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US 12,736,986 B2Granted
Mobile robot, docking station, and robot system including same
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsHeegu Park, Dongseong Kim, Jaeheon Chung, Hyunsup Song
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Abstract
A robot system according to one aspect of the present disclosure comprises: a mobile robot traveling on the basis of power stored in a battery; and a docking station for charging the battery by supplying power through a charging cable, wherein each of the mobile robot and the docking station can include a power line communication unit for performing power line communication through the charging cable.
Claims16
A mobile robot comprising:
- a main body in which a battery is accommodated;
- a traveling unit configured to move the main body to a station for charging the battery;
- and
- a power supply unit including a charging unit configured to receive power from the station through a charging cable to charge the battery, and a power line communication unit configured to perform power line communication with the station through the charging cable,
- wherein the power line communication unit comprises:
- a mixer configured to mix a serial communication signal with a carrier signal to generate an on-off keying (OOK) modulated transmission signal;
- and
- a transmission unit including a capacitor disposed between the mixer and the charging cable, and
- wherein the mixer includes a three-state buffer, and the transmission signal generated by the mixer is output in a high impedance (High-Z) state when the serial communication signal is high, and the carrier signal is output only when the serial communication signal is low.
6 more elements
A docking station comprising:
- a charging terminal electrically connected to a terminal of a mobile robot;
- a charging unit configured to supply power for charging a battery of the mobile robot through a charging cable;
- and
- a power line communication unit configured to perform power line communication with the mobile robot through the charging cable,
- wherein the power line communication unit comprises:
- a mixer configured to mix a serial communication signal with a carrier signal to generate an on-off keying (OOK) modulated transmission signal;
- and
- a transmission unit including a capacitor disposed between the mixer and the charging cable, and
- wherein the mixer includes a three-state buffer, and the transmission signal generated by the mixer is output in a high impedance (High-Z) state when the serial communication signal is high, and the carrier signal is output only when the serial communication signal is low.
6 more elements
A robot system comprising:
- a mobile robot configured to travel on the basis of power stored in a battery;
- and
- a docking station configured to supply power through a charging cable to charge the battery,
- wherein the mobile robot and the docking station each include a power line communication unit configured to perform power line communication through the charging cable, and
- wherein the power line communication unit of each of the mobile robot and the docking station includes a mixer having a three-state buffer, and is configured to generate an on-off keying (OOK) modulated transmission signal by outputting a carrier signal only when a serial communication signal is low and outputting a high impedance (High-Z) state when the serial communication signal is high.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.