Patents by Inventor Benjamin Fleczok

Benjamin Fleczok has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20250207972
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method (100) for monitoring a functional state of at least one household appliance (11) in a household environment (12) by a monitoring system (10) comprising at least one monitoring device (13), the method (100) comprising: receiving (110) an acoustic signal (S) from the household environment (12) in the monitoring device (13), evaluation (120) of the acoustic signal (S) and provision of an evaluation data set (500), identifying (130) a household appliance (11) in the household environment (12) as the source of the acoustic signal (S) in dependence on the evaluation data set (500) and providing an appliance data set (600), defining (140) a functional state of the household appliance (11) as a function of the evaluation data set (500) and the appliance data set (600).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2024
    Publication date: June 26, 2025
    Inventors: Benjamin FLECZOK, Amin NEZAMI
  • Patent number: 11484170
    Abstract: The invention pertains to a system consisting of a first floor treatment apparatus that is exclusively guided manually within an environment by a user and a second floor treatment apparatus that is exclusively operated automatically, wherein the second floor treatment apparatus is designed for orienting and localizing itself within an environment. The first floor treatment apparatus is designed for detecting a movement path of the first floor treatment apparatus during a movement of the first floor treatment apparatus that is manually guided by a user, as well as for transmitting information on the detected movement path to the second floor treatment apparatus by means of wireless communication. The second floor treatment apparatus is designed for receiving the information and for autonomously traveling along the movement path within the environment based on the received information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: VORWERK & CO. INTERHOLDING GMBH
    Inventors: Hans-Peter Arnold, Thomas Buening, Benjamin Fleczok, Robert Frielinghaus, Martin Helmich, Lorenz Hillen, Christian Holz, Gerhard Isenberg, Andrej Mosebach, Roman Ortmann, Kevin Schmitz, Fabian Vitz, Niklas Van Teeffelen, Uwe Kemker, Georg Hackert
  • Patent number: 11460859
    Abstract: A system has a first floor processing device guided manually by a user within an environment, a second, exclusively automatically operated floor processing device, and a computing device. The first floor processing device has a detection device for detecting a parameter of the environment and/or a surface to be processed, and the second floor processing device has a navigation device for navigating and self-localizing in the environment. In order to enable an optimal floor processing of the environment with as little assistance by the user as possible, the computing device is set up, based on the parameter detected by the detection device of the first floor processing device, to determine whether a specific partial surface area of the surface to be processed is suitable for floor processing by the second floor processing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Vorwerk & Co. Interholding GmbH
    Inventors: Hans-Peter Arnold, Thomas Buening, Benjamin Fleczok, Robert Frielinghaus, Martin Helmich, Lorenz Hillen, Christian Holz, Gerhard Isenberg, Andrej Mosebach, Roman Ortmann, Kevin Schmitz, Fabian Vitz, Niklas Van Teeffelen, Uwe Kemker, Georg Hackert
  • Patent number: 11397437
    Abstract: A system with a first floor processing device and a second floor processing device that is designed to orient and localize itself within an environment based on an area map. The first floor processing device is set up to detect a movement path during a movement by the first floor processing device and transmit information about the detected movement path to the second floor processing device. The second floor processing device has a control and evaluation unit that is set up to analyze the received information and, based upon the movement path detected by the first floor processing device and/or a partial area of the environment not traversed by the movement path, enter a no-go area into the area map which the second floor processing device is not allowed to traverse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: Vorwerk & Co. Interholding GmbH
    Inventors: Hans-Peter Arnold, Thomas Buening, Benjamin Fleczok, Robert Frielinghaus, Martin Helmich, Lorenz Hillen, Christian Holz, Gerhard Isenberg, Andrej Mosebach, Roman Ortmann, Kevin Schmitz, Fabian Vitz, Niklas Van Teeffelen, Uwe Kemker, Georg Hackert
  • Patent number: 11357373
