1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a self-directed dust cleaner having surveiling function, which can automatically collect dust on a floor while it moves on the floor in self-directed, and can surveil an empty house.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, it is considered to add a function for surveiling an empty house to a self-directed dust cleaner (self-propelled cleaner for home use). In a first conventional self-directed dust cleaner, for example, shown in the laid open publication of Japanese patent application 11-2882533, when a visual sensor senses unusual situation during an automatic dust collecting operation of the self-directed dust cleaner, a CCD camera takes a picture image of environment. Subsequently, the self-directed dust cleaner moves to an information station so that an image data of the picture image taken by the CCD camera is transmitted to a mobile equipment of a user via the information station.
In a second conventional self-directed dust cleaner shown in the laid open publication of Japanese patent application 2002-92761, an image data taken by a CCD camera is compared with another image data of normal situation previously taken so as to sense the occurrence of unusual situation. When the occurrence of the unusual situation is sensed, information showing the occurrence of the unusual situation is transmitted to a user via a house server.
In a third conventional self-directed dust cleaner shown in the laid open publication of Japanese patent application 2002-92762, an image data taken by an image sensor and other signals sensed by a thermo-sensor, a smoke-sensor, a gas-sensor, and so on are transmitted to a battery charger of the self-directed dust cleaner by wireless transmission. A judger provided in the battery charger judges whether unusual situation has occurred or not with using the transmitted data. When the judger senses the occurrence of the unusual situation, information showing the occurrence of the unusual situation is transmitted to a user.
The above-mentioned conventional self-directed dust cleaners are respectively constituted for judging the occurrence of the unusual situation themselves with using the image data taken by the image sensor. Thus, they have disadvantages that not only a capacity of a memory such as a RAM (random access memory) necessary for processing image data becomes much larger, but also an algorithm for judging the occurrence of the unusual situation becomes complex. Consequently, the cost for manufacturing the self-directed dust cleaner becomes much higher, so that it is difficult to put the self-directed dust cleaner with the surveiling function of the empty house into practical use.
Furthermore, the conventional self-directed dust cleaners have still another disadvantage that battery consumption becomes larger due to the image sensing process of the image sensor and the data processing of the image data taken by the image sensor. Thus, it is necessary to prepare a battery of large capacity for continuous duty at length, so that it is difficult to reduce the cost of the self-directed dust cleaner.
Still furthermore, the first conventional self-directed dust cleaner has a disadvantage that it is impossible to inform the occurrence of the unusual situation to the user, if the intruder overturns the self-directed dust cleaner while the self-directed dust cleaner moves to the information station.
A purpose of the present invention is to provide a self-directed dust cleaner, which can carry out the surveiling of the intruder in the empty house, at a low cost.
A self-directed dust cleaner in accordance with an aspect of the present invention comprises a movable body, a driving apparatus for moving the movable body on a floor, a dust collection apparatus for collecting dust on the floor, an imaging apparatus for taking a picture image of environment of the movable body, a telephone communication apparatus for communicating with a telephone exchanger via a telephone line, at least an object sensor for sensing an existence of an object and a main controller for controlling each element of the dust cleaner.
When the object sensor senses the existence of an object, the main controller controls the elements in a manner so that the driving apparatus moves the movable body for orientating the imaging apparatus to a direction in which the object sensor senses the existence of the object, the imaging apparatus takes a picture image, and the telephone communication apparatus transmits an image data of the picture image taken by the imaging apparatus to a mobile equipment of a user or a display apparatus of a security company.
By such a configuration, the main controller has no function for judging whether unusual situation such as intrusion of an intruder occurs or not, and the judgment of the occurrence of the unusual situation is entrusted to the user or the security company. Thus, an algorithm of the main controller becomes simple, so that a relatively inexpensive low-speed processor can be used as an element of the main controller. Consequently, the self-directed dust cleaner with surveiling function of the intruder in the empty house can be provided a low cost. Furthermore, the power consumption of the main controller can be reduced, so that the surveiling function of the intruder in the empty house can be maintained at length.
A self-directed dust cleaner in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is described.
The self-directed dust cleaner 1 has an automatic dust collection mode in which the movable body 2 collects the dust on the floor while it moves on the floor by automatic control, a security surveiling mode for surveiling an intruder, and so on. A user can optionally select one operation mode among a plurality of the operation modes.
