acquiring a second drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action; and if the second drive current exceeding a first current threshold is not acquired within a first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired within a second preset time, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action, the first preset time being less than the second preset time.

[0207] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within the second preset time, determining that the in-place switch has a fault, and performing a first protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0208] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the first protection action includes controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to report an error.

[0209] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is acquired within the first preset time, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and if the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first position, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action and acquiring the second drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action again, until the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time, or until a number of execution times that the lifting / lowering assembly performs the second action exceeds a preset number threshold.

[0210] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the number of execution times exceeds the preset number threshold, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and performing a second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0211] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position includes: if the first drive current exceeding a second current threshold is acquired within a third preset time, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and performing the second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0212] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the second protection action includes controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to send a prompt message to a user.

[0213] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position includes: if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within the third preset time, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and performing the second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0214] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the third preset time and the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within a fourth preset time, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position, the fourth preset time being greater than the third preset time.

[0215] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the fourth preset time and the first drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action reaches the fourth preset time, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position, the fourth preset time being greater than the third preset time.

[0216] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: triggering, in response to a second control instruction, execution of a self-calibration operation; and determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the self-calibration operation, where the second current threshold and the fourth preset time are configured to determine whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0217] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time includes: acquiring whether a current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position; controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action if the second position is the first in-place position; acquiring whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action, and recording a second drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; if an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, using a corresponding first drive current when the overcurrent occurs as a reference current, and using a corresponding second drive time when the overcurrent occurs as a reference time; and determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time.

[0218] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time includes: if the reference current is less than a first set current, determining the reference current as the second current threshold; and if the reference time is greater than a first set time and less than a second set time, adjusting the reference time according to a preset adjustment ratio to acquire the fourth preset time, the preset adjustment ratio being less than 1.

[0219] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, determining a second set current as the second current threshold, the second set current being less than the first set current; and if the reference time is less than or equal to the first set time, or the reference time is greater than or equal to the second set time, determining a third set time as the fourth preset time, the third set time being greater than the first set time and less than the second set time.

[0220] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the method further includes: if the second position is not the first in-place position, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action, and acquiring whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position; if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired, determining the second set current as the second current threshold, and determining the third set time as the fourth preset time.

[0221] Based on the same inventive concept, one embodiment of the present disclosure provides an apparatus for controlling a cleaning device, which can be configured to perform the method for controlling the cleaning device in the above embodiments of the present disclosure. For details not disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure, reference may be made to the above embodiments of the method for controlling the cleaning device according to the present disclosure.

[0222] Referring to FIG. 10, a block diagram of an apparatus for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0223] As shown in FIG. 10, provided is an apparatus 1000 for controlling a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, and the apparatus includes: a first acquiring unit 1001, a control unit 1002, a second acquiring unit 1003, and a determining unit 1004.

[0224] The first acquiring unit 1001 is configured to acquire, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, where the first in-place position is a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position; the control unit 1002 is configured to control, if the first position is the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, where the second in-place position is an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position; the second acquiring unit 1003 is configured to acquire a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and the determining unit 1004 is configured to determine, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

[0225] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the cleaning device further includes an in-place switch configured to acquire whether the first position is the first in-place position.

[0226] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the control unit 1002 is further configured to: control, if the first position is not the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a second action, where the action direction of the second action is opposite to that of the first action; acquire a second drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action; and if the second drive current exceeding a first current threshold is not acquired within a first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired within a second preset time, control the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action. The first preset time is less than the second preset time.

[0227] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the control unit 1002 is further configured to: if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within the second preset time, determine that the in-place switch has a fault, and perform a first protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0228] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the first protection action includes controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to report an error.

[0229] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the control unit 1002 is further configured to: if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is acquired within the first preset time, control the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and if the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first position, return to perform the step of controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action, until the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time, or until the number of execution times that the lifting / lowering assembly performs the second action exceeds the preset number threshold.

[0230] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the control unit 1002 is further configured to: if the number of execution times exceeds the preset number threshold, determine that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and perform a second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0231] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the second protection action includes controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to send a prompt message to a user.

[0232] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the determining unit 1004 is further configured to: if the first drive current exceeding a second current threshold is acquired within a third preset time, determine that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and perform the second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

[0233] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the determining unit 1004 is further configured to: if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the third preset time and the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within a fourth preset time, determine that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. The fourth preset time is greater than the third preset time.

[0234] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the determining unit 1004 is further configured to: if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the fourth preset time and the first drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action reaches the fourth preset time, determine that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position. The fourth preset time is greater than the third preset time.

[0235] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the apparatus for controlling a cleaning device of the present disclosure further includes a self-calibration unit. The self-calibration unit is configured to: trigger, in response to a second control instruction, execution of a self-calibration operation; and determine the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the self-calibration operation.

[0236] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the self-calibration unit is further configured to: acquire whether a current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position; control the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action if the second position is the first in-place position; acquire whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action, and record a second drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; if an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, use a corresponding first drive current when the overcurrent occurs as a reference current, and use a corresponding second drive time when the overcurrent occurs as a reference time; and determine the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time.

[0237] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the self-calibration unit is further configured to: if the reference current is less than a first set current, determine the reference current as the second current threshold; and if the reference time is greater than a first set time and less than a second set time, adjust the reference time according to a preset adjustment ratio to acquire the fourth preset time. The preset adjustment ratio is less than 1.

[0238] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the self-calibration unit is further configured to: if the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, determine a second set current as the second current threshold, where the second set current is less than the first set current; and if the reference time is less than or equal to the first set time, or the reference time is greater than or equal to the second set time, determine a third set time as the fourth preset time, where the third set time is greater than the first set time and less than the second set time.

[0239] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, based on the aforementioned solution, the self-calibration unit is further configured to: if the second position is not the first in-place position, control the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action, and acquire whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position; if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired, control the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; and if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired, determine the second set current as the second current threshold, and determine the third set time as the fourth preset time.

[0240] Based on the same inventive concept, one embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores at least one computer program instruction, and the at least one computer program instruction is loaded and run by a processor to implement the operations performed in the above method.

[0241] Based on the same inventive concept, one embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a cleaning device.

[0242] Referring to FIG. 11, a schematic structural diagram of a cleaning device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. The cleaning device includes one or more memories 1104, one or more processors 1102, and at least one computer program (computer program instruction) stored in the memory 1104 and capable of being run on the processor 1102. When running the computer program, the processor 1102 implements the method described above.

[0243] In FIG. 11, a bus architecture (represented by a bus 1100) is illustrated. The bus 1100 may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and the bus 1100 connects various circuits including one or more processors represented by the processor 1102 and a memory represented by the memory 1104. The bus 1100 may also connect together various other circuits, such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, and power management circuits. These are well known in the art and thus will not be further described herein. A bus interface 1105 provides interfaces between the bus 1100 and a receiver 1101, and a sender 1103. The receiver 1101 and the sender 1103 may be the same element, namely, a transceiver, which provides a unit for communicating with various other apparatuses over a transmission medium. The processor 1102 is responsible for managing the bus 1100 and general processing, and the memory 1104 may be configured to store data used by the processor 1102 during operation.

[0244] The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by the processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by the processor, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium, or may be transmitted via a computer-readable medium. Other embodiments and implementations fall within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the functions described above may be implemented using software executed by the processor, hardware, firmware, hardwired connection, or any combination thereof. In addition, various functional units may be integrated into one processing unit, or various units may physically exist separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0245] In the several embodiments provided in the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed technical content may be implemented in other manners. The apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the units may be a division based on logical function and may be implemented in other ways in an actual situation. For example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. In addition, the displayed or discussed coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between each other may be achieved through some interfaces, and indirect coupling or communication connection between the units or modules may also be in electrical or other forms.

[0246] The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and components used as a control apparatus may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place, or may be distributed across a plurality of units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0247] The integrated units may be stored in one computer-accessible storage medium if they are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of the present disclosure essentially, or the part contributing to the prior art, or all or some of the technical solutions may be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in one storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. The foregoing storage media include various media capable of storing computer program instructions, such as a USB flash drive, a read-only memory (ROM, read-only memory), a random access memory (RAM, random access memory), a portable hard disk, a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

[0248] The above are only embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. For those skilled in the art, the present disclosure can be modified and varied. Any modification, equivalent substitution, improvement, and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure shall all fall within the scope of the claims of the present disclosure.

Examples

Embodiment Construction

[0019] Exemplary embodiments will now be described more comprehensively with reference to the drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments may be implemented in various forms, and should not be understood as being limited to the examples described herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided to make the present disclosure more comprehensive and complete, and comprehensively convey the idea of the exemplary embodiments to those skilled in the art.

[0020] In addition, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a full understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the technical solutions of the present disclosure may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or other methods, components, apparatuses, steps, and the like may be e...

