Apparatus and method for determining a usage order

Abstract

An apparatus is described for determining a usage order for a cleaning robot. The apparatus is configured so as to determine a quantity of cleaning orders already executed that were executed by the cleaning robot within a previous operating period. The individual cleaning orders each indicate a scope of the cleaning task that is performed by the cleaning robot in the respective cleaning order. The apparatus is furthermore configured so as to determine and/or adapt at least one usage order for a preceding point in time on the basis of the quantity of cleaning orders already executed, wherein the usage order indicates a scope of the cleaning task to be performed by the cleaning robot in the usage order.

1 . An apparatus for determining a usage order for a cleaning robot, the apparatus comprising:
 a controller configured to:
 determine a quantity of cleaning orders already executed that were executed by the cleaning robot within a previous operating period, wherein individual ones of the cleaning orders each indicate a scope of a cleaning task that was executed by the cleaning robot in a respective cleaning order of the cleaning orders; and 
 determine and/or adapt the usage order for a preceding point in time on a basis of the quantity of cleaning orders already executed, wherein the usage order indicates the scope of the cleaning task to be performed by the cleaning robot in the usage order. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the scope of the respective cleaning order and/or the usage order includes:
 a spatial scope of the cleaning task, wherein the spatial scope indicates one or more subregions from an overall region that is divided into a plurality of different subregions; and/or   a scope of tasks of the cleaning task, wherein the scope of tasks indicates a cleaning mode of the cleaning robot and/or an intensity of the cleaning mode.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 individual cleaning orders from the quantity of cleaning orders already executed were each manually started by a user of the cleaning robot; and   the usage order determined is a planned usage order that is automatically executed by the cleaning robot at a specific point in time.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured:
 to recognize, on a basis of the quantity of cleaning orders already executed, that:
 for a specific subregion of an overall region in which the cleaning robot is operated; and/or 
 for a specific cleaning mode of a plurality of different cleaning modes that can be executed by the cleaning robot, 
   a cleaning order has not been initiated within the previous operating period; and   to determine the usage order based on this, which has the specific subregion and/or the specific cleaning mode as the scope.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to:
 identify on a basis of the quantity of cleaning orders already executed,
 a specific subregion of an overall region; and/or 
 a specific cleaning mode of a plurality of different cleaning modes of the cleaning robot, 
   for which there is a relatively high number of cleaning orders in the quantity of cleaning orders already executed; and   determine and/or to adapt the usage order based on this, which has the specific subregion and/or the specific cleaning mode as the scope.   
     
     
         6 . The apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the apparatus is configured to:
 identify an already planned usage order, which already has the specific cleaning mode but not the specific subregion as the scope; and   expand the scope of the already planned usage order by the specific subregion.   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 individual ones of the cleaning orders each indicate a time on which the respective cleaning order was executed; and   said controller is configured to determine the preceding point in time for an execution of the usage order on a basis of points in time of the quantity of cleaning orders already executed.   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the scope of individual cleaning orders from the quantity of cleaning orders already executed in each case indicates one or more subregions of an overall region in which the cleaning robot is operated; and   said controller is configured to:
 subdivide the individual cleaning orders from the quantity of cleaning orders already executed into at least one data entry for a corresponding one or more of the subregions, so that the scope of individual data entries in each case only relates to a single subregion of the overall region; and 
 determine and/or adapt the usage order for the preceding point in time on a basis of the data entries. 
   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein:
 the individual cleaning orders and the data entries determined therefrom each indicate a day of the week and a time of day on which and at which the respective cleaning order or a respective data entry of the data entries was executed; and   said controller is configured to:
 allocate the data entries determined to a respective day section from a sequence of day sections in dependence upon the day of the week and the time of day, wherein the sequence of day sections divides a week into a limited number of the day sections; 
 determine a quantity of allocated data entries for individual ones of the day sections of the sequence of day sections; and 
 determine and/or adapt the usage order for the preceding point in time on a basis of the quantity of allocated data entries for at least one day section. 
   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein the apparatus is configured to:
 identify the day section having a number of the allocated data entries being equal to or greater than a number threshold; and   determine and/or adapt the usage order for the preceding point in time on a basis of the quantity of allocated data entries for an identified day section.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein the apparatus is configured to determine the preceding point in time for the usage order on a basis of the day of the week and the times of day of the individual data entries of the quantity of allocated data entries for the identified day section. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein the apparatus is configured to:
 detect that there is an already planned usage order for the identified day section; and   expand the scope of the already planned usage order on a basis of the quantity of allocated data entries for the identified day section.   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein the apparatus is configured to:
 allocate the data entries determined to a first day section from a sequence of first day sections and a second day section from a sequence of second day sections in dependence upon the day of the week and the time of day, wherein the second day sections are offset in time and overlap with corresponding said first day sections; and   determine and/or adapt the usage order for the preceding point in time on a basis of the quantity of allocated data entries for a specific first day section and for a specific second day section, which is offset and overlapping with the specific first day section.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to output a suggestion for executing the usage order to a user of the cleaning robot via a user interface of the cleaning robot. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the scope of tasks includes vacuuming, mopping or both. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein the specific point in time is a specific day of a week and/or at a specific time of day. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein:
 the time is a day of a week and a time of day; and   the preceding point in time is a day of a week and a time of day.   
     
     
         18 . A method for determining a usage order for a cleaning robot, which comprises the method steps of:
 determining a quantity of cleaning orders already executed that were executed by the cleaning robot within a previous operating period, wherein individual ones of the cleaning orders each indicate a scope of a cleaning task that is executed by the cleaning robot in a respective cleaning order of the cleaning orders; and   determining and/or adapting the usage order for a preceding point in time on a basis of the quantity of cleaning orders already executed, wherein the usage order indicates the scope of the cleaning task to be performed by the cleaning robot in the usage order.