System and method for analyzing drone flight risk

• US 10,445,836 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2017
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verifly USA LLC
• Original Assignee: Verifly USA, Inc.
• Inventors: Hertz, Eugene S., Bregman, Jay P., Hale, Jr., Philip K., Burke, Rebekah Mary, Wu, Lanzhi
• Primary Examiner(s): Borlinghaus, Jason
• Application Number:
  US15/708,258
• Publication Number:
  US 20180025434A1
• Time in Patent Office: 756 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/006 in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A system for analyzing risk for operating drones, the system comprising a mobile device comprising program code that when executed by a programmable processor causes the mobile device to determine a location of a user of the mobile device by accessing a location tracking system, transmit the location to a server, receive, from the server, geospatial data and temporal data for a surrounding area of the location, calculate risks of operating a drone for a duration of time in a given coverage area within the surrounding area using at least the geospatial data and temporal data, generate a quote for an insurance policy for operating the drone for the duration of time in the given coverage area based on the calculated risks, facilitate a purchase of the insurance policy with the server, and generate a timer for the duration of time for operating the drone in the given coverage area.

Claims

1. A system for locating and presenting drone flight risk data to user devices, the system comprising:

a mobile device comprising program code that when executed by a programmable processor causes the mobile device to;

determine a location of a user of the mobile device by accessing a location tracking system;

transmit the location to a server;

generate a map interface on the mobile device, the map interface including a current geographic area centered on the location;

display an overlayed shape within the map interface, the overlayed shape defining a respective coverage area, wherein the overlayed shape is movable on the interactive map to select the coverage area;

receive real-time risk data in respect of a current geographic location associated with a currently-defined coverage area that is selectable by a user panning around on the map interface, the risk data including environmental data retrieved from an environmental data source, geospatial data retrieved from an aviation data source, temporal data, drone attributes and user attributes;

populate advisory icons within the current geographic location on the map interface based on the real-time risk data;

calculate risks of operating a drone for a duration of time in an entirety of the currently-defined coverage;

update the calculation of the risks to correspond with an updated coverage area as a user pans around the map interface; and

generate data on the map interface from a plurality of risk models associated with operating the drone for the duration of time currently-defined coverage area based on the calculated risks;

selling an insurance policy, wherein the insurance policy is based upon the generated data; and

in response to selling the insurance policy, generating a timer on the map interface for the duration of time for operating the drone in the entirety of the selectable coverage area.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile device:

monitors the location of the mobile device;

determines the location of the mobile device is outside the currently-defined coverage area; and

generates a warning to indicate that the location of the mobile device is outside the currently-defined coverage area.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the geospatial data includes aviation data, weather data, highway and traffic data, building locations data, and stadia data.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile device calculates the risks of operating the drone for the duration of time in the entirety of the currently-defined coverage area based on environmental conditions, time of day, nearby geospatial objects, drone/vehicle attributes, and operator attributes.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the duration of time is for a duration of at least a plurality of minutes.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising retrieving the location of the user of the mobile device from Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

) satellites.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the location of the user of the mobile device is a location retrieved from at least one of communication from a drone, and a tracking device attached to the drone.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the temporal data includes times of days that vary risk associated with geospatial objects.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the temporal data includes temporary flight restrictions and special use airspaces.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile device retrieves tables associated with a plurality of insurance carriers, the tables including risk models having a list of risk score rules to calculate geospatial data risk scores by factors including weather, wind, and proximity to geospatial objects within a minimum and maximum range.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the mobile device:

generates a quote for an insurance policy by inputting the calculated risks into the risk models;

calculates a pricing for the plurality of insurance carriers;

selects a rate from a given carrier; and

determines a final rate based on the selected rate.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the currently-defined coverage area is a pre-defined radius of a circle around the location.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the currently-defined coverage area is a user-defined polygon including three or more vertices.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the mobile device further:

receives a start time for operating the drone;

generates the quote for the insurance policy to begin at the start time; and

activates the timer at the start time.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile device further:

identifies a limit condition associated with operating the drone; and

verifies authorized operation of the drone under the limit condition.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the limit condition comprises operating the drone within a given distance to a building structure.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the limit condition comprises operating the drone in a restricted time of day.

18. Non-transitory computer readable media comprising program code that when executed by a programmable processor causes execution of a method for locating and presenting drone flight risk data to user devices, the computer readable media comprising:

computer program code for determining a location of a user of a mobile device by accessing a location tracking system;

computer program code for transmitting the location to a server;

computer program code for generating a map interface of the surrounding area on the mobile device, the map interface including a current geographic area centered on the location;

computer program code for displaying an overlayed shape within the map interface, the

overlayed shape defining a respective coverage area, wherein the overlayed shape is movable on the interactive map to select the coverage area;

computer program code for receiving real-time risk data in respect of a current geographic location associated with a currently-defined coverage area that is selectable by a user;

panning around on the map interface, the risk data including environmental data retrieved from an environmental data source, geospatial data retrieved from an aviation data source, temporal data, drone attributes and user attributes;

computer program code for populating advisory icons within the current geographic location on the map interface based on the real-time risk data;

computer program code for calculating risks of operating a drone for a duration of time in an entirety of the currently-defined coverage area;

computer program code for updating the calculation of the risks to correspond with an updated coverage area as a user pans around the map interface;

computer program code for generating a data on the map interface from a plurality of risk models associated with operating the drone for the duration of time in the currently-defined coverage area based on the calculated risks;

computer program code for selling an insurance policy, wherein the insurance policy is based upon the generated data; and

computer program code for, in response to selling the insurance policy, generating a timer on the map interface for the duration of time for operating the drone in the entirety of the selectable coverage area.

19. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 18 further comprising computer program code for retrieving tables associated with a plurality of insurance carriers, the tables including risk models having a list of risk score rules to calculate geospatial data risk scores by factors including weather, wind, and proximity to geospatial objects within a minimum and maximum range.

20. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 18 further comprising:

computer program code for generating a quote for an insurance policy by inputting the calculated risks into the risk models;

computer program code for calculating a pricing for the plurality of insurance carriers;

computer program code for selecting a rate from a given carrier; and

computer program code for determining a final rate based on the selected rate.