Systems and methods for operating drones in response to an incident

• US 10,137,984 B1
• Filed: 08/12/2016
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Flick, Bryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Figueroa, Jaime
• Application Number:
  US15/236,192
• Time in Patent Office: 837 Days
• Field of Search: 701 1, 701 3
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/00 Equipment not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 1/00 Ground or aircraft-carrier-deck installations specially adapted for captive aircraft B64F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/00 UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/26 for manufacturing, inspections or repairs
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/00 UAVs characterised by their flight controls
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/10 autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/00 Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00 measuring distance traversed on the ground by a vehicle G01C22/00; control of position, course, altitude or attitude of vehicles G05D1/00; traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/101 specially adapted for aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/102 specially adapted for vertical take-off of aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/106 Change initiated in response to external conditions, e.g. avoidance of elevated terrain or of no-fly zones
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/13 Satellite images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/17 taken from planes or by drones
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0056 in an emergency situation, e.g. hijacking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/006 in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 : specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0086 : for monitoring terrain radar or analogous systems specially adapted for terrain avoidance G01S13/935
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/045 : Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. determination of anti-collision manoeuvers radar or analogous systems specially adapted for anti-collision between aircraft G01S13/933
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 : specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A response drone for detecting incidents within a coverage area including multiple zones is provided. With customer permission or affirmative consent, the drone may be programmed to (1) detect (or receive an indication of) triggering activity associated with one of the zones; (2) determine or receive a navigation path to that zone; (3) travel to that zone based upon the determined navigation path; (4) collect sensor data using drone-mounted sensors; and (5) transmit the collected sensor data to a user computing device associated with the coverage area for review. The response drone may be an autonomous drone in wireless communication with a smart home controller that detects triggering activity associated with an insurance-related event (e.g., fire). The autonomous drone may automatically deploy to mitigate damage to insured assets (e.g., a home or personal belongings). The autonomous drone data may be used for subsequent insurance claim handling and/or damage estimation.

Claims

1. A response drone for detecting incidents within a coverage area including a plurality of zones, the response drone comprising a processor, a memory in communication with the processor, and a sensor, wherein the processor is programmed to:

detect a triggering activity associated with a first zone of the plurality of zones;

determine a navigation path to the first zone;

travel to the first zone based upon the determined navigation path;

collect sensor data using the sensor at the first zone;

detect items located within the first zone and associate each of the detected items with an identifier and a location within the first zone;

compare the detected items to a virtual inventory stored in the memory of items within the first zone;

identify a difference between the detected items and the stored items of the virtual inventory;

tag a point of interest within the first zone based upon a stored location of the difference by associating an identifier and a location with the point of interest and storing the identifier and the location within the memory;

trigger an insurance event based upon the tagged point of interest; and

transmit an alert to a user computing device associated with a user to notify the user of the triggered insurance event, wherein the alert includes the collected sensor data with the tagged point of interest.

2. The response drone of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to transmit the collected sensor data with the tagged point of interest to an insurance computing device associated with an insurance provider.

3. The response drone of claim 1, wherein the point of interest is associated with an incident causing at least one of damage and theft within the first zone.

4. The response drone of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

receive navigation data from a navigation system in communication with the response drone;

update the navigation path based upon the navigation data; and

travel to the first zone based upon the updated navigation path.

5. The response drone of claim 1 further comprising an object detector configured to detect obstacles within a predetermined radius of the response drone, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

determine an obstacle detected by the object detector is blocking the navigation path;

adjust the navigation path to avoid the detected obstacle; and

travel to the first zone based upon the adjusted navigation path.

6. The response drone of claim 1, wherein the sensor data includes at least one of image data, video data, thermal image data, positioning data, temperature data, time data, moisture data, smoke data, luminosity data, radiation data, motion data, pressure data, and audio data.

7. The response drone of claim 1, wherein the triggering activity includes at least one of a deployment request, an expiration of a predetermined period of time, and sensor data collected by the sensor, the sensor data including a trigger characteristic.

8. The response drone of claim 7, wherein the deployment request is received from at least one of the user computing device and a security system associated with the coverage area.

9. The response drone of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to receive a control input from the user computing device, the control input causing the response drone to perform at least one of traveling through the coverage area and collecting the sensor data based upon the control input.

10. The response drone of claim 9 further comprising a response device configured to activate in response to a second control input received from the user computing device, the response device including at least one of a flashlight, a speaker, an alarm, a fire extinguisher, a chemical device, and a tagging device.

11. The response drone of claim 1, wherein the coverage area includes an interior of a building.

12. The response drone of claim 10, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

retrieve a map of the coverage area from the memory; and

determine the navigation path based, at least in part, on the map of the coverage area.

13. The response drone of claim 1, wherein the coverage area includes a plurality of properties, wherein each property of the plurality of properties is a zone of the plurality of zones.

19. The response drone of claim 1, wherein the insurance event includes at least one of generating an insurance claim, calculating an insurance estimate, and calculating a repair cost of the tagged point of interest.

14. A computer-based method for detecting incidents within a coverage area including a plurality of zones, said method comprising:

detecting, by a response drone, a triggering activity associated with a first zone of the plurality of zones;

determining a navigation path to the first zone;

traveling, by the response drone, to the first zone based upon the determined navigation path;

collecting, by the response drone, sensor data using a sensor at the first zone;

detecting items located within the first zone and associating each of the detected items with an identifier and a location within the first zone;

comparing the detected items to a virtual inventory stored in the memory of items within the first zone;

identifying a difference between the detected items and the stored items of the virtual inventory;

tagging a point of interest within the first zone based upon a stored location of the difference by associating an identifier and a location with the point of interest and storing the identifier and the location within the memory;

triggering an insurance event based upon the tagged point of interest; and

transmitting an alert to a user computing device associated with a user to notify the user of the triggered insurance event, wherein the alert includes the collected sensor data with the tagged point of interest.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

transmitting, by the response drone, the collected sensor data with the tagged point of interest to an insurance computing device associated with an insurance provider.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the point of interest is associated with an incident causing at least one of damage and theft within the first zone.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein traveling to the first zone further comprises:

receiving, by the response drone, navigation data from a navigation system in communication with the response drone;

updating the navigation path based upon the navigation data; and

traveling, by the response drone, to the first zone based upon the updated navigation path.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein traveling to the first zone further comprises:

receiving, by the response drone, information from an object detector indicating an object is within a predetermined radius of the response drone;

determining an obstacle is blocking the navigation path;

adjusting the navigation path to avoid the obstacle; and

traveling, by the response drone, to the first zone based upon the adjusted navigation path.