The imaging apparatus 11 is stationary provided on the movable body 2, so that a mounting structure of the imaging apparatus 11, a wiring to an imaging device, and so on become simple. Thus, the movable body 2 can be downsized and the cost of the self-directed dust cleaner 1 can be reduced. It, however, is necessary to move the movable body 2 for changing the orientation of a lens 1 la (see
The proximity sensors 9 are provided on outer peripheries of the movable body 2 so as to sense existence of an obstacle in the vicinity of the movable body 2. The main controller 16 is constituted by, for example, a CPU (central processing unit) for processing several processes corresponding to a control program, a ROM (read only memory) for memorizing the control program and so on, and a RAM (random access memory) for memorizing control data and so on, temporality. The main controller 16, which serves as a navigation apparatus, controls the driving apparatus 6 so as to move the movable body 2 along a predetermined route with using output signals from the earth magnetism sensor 8 and the proximity sensors 9. Thus, the movable body 2 can move on the floor in self-directed with clearing the obstacles, for example, in the automatic dust collection mode.
The object sensors 10 are, for example, infrared sensors for sensing infrared rays emitted from an object such as a human body. In an example shown in
The first wireless communication apparatus 13, the second wireless communication apparatus 31 and the telephone communication apparatus 4 serve as an image data transmitting apparatuses to the mobile equipment of the user.
When the object sensor 10a senses the existence of the object such as the intruder 50, the main controller 16 drives the driving apparatus 6 for rotating the movable body 2 in, for example, clockwise direction shown by arrow A so as to orient the lens 11a of the imaging apparatus 11 to the direction facing the intruder 50 in which the object sensor 10a was oriented, as shown in
Subsequently, the operation of the self-directed dust cleaner 1 in the security surveiling mode is described with reference to a flowchart show in
As mentioned above, the self-directed dust cleaner 1 in accordance with the embodiment has no function for judging whether the unusual situation occurs or not, and the judgment of the occurrence of the unusual situation is entrusted to the user. Thus, it is possible to surveil the empty house with making the algorithm executed in the main controller 16 simple. Since the algorithm in the main controller 16 becomes simple, it is possible to use an inexpensive low-speed processor as an element of the main controller 16. Furthermore, the main controller 16 does not process the image data taken by the imaging apparatus 11, so that it is possible to make the capacity of the RAM constituting the main controller 16 much smaller than that of the conventional self-directed dust cleaner with the surveiling function. Consequently, the self-directed dust cleaner with surveiling function can be supplied at low price. Still furthermore, relatively inexpensive infrared sensors are used as the object sensors 10, so that the cost for manufacturing the self-supporter dust cleaner can be reduced.
Additionally, the self-directed dust cleaner in accordance with the embodiment has the automatic dust collection mode and the security surveiling mode, which can alternatively be selected. When the security surveiling mode is selected, the movable body 2 is essentially stopped at a predetermined position, and the driving apparatus 6 rotates the movable body 2 in a manner so that the lens 11a of the imaging apparatus 11 orientates the object sensed by the object sensors 10, so that the power consumption can be reduced in the security surveiling mode. Consequently, it is possible to surveil the empty house at length, even when a small capacity of the secondary battery 14 is used. Similarly, when the automatic dust collection mode is selected in which the driving apparatus 6 and the dust collection apparatus 7 consume the electric power largely, it is possible to switch off the object sensors 10, the imaging apparatus 11, the first wireless communication apparatus 13 and so on which are necessary for only the security surveiling mode. Alternatively, it is possible to carry out the security surveiling mode simultaneously, while the automatic dust collection mode is carried out. In such a case, it is possible that the security surveiling mode is intermittently carried out and the movement of the movable body 2 and the dust collection apparatus 7 are suspended briefly, while the security surveiling mode is carried out.
This application is based on Japanese patent applications 2003-379361 filed Nov. 10, 2003 and 2004-4161 filed Jan. 9, 2004 in Japan, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by references.
Although the present invention has been fully described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, unless otherwise such changes and modifications depart from the scope of the present invention, they should be construed as being included therein.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2003-379361 | Nov 2003 | JP | national |
2004-004161 | Jan 2004 | JP | national |