Patent Application
20230208473
Submerged pool cleaning robots—are used in pools and should communicate with devices located outside of the water.
There is a growing need to provide efficient underwater communication with a submerged pool cleaning robot.
In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, a preferred embodiment will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Any reference to a pool cleaner should be applied, mutatis mutandis, to a method that is executed by a pool cleaner and/or to a non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions that once executed by the pool cleaner will cause the pool cleaner to execute the method. Any reference to a Pool Cleaner includes Pool Cleaning Robot or PCR.
Any reference to method should be applied, mutatis mutandis, to a pool cleaner that is configured to execute the method and/or to a non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions that once executed by the pool cleaner will cause the pool cleaner to execute the method.
Any reference to a non-transitory computer readable medium should be applied, mutatis mutandis to a method that is executed by a pool cleaner and/or a pool cleaner that is configured to execute the instructions stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium.
The term “and/or” is additionally or alternatively.
A pool cleaning robot is an example for a pool related platform (PRP). The PRP may be, for example, a skimmer, a floating platform, a sanitizing robot, a robot configured to distribute chemical and/or biological within the pool, and the like. For simplicity of explanation various examples will refer to a pool cleaning robot—but any reference to a pool cleaning robot should be applied mutatis mutandis to any other PRP.
There may be provided an underwater communication method, a system capable of underwater communication, and non-transitory computer readable medium for underwater communication.
According to a first embodiment, an external device (for example a power supply device or any other device located out of the water of the pool) may exchange information over a power cable that also feeds a submerged robot with power.
The external device may also communicate (in a wired or wireless manner) with other external devices such as a mobile device, a remote control, a smartphone, a server, a control center, and the like.
Downstream information (for example information carried by radio frequency radiation) from the external device may be provided to first communication over power cable unit (COPCU) that may be a first matching network and/or a first modem. The first COPCU allows power and information to be conveyed over the power cable that is coupled to the submerged robot.
The power cable may be in communication with a second COPCU (for example—a second matching network and/or a second modem) which allows to extract the conveyed information and send the extracted information to one or more recipients within the pool cleaning robot. The second COPCU may belong to the submerged robot and/or may be attached to the submerged robot.
The one or more recipients may be an antenna, an information processing circuit that may preceded the antenna, or any other communication and/or processing element.
The one or more recipients may wirelessly (or by wire) communicate (directly or indirectly) with one or more target unit. The wireless communication may be Bluetooth® compliant—but any other wireless protocols may be used.
The one or more target units may include an add-on functional module unit such as a PCR accessory, such as an add-on functional module, an analyzer, a processor, a memory unit, and the like. The target unit may be another communication unit for transmitting outside the PCR—even to another PRP or other communication unit that is outside the PCR.
The communication between the one or more recipients and the one or more target unit is referred to as local communication.
The local communication may be wireless and may be implemented using acoustic (for example Ultra Sonic) signals, optical signals, RF signals, RFID based, using galvanic connection, Alternating Current signals, and the like.
Additional examples of communication between a submerged robot and an add-on functional module are provided in
The one or more recipients and/or the one or more target units may be located within the submerged robot and/or may add-on functional module or accessory.
A recipient may be located in various locations within the submerged robot—for example may be attached to an inner housing of the submerged robot—for example the motor unit housing.
The communication over the power cable may be uni-directional or bi-directional.
When bi-directional, upstream information from the submerged robot (or from any add-on functional module unit) may be sent (a) through the second communication over power cable unit, (b) over the power cable, (c) to the first communication over power cable unit and to (d) to any external target unit located outside the water.
Alternatively—upstream information may use one or more communication over power cable units that are not used for downstream transmission.
A first cord of the cable may be used for upstream transmission while another cord of the cable may be used for downstream transmission.
The same cord of the cable may be used for upstream and downstream transmission.
According to another example—the power cable itself may be used as an antenna and the one or more unit may receive the information the is conveyed by the power cable and transmitted from the power cable.
When the power cable itself is used as an antenna for at least downstream communication—then there may be no need to have the second communication over power cable unit.
