Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01D—HARVESTING; MOWING
  • A01D34/00—Mowers; Mowing apparatus of harvesters
  • A01D34/006—Control or measuring arrangements
  • A01D34/008—Control or measuring arrangements for automated or remotely controlled operation
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
  • G05D—SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
  • G05D1/00—Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots
  • G05D1/0011—Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots associated with a remote control arrangement
  • G05D1/0022—Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots associated with a remote control arrangement characterised by the communication link
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/12—Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Definitions

• the present disclosure relates to an autonomous robotic lawn mower, which lawn mower is electrically powered and arranged for mowing the lawn within a predetermined working area.
• the working area is defined by a physical fence or a boundary wire, which boundary wire sends electrical signals.
• the lawn mower is arranged with at least one sensor for sensing the physical fence and thereby defining the working area and/or at least one sensor for sensing the electrical signals, and thereby defining the working area.
• the lawn mower having a control unit (CPU) and a wireless communication unit connected to the control unit, the wireless communication unit being arranged for communication with a cellular communication network.
• control unit CPU
• wireless communication unit connected to the control unit, the wireless communication unit being arranged for communication with a cellular communication network.
• the present invention further relates to a method for establishing a wireless communication link between an autonomous robotic lawn mower and an owner/a user of such a lawn mower.
• a lawn mower has a problem that could be solved by, for example, updating its software, updating its settings and/or give the lawn mower different commands.
• US2004/0220707 shows a robotic device that is connected to a remote PC via a communications link. For this reason the robotic device has a wireless communication module.
• the communications link may be a two-way wireless communication link such as a cellular link (see abstract, paragraphs 0017, 0031 , claim 13).
• the purpose of connecting the robotic device to a PC is to be able to utilize the processing power and memory of the PC to enhance performance of the robotic device. For example to improve the navigation system of the robotic device without adding any significant cost to the device.
• the robotic device according to US2004/0220707 is limited to navigation with focus on robotic vacuum cleaners and the composition of maps to identify a floor plan to be cleaned.
• an autonomous robotic lawn mower which lawn mower is electrically powered and arranged for mowing the lawn within a predetermined working area, which working area is defined by a physical fence or a boundary wire, which boundary wire sends electrical signals.
• the lawn mower is further arranged with at least one sensor for sensing the physical fence and thereby defining the working area or at least one sensor for sensing the electrical signals, and thereby defining the working area.
• the autonomous robotic lawn mower is characterized in that it has a control unit (CPU) and a wireless communication unit connected to the control unit, the wireless communication unit being arranged for communication with a cellular communication network.
• an autonomous robotic lawn mower By equipping an autonomous robotic lawn mower with a wireless communication device arranged for communicating with a cellular communication network, a user, or anybody else, can communicate with the robotic lawn mower from a far distance by using a mobile terminal such as a mobile telephone, a lap top computer etc. and send and receive information from the robotic lawn mower. Thereby, the user can get information of e.g. the status of the lawn mower without having to be at the same place as the lawn mower.
• the autonomous robotic lawn mower is arranged for mowing the lawn along a randomly chosen path within the defined working area.
• a communication unit it is easier for a user to control and navigate the lawn mower which results in that a more even/uniform cutting is achieved without making tracks on the lawn.
• the autonomous robotic lawn mower is battery operated, and wherein the battery is charged when the lawn mower is in a charge station which charge station is located within the working area, such a lawn mower is environment friendly, cheap to run and it operates quietly.
• an autonomous robotic lawn mower By further arranging the an autonomous robotic lawn mower with at least one detection unit, such as a sensor, for detecting that a situation has occurred in the lawn mower, the detection unit being connected to the control unit and the wireless communication unit; such as if a situation is detected, the wireless communication unit is arranged to trigger the transmission of a message to a receiver unit, such as a mobile terminal/telephone, of an owner of the lawn mower informing the owner of the situation, the user can get information of a situation in the autonomous robotic lawn mower even if the user is not positioned close to the lawn mower.
