ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE

• US 20120089274A1
• Filed: 05/19/2011
• Published: 04/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: LEE, HOU-HSIEN, LEE, CHANG-JUNG, LO, CHIH-PING
• Application Number:
  US13/110,927
• Publication Number:
  US 20120089274A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/10 Rotorcrafts
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/31 for surveillance
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0038 by providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras located onboard the vehicle, e.g. tele-operation images analyzed by a computer and used for automatic navigation G05D1/0246
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0044 by providing the operator with a computer generated representation of the environment of the vehicle, e.g. virtual reality, maps maps used for automatic navigation G05D1/0274; flight directors G01C23/005

Abstract

An electronic device for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) displays a portion of a 3D virtual scene of a monitored area of the UAV on a screen, and displays a representation icon of the UAV on a preset position of the screen. The electronic device further converts an operation signal to a control signal, and sends the control signal to control movements of the UAV. After receiving flight data from the UAV, the electronic device recognizes movements of the UAV according to the flight data, and determines adjustments to the portion of the 3D virtual scene, to control displaying of the 3D virtual scene based on the recognized movements while maintaining the representation icon of the UAV on the preset position and maintaining a direction the user presumed to be viewing the 3D virtual scene the same as a flight orientation of the UAV.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using an electronic device, comprising:

creating a three-dimensional (3D) virtual scene of a monitored area of the UAV and a representation icon of the UAV;

displaying a portion of the 3D virtual scene on a 3D scene region of a screen of the electronic device, and displaying the representation icon of the UAV on a preset position of the 3D scene region;

converting an operation signal received on an operation region of the screen to a control signal, and sending the control signal to the UAV;

receiving flight data sent from the UAV;

displaying the flight data on corresponding display regions of the screen; and

recognizing movements of the UAV according to the flight data, and determining adjustments to the portion of the 3D virtual scene, to control displaying of the 3D virtual scene based on the recognized movements while maintaining the representation icon of the UAV on the preset position of the 3D scene region and maintaining a direction the user presumed to be viewing the 3D virtual scene the same as a flight orientation of the UAV.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the adjustments comprise a movement direction adjustment and a display direction adjustment of the portion of the 3D virtual scene.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operation region comprises a direction controller icon, a height controller icon and a speed controller icon, and wherein an operation on the direction controller icon is converted to a control signal of changing the flight orientation of the UAV, an operation on the height controller icon is converted to a control signal of changing the flight height of the UAV, and an operation on the speed controