The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 07, 2020
Filed:
Aug. 02, 2016
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Sakai, Osaka, JP;
Masanori Tsuboi, Sakai, JP;
Toshihiro Senoo, Sakai, JP;
SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Sakai, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A self-propelled electronic device including: at least one drive wheel disposed at a bottom of a housing, the drive wheel traveling the housing while being displaced in a vertical direction in accordance with undulations of a floor surface; a drive wheel sensor for detecting a position of the drive wheel relative to the housing; a floor detection sensor for detecting a distance between the bottom of the housing and the floor surface; and a travel control unit for determining and deciding a course of the housing based on the determination that there exists a step on the floor surface if the distance detected by the floor detection sensor is longer than a predetermined reference distance, or, otherwise, the position of the drive wheel detected by the drive wheel sensor is lower than a predetermined reference position, by successively referring to output of the drive wheel sensor and the floor detection sensor, wherein, if the position of the drive wheel detected by the drive wheel sensor is lower than a predetermined reference position, the travel control unit further refers to the distance detected by the floor detection sensor, and if the distance detected by the floor detection sensor is longer than the predetermined reference distance, the travel control unit perform the avoidance traveling control of the housing to avoid the step, and travels the housing, whereas, if the distance detected by the floor detection sensor is the predetermined reference distance or shorter, the travel control unit does not perform the avoidance traveling control of the housing, and continues the traveling of the housing.