Device that controls flight altitude of unmanned aerial vehicle

• US 10,322,804 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2018
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Maekawa, Hajime
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, McDieunel
• Application Number:
  US16/013,187
• Publication Number:
  US 20180312256A1
• Time in Patent Office: 363 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/10 Rotorcrafts
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/14 with four distinct rotor axes, e.g. quadcopters
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0094 involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/042 specially adapted for aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming

Abstract

A device controls a movement direction of an unmanned aerial vehicle having mounted thereon an imaging device that captures an image. The device includes one or more memories and a processor which, in operation, recognizes, as a plurality of markers, a plurality of objects from the image captured by the imaging device, each of the plurality of markers attached to one of the plurality of objects. The processor further calculates an area of a polygon formed by the plurality of markers, and controls the movement direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle such that the area of the polygon is maximized.

Claims

1. A device that controls a movement direction of an unmanned aerial vehicle having mounted thereon an imaging device that captures an image, the device comprising:

one or more memories; and

a processor which, in operation,

recognizes, as a plurality of markers, a plurality of objects from the image captured by the imaging device, each of the plurality of markers attached to one of the plurality of objects,

calculates an area of a polygon formed by the plurality of markers, and

controls the movement direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle such that the area of the polygon is maximized.

2. The device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a memory that stores a number of the markers to be recognized by the processor, as a registered marker number,

wherein the processor

compares the number of the plurality of markers and the registered marker number,

when the number of the plurality of markers is less than the registered marker number, controls the movement direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle such that the unmanned aerial vehicle moves away from the plurality of markers.

3. The device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a memory that stores a number of the markers to be recognized by the processor, as a registered marker number,

wherein the processor

compares the number of the plurality of markers and the registered marker number,

when the number of the plurality of markers matches the registered marker number, controls the movement direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle such that the unmanned aerial vehicle moves toward the plurality of markers.

4. The device according to claim 2,

wherein the imaging device includes a zoom imaging device capable of a zoom operation, and

the processor,

recognizes the plurality of objects as the plurality of markers, from the image captured by the imaging device,

calculates, the area of the polygon formed by the plurality of markers recognized, and

controls a zoom ratio of the zoom imaging device such that the area is maximized.

5. The device according to claim 4,

wherein, when the number of the plurality of markers recognized is less than the registered marker number, the processor controls the zoom imaging device in such a way that the zoom imaging device zooms out.

6. The device according to claim 5,

wherein, when the zoom imaging device cannot zoom out, the processor maintains the present zoom ratio of the zoom imaging device, and controls the movement direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle such that the unmanned aerial vehicle moves away from the plurality of markers.

7. The device according to claim 4,

wherein, when the number of the plurality of markers recognized matches the registered marker number, and the area is smaller than the area previously calculated, the processor controls the zoom imaging device such that the zoom imaging device zooms in.

8. The device according to claim 7,

wherein, when the zoom imaging device cannot zoom in, the processor maintains the present zoom ratio of the zoom imaging device, and controls the movement direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle such that the unmanned aerial vehicle moves toward the plurality of markers.

9. The device according to claim 8,

wherein the processor

acquires, as a plurality of recognition-subject markers, a plurality of objects selected by a user from among the plurality of objects,

recognizes the plurality of recognition-subject markers as the plurality of markers, from the image captured by the imaging device, and

calculates the area of the polygon formed by the plurality of recognition-subject markers.

10. The device according to claim 9,

wherein the processor acquires, as the plurality of recognition-subject markers, the plurality of markers selected by the user from among the plurality of markers, which are displayed superimposed on the image captured by the imaging device.

11. An unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:

an imaging device that captures an image; and

a processor which, in operation,

recognizes, as a plurality of markers, a plurality of objects from the image captured by the imaging device, each of the plurality of markers attached to one of the plurality of objects,

calculates an area of a polygon formed by the plurality of markers, and

controls a movement direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle such that the area of the polygon is maximized.

12. A method, comprising:

recognizing, as a plurality of markers, a plurality of objects from an image captured by an imaging device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle, each of the plurality of markers attached to one of the plurality of objects;

calculating, by a processor, an area of a polygon formed by the plurality of markers; and

controlling a movement direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle such that the area of the polygon is maximized.

13. A computer-readable non-transitory recording medium having recorded thereon a program that controls an unmanned aerial vehicle having mounted thereon an imaging device that captures an image,

wherein the program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to execute operations including:

recognizing, as a plurality of markers, a plurality of objects from the image captured by the imaging device, each of the plurality of markers attached to one of the plurality of objects;

calculating an area of a polygon formed by the plurality of markers; and

controlling a movement direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle such that the area of the polygon is maximized.