Systems and methods for unmanned vehicle management

• US 10,365,646 B1
• Filed: 01/27/2016
• Issued: 07/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2015
• 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): Sood, Anshul
• Application Number:
  US15/008,043
• Time in Patent Office: 1,280 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/00 Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0055 with safety arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0094 involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083

Abstract

Unmanned vehicles can be terrestrial, aerial, nautical, or multi-mode. Unmanned vehicles may be used to survey a property in response to or in anticipation of damage to the property. For example, an unmanned vehicle may analyze information about the property and based on the information mitigate damage to the property.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, the memory having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

receiving, from at least one unmanned vehicle, information regarding a location, wherein the information comprises sensor information gathered by at least one sensor of the at least one unmanned vehicle;

determining, based on the information regarding the location, damage at the location;

determining an object or substance configured to mitigate further damage to the location, wherein the object or substance comprises a tarp; and

causing the unmanned vehicle to place the object or the substance at the location, wherein the object or the substance is not the unmanned vehicle.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the damage at the location comprises determining damage to mitigate at the location.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the causing the unmanned vehicle to place the object or the substance at the location comprises transmitting, to the unmanned vehicle, instructions to place the object or the substance at the location.

4. The device of claim 1, further comprising causing the unmanned vehicle to deploy to the location.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is located on the at least one unmanned vehicle.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein damage is associated with a flow of gas.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the damage is caused by a flow of water.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting an alert associated with the damage.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the information comprises an indication of a weather event associated with the location.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the information comprises a map associated with the location.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the information comprises an indication of a weather event associated with the location.

12. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, information regarding a location;

determining, by the computing device and based on the information regarding the location, damage caused by a liquid or gas leak at the location;

determining an object or substance configured to mitigate further damage to the location; and

deploying an unmanned vehicle to the location, wherein the unmanned vehicle has instructions to place the object or the substance at the location, wherein the object or the substance is not the unmanned vehicle and is configured to stop the leak.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the deploying the unmanned vehicle to the location comprises transmitting, to the unmanned vehicle, navigation information associated with the location.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to gather data associated with the damage.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the damage is associated with a flow of water.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the damage is associated with a flow of electric charge.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the information comprises an indication of a weather event associated with the location.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the information comprises a map associated with the location.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the damage is associated with fire.

20. An unmanned vehicle comprising:

a sensor;

a processor in communication with the sensor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, the memory having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

analyzing information regarding a location, wherein the information comprises sensor information gathered by the sensor;

based on at least a portion of the analyzed information, determining damage at the location;

determining an object or substance configured to mitigate further damage to the location; and

placing the object or the substance at the location, wherein the object or the substance is not the unmanned vehicle and is configured to stop a leak.

21. The unmanned vehicle of claim 20, wherein the damage is associated with gas.

22. The unmanned vehicle of claim 20, wherein the damage is associated with electricity.

23. The unmanned vehicle of claim 20, wherein the information comprises an indication of a weather event associated with the location.

24. The unmanned vehicle of claim 20, wherein the damage is associated with fire.

25. The unmanned vehicle of claim 20, wherein the analyzing the information regarding the location further comprises analyzing data received from a computing device at the location and external to the unmanned vehicle.