• a detection unit such as a sensor
• the wireless communication unit further is arranged to trigger the transmission of a message to a receiver, such as a mobile terminal/telephone, of an owner/a user of the lawn mower informing the owner, of status information, on a regular basis independent of that a certain situation has occurred, the user can get status information regarding the lawn mower on a regular basis even if the user is not positioned close to the lawn mower.
• a receiver such as a mobile terminal/telephone
• the wireless communication unit is further arranged to receive an acknowledgement as a text message or a call back from an owner of the lawn mower, the acknowledgement, acknowledging the situation, it is possible for the user to restart the machine without having to be positioned at the machine. It is possible to solve the situation from a distance, such situations are for example non-critical situations where the lawn mower is still working but with lower capacity and not in perfect condition, example: one collision sensor out of two is broken. It is then possible to ignore the problem and restart the lawn mower.
• the autonomous robotic lawn mower By arranging the autonomous robotic lawn mower with a wireless communication unit, such as it is arranged to, in a normal state, communicate with a certain number of predetermined radio base stations of the cellular communication network, the predetermined radio base stations covering a predetermined home area of the lawn mower, and, if the wireless communication unit starts communicating with another radio base station of the cellular communication network and/or stops communicating with one of the predetermined radio base stations, the wireless communication unit is arranged to send a message to a receiver, such as a mobile terminal, of an owner of the lawn mower informing the owner that the lawn mower has been removed a theft protection is achieved.
• a receiver such as a mobile terminal
• the lawn mower can be programmed to communicate with a number of predetermined radio base stations and if starts communicate with another radio base station or stops communicate with one of the predetermined radio base stations this indicates that the lawn mower has been removed.
• the central processing unit of the lawn mower By arranging the central processing unit of the lawn mower to calculate the position of the lawn mower based on which radio base stations the wireless communication unit is in connection with, and wherein the wireless communication unit is arranged to communicate the position of the lawn mower to a user via the cellular communication network it is possible to determine the position of the lawn mower by means of thangulation.
• the lawn mower By arranging the lawn mower with a GPS-unit arranged to communicate the position of the lawn mower to a user via the cellular communication network it is possible to determine the position of the lawn mower by means of GPS.
• the wireless communication unit By arranging the wireless communication unit to receive information via the cellular communication network for updating the software of the lawn mower, a user or a vendor can update the software of the working tool from a distance if there is new software for the product or if the software is not working correctly.
• a user or a vendor By arranging the wireless communication unit to receive information via the cellular communication network for updating setting of the lawn mower or for carrying out commands, a user or a vendor can update settings and send commands from a distance.
• the wireless communication unit By arranging the wireless communication unit to receive a message from the cellular communication network asking for the status of the lawn mower and wherein the wireless communication unit is arranged to reply to the received message by sending a reply message to the sender of the received message via the cellular communication network informing of the status of the lawn mower, it is possible for the user to ask the lawn mower about present status.
• the autonomous robotic lawn mower By arranging the autonomous robotic lawn mower with a wireless communication unit having two working modes, a sleep mode when the unit is in a standby mode and an active mode when the unit is active, and wherein the communication unit regularly is arranged to change mode from sleep mode to standby mode to check if any new incoming messages are waiting, and wherein the control unit is arranged to order the wireless communication unit to change mode from standby mode to active mode when a message is to be sent from the wireless communication unit over the cellular communication network, the wireless communication unit only switched on when it is needed, which arrangement saves batteries.
• a method for establishing a wireless communication link between an autonomous robotic lawn mower and an owner of such a lawn mower comprising the steps of: providing the lawn mower with a control unit (CPU) and a wireless communication unit, connecting the communication unit to the control unit and arranging the wireless communication unit for communication with a cellular communication network, a user-friendly and easy-to-use communication method between a autonomous robotic lawn mower and an owner of such a lawn mower is achieved.