    Abstract: A suction material collecting station for regenerating a filter chamber of a suction cleaner has an interface for connecting to the suction cleaner, a suction material collection container, a fan for generating a negative pressure in the suction material collection container, and an electric motor for driving the fan so that suction material contained in the filter chamber may be conveyed into the suction material collection container. The suction material collecting station has a control and evaluation unit that calculates a surroundings disturbance parameter and controls the operation of the electric motor automatically, depending on the surroundings disturbance parameter and a device parameter of the suction cleaner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Vorwerk & Co. Interholding GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Buening, Benjamin Fleczok, Robert Frielinghaus, Martin Helmich, Lorenz Hillen, Christian Holz, Gerhard Isenberg, Andrej Mosebach, Roman Ortmann, Kevin Schmitz, Fabian Vitz, Niklas Van Teeffelen, Georg Hackert
  • Patent number: 11357372
    Abstract: A vacuumed material collection station for receiving vacuumed material from a vacuum cleaning apparatus includes a vacuumed material collection container and an interface for connecting the vacuum cleaning apparatus to the vacuumed material collection station. The vacuumed material collection station comprises a receptacle space for receiving a filter chamber of a vacuum cleaning apparatus connected to the vacuumed material collection station and a feed device for feeding the filter chamber into the receptacle space. The receptacle space is designed for completely encompassing the filter chamber and/or at the most not encompassing a chamber side facing the interface with the vacuum cleaning apparatus. The receptacle space forms a partial volume within the housing of the vacuumed material collection station, and the feed device is designed for removing the filter chamber from the vacuum cleaning apparatus and displacing the filter chamber into the receptacle space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Vorwerk & Co. Interholding GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Buening, Benjamin Fleczok, Robert Frielinghaus, Martin Helmich, Lorenz Hillen, Christian Holz, Gerhard Isenberg, Andrej Mosebach, Roman Ortmann, Kevin Schmitz, Fabian Vitz, Niklas Van Teeffelen, Georg Hackert
  • Patent number: 11322948
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a system with a household appliance, a charging station and a plurality of battery units. A control of the system is configured so that a battery unit connected to the charging station can be charged in dependence on a discharge of a battery unit which is connected to the household appliance for operating the household appliance to perform a use operation. The present disclosure further concerns a household appliance and a charging station. It is thereby made possible to perform particularly long use operations with only two battery units or at least a reduced number of battery units without an interruption for charging a battery, and at the same time to achieve the longest possible service life of the battery units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Inventors: Hans-Peter Arnold, Thomas Büning, Benjamin Fleczok, Robert Frielinghaus, Martin Helmich, Lorenz Hillen, Christian Holz, Gerhard Isenberg, Andrej Mosebach, Roman Ortmann, Kevin Schmitz, Fabian Vitz, Niklas van Teeffelen, Georg Hackert
  • Patent number: 11287833
    Abstract: A floor processing device automatically moves within an environment, with a driving attachment, a floor processing unit, an obstacle detection unit, a control unit and a detection unit for detecting device parameters and/or environment parameters control unit is set up to determine an error of the floor processing device based upon the detected parameters that prevents the floor processing device from moving and/or the floor processing device from processing a surface to be processed in such a way that the floor processing device is unable to automatically extricate itself from the error situation. The control unite is set up to analyze the parameters detected by the detection unit with respect to recurring patterns that have a repeatedly encountered combination of an error and at least one chronologically preceding environment and/or device parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: Vorwerk & Co. Interholding GmbH
    Inventors: Hans-Peter Arnold, Thomas Buening, Benjamin Fleczok, Robert Frielinghaus, Martin Helmich, Lorenz Hillen, Christian Holz, Gerhard Isenberg, Andrej Mosebach, Roman Ortmann, Kevin Schmitz, Fabian Vitz, Niklas Van Teeffelen, Uwe Kemker
  • Publication number: 20200323412
    Abstract: A system has a first floor processing device guided manually by a user within an environment, a second, exclusively automatically operated floor processing device, and a computing device. The first floor processing device has a detection device for detecting a parameter of the environment and/or a surface to be processed, and the second floor processing device has a navigation device for navigating and self-localizing in the environment. In order to enable an optimal floor processing of the environment with as little assistance by the user as possible, the computing device is set up, based on the parameter detected by the detection device of the first floor processing device, to determine whether a specific partial surface area of the surface to be processed is suitable for floor processing by the second floor processing device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Publication date: October 15, 2020
