Granted Patent B2

US 12,605,026 · App. 18/168,213 · Granted Apr 21, 2026

Inventors: Joonsik Jun (Suwon-si, KR); Heungryong Oh (Suwon-si, KR)

Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

A47L11/4011A47L11/4008A47L2201/06

Abstract

Claims (64)

1 . A method performed by a shoe care device, the method comprising:

obtaining contamination level information of shoes by using at least one sensor;

performing a shoe care operation in one operation mode among a plurality of operation modes;

determining whether to transmit a cleaning request to at least one robotic vacuum cleaner, based on at least one of the contamination level information of shoes or the operation mode; and

transmitting the cleaning request to the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner, based on a determination to transmit the cleaning request, wherein the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner is external to the shoe care device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of the contamination level information of shoes comprises:

obtaining dust contamination level information by using a dust sensor; and

obtaining humidity contamination level information by using a humidity sensor.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of whether to transmit the cleaning request comprises:

determining to request dust cleaning from the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner, based on a determination that the dust contamination level information is equal to or greater than a dust reference value; and

determining to request damp cloth cleaning from the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner, based on a determination that the humidity contamination level information is greater than or equal to a humidity reference value.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of operation modes comprise a first mode for removing odor and dust from shoes and removing humidity from shoes, a second mode for removing humidity from wet shoes, and a third mode for caring for shoes before going out.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining of whether to transmit the cleaning request comprises:

determining to request dust cleaning from the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner when operating in the first mode;

determining to request damp cloth cleaning from the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner when operating in the second mode; and

determining not to transmit the cleaning request when operating in the third mode.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of whether to transmit the cleaning request comprises:

determining whether to transmit the cleaning request based on weather information, when it is determined not to transmit the cleaning request based on at least one of the contamination level information of the shoes or the operation mode being performed;

determining to request dust cleaning when the weather information indicates that a fine dust value is greater than or equal to a reference value; and

determining to request damp cloth cleaning in case the weather information indicates rain or snow.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a door opening operation of the shoe care device;

detecting storage of the shoes;

generating a returning home event when a door of the shoe care device is opened and shoes are newly stored; and

transmitting the returning home event to a server.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the determining of whether to transmit the cleaning request is performed based on detection of the returning home event.

9 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

transmitting a request for activation of a lidar sensor to the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner, based on the returning home event.

10 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

requesting the server to collect usage event information of at least one Internet of Things (IoT) device communicating with the server, based on the returning home event; and

requesting the server to obtain user movement information based on the usage event information of the at least one IoT device.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

when it is determined not to transmit the cleaning request, requesting the server to delete the obtained user movement information.

12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

when it is determined to transmit the cleaning request, after transmitting the user movement information to the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner, requesting the server to delete the obtained user movement information.

13 . The method of claim 10 ,

wherein the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner generates a cleaning path based on the obtained user movement information,

wherein the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner performs cleaning based on the generated cleaning path.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the cleaning path includes a peripheral space of the at least one IoT device.

15 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

when it is determined to transmit the cleaning request based on the returning home event, and the user movement information is not generated by the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner to receive the cleaning request or the server, requesting the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner to receive the cleaning request to clean a previously determined area.

16 . The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the plurality of operation modes include at least one operation mode corresponding to a type of shoes,

wherein the operation mode includes at least one type of cleaning corresponding to each type of shoes, and

wherein types of cleaning include dust cleaning and damp cloth cleaning.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein types of shoes include hiking boots, shoes, golf shoes, rain boots, boots, and wet sneakers.

18 . A shoe care device comprising:

a container storing at least one pair of shoes;

at least one sensor configured to measure a contamination level of the at least one pair of shoes stored in the container;

a shoe care module configured to care for a condition of the at least one pair of shoes inside the container;

a communication module;

a memory storing at least one instruction; and

at least one processor connected to the memory,

wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

obtain contamination level information of shoes by using a measurement value of the at least one sensor,

control the shoe care module to perform a shoe care operation in one operation mode among a plurality of operation modes,

determine whether to transmit a cleaning request to at least one robotic vacuum cleaner, based on at least one of the contamination level information of shoes or the operation mode, and

control the communication module to transmit a cleaning request to the at least one robotic vacuum cleaner, based on a determination to transmit the cleaning request.

19 . The shoe care device of claim 18 ,

wherein the at least one sensor comprises a dust sensor and a humidity sensor, and

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

obtain dust contamination level information by using the dust sensor, and

obtain humidity contamination level information by using the humidity sensor.

20 . A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for performing the method of claim 1 , on a computer.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (35)