Patent ID: 7599758

Claim:
A vacuum cleaner, including: a housing; a height adjust mechanism disposed on the housing; a height adjust motor, disposed within said housing, that controls a height of the height adjust mechanism; a position element mounted to said housing that allows a user to select a particular height for the height adjust mechanism; a floor distance sensor, disposed within said housing that emits light energy toward a floor surface and detects light energy reflected by the floor surface; a sensor processor, mounted to said housing, in communication with the position element and the floor distance sensor to provide a signal that relates to a position of the height adjust mechanism based at least in part upon data received from the position element or by comparing the light energy detected by a floor distance sensor to a predetermined threshold; a controller processor, mounted to said housing, in communication with the sensor processor for selectively controlling a height of the height adjust mechanism relative to the floor surface on which the vacuum cleaner is positioned based at least in part upon data received from the position element or the floor distance sensor; a height adjust motor controller, in communication with the controller processor, that drives the height adjust motor to locate the height adjust mechanism in an appropriate position relative to the subjacent surface; and an encoder coupled to the height adjust motor that provides the location of the height adjust mechanism to the height adjust motor controller.