초록 ▼

A robot cleaner system is described including a docking station to form a docking area within a predetermined angle range of a front side thereof, to form docking guide areas which do not overlap each other on the left and right sides of the docking area, and to transmit a docking guide signal such

A robot cleaner system is described including a docking station to form a docking area within a predetermined angle range of a front side thereof, to form docking guide areas which do not overlap each other on the left and right sides of the docking area, and to transmit a docking guide signal such that the docking guide areas are distinguished as a first docking guide area and a second docking guide area according to an arrival distance of the docking guide signal. The robot cleaner system also includes a robot cleaner to move to the docking area along a boundary between the first docking guide area and the second docking guide area when the docking guide signal is sensed and to move along the docking area so as to perform docking when reaching the docking area.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A system comprising: a docking station having a first transmission unit to transmit a first docking signal in a first direction, the first docking signal comprising at least a first signal pulse and a second signal pulse, wherein the first signal pulse has a different pulse width than a pulse wid

1. A system comprising: a docking station having a first transmission unit to transmit a first docking signal in a first direction, the first docking signal comprising at least a first signal pulse and a second signal pulse, wherein the first signal pulse has a different pulse width than a pulse width of the second signal pulse; anda robot cleaner comprising: a reception unit configured to receive a plurality of signals including at least the first docking signal from the docking station; anda control unit configured to: measure a time between a start of the first signal pulse and a start of the second signal pulse in the first docking signal received directly from the first transmission unit included in the received plurality of signals,measure another time between a first peak of a signal and a second peak of the signal included in the received plurality of signals,determine if the signal included in the received plurality of signals is the first docking signal or if the received plurality of signals also includes a reflected wave produced by a reflection of the transmitted first docking signal by an obstacle, based on a comparison of the measured time and the measured another time, andcontrol a movement of the robot cleaner based on the determination. 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the docking station further comprises a second transmission unit to transmit a second docking signal in a second direction, the second docking signal comprising at least a first signal pulse and a second signal pulse, wherein the first signal pulse of the second docking signal has a different pulse width than a pulse width of the second signal pulse of the second docking signal. 3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the first docking signal sensed by the robot cleaner located in a first short-distance docking guide area is distinguished from the first docking signal sensed by the robot cleaner in a first long-distance docking guide area, and the second docking signal sensed by the robot cleaner located in a second short-distance docking guide area is distinguished from the second docking signal sensed by the robot cleaner in a second long-distance docking guide area. 4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the docking station further comprises a third transmission unit to transmit a third docking signal in a direction towards a front side of the docking station between the first docking signal and the second docking signal. 5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the first short-distance docking guide area and the second short-distance docking guide area do not overlap each other. 6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first signal pulse and the second signal pulse are consecutive signal pulses. 7. The system according to claim 2, wherein the docking station further comprises a third transmission unit to transmit a third docking signal from a central portion of a front side of a main body thereof within a predetermined angle range such that a docking area which does not overlap a first docking guide area or a second docking guide area is formed, wherein pulse widths of a plurality of signal pulses included in the docking signal are adjusted to different lengths. 8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the adjusting of the pulse widths of the plurality of signal pulses to the different lengths comprises adjusting pulse widths of consecutive signal pulses to different lengths. 9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the third transmission unit to transmit the third docking signal includes a light emitting unit to generate the third docking signal and a guide portion to guide a traveling direction of the third docking signal such that the third docking signal is formed at the central portion of the front side of the main body within the predetermined angle range. 10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first transmission unit to transmit the first docking guide signal includes a light emitting unit to generate the first docking guide signal and a shading plate to block some of the first docking guide signal so as to reduce a spreading angle of the first docking guide signal. 11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the docking station further comprises a lens unit provided outside the light emitting unit so as to spread the first docking guide signal. 12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first transmission unit is configured to transmit a repetitive waveform of the first docking signal, and wherein the first signal pulse and the second signal pulse are embedded within each repetitive waveform of the first docking signal. 13. The system according to claim 1, wherein, if it is determined that the received first docking signal is an unreflected wave, the control unit is configured to control the robot cleaner to move in a travel direction according to a transmission direction of the received first docking signal. 14. The system according to claim 1, wherein, if it is determined that the received first docking signal includes the reflected wave, the control unit is configured to control the robot cleaner to move in a travel direction that is different from a transmission direction of the received first docking signal. 15. The system according to claim 12, wherein the control unit of the robot cleaner is configured to determine a time length between high points of the first and second signal pulses of the first docking signal received by the reception unit and to determine if the received first docking signal is an unreflected wave or includes the reflected wave based on the determined time length between the high points of the first and second signal pulses. 16. A system comprising: a docking station comprising: a first transmission unit, disposed on the docking station, to transmit a first docking signal comprising a first signal pulse and a second signal pulse to both a short-distance docking guide area and to a long-distance docking guide area;a second transmission unit, disposed on the docking station, to transmit a second docking signal comprising a third signal pulse and a fourth signal pulse to both the short-distance docking guide area and to the long-distance docking guide area; anda controller configured to: adjust a duration of a peak intensity of the first signal pulse included in the first docking signal transmitted by the first transmission unit to be different than a duration of a peak intensity of the second signal pulse included in the first docking signal transmitted by the first transmission unit, andadjust a duration of a peak intensity of the third signal pulse included in the second docking signal transmitted by the second transmission unit to be different than a duration of a peak intensity of the fourth signal pulse included in the second docking signal transmitted by the second transmission unit; anda robot cleaner comprising: a reception unit configured to receive a plurality of signals including at least one of the first docking signal from the first transmission unit or the second docking signal from the second transmission unit, anda control unit configured to: measure a time between a start of the first signal pulse and a start of the second signal pulse in the first docking signal included in the received plurality of signals and received directly from the first transmission unit or a period between a start of the third signal pulse and a start of the fourth signal pulse in the second docking signal included in the received plurality of signals received directly from the second transmission unit,measure another time between a first peak of a signal and a second peak of the signal included in the received plurality of signals,determine if the received signal is the first docking signal or the second docking signal, or if the received plurality of signals also includes a reflected wave produced by a reflection by an obstacle of the transmitted first docking signal or the transmitted second docking signal based on a comparison of the measured time and the measured another time, and tocontrol a movement of the robot cleaner, based on the determination.