Systems and methods for automatic route re-determination for an unmanned aerial vehicle

• US 10,319,030 B1
• Filed: 11/09/2018
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Capital One Services LLC (Capital One Financial Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Capital One Services LLC (Capital One Financial Corporation)
• Inventors: Park, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Khoi H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peche, Jorge O
• Application Number:
  US16/185,642
• Time in Patent Office: 214 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 1/22 Other structures integral with fuselages to facilitate loading , e.g. cargo bays, cranes
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/60 for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/64 for parcel delivery or retrieval
• 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: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/005 with correlation of navigation data from several sources, e.g. map or contour matching G01C21/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/07 for weighing aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/12 having electrical weight-sensitive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0202 specially adapted to aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08355 Routing methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• 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 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for automatically re-routing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In one implementation, a system for automatically re-routing a UAV includes at least one processor configured to: retrieve a plurality of requests to deposit currency using the UAV, generate a first route including at least two of the requests such that an associated expected total amount of currency is less than a depository threshold; transmit the first route to the UAV; receive, from the UAV, an indication that an amount of currency collected at a location is greater than an amount of currency included in the request associated with the location; revise the expected total amount accordingly; when the revised expected total amount exceeds the depository threshold, generate a second route having an associated expected total amount below the depository threshold; and transmit the second route to the UAV to override the first route.

Claims

1. A system for automatically re-routing an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:

at least one memory storing instructions; and

at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising;

retrieving a plurality of requests to deposit currency using the unmanned aerial vehicle;

generating a first route including at least two of the plurality of requests such that an associated expected total amount of currency is less than a depository threshold;

transmitting the first route to the unmanned aerial vehicle;

receiving, from the unmanned aerial vehicle, an indication that an amount of currency collected at a location associated with one of the at least two requests is greater than an amount of currency included in the request associated with the location;

revising the expected total amount of currency associated with the first route in accordance with the received indication;

when the revised expected total amount of currency exceeds the depository threshold, generating a second route having an associated expected total amount of currency below the depository threshold; and

transmitting the second route to the unmanned aerial vehicle to override the first route.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the second route includes a stop at a depository location prior to stopping at locations included in the first route but not yet visited by the unmanned aerial vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first route and the second route is generated using at least one of Dijkstra'"'"'s algorithm, a Bellman-Ford algorithm, an A* search algorithm, a Floyd-Warshall algorithm, Johnson'"'"'s algorithm, or a Viterbi algorithm.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein at least one of the first route and the second route comprise a shortest path.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving the plurality of requests over a computer network from a plurality of devices associated with customers and storing the received plurality of requests in a storage device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein retrieving the plurality of requests comprises extracting the plurality of requests from a storage device storing the plurality of requests previously received from a plurality of devices associated with customers.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmitted first route comprises a series of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates defining a path for the unmanned aerial vehicle.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmitted second route comprises a series of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates defining a path for the unmanned aerial vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise monitoring global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of a current location of the unmanned aerial vehicle during traversal of the first route.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise requesting an indication of an amount of currency collected at a location associated with one of the at least two requests when the GPS coordinates are within a distance threshold of the location.

11. An unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:

at least one rotor having an associated control system;

at least one memory storing instructions; and

at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising;

receiving a first route including a plurality of requests to deposit currency with the unmanned aerial vehicle, each request having an associated location along the first route and an associated amount of currency;

using the associated control system, navigating along the first route using the at least one rotor;

receiving, from at least one sensor of the unmanned aerial vehicle, an indication that an amount of currency deposited at one of the associated locations is greater than the associated amount of currency;

in response to the indication, receiving a second route including a subset of the plurality of requests; and

using the associated control system, navigating along the second route using the at least one rotor.

12. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 11, wherein the at least one rotor comprises a part of an electric motor.

13. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 11, wherein the at least one rotor comprises a part of a fuel combustion engine.

14. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 11, wherein the at least one rotor drives at least one propeller of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

15. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 11, wherein the associated control system includes a navigational system comprises a global positioning system (GPS) component and a communications interface configured to receive the first route and the second route.

16. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one scale configured to measure weight of currency deposited on the unmanned aerial vehicle.

17. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 16, wherein the indication comprises a weight from the at least one scale heavier than an expected weight corresponding to the associated amount of currency.

18. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one of a bill counter and a coin counter.

19. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 11, wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle further comprises a locked storage configured to receive currency deposited on the unmanned aerial vehicle.

20. A system for automatically re-routing an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:

at least one memory storing instructions; and

at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising;

retrieving a plurality of requests to deposit currency with the unmanned aerial vehicle, each request having an associated location and an associated amount of currency;

generating a first route including at least two of the plurality of requests;

transmitting the first route to the unmanned aerial vehicle;

monitoring a location of the unmanned aerial vehicle along the first route;

when the unmanned aerial vehicle is within a location threshold of an associated location of one of the at least two of the plurality of requests, requesting an indication of an amount of currency deposited from the unmanned aerial vehicle;

in response to the request, receiving, from the unmanned aerial vehicle, an indication of the amount of currency deposited;

when the indication of the amount of currency deposited is greater than the amount of currency associated with the location, determining whether a difference between the amount of currency deposited and the amount of currency associated with the location exceeds a depository threshold;

when the difference exceeds the depository threshold, generating a second route including fewer requests than the first route; and

transmitting the second route to the unmanned aerial vehicle to override the first route.