Flight plan implementation, generation, and management for aerial devices

• US 10,304,343 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2017
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Corp.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mustafic, Damir, Peitzer, Haywood S., Wolters, II, James A., Walsh, Matthew, Becker, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Hilgendorf, Dale W
• Application Number:
  US15/442,550
• Publication Number:
  US 20180247544A1
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/64 for parcel delivery or retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0043 Traffic management of multiple aircrafts from the ground G08G5/003 takes precedence; data processing specially designed for resource management, e.g. scheduling or allocating time, human or machine resources G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0086 for monitoring terrain radar or analogous systems specially adapted for terrain avoidance G01S13/935
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0091 for monitoring atmospheric conditions radar or analogous systems specially adapted for meteorological use G01S13/95; meteorology G01W
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0061 of neighbour cell information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/008375 based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00

Abstract

Example methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture (e.g., physical storage media) to facilitate flight plan implementation, generation, and management are disclosed. An example method includes receiving flight plan information including a flight route and a listing of base stations, connecting to a first base station on the listing, determining a first transition point between the first base station and a second base station on the listing based on the flight route, determining whether the first transition point has been reached, maintaining the connection with the first base station when the first transition point has not been reached, transitioning the connection from the first base station to the second base station when the first transition point has been reached, and/or dropping signals received from base stations not on the listing.

Claims

1. A method to facilitate aerial navigation of a device, the method comprising:

receiving, by the device, flight plan information comprising a flight route and a listing of base stations along the flight route;

connecting to a first base station on the listing of base stations, wherein at least one base station on the listing of base stations is associated with a priority level, wherein a flight of the device is based at least in part on the priority level;

determining a first transition point between the first base station and a second base station on the listing of base stations based on the flight route;

during the flight of the device;

determining whether the first transition point has been reached;

maintaining the connection with the first base station when the first transition point has not been reached;

transitioning the connection from the first base station to the second base station when the first transition point has been reached; and

dropping, by the device, signals received from base stations not on the listing of base stations.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring the device to not connect to base stations not on the listing of base stations.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a second transition point between the second base station and a third base station on the listing of base stations based on the flight route; and

during the flight of the device;

maintaining the connection with the second base station when the second transition point has not been reached; and

transitioning the connection from the second base station to the third base station when the second transition point has been reached.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of the first transition point or the second transition point is received as part of the flight plan information, and wherein the flight plan information comprises a position of at least one base station on the listing of base stations.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a first signal and a second signal when the first transition point has not been reached, wherein the second signal is received with a higher signal strength than the first signal;

determining that the first signal is from the first base station;

determining that the second signal is from a third base station; and

dropping the second signal when the third base station is not on the listing of base stations.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a first signal and a second signal, wherein the second signal is received with a higher signal strength than the first signal;

determining that the first signal is from the first base station;

determining that the second signal is from the second base station; and

dropping the second signal when the first transition point has not been reached.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the maintaining the connection comprises pointing a directional antenna of the device at the first base station;

the transitioning the connection comprises transitioning the directional antenna from pointing at the first base station to pointing at the second base station; and

the device comprises an unmanned aerial vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that a base station is not on the listing of base stations based on an least one identifier contained in a signal received from the base station.

9. A device, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving flight plan information comprising information indicative of a flight route and a plurality of base stations along the flight route, wherein a flight of the device over the flight route is based at least in part on a priority level associated with at least one of a plurality of blocks of a grid representing the flight route;

connecting to a first base station of the plurality of base stations;

during the flight of the device over the flight route;

determining whether to transition the connection based on at least one of a position of the device along the flight route or signal strengths associated with signals received from the first base station and a second base station of the plurality of base stations;

maintaining the connection with the first base station when the determination is to not transition the connection;

transitioning the connection from the first base station to the second base station when the determination is to transition the connection; and

dropping signals received from base stations not among the plurality of base stations.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the flight plan information comprises a position of each of the plurality of base stations, obstacle information, weather information, and/or emergency broadcast information.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that an end of the flight route has been reached, wherein the flight route is based on a starting point and a destination point; and

navigating a distance between the end of the flight route and the destination point based at least on broadcast messages received from one or more base stations, wherein the broadcast messages comprise obstacle information.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein each of the broadcast messages comprises at least one of a master information block (MIB) message or a system information block (SIB) message.

13. The device of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting a request to adjust the flight route based on information detected by onboard sensors of the device;

receiving an authorization to adjust the flight route based on the request; and

adjusting the flight route upon receiving the authorization.

14. The device of claim 9, wherein:

the grid comprises a three-dimensional grid.

15. The device of claim 9, wherein at least one of the plurality of base stations is associated with a priority level, and wherein the flight of the device is based at least in part on the priority level associated with the at least one of the plurality of base stations.

16. A tangible machine readable storage medium including machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause one or more processors of a device to perform operations comprising:

receiving information associated with a starting point and a destination point;

identifying a plurality of base stations associated with a geographic region encompassing the starting point and the destination point;

generating flight plan information comprising a flight rout;

a listing of base stations along the flight route, and information indicative of a respective priority level associated with at least one of a plurality of blocks of a grid representing the geographic region associated with the flight route, wherein the flight plan information is based at least on the starting point, the destination point, and air traffic information associated with the plurality of base stations, wherein the listing of base stations comprises a subset of the plurality of base stations selected based at least on the air traffic information, and wherein at least one base station on the listing of base stations is associated with a priority level; and

transmitting the flight plan information.

17. The tangible machine readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

retrieving the air traffic information from the plurality of base stations; and

obtaining geographic information associated with the geographic region,

wherein;

the flight plan information is further based on the geographic information, and

the air traffic information comprises information indicative of a respective utilization rate of at least one of the plurality of base stations.

18. The tangible machine readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an indication of a change in geographic information associated with the geographic region;

generating adjusted flight plan information based on the change in the geographic information; and

transmitting the adjusted flight plan information.

19. The tangible machine readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating the grid that represents the geographic region; and

associating each of the plurality of blocks with a respective priority level,

wherein;

the flight route encompasses a subset of the plurality of blocks.