Telepresence Robot Assignment via Dynamic Neighborhood Database
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing telepresence communication systems fail to dynamically update robot assignments, leading to suboptimal connections as users and robots move, resulting in robots being far from the intended communication destination, thus not providing the best access.
Innovation Solution
A communication control method that continuously updates neighborhood information by identifying the nearest telepresence robot to a user through image, voice, or beacon signals, allowing for dynamic connection management and optimal robot selection based on real-time user positions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If robot assignments are fixed in existing telepresence communication systems, then system complexity is reduced and ease of operation is improved, but communication efficiency deteriorates as users and robots move apart over time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic robot assignment by continuously updating the neighborhood information database with real-time robot positions and user locations. The communication control device periodically receives position information from multiple telepresence robots and recalculates optimal assignments based on current proximity to users, ensuring communication efficiency is maintained even as robots and users move throughout the environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes a feedback loop where robots continuously report their position information to the communication control device, which then updates the neighborhood information database and reassigns robots to users based on current proximity. This closed-loop control ensures that robot assignments adapt dynamically to changing spatial relationships, optimizing communication efficiency without requiring complex manual reconfiguration.
2Productivity
If the system continuously updates robot assignments based on real-time positions, then communication efficiency is improved, but device complexity and information processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential position information from robot status data and stores it in a simplified neighborhood information database. The communication control device receives comprehensive robot information but selectively processes and stores only the critical location coordinates and user proximity data needed for assignment decisions, reducing information processing load while maintaining communication efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a simplified copy of the physical environment in the form of a neighborhood information database that contains only the necessary position and proximity data. This virtual representation allows the communication control device to perform efficient calculations and reassignments without processing the full complexity of actual robot hardware states, thereby reducing information processing requirements while maintaining optimal robot-user matching.
Data Source
AI summary
A communication controlling method includes: (A) receiving, from second communication devices, device identification information items for identifying the second communication devices, and situation information items for grasping situations around the second communication devices; (B) when at least one of the received situation information items includes an information item on a user, updating a neighborhood information database indicating which second communication device is around which user, based on the information item on the user and the at least one of the device identification information items; (C) when receiving a request for connection to a target user from the first communication device, selecting, from among the second communication devices, a second communication device present around the target user with reference to the neighborhood information database; and (D) communicably connecting the selected second communication device and the first communication device.