Claims

1. A method for controlling a cleaning device, wherein the cleaning device comprises a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action, and the method comprises:acquiring, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position comprising a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position;controlling, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position;acquiring a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; anddetermining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning device further comprises an in-place switch, and acquiring whether the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position comprises detecting whether the first position is the first in-place position by means of the in-place switch.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:controlling, in response to the first position not being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a second action, an action direction of the second action being opposite to that of the first action;acquiring a second drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action; andif the second drive current exceeding a first current threshold is not acquired within a first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired within a second preset time, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action, the first preset time being less than the second preset time.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within the second preset time, determining that the in-place switch has a fault, and performing a first protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the first protection action comprises controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to report an error.

6. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is acquired within the first preset time, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; andif the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first position, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action and acquiring the second drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action again, until the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time, or until a number of execution times that the lifting / lowering assembly performs the second action exceeds a preset number threshold.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:if the number of execution times exceeds the preset number threshold, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and performing a second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the second protection action comprises controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to stop movement, and / or controlling the cleaning device to send a prompt message to a user.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position comprises:if the first drive current exceeding a second current threshold is acquired within a third preset time, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly has a fault, and performing the second protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within the third preset time and the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is acquired within a fourth preset time, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position, the fourth preset time being greater than the third preset time.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:if the first drive current exceeding the second current threshold is not acquired within a fourth preset time and a first drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action reaches the fourth preset time, determining that the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position, the fourth preset time being greater than the third preset time.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:triggering, in response to a second control instruction, execution of a self-calibration operation; anddetermining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the self-calibration operation,wherein the second current threshold and the fourth preset time are configured to determine whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time comprises:acquiring whether a current second position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position;controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action if the second position is the first in-place position;acquiring whether an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action, and recording a second drive time for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action;if an overcurrent occurs in the first drive current, using a corresponding first drive current when the overcurrent occurs as a reference current, and using a corresponding second drive time when the overcurrent occurs as a reference time; anddetermining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein determining the second current threshold and the fourth preset time based on the reference current and the reference time comprises:if the reference current is less than a first set current, determining the reference current as the second current threshold; andif the reference time is greater than a first set time and less than a second set time, adjusting the reference time according to a preset adjustment ratio to acquire the fourth preset time, the preset adjustment ratio being less than 1.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:if the reference current is greater than or equal to the first set current, determining a second set current as the second current threshold, the second set current being less than the first set current; andif the reference time is less than or equal to the first set time, or the reference time is greater than or equal to the second set time, determining a third set time as the fourth preset time, the third set time being greater than the first set time and less than the second set time.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:if the second position is not the first in-place position, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action, and acquiring whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the first in-place position;if the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired, controlling the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; andif the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired, determining the second set current as the second current threshold, and determining the third set time as the fourth preset time.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing at least one program code, wherein the at least one program code is loaded and run by a processor to implement a method for controlling a cleaning device, wherein the cleaning device comprises a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action, and the method comprises:acquiring, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position comprising a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position;controlling, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position;acquiring a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; anddetermining, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

18. A cleaning device, comprising: a lifting / lowering assembly configured to perform a lifting / lowering action; and one or more processors and one or more memories, wherein the one or more memories store at least one program code, and the one or more processors is configured to: acquire, in response to a first control instruction, whether a current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is a first in-place position, the first in-place position comprising a lowering in-place position or a lifting in-place position;control, in response to the first position being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a first action to move toward a second in-place position, the second in-place position being an in-place position opposite to the first in-place position;acquire a first drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action; anddetermine, based on the first drive current, whether the lifting / lowering assembly moves to the second in-place position.

19. The cleaning device according to claim 18, further comprising an in-place switch, and acquiring whether the current first position of the lifting / lowering assembly is the first in-place position comprises detecting whether the first position is the first in-place position by means of the in-place switch.

20. The cleaning device according to claim 18, wherein the one or more processors is configured to:control, in response to the first position not being the first in-place position, the lifting / lowering assembly to perform a second action, an action direction of the second action being opposite to that of the first action;acquire a second drive current for driving the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the second action; andif the second drive current exceeding a first current threshold is not acquired within a first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is acquired within a second preset time, control the lifting / lowering assembly to perform the first action, the first preset time being less than the second preset time; if the second drive current exceeding the first current threshold is not acquired within the first preset time and the lifting / lowering assembly having moved to the first in-place position is not acquired within the second preset time, determine that the in-place switch has a fault, and performing a first protection action for the lifting / lowering assembly.

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