IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,662,834
Granted Patent B2
US 12,662,834 · App. 18/944,346 · Granted Jun 23, 2026

Swimming pool cleaning system with image capture device

Inventor: Philippe Pichon (Villeneuve de Riviere, FR)
Assignee: ZODIAC POOL CARE EUROPE
E04H4/1654G05D1/0206G05D1/49H04N23/00H04N23/90
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,662,834
App. No.
18/944,346
Filed
Nov 12, 2024
Granted
Jun 23, 2026
Kind
B2
Art Unit
3664
USPC
701/21
Abstract

A swimming pool cleaning system includes a pool cleaning robot, a floating device, a control unit, and a camera. The floating device is separated from the pool cleaning robot and includes an onboard power source for providing power to the pool cleaning robot. The camera is separated from the pool cleaning robot and is adapted to provide video data and/or image data to the control unit. The control unit may identify a location in a pool based on the video data and/or image data from the camera and generate moving instructions for controlling movement of the pool cleaning robot based on the identified location.

Claims (27)

1 . A swimming pool system comprising:

a pool cleaning robot;

a floating device separated from the pool cleaning robot, the floating device comprising an onboard power source, the onboard power source configured to provide power to the pool cleaning robot;

a control unit; and

a camera separated from the pool cleaning robot, the camera configured to provide video data and/or image data to the control unit,

wherein the control unit is configured to:

identify a location in a pool based on the video data and/or image data from the camera; and

generate moving instructions for controlling movement of the pool cleaning robot based on the identified location.

2 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , wherein the camera is on the floating device.

3 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is on the floating device.

4 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is in the pool cleaning robot.

5 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , wherein the onboard power source comprises a battery.

6 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , wherein the onboard power source comprises a solar panel.

7 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , wherein the onboard power source is further configured to power the camera.

8 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , wherein the floating device is a fixed distance from the pool cleaning robot.

9 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , wherein the floating device is configured to float on a surface of the pool.

10 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , wherein the camera is oriented towards the pool cleaning robot.

11 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , further comprising a flexible connection between the pool cleaning robot and the floating device.

12 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to identify the location by identifying a geometry of a surface around the pool cleaning robot.

13 . The swimming pool system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to identify the location by identifying a luminance difference.

14 . A method of controlling a pool cleaning robot of a swimming pool system for a pool, the method comprising:

identifying, by a control unit of the swimming pool system, a location in the pool based on video data and/or image data from a camera of the swimming pool system, wherein the swimming pool system comprises:

the pool cleaning robot;

a floating device separated from the pool cleaning robot, the floating device comprising an onboard power source, the onboard power source configured to provide power to the pool cleaning robot;

the control unit; and

the camera, wherein the camera is separated from the pool cleaning robot, the camera configured to provide the video data and/or image data to the control unit; and

generating, by the control unit, moving instructions for controlling movement of the pool cleaning robot based on the identified location.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 11, 2025
From: PICHON, PHILIPPE
To: ZODIAC POOL CARE EUROPE
Reel/Frame 070182/0348 →
Priority Claims (1)
FR 1559339 · Oct 1, 2015 · national
Continuity (4)
Division 18122662 · Mar 16, 2023
Continuation 17693244 · Mar 11, 2022
Continuation 15764471
Related Publication 20250067074A1 · Feb 27, 2025
References Cited (51)
US 5205174A · Silverman et al. · 1993 [cited by applicant]
US 5561883A · Landry et al. · 1996 [cited by applicant]
US 6980228B1 · Harper · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 7409853B2 · Biberger et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 8394266B2 · Pichon et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 9388595B2 · Durvasula et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9779842B2 · Strohmayer et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9995050B2 · Durvasula et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10107000B2 · Barcelos et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 11306500B2 · Pichon · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 11629516B2 · Pichon · 2023 [cited by applicant]
US 12173524B2 · Pichon · 2024 [cited by applicant]
US 20010032809A1 · Henkin et al. · 2001 [cited by applicant]
US 20040208499A1 · Grober · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 20120315813A1 · Rossini · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 20140015959A1 · Durvasula et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140263087A1 · Renaud et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20160026071A1 · Kanai et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160148711A1 · Strohmayer et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160223452A1 · Milosevic et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
AU 2016329776B2 · 2021 [cited by applicant]
EP 2492403A2 · 2012 [cited by applicant]
EP 2607573A2 · 2013 [cited by applicant]
EP 3356620B1 · 2019 [cited by applicant]
FR 2781243A1 · 2000 [cited by applicant]
FR 2929311 · 2009 [cited by applicant]
JP 1134979A · 1999 [cited by applicant]
WO 2012023676A1 · 2012 [cited by applicant]
WO 2017055737A1 · 2017 [cited by applicant]
ZA 201802659B · 2019 [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 15/764,471, Advisory Action, Oct. 21, 2021, 3 pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 15/764,471, Final Office Action, Aug. 12, 2021, 6 pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 15/764,471, Final Office Action, Nov. 7, 2019, 7 Pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 15/764,471, Non-Final Office Action, May 3, 2021, 6 pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 15/764,471, Non-Final Office Action, Sep. 12, 2019, 9 pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 15/764,471, Notice of Allowance, Jan. 20, 2022, 5 pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 17/693,244, Corrected Notice of Allowability, Dec. 28, 2022, 5 pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 17/693,244, Notice of Allowance, Dec. 15, 2022, 7 pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 18/122,662, Advisory Action, May 7, 2024, 3 pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 18/122,662, Final Office Action, Feb. 27, 2024, 10 pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 18/122,662, Non-Final Office Action, Sep. 20, 2023, 14 pages. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 18/122,662, Notice of Allowance, Aug. 26, 2024, 8 pages. [cited by applicant]
Australian Application No. 2016329776, First Examination Report, Jul. 29, 2020, 10 pages. [cited by applicant]
Australian Application No. 2016329776, Notice of Acceptance, Mar. 17, 2021, 3 pages. [cited by applicant]
Bazeille et al., “Color-Based Underwater Object Recognition Using Water Light Attenuation”, Intelligent Service Robotics, vol. 5, No. 2, Jan. 18, 2012, pp. 109-118. [cited by applicant]
European Patent Application No. 16785233.4, Notice of Decision to Grant, May 31, 2019, 2 pages. [cited by applicant]
French Application No. 1559339, Notice of Decision to Grant, Sep. 4, 2017, 1 page. [cited by applicant]
French Application No. 1559339, Search Report, Jun. 3, 2016, 7 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Application No. PCT/FR2016/052456, International Preliminary Report on Patentability, Apr. 12, 2018, 14 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Application No. PCT/FR2016/052456, International Search Report and Written Opinion, Dec. 21, 2016, 20 pages. [cited by applicant]
South African Application No. 2018/02659, Notice of Allowance, Sep. 2, 2019, 1 page. [cited by applicant]