Automatic traveling cleaner for automatically cleaning surface to be cleaned by discriminating object placed on surface to be cleaned

Abstract

It is determined whether a sensor band reacts and, if the sensor band reacts, it is determined whether the sensor band continues to react for a predetermined period of time. If the sensor band continues to react for the predetermined period of time in the previous step, it is determined that sucking is dangerous because an object is considered as an object that may possibly obstruct a cleaning work, for example, a long object such as a cord-shaped object. In accordance therewith, a control unit gives a command for stoppage of the sucking of a suction unit, whereby decrease of the sucking power by entanglement with a long object such as a cord-shaped object can be prevented, and the cleaning work can be carried out efficiently and safely.

1 . An automatic traveling cleaner that performs cleaning via a cleaning suction port disposed on a bottom surface and having a predetermined area, comprising: 
 a suction unit which performs suction via said cleaning suction port;    a sensor unit which is disposed on said bottom surface, is placed ahead of said cleaning suction port in a movement direction, and detects an object on a surface to be cleaned; and    a control unit which controls suction operation of said suction unit in accordance with a detection result from said sensor unit, wherein    said sensor unit includes:    a determination region which is disposed ahead of said cleaning suction port in the movement direction and has an area larger than said predetermined area;    a first sensor band which can detect said object in a region having a dimension larger than a maximum dimension of said cleaning suction port along a direction orthogonal to the movement direction; and    a second sensor band which can detect said object in a region having a dimension larger than a maximum dimension of said cleaning suction port along the movement direction,    said first sensor band is disposed ahead of said determination region in the movement direction and near to an outer circumference of said determination region in the direction orthogonal to the movement direction,    said second sensor band is disposed near to the outer circumference of said determination region along the movement direction,    each of said first sensor band and said second sensor band has a plurality of sensors that detect said object for each predetermined region thereof, and    said control unit gives a command for stoppage of suction of said suction unit in accordance with the number of sensors that have reacted among said plurality of sensors of at least one of said first sensor band and said second sensor band when said object continues to be detected for the predetermined period of time by at least one of said first sensor band and said second sensor band,    said automatic traveling cleaner further comprising:    a roller which is disposed on said cleaning suction port; and    a roller drive unit which controls rotation of said roller, wherein    said control unit gives a command for stoppage of rotation of said roller to said roller drive unit when said object continues to be detected for the predetermined period of time by at least one of said first sensor band and said second sensor band,    said second sensor band has a first subsensor band and a second subsensor band that are disposed along the movement direction are disposed respectively on a left side and a right side of said determination region, and can detect said object in the region having the dimension larger than the maximum dimension of said cleaning suction port along the movement direction, and    one of said first subsensor band and said second subsensor band operates in accordance with said movement direction.    
   
   
       2 . An automatic traveling cleaner that performs cleaning via a cleaning suction port disposed on a bottom surface and having a predetermined area, comprising: 
 a suction unit which performs suction via said cleaning suction port;    a sensor unit which is disposed on said bottom surface, is placed ahead of said cleaning suction port in a movement direction, and detects an object on a surface to be cleaned; and    a control unit which controls suction operation of said suction unit in accordance with a detection result from said sensor unit.    
   
   
       3 . The automatic traveling cleaner according to  claim 2 , wherein 
 said sensor unit includes:    a determination region which is disposed ahead of said cleaning suction port in the movement direction and has an area larger than said predetermined area;    a first sensor band which can detect said object in a region having a dimension larger than a maximum dimension of said cleaning suction port along a direction orthogonal to the movement direction; and    a second sensor band which can detect said object in a region having a dimension larger than a maximum dimension of said cleaning suction port along the movement direction,    said first sensor band is disposed ahead of said determination region in the movement direction and near to an outer circumference of said determination region in the direction orthogonal to the movement direction, and    said second sensor band is disposed near to the outer circumference of said determination region along the movement direction.    
   
   
       4 . The automatic traveling cleaner according to  claim 3 , wherein 
 said control unit gives a command for stoppage of suction of said suction unit when said object continues to be detected for a predetermined period of time by at least one of said first sensor band and said second sensor band.    
   
   
       5 . The automatic traveling cleaner according to  claim 4 , further comprising: 
 a roller which is disposed on said cleaning suction port; and    a roller drive unit which controls rotation of said roller, wherein    said control unit gives a command for stoppage of rotation of said roller to said roller drive unit when said object continues to be detected for a predetermined period of time by at least one of said first sensor band and said second sensor band.    
   
   
       6 . The automatic traveling cleaner according to  claim 3 , wherein 
 each of said first sensor band and said second sensor band has a plurality of sensors that detect said object for each predetermined region thereof, and    said control unit gives a command for stoppage of suction of said suction unit in accordance with the number of sensors that have reacted among said plurality of sensors of at least one of said first sensor band and said second sensor band when said object continues to be detected for a predetermined period of time by at least one of said first sensor band and said second sensor band.    
   
   
       7 . The automatic traveling cleaner according to  claim 6 , further comprising: 
 a roller which is disposed on said cleaning suction port; and    a roller drive unit which controls rotation of said roller, wherein    said control unit gives a command for stoppage of rotation of said roller to said roller drive unit when said object continues to be detected for a predetermined period of time by at least one of said first sensor band and said second sensor band.    
   
   
       8 . The automatic traveling cleaner according to  claim 3 , wherein 
 said second sensor band has a first subsensor band and a second subsensor band that are disposed along the movement direction, are disposed respectively on a left side and a right side of said determination region, and can sense a dimension larger than the maximum dimension of said cleaning suction port along the movement direction, and    one of said first subsensor band and said second subsensor band operates in accordance with said movement direction.