Remotely-controlled device control system, device and method

• US 10,423,156 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2017
• Issued: 09/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aatonomy Inc.
• Original Assignee: Aatonomy Inc.
• Inventors: Pulling, Ronald Wilson, Hu, Yang
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanglaude, Gertrude Arthur
• Application Number:
  US15/808,886
• Publication Number:
  US 20180164806A1
• Time in Patent Office: 684 Days
• Field of Search: 701 2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/01 Satellite radio beacon positioning systems transmitting time-stamped messages, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System], GLONASS [Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System] or GALILEO
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• 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: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

A system, device, and method for controlling a remotely-controlled device are disclosed. The remotely-controlled device control system could include one or more remotely-controlled devices; a controller comprised of a data collection module, at least one active module, at least one module description file (MDF), a robot description file (RDF) for each remotely-controlled device, and a processing unit (PU); at least one data source, and a marketplace. The PU may be configured to receive at least one active module; receive, for each received active module, input data of its associated MDF provided by the data collection module; generate, for each received active module, output data as a function of to the input data received by the processing unit, and provide the output data to a destination system.

Claims

1. A system for controlling a remotely-controlled device, comprising:

a marketplace having at least one available module and at least one available module description file (MDF);

a plurality of input data sources;

at least one remotely-controlled device;

at least one active module and at least one active MDF, where

each active MDF is associated with one active module and includes identification data representative of;

at least one input required by its associated active module; and

a source identification of at least one input data source of the plurality of input data sources for the at least one input required by its associated active module, where

each available module and each active module are defined as being processor-executable code of an operation of the at least one remotely-controlled device; and

a processing unit comprised of at least one processor coupled to a processor-readable medium storing processor-executable code of the at least one active module, the processing unit being configured to;

receive the at least one active module;

receive, for each received active module, input data representative of the at least one input required by its associated MDF;

generate output data as a function of at least the input data; and

provide the output data to a destination system, whereby

an operation of the at least one remotely-controlled device is responsive to the output data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one remotely-controlled device comprises a fleet of remotely-controlled devices.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a description file associated with one remotely-controlled device and comprising information corresponding to at least one of a physical characteristic and a system configuration of its associated remotely-controlled device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

receive the description file, and

determine a compatibility of at least one available module of the marketplace with the one remotely-controlled device associated with the description file, whereby

each incompatible available module is prevented from being received from the marketplace by the processing unit.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each active module and each active MDF are one available module and one available MDF, respectively, that have been received from the marketplace.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the identification data is further representative of at least of a data type and a data format specified for the output data.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the destination system is the at least one remotely-controlled device or an output aggregator configured to combine the output data and provide the combined output data to the at least one remotely-controlled device.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a data collection module configured to;

receive, from each MDF, the identification data;

receive, for each received MDF, the input data from the plurality of input data sources based upon the identification data; and

provide the input data to the processing unit.

9. A device for controlling a remotely-controlled device, comprising:

a processing unit comprised of at least one processor coupled to a processor-readable medium storing processor-executable code of at least one active module, the processing unit being configured to;

receive the at least one active module, where

each received active module is defined as being the processor-executable code of an operation of at least one remotely-controlled device and associated with one active module description file (MDF) that includes identification data representative of;

at least one input required by its associated active module, and

a source identification of at least one input data source of a plurality of input data sources for the at least one input required by its associated active module;

receive, for each received active module, input data representative of the at least one input required by its associated MDF;

generate output data as a function of at least the input data, and

provide the output data to a destination system, whereby

an operation of the at least one remotely-controlled device is responsive to the output data.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein each active module and each active MDF are one available module and one available MDF, respectively, that have been received from a marketplace having at least one available module and at least one available MDF.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

receive a description file associated with one remotely-controlled device and comprising information corresponding to at least one of a physical characteristic and a system configuration of its associated remotely-controlled device, and

determine a compatibility of at least one available module of the marketplace with the one remotely-controlled device associated with the description file, whereby

each incompatible available module is prevented from being received from the marketplace by the processing unit.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein the identification data is further representative of at least of a data type and a data format specified for the output data.

13. The device of claim 9, wherein the destination system is the at least one remotely-controlled device or an output aggregator configured to combine the output data and provide the combined output data to the at least one remotely-controlled device.

14. The device of claim 9, wherein the input data is received from a data collection module configured to:

receive, from each MDF, the identification data; and

receive, for each received MDF, the input data from a plurality of input data sources based upon the identification data.

15. A method for controlling a remotely-controlled device, comprising:

receiving, by a processing unit comprised of at least one processor coupled to a processor-readable medium storing processor-executable code of at least one active module, each active module defined as being the processor-executable code of an operation of at least one remotely-controlled device and associated with one active module description file (MDF) that includes identification data representative of;

at least one input required by its associated active module, and

a source identification of at least one input data source of a plurality of input data sources for the at least one input required by its associated active module;

receiving, for each received active module, input data representative of the at least one input required by its associated MDF;

generating output data as a function of at least the input data; and

providing the output data to a destination system, whereby

an operation of the at least one remotely-controlled device is responsive to the output data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each active module and each active MDF are one available module and one available MDF, respectively, that have been received from a marketplace having at least one available module and at least one available MDF.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a description file associated with one remotely-controlled device and comprising information corresponding to at least one of a physical characteristic and a system configuration of its associated remotely-controlled device, and

determining a compatibility of at least one available module of the marketplace with the one remotely-controlled device associated with the description file, whereby

each incompatible available module is prevented from being received from the marketplace by the processing unit.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the identification data is further representative of at least of a data type and a data format specified for the output data.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the destination system is the at least one remotely-controlled device or an output aggregator configured to combine the output data and provide the combined output data to the at least one remotely-controlled device.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the input data is received a data collection module configured to:

receive, from each MDF, the identification data; and

receive, for each received MDF, the input data from a plurality of input data sources based upon the identification data.