    Applicant: Vorwerk & Co. Interholding GmbH
    Inventors: Hans-Peter ARNOLD, Thomas BUENING, Benjamin FLECZOK, Robert FRIELINGHAUS, Martin HELMICH, Lorenz HILLEN, Christian HOLZ, Gerhard ISENBERG, Andrej MOSEBACH, Roman ORTMANN, Kevin SCHMITZ, Fabian VITZ, Niklas VAN TEEFFELEN, Uwe KEMKER, Georg HACKERT
  • Publication number: 20200281428
    Abstract: A suction material collecting station for regenerating a filter chamber of a suction cleaner has an interface for connecting to the suction cleaner, a suction material collection container, a fan for generating a negative pressure in the suction material collection container, and an electric motor for driving the fan so that suction material contained in the filter chamber may be conveyed into the suction material collection container. The suction material collecting station has a control and evaluation unit that calculates a surroundings disturbance parameter and controls the operation of the electric motor automatically, depending on the surroundings disturbance parameter and a device parameter of the suction cleaner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2020
    Publication date: September 10, 2020
    Applicant: Vorwerk & Co. Interholding GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas BUENING, Benjamin FLECZOK, Robert FRIELINGHAUS, Martin HELMICH, Lorenz HILLEN, Christian HOLZ, Gerhard ISENBERG, Andrej MOSEBACH, Roman ORTMANN, Kevin SCHMITZ, Fabian VITZ, Niklas VAN TEEFFELEN, Georg HACKERT
  • Publication number: 20200281427
    Abstract: A vacuumed material collection station for receiving vacuumed material from a vacuum cleaning apparatus includes a vacuumed material collection container and an interface for connecting the vacuum cleaning apparatus to the vacuumed material collection station. The vacuumed material collection station comprises a receptacle space for receiving a filter chamber of a vacuum cleaning apparatus connected to the vacuumed material collection station and a feed device for feeding the filter chamber into the receptacle space. The receptacle space is designed for completely encompassing the filter chamber and/or at the most not encompassing a chamber side facing the interface with the vacuum cleaning apparatus. The receptacle space forms a partial volume within the housing of the vacuumed material collection station, and the feed device is designed for removing the filter chamber from the vacuum cleaning apparatus and displacing the filter chamber into the receptacle space.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2020
    Publication date: September 10, 2020
    Applicant: Vorwerk & Co. Interholding GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas BUENING, Benjamin FLECZOK, Robert FRIELINGHAUS, Martin HELMICH, Lorenz HILLEN, Christian HOLZ, Gerhard ISENBERG, Andrej MOSEBACH, Roman ORTMANN, Kevin SCHMITZ, Fabian VITZ, Niklas VAN TEEFFELEN, Georg HACKERT
  • Publication number: 20200251914
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a system with a household appliance, a charging station and a plurality of battery units. A control of the system is configured so that a battery unit connected to the charging station can be charged in dependence on a discharge of a battery unit which is connected to the household appliance for operating the household appliance to perform a use operation. The present disclosure further concerns a household appliance and a charging station. It is thereby made possible to perform particularly long use operations with only two battery units or at least a reduced number of battery units without an interruption for charging a battery, and at the same time to achieve the longest possible service life of the battery units.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Publication date: August 6, 2020
    Inventors: Hans-Peter Arnold, Thomas Büning, Benjamin Fleczok, Robert Frielinghaus, Martin Helmich, Lorenz Hillen, Christian Holz, Gerhard Isenberg, Andrej Mosebach, Roman Ortmann, Kevin Schmitz, Fabian Vitz, Niklas van Teeffelen, Georg Hackert
  • Publication number: 20200233428
    Abstract: A system with a first floor processing device and a second floor processing device that is designed to orient and localize itself within an environment based on an area map. The first floor processing device is set up to detect a movement path during a movement by the first floor processing device and transmit information about the detected movement path to the second floor processing device. The second floor processing device has a control and evaluation unit that is set up to analyze the received information and, based upon the movement path detected by the first floor processing device and/or a partial area of the environment not traversed by the movement path, enter a no-go area into the area map which the second floor processing device is not allowed to traverse.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 17, 2020
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Applicant: Vorwerk & Co. Interholding GmbH
    Inventors: Hans-Peter ARNOLD, Thomas BUENING, Benjamin FLECZOK, Robert FRIELINGHAUS, Martin HELMICH, Lorenz HILLEN, Christian HOLZ, Gerhard ISENBERG, Andrej MOSEBACH, Roman ORTMANN, Kevin SCHMITZ, Fabian VITZ, Niklas VAN TEEFFELEN, Uwe KEMKER, Georg HACKERT