When the power cable itself is used as an antenna for downstream communication—then the second communication over power cable unit may not be used for downstream communication.
According to a further example—the power cable or any other RF conveyor may be used for propagating information between different submerged units.
The external device (that sends the downstream information) may also communicate (in a wired or wireless manner) with another external devices such as a mobile device, a remote control, a smartphone, a server, a control center, and the like.
The external device may include an antenna for communicating wirelessly with the other external devices. The external device may elect whether to output information to (a) the first matching network and/or the first information over power communication unit, and/or to (b) the other external device.
The provision of information to (a) or (b) may be implemented by an output switch.
The provision of information to both (a) and (b) can implemented by a splitter.
Providing information to only (a), only (b) or both (a) and (b) may be implemented by a switching network.
Method 100 may start by step 110 of receiving, by a first communication over power cable unit (COPCU), a modulated downstream signal that is a power signal that is modulated by downstream information. The modulated downstream signal is conveyed over a power cable that extends outside a pool. The first COPCU is associated with a pool related platform (PRP) that is located in the pool.
Step 110 may be followed by step 120 of extracting, by the first COPCU, the downstream information.
Step 120 may be followed by step 130 of locally transmitting, by the first COPCU, the downstream information to a target unit that belongs to the PRP. The locally means that the distance between the target unit and the first COPCU is a fraction of a length of the power cable.
The first COPCU may include a submerged PRP radio frequency (RF) filtering circuit for rejecting the power signal—and the step 120 may include rejecting, by the RF filtering circuit the power signal while passing an RF signal that conveys the downstream information.
The power signal may be a direct current (DC) power signal.
The first COPCU may belong to the PRP or may be located outside the PRP.
The communication may be bi-directional.
Accordingly—method 100 may include step 140 of receiving, by the first COPCU, upstream information.
Step 140 may be followed by step 150 of modulating the power signal by the upstream information to provide a modulated upstream signal.
Step 150 may be followed by step 160 of transmitting, by the first COPCU, the modulated upstream signal over the power cable.
It should be noted that the upstream communication may be executed by an additional COPCU and not by the first COPCU. In this case method 100 may include (i) receiving, by an additional COPCU, upstream information; (ii) modulating the power signal by the upstream information to provide a modulated upstream signal; and (iii) transmitting, by the additional COPCU, the modulated upstream signal over the power cable.
While steps 110, 120, 130, 140, 150 and 160 are executed by the PRP, method 100 may include steps executed by an external COPCU. There other steps may be executed regardless of the mentioned above steps of method 100.
The other steps may include at least some of:
Non limiting examples of COPCU (external COPCU, first COPCU, additional COPCU) include first matching network 23-1 of
Method 200 may include step 202 of performing underwater communication.
Step 202 may include at least one of the following:
In
The second matching network is illustrated as including decoupling capacitors 36-8 and is electrically coupled to local communication antenna 36-5 that communicates with recipient 36-6 located within the motor unit housing.
The recipient may be located outside the PRP and may include any element or unit within the pool—even another PRP of any type, submerged communication relays, and the like.
The additional submerged unit 52 may be an add on unit, may be connected to the submerged PRP, may be spaced apart from the submerged PRP, may be another PRP.
There may be provided any combination of any of the additional submerged units and/or any of the components of any of the additional submerged units illustrated in any one of
There may be provided any combination of any of the submerged PRP and/or any of the components of any of the submerged PRP illustrated in any one of
There may be provided any combination of any unit and/or component and/or PRP illustrated in any one of figured 3A-22. For example, a submerged PRP may include one or more COPCUs and communicate over a cable and may also communicate with an additional submerged module.
The additional submerged unit 52 of
The additional submerged unit 52 may be an add on unit, may be connected to the submerged PRP, may be spaced apart from the submerged PRP, may be another PRP.
There may be provided a medium 79 that is connected between the additional submerged module and the submerged PRP that is made of a waterproof elastic pad that include air bubbles—whereas the pad exhibits improved RF conductivity.