• a control unit CPU
• a wireless communication unit connecting the communication unit to the control unit and arranging the wireless communication unit for communication with a cellular communication network
• a method further comprising the steps of receiving a message in the wireless communication unit of the lawn mower from a cellular communication network, the message asking for the status of the lawn mower, the message originating from the owner of the lawn mower; checking the status of the lawn mower and transmitting the status of the lawn mower to a mobile terminal of the owner of the lawn mower over the cellular communication network it is possible for the owner to in an effective way receive status information from the lawn mower.
• a method further comprising the steps of providing the lawn mower with at least one detection unit, such as a sensor, and by connecting the detection unit to the control unit and the wireless communication unit, it is possible to trigger the transmission of a message, if a situation is detected by the detection unit, to a receiver, such as a mobile telephone, of an owner or a user of the lawn mower informing the owner/user of the situation.
• a detection unit such as a sensor
• a receiver such as a mobile telephone
• Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a wireless link between an autonomous robotic lawn mower operating within a predetermined area and an owner or user of such a lawn mower.
• Fig. 2 schematically illustrates an outer housing of an autonomous robotic lawn mower according to the present invention.
• Fig 2a schematically illustrates a base plate of an autonomous robotic lawn mower according to the present invention having a cutting engine and an electronics unit.
• Fig 2b schematically illustrates an inner housing of an autonomous robotic lawn mower according to the present invention having a display.
• Fig. 3 schematically illustrates a close-up view of an electronics unit having a communication unit comprising a GSM-module.
• Fig 4 schematically illustrates radio base stations defining a home area for an autonomous robotic lawn mower according to the present invention.
• Fig 1 schematically illustates an anotonoumos robotic lawn mower 1.
• the lawn mower 1 is electrically powered and arranged for mowing the lawn within a predetermined working area 13.
• the working area 13 can be defined by a physical fence (not shown) or a boundary wire 14 or combinations thereof.
• the boundary wire 14 sends electrical signals.
• the lawn mower is arranged for sensing the electrical signals, and thereby defining the working area 13 (described more in detail below).
• the lawn mower 1 can also be arranged for sensing a physical fence and thereby defining the working area
• the working area 13 can also be defined by a combination of physical fences and boundary wires 14, in this case the lawn mower 1 can be arranged to sense both physical fences and boundary wires 14.
• the lawn mower 1 is with advantage battery operated, but can also be operated in other for the purpose suitable ways.
• the lawn mower 1 includes at least one battery, but the number of batteries can vary.
• the battery/batteries 29 is/are charged when the lawn mower 1 is in a charge station 15.
• the charge station 15 is located within the working area 13.
• the autonomous robotic lawn mower 1 is self-propelled and arranged to communicate with a mobile terminal 17, such as a mobile telephone, of its user or owner 16. The communication is done via at least one or a number of predetermined radio base stations 18 of a cellular communication network 19.
• the term "user” and "owner” is used for the sake of simplicity and refers to any person having access to the lawn mower 1 and can communicate with the lawn mower 1 via a mobile terminal, such as a mobile telephone, a PC or other for the purpose suitable devices.
• Fig 2, 2a and 2b illustrates the including parts in an anotonoumos robotic lawn mower 1 according to one embodiment of the invention: a base plate 2, an inner housing 3 and an outer housing 4 .
• the inner housing 3 is adapted to be arranged on top of the base plate 2.
• the outer housing 4 is adaped to be arranged on top of the inner housing 3.
• the base plate 2 is arranged with two front wheels 5 and two rear wheels 6.
• the number of wheels can vary, usually four or three wheels, or, two wheels with complementary supporting points are used.
• the lawn mower 1 can with advantage be provided with two large rear wheels and two smaller self-adjusting link wheels as front wheels.
• the rear wheel's rotational speed and rotational direction are induvidually controlled by way of a microprocessor. In this manner the tool can drive forward and backward and turn in different desirable directions.
• the base plate is further arranged with boundary wire sensors 8, one front sensor and one rear sensor.
• the base plate 2 is further arranged with a cutting engine 7 for driving the cutters (not shown) that cuts the grass and a electronics unit 20, described in detail below.
• the outer housing 4 and the inner housing 3 are with advantage plastic bodies, made of some kind of plastic material suitable for the purpose.
• the inner housing 3 comprises a cover 9 for the cutting engine 7 and a display 10 for controlling the electronics unit 20.
• the inner housing 3 is further arranged with two collision sensors 1 1 and two lifting sensors 12 in form of four rubber suspension devices.
• the electronics unit 20, see fig 3, comprises a main board 21.
• the main board is equipped with a control unit (central processing unit, CPU) 22, a communication unit 23 and at least one detection unit 27, such as a sensor, for detecting that a situation has occurred in the lawn mower 1.
• the detection unit 27 is connected to the control unit 22 and the wireless communication unit 23.
• the detection unit can comprise one type of sensor or several different sensors depending on which type of situations the lawn mower 1 is arranged to detect. If a situation is detected, the wireless communication unit 23 is arranged to trigger the transmission of a message to the receiver 17, such as a mobile telephone, of the user/owner 16 of the lawn mower 1 informing the owner/user 16 of the situation.
• the user/owner 16 can communicate with the lawn mower 1 due to the communication unit 23 and via a cellular communication network 19.
• the cellular communication network 19 may be a GSM network, a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service (a radio technology for GSM networks that adds packet-switching protocols, shorter set-up time for IPS connections)) network, a 3G network or any other kind of cellular communications network.
• GSM Global System for Mobile communications
• GPRS General Packet Radio Service
• 3G network any other kind of cellular communications network.
• the wireless communication unit 23 comprises at least one telecommunication module 24, such as a GSM (Global System for Mobile) module, having a receiver and a transmitter (not shown).
• GSM Global System for Mobile
• the receiver and the transmitter may be arranged in one unit sharing certain circuitry, called a transceiver.
• the communication unit 23 further comprises at least one SIM card 25 and an antenna 26.
• the electronics unit 20 is well protected under the inner housing 3 and the outer housing 4. No part of the antenna is located outside the housings 3, 4.
• the main board 21 can be equipped with a GPS-unit 28.
• the GPS-unit 28 is arranged to communicate the position of the lawn mower 1 to the owner/user 16 via the cellular communication network 19.
• the main board 21 runs the wheel motors (not shown) and the cutting engine 7.
• the main board is processing signals from the boundary wire system (loop system) comprising the boundary wire sensors 8 and the boundary wire 14, the collision sensors 1 1 and the lifting sensors 12.
• the loop system helps the lawn mower to navigate within the working area 13.
• the lawn mower 1 is arranged for mowing the lawn along a randomly chosen path within the defined working area 13.
• the communication unit 23 and the central processing unit 22 are arranged to communicate with each other.
• the communication unit 23 is arranged to communicate wirelessly with a cellular network 19, via the antenna 26 to a radio base station 18 of the cellular network 19. Signals are thereby sent from the antenna 26 of the communication unit 23 to an antenna of the radio base station 18 and vice versa, see fig 1.
• the wireless communication link between the user 16 and the lawn mower 1 can be used in many different ways, as described in the examples below.
• the wireless communication unit 23 is further arranged to trigger the transmission of a message to the receiver 17, such as a mobile telephone, of the owner/user 16 of the lawn mower 1 , providing the owner 16 with status information, on a regular basis, independent of that a certain situation has occurred.
• the message is with advantage a text message such as a SMS (Short Message Service (electronic messages on a wireless network, permits the transmission of a short text message from and/or to a digital mobile telephone)) message.
• SMS Short Message Service
• the robotic lawn mower 1 and a user/owner 16 can send several different types of messages between each other, such as; - Information messages (for example; It is time to change battery!, Low battery voltage)
• Warning messages for example; The lawn mower will stop working if the battery is not changed!
• Fault messages for example; The lawn mower has stopped and does not work due to that the batteries have not been changed or stuck in charging station or charging station blocked or Trapped, outside working area
• the wireless communication unit 23 is further arranged to receive an acknowledgement as a text message or a call back from the owner/user 16 of the lawn mower 1 , the acknowledgement, acknowledging the situation.