  • Publication number: 20200229669
    Abstract: The invention pertains to a system consisting of a first floor treatment apparatus that is exclusively guided manually within an environment by a user and a second floor treatment apparatus that is exclusively operated automatically, wherein the second floor treatment apparatus is designed for orienting and localizing itself within an environment. The first floor treatment apparatus is designed for detecting a movement path of the first floor treatment apparatus during a movement of the first floor treatment apparatus that is manually guided by a user, as well as for transmitting information on the detected movement path to the second floor treatment apparatus by wireless communication. The second floor treatment apparatus is designed for receiving the information and for autonomously traveling along the movement path within the environment based on the received information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 14, 2020
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Applicant: Vorwerk & Co. Interholding GmbH
    Inventors: Hans-Peter Arnold, Thomas Buening, Benjamin Fleczok, Robert Frielinghaus, Martin Helmich, Lorenz Hillen, Christian Holz, Gerhard Isenberg, Andrej Mosebach, Roman Ortmann, Kevin Schmitz, Fabian Vitz, Niklas Van Teeffelen, Uwe Kemker, Georg Hackert
  • Publication number: 20200064858
    Abstract: A floor processing device automatically moves within an environment, with a driving attachment, a floor processing unit, an obstacle detection unit, a control unit and a detection unit for detecting device parameters and/or environment parameters control unit is set up to determine an error of the floor processing device based upon the detected parameters that prevents the floor processing device from moving and/or the floor processing device from processing a surface to be processed in such a way that the floor processing device is unable to automatically extricate itself from the error situation. The control unite is set up to analyze the parameters detected by the detection unit with respect to recurring patterns that have a repeatedly encountered combination of an error and at least one chronologically preceding environment and/or device parameter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2019
    Publication date: February 27, 2020
    Applicant: Vorwerk & Co. Interholding GmbH
    Inventors: Hans-Peter ARNOLD, Thomas BUENING, Benjamin FLECZOK, Robert FRIELINGHAUS, Martin HELMICH, Lorenz HILLEN, Christian HOLZ, Gerhard ISENBERG, Andrej MOSEBACH, Roman ORTMANN, Kevin SCHMITZ, Fabian VITZ, Niklas VAN TEEFFELEN, Uwe KEMKER
  • Patent number: 9656106
    Abstract: The invention relates to an emergency oxygen supply device for aircraft inhabitants, comprising a container, wherein an oxygen mask is positioned inside said container, a releasable cover and a latch mechanism comprising a latch locking said cover lid. According to the invention said latch mechanism comprises a permanent magnet interacting with a magnetisable element an exerting a magnetic holding force onto said magnetisable element to hold said latch in a locking position, wherein a solenoid is positioned adjacent to the permanent magnet, said solenoid being connected to a control unit said control unit being adapted to receive an opening signal and to provide a current flowing through said solenoid in response to such opening signal, wherein said solenoid is arranged and dimensioned such that the current flowing through said solenoid reduces said magnetic holding force to such a level that the latch is released in a n unlocking position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: Zodiac Aerotechnics
    Inventors: Marco Hollm, Hasso Weinmann, Andreas Westphal, Wolfgang Rittner, Rüdiger Meckes, Frederik Hoffmann, Romain Ducos, Günter Boomgaarden, Benjamin Fleczok
  • Publication number: 20150000668
    Abstract: The invention relates to an emergency oxygen supply device for aircraft inhabitants, comprising a container, wherein an oxygen mask is positioned inside said container, a releasable cover and a latch mechanism comprising a latch locking said cover lid. According to the invention said latch mechanism comprises a permanent magnet interacting with a magnetisable element an exerting a magnetic holding force onto said magnetisable element to hold said latch in a locking position, wherein a solenoid is positioned adjacent to the permanent magnet, said solenoid being connected to a control unit said control unit being adapted to receive an opening signal and to provide a current flowing through said solenoid in response to such opening signal, wherein said solenoid is arranged and dimensioned such that the current flowing through said solenoid reduces said magnetic holding force to such a level that the latch is released in a n unlocking position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2013
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Inventors: Marco Hollm, Hasso Weinmann, Andreas Westphal, Wolfgang Rittner, Rüdiger Meckes, Frederik Hoffman, Romain Ducos, Günter Boomgaarden, Benjamin Fleczok