First MCU 71-1 is in communication with optical driver 17 that drivers first LED 18-1 for transmission from additional submerged unit 52 and the submerged PRP 50. The first MCU 71-1 is also in communication with first optical sensor 62-1 for receiving optical transmission from second LED 18-2 of the submerged PRP 50.
Second MCU 71-2 is in communication with another optical driver (not shown) that drivers second LED 18-2 for transmission to additional submerged unit 52 and from submerged PRP 50. The second MCU 71-2 is also in communication with second optical sensor 62-2 for receiving optical transmission from first LED 18-1 of the additional submerged unit 52.
The following reference numbers are used in the various figures:
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific examples of embodiments of the invention. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Moreover, the terms “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
Any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality may be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected,” or “operably coupled,” to each other to achieve the desired functionality.
Furthermore, those skilled in the art will recognize that boundaries between the above described operations merely illustrative. The multiple operations may be combined into a single operation, a single operation may be distributed in additional operations and operations may be executed at least partially overlapping in time. Moreover, alternative embodiments may include multiple instances of a particular operation, and the order of operations may be altered in various other embodiments.
However, other modifications, variations and alternatives are also possible. The specifications and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than in a restrictive sense.
The phrase “may be X” indicates that condition X may be fulfilled. This phrase also suggests that condition X may not be fulfilled. For example—any reference to a submerged robot as including a certain component should also cover the scenario in which the submerged robot does not include the certain component. For example—any reference to a method as including a certain step should also cover the scenario in which the method does not include the certain component. Yet for another example—any reference to a submerged robot that is configured to perform a certain operation should also cover the scenario in which the submerged robot is not configured to perform the certain operation.
The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having”, “consisting” and “consisting essentially of” are used in an interchangeable manner. For example—any method may include at least the steps included in the figures and/or in the specification, only the steps included in the figures and/or the specification. The same applies to the submerged robot and the mobile computer.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific examples of embodiments of the invention. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Moreover, the terms “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the boundaries between logic blocks are merely illustrative and that alternative embodiments may merge logic blocks or circuit elements or impose an alternate decomposition of functionality upon various logic blocks or circuit elements. Thus, it is to be understood that the architectures depicted herein are merely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality.
Any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected,” or “operably coupled,” to each other to achieve the desired functionality.
Furthermore, those skilled in the art will recognize that boundaries between the above described operations merely illustrative. The multiple operations may be combined into a single operation, a single operation may be distributed in additional operations and operations may be executed at least partially overlapping in time. Moreover, alternative embodiments may include multiple instances of a particular operation, and the order of operations may be altered in various other embodiments.
Also for example, in one embodiment, the illustrated examples may be implemented as circuitry located on a single integrated circuit or within a same device. Alternatively, the examples may be implemented as any number of separate integrated circuits or separate devices interconnected with each other in a suitable manner.
Also for example, the examples, or portions thereof, may implemented as soft or code representations of physical circuitry or of logical representations convertible into physical circuitry, such as in a hardware description language of any appropriate type.
Also, the invention is not limited to physical devices or units implemented in non-programmable hardware but can also be applied in programmable devices or units able to perform the desired device functions by operating in accordance with suitable program code, such as mainframes, minicomputers, servers, workstations, personal computers, notepads, personal digital assistants, electronic games, automotive and other embedded systems, cell phones and various other wireless devices, commonly denoted in this application as ‘computer systems’.
However, other modifications, variations and alternatives are also possible. The specifications and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than in a restrictive sense.
In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word ‘comprising’ does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps then those listed in a claim. Furthermore, the terms “a” or “an,” as used herein, are defined as one as or more than one. Also, the use of introductory phrases such as “at least one” and “one or more” in the claims should not be construed to imply that the introduction of another claim element by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim element to inventions containing only one such element, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an.” The same holds true for the use of definite articles. Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and “second” are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or other prioritization of such elements the mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.
Any system, apparatus or device referred to this patent application includes at least one hardware component.
While certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, and equivalents will now occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63265937 | Dec 2021 | US |