• the owner/user 16 can send an acknowledge message and thereby restart the lawn mower 1.
• the wireless communication unit 23 is arranged to in a normal state communicate with a certain number of predetermined radio base stations 18 of the cellular communication network 19, the predetermined radio base stations 18 covering a predetermined home area 30 of the lawn mower 1 , see fig 4. If the wireless communication unit 23 starts communicating with another radio base station 18 of the cellular communication network 19 and/or stops communicating with one of the predetermined radio base stations 18, the wireless communication unit 23 is arranged to send a message to a receiver 17, such as a mobile telephone, of an owner 16 of the lawn mower 1 informing the owner 16 that the lawn mower 1 has been removed. In one embodiment of the invention the wireless communication unit 23 is arranged to communicate with a number of radio base stations 18.
• the control unit/central processing unit 22 is arranged to calculate the position of the lawn mower 1 based on which radio base stations 18 the wireless communication unit 23 is in connection with.
• the wireless communication unit 23 is arranged to communicate the position of the lawn mower 1 to a user 16 via the cellular communication network 19.
• the wireless communication unit 23 is arranged to receive a message from the cellular communication network 19 asking for the status of the lawn mower 1 and wherein the wireless communication unit 19 is arranged to reply to the received message by sending a reply message to the sender 16 of the received message via the cellular communication network 19 informing of the status of the lawn mower 1.
• the wireless communication unit 23 has two working modes, sleep mode when the unit is in a standby mode and active mode when the unit is active, and wherein the communication unit 23 regularly is arranged to change mode from sleep mode to standby mode to check if any new incoming messages are waiting, and wherein the control unit 22 is arranged to order the wireless communication unit 23 to change mode from standby mode to active mode when a message is to be sent from the wireless communication unit 23 over the cellular communication network 19.
• the present invention also relates to the method for establishing a wireless communication link between an autonomous robotic lawn mower 1 and an owner/a user 16 of such a lawn mower 1.
• the method comprising the steps of: providing the lawn mower 1 with a control unit (CPU) 22 and a wireless communication unit 23, connecting the communication unit 23 to the control unit 22, arranging the wireless communication unit 23 for communication with a cellular communication network 19.
• the present invention also relates to a method for remotely checking the status of the lawn mower 1.
• the method further comprising the steps of: receiving a message in the wireless communication unit 23 of the lawn mower 1 from a cellular communication network, the message asking for the status of the lawn mower 1 , the message originating from the owner/user 16 of the lawn mower 1 , checking the status of the lawn mower 1 , transmitting the status of the lawn mower 1 to a mobile terminal of the owner/user 16 of the lawn mower 1 over the cellular communication network.
• the present invention also relates to the method for detecting that a situation has occurred in the lawn mower 1.
• the method further comprising the steps of: providing the lawn mower 1 with at least one detection unit 27, such as a sensor, connecting the detection unit 27 to the control unit 22 and the wireless communication unit 23, arranging the wireless communication unit 23 to trigger the transmission of a message, if a situation is detected by the detection unit 27, to a receiver 17, such as a mobile telephone, of an owner or a user 16 of the lawn mower 1 informing the owner/user 16 of the situation.
• autonomous robotic lawn mower 1 base plate 2 inner housing 3 outer housing 4 front wheels 5 rear wheels 6 cutting engine 7 boundary wire (loop) sensor 8 cutting engine cover 9 display 10 rubber suspension device/collision sensor 1 1 rubber suspension device/lifting sensor 12 working area 13 boundary wire 14 charge station 15 owner/user 16 receiver/mobile terminal 17 radio base station 18 network/wireless communication links 19 electronics unit 20 main board 21

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Environmental Sciences (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Aviation & Aerospace Engineering (AREA)
• Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
• Remote Sensing (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
• Control Of Position, Course, Altitude, Or Attitude Of Moving Bodies (AREA)

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• 2008
  • 2008-12-30 WO PCT/SE2008/051577 patent/WO2010077198A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2008-12-30 EP EP08879300A patent/EP2369908A4/de not_active Withdrawn

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