Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communication
First Claim
1. A system on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), for facilitating communication, over a wireless air interface, between the UAV and a remote control station, wherein the wireless air interface is capable of supporting a first maximum bit-rate, the system comprising:
- an avionics unit, for controlling a flight path of the UAV;
a camera unit, for generating a stream of video frames, wherein each video frame of the stream is a picture taken by the camera unit as the UAV proceeds according to the flight path;
a codec unit, coupled to the camera unit, for encoding the stream of video frames according one or more codec parameters, thereby generating an encoded stream of video frames at a first codec bit-rate, wherein the first codec bit-rate is less than the first maximum bit-rate;
a transceiver unit, coupled to the avionics unit and the codec unit, for communicating with the remote control station over the wireless air interface, wherein the transceiver unit exchanges command and control information with the remote control station, wherein the transceiver unit transmits the encoded stream of video frames from the codec unit to the remote control station, and wherein the command and control information influences the operation of the avionics unit; and
a processing unit, coupled to the avionics unit, the codec unit and the transceiver unit, for (i) determining that the wireless air interface has changed to support a second maximum bit-rate, and responsive to the determination, instructing the codec to change the codec parameters such that the codec generates the encoded stream of video frames at a second codec bit-rate, wherein the second codec bit-rate is less than the second maximum bit-rate, and (ii) granting a first priority to the command and control information and granting a second priority to at least some frames of the encoded stream of video frames, wherein the first priority is higher than the second priority, thereby prioritizing the command and control information transmitted by the UAV over the at least some frames of the encoded stream of video frames transmitted by the UAV.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems for improving unmanned aerial vehicle communication are presented. In a primary embodiment, a UAV transmits an encoded stream of video frames at a first bit-rate over a wireless air interface to a remote control station. The remote control station decodes and displays the video frames for a human user. Upon determining that the characteristics of the wireless air interface have changed, the UAV changes its codec configuration to transmit the encoded stream of video frames at a second bit-rate. The UAV and the ground control station may also use a prioritization scheme to prioritize command and control information and at least some types of video frames over other types of video frames and additional information. In this way, important communications are more likely to be received when the capacity of the wireless air interface is limited.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), for facilitating communication, over a wireless air interface, between the UAV and a remote control station, wherein the wireless air interface is capable of supporting a first maximum bit-rate, the system comprising:
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an avionics unit, for controlling a flight path of the UAV; a camera unit, for generating a stream of video frames, wherein each video frame of the stream is a picture taken by the camera unit as the UAV proceeds according to the flight path; a codec unit, coupled to the camera unit, for encoding the stream of video frames according one or more codec parameters, thereby generating an encoded stream of video frames at a first codec bit-rate, wherein the first codec bit-rate is less than the first maximum bit-rate; a transceiver unit, coupled to the avionics unit and the codec unit, for communicating with the remote control station over the wireless air interface, wherein the transceiver unit exchanges command and control information with the remote control station, wherein the transceiver unit transmits the encoded stream of video frames from the codec unit to the remote control station, and wherein the command and control information influences the operation of the avionics unit; and a processing unit, coupled to the avionics unit, the codec unit and the transceiver unit, for (i) determining that the wireless air interface has changed to support a second maximum bit-rate, and responsive to the determination, instructing the codec to change the codec parameters such that the codec generates the encoded stream of video frames at a second codec bit-rate, wherein the second codec bit-rate is less than the second maximum bit-rate, and (ii) granting a first priority to the command and control information and granting a second priority to at least some frames of the encoded stream of video frames, wherein the first priority is higher than the second priority, thereby prioritizing the command and control information transmitted by the UAV over the at least some frames of the encoded stream of video frames transmitted by the UAV. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A remote control system for communication with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), wherein the communication uses a wireless air interface between the remote control station and the UAV, wherein the wireless air interface is capable of supporting a first maximum bit-rate, the system comprising:
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an input unit, for generating command and control information; a transceiver unit, for communicating with the UAV over the wireless air interface, wherein the transceiver unit (i) transmits, to the UAV, the command and control information generated by the input unit, (ii) receives, from the UAV, an encoded stream of video frames, and (iii) exchanges additional information with the UAV; a codec unit, coupled to the transceiver unit, for decoding the encoded stream of video frames, thereby generating a decoded stream of video frames; and a processing unit, coupled to the input unit, the codec unit and the transceiver unit, for (i) determining that the wireless air interface has changed to support a second maximum bit-rate, and responsive to the determination, transmitting an indication of the change to the UAV, and (ii) granting a first priority to command and control information and granting a second priority to at least some of the additional information, wherein the first priority is higher than the second priority, thereby prioritizing the command and control information transmitted by the remote control station over the at least some of the additional information transmitted by the remote control station. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system comprising:
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an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), for transmitting an encoded stream of video frames at a first codec bit-rate over a wireless air interface, wherein the wireless air interface is capable of supporting a first maximum bit-rate; a remote control station, for exchanging command and control information with the UAV, and for (i) receiving the encoded stream of video frames at the first codec bit-rate over the wireless air interface, (ii) determining an error rate of the wireless air interface, (iii) responsive to determining the error rate, transmitting an indication of the error rate to the UAV, and (iv) after transmitting the indication, receiving the encoded stream of video frames at a second codec bit-rate over the wireless air interface, wherein the remote control station and the UAV prioritize transmission of the command and control information over transmission of at least some of the encoded stream of video frames. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification