Control system, control method, and program

{
  "publication_number": "US11639002B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Control system, control method, and program",
  "abstract": "The control system is a control system that controls a connection between an autonomous mobile robot and a base station, the control system including: a radio communication unit that communicates with the base station; and a connection control unit that performs control, in a connection of communication performed by the radio communication unit, when a radio wave shielding object which the autonomous mobile robot is able to pass through is on a path along which the autonomous mobile robot is to move, so that the autonomous mobile robot is prompted to connect to a predetermined base station of which a received radio wave intensity at a position on the path in front of the shielding object is affected by the shielding object.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A control system configured to control a connection between an autonomous mobile robot and a base station, the control system comprising: a circuit configured to communicate with the base station; a processor configured to, in a connection of communication performed by the circuit, perform control, when a radio wave shielding object which the autonomous mobile robot is able to pass through is on a path along which the autonomous mobile robot is to move, so that the autonomous mobile robot is prompted to connect to a predetermined base station of which a received radio wave intensity at a position on the path in front of the shielding object is affected by the shielding object; and the processor configured to acquire position information of the shielding object detected by the autonomous mobile robot, wherein the processor specifies, based on a position of the shielding object indicated by the position information that is acquired by the processor and a predetermined rule indicating a base station to which the autonomous mobile robot should be prompted to connect when the shielding object is at the position, the predetermined base station to which the autonomous mobile robot is to be prompted to connect.",
    "2. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the processor performs control so that the autonomous mobile robot connects to the predetermined base station.",
    "3. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the processor compares a value obtained by correcting and increasing a value of a received radio wave intensity of a radio wave from the predetermined base station with a value of a received radio wave intensity of a radio wave from another base station and thereby determines a base station to be a connection destination.",
    "4. The control system according to claim 1, further comprising a server configured to analyze the position of the shielding object based on an image of a camera configured to shoot the path, wherein the processor specifies, based on the position obtained by the analysis performed by the server and the predetermined rule indicating the base station to which the autonomous mobile robot should be prompted to connect when the shielding object is at the position, the predetermined base station to which the autonomous mobile robot is to be prompted to connect.",
    "5. The control system according to claim 1, wherein when a position of the autonomous mobile robot is the position on the path in front of the shielding object and a section in which the autonomous mobile robot moves from the position to the shielding object is a section in which no communication is performed, the processor performs control so that the autonomous mobile robot is prompted to connect to the predetermined base station.",
    "6. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the shielding object is equipment including a door.",
    "7. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the shielding object is an object that is temporarily located on the path.",
    "8. A control method for controlling a connection between an autonomous mobile robot and a base station, the control method comprising: determining whether a radio wave shielding object which the autonomous mobile robot is able to pass through is on a path along which the autonomous mobile robot is to move; acquiring position information of the shielding object detected by the autonomous mobile robot, specifying, based on a position of the shielding object indicated by the position information that is acquired and a predetermined rule indicating a base station to which the autonomous mobile robot should be prompted to connect when the shielding object is at the position, the predetermined base station to which the autonomous mobile robot is to be prompted to connect; and in a connection of communication performed by a circuit configured to communicate with the base station, performing control, when the shielding object is on the path, so that the autonomous mobile robot is prompted to connect to the predetermined base station of which a received radio wave intensity at a position on the path in front of the shielding object is affected by the shielding object.",
    "9. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for controlling a connection between an autonomous mobile robot and a base station, the program causing a computer to execute: a determination step of determining whether a radio wave shielding object which the autonomous mobile robot is able to pass through is on a path along which the autonomous mobile robot is to move; an acquisition step of acquiring position information of the shielding object detected by the autonomous mobile robot, a specification step of specifying, based on a position of the shielding object indicated by the position information that is acquired and a predetermined rule indicating a base station to which the autonomous mobile robot should be prompted to connect when the shielding object is at the position, the predetermined base station to which the autonomous mobile robot is to be prompted to connect; and a control step of, in a connection of communication performed by a circuit configured to communicate with the base station, performing control, when the shielding object is on the path, so that the autonomous mobile robot is prompted to connect to the predetermined base station of which a received radio wave intensity at a position on the path in front of the shielding object is affected by the shielding object."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present disclosure relates to a control system, a control method, and a program, and in particular, to control of a radio connection of an autonomous mobile robot.\n\nIn recent years, an autonomous mobile robot that moves autonomously in a building or outdoors and conveys articles and the like has been developed. Such an autonomous mobile robot may perform radio communication with another device in order to execute processing. In this case, the autonomous mobile robot performs radio communication with the other device via, for example, a base station. Further, when there is a radio wave shielding object, such as a door, on a moving path, a received radio wave intensity in the robot is reduced due to the influence of the shielding object. However, when the robot moves along the moving path and passes through the shielding object, the robot is no longer affected by the shielding object and the received radio wave intensity is recovered.\n\nIt should be noted that an autonomous mobile robot moves and thus it is necessary to switch a base station to which it connects. In this regard, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-90576 discloses that a base station is selected by using a map indicating to which base station an autonomous mobile robot should be connected to achieve a good connection at various points in a moving area.\n\nIn the above-described technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-90576, when the radio wave intensity of the radio wave received from a base station is low, this base station is not selected.",
  "cpc": [
    "B25J 13/006",
    "B25J 13/088",
    "B25J 9/163",
    "B25J 9/1664",
    "B25J 9/1697",
    "G05D 1/0022",
    "H04W 36/0055",
    "H04W 36/08",
    "H04W 36/165",
    "H04W 36/30"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B25J 13/00",
    "B25J 13/08",
    "B25J 9/16"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Toyota Motor Corp"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Nobuhisa OTSUKI",
    "Susumu Shimizu",
    "Hiroshi BITO"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2021-03-23",
  "publication_date": "2023-05-02",
  "grant_date": "2023-05-02",
  "priority_date": "2020-03-30",
  "application_number": "US-202117209436-A",
  "family_id": "75277840",
  "cited_by_count": 0,
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}