Systems and methods for unmanned vehicle management

• US 10,102,590 B1
• Filed: 10/02/2015
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Original Assignee: United Services Automobile Association
• Inventors: Farnsworth, Anthony Scott, Haslam, Justin Dax, Swain, Kathleen L., Voutour, Teddy Joseph Edmond, Gingrich, Jess W., Allen, Michael J., Castiglione, Anthony G., Newmark, Jordan A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trotter, Scott S
• Application Number:
  US14/873,810
• Time in Patent Office: 1,110 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G09C 5/00 Ciphering apparatus or methods not provided for in the preceding groups, e.g. involving the concealment or deformation of graphic data such as designs, written or printed messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/84 Vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/08 Key distribution or management, e.g. generation, sharing or updating, of cryptographic keys or passwords network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting key management in a packet data network H04L63/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0825 using asymmetric-key encryption or public key infrastructure [PKI], e.g. key signature or public key certificates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083

Abstract

This disclosure relates to gathering, storing, analyzing and distributing data acquired by unmanned vehicles after catastrophes. The vehicles can be terrestrial, aerial, nautical, or multi-mode. The gathering phase of the process may being by receiving requests from the interested consumers as to the type of information desired, and this information is used to determine and/or configure the mission. The storage phase may include pre-processing data during the mission, and optionally storing the data in a cloud network. The analysis phase may be performed vehicle-side, server-side, or a combination thereof.

Claims

1. A computerized method of managing vehicle deployment and operations, the method comprising:

identifying at least one property about which to gather information;

deploying a vehicle to a location associated with the at least one property;

gathering data, by the deployed vehicle;

determining a portion of the gathered data associated with the at least one property; and

encrypting the determined portion of the gathered data.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising identifying a company related to the at least one property;

and

wherein the encrypting the determined portion of the gathered data comprises encrypting the determined portion using an encryption key associated with the company.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle comprises an unmanned vehicle with flying capabilities.

4. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving, from the vehicle, imagery associated with a navigation of the vehicle to the location associated with the at least one property; and

determining a navigational path based on the imagery.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the gathering data comprises:

capturing a first image of the at least one property; and

receiving a second image of the at least one property, wherein the second image was captured before the first image was captured; and

the method further comprising comparing the first and second image to;

identify a structure in the first image; and

identify a part of the structure in the second image, wherein identifying the part of the structure in the second image is based at least in part on identifying the structure in the first image.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the gathering data comprises capturing a first image of the at least one property;

and

the method further comprising analyzing the first image to determine that a supplemental image should be gathered.

7. The method of claim 6, the method further comprising, based on determining that the supplemental image should be gathered, sending a request, from the vehicle to a second vehicle, to gather the supplemental image.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the gathering data comprises capturing a first image of the at least one property;

and

the method further comprising;

identifying an amount of available data storage space on the vehicle; and

deleting the first image without saving it based on the amount of vehicle'"'"'s available data storage space being less than a predetermined threshold.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the amount of available data storage space is based at least in part on an amount of available data storage space allocated for a company associated with the at least one property.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the gathering data comprises capturing a first image of the at least one property;

and

the method further comprising;

identifying an amount of available communication bandwidth; and

based on the amount of vehicle'"'"'s data storage space being less than a predetermined threshold, deleting the first image without the vehicle communicating the first image.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the amount of available communication bandwidth is based at least in part on an amount of available communication bandwidth allocated for a company associated with the at least one property.

12. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising transmitting, by the vehicle and to an access device associated with the at least one property, an access code, wherein the access device is configured to enable access to a structure on the at least one property based on receiving the access code.

13. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising transmitting, based on the gathered data and to a computing device associated with the at least one property, an indication of a gas leak associated with the at least one property.

14. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising receiving an indication of a heat distribution for the at least one property structure.

15. The method of claim 14, the method further comprising in response to the receiving the indication of the heat distribution, capturing a thermal scan of the structure.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the data comprises image data;

and

wherein the determining the portion of the gathered data associated with the at least one property comprises determining a portion of the image data comprising an image of the at least one property.

17. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising storing the determined portion of the gathered data to a first storage location and another portion of the gathered data to a second storage location different than the first storage location.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the portion of the gathered data associated with the at least one property comprises comparing the gathered data to data gathered at an earlier time.

19. A computerized method of managing vehicle deployment and operations, the method comprising:

identifying at least one property about which to gather information;

deploying a vehicle to a location associated with the at least one property;

requesting, by the vehicle and from a computing device that manages, at least in part, a structure on the at least one property, access to the structure;

responsive to being allowed access to the structure, gathering data associated with the at least one property;

determining a portion of the gathered data associated with the structure; and

storing the determined portion of the gathered data at a first storage location and another portion of the gathered data at a second storage location different than the first storage location.

20. The method of claim 19, the method further comprising receiving a communication from the computing device that includes information describing a heat distribution for the structure.

21. The method of claim 20, the method further comprising, in response to the receiving the communication describing the heat distribution for the structure, the vehicle capturing a thermal scan of the structure.

22. The method of claim 19, the method further comprising encrypting the determined portion of the gathered data, wherein the another portion of the gathered data is not encrypted;

and

wherein the storing the determined portion of the gathered data at the first storage location comprises storing the encrypted determined portion of the gathered data at the first storage location.

23. A computerized method of managing vehicle deployment and operations, the method comprising:

identifying at least one property about which to gather information;

deploying a vehicle to a location associated with the at least one property;

gathering data, by the deployed vehicle;

determining a portion of the gathered data associated with the at least one property; and

storing the determined portion in a first storage location and another portion of the gathered data in a second storage location different from the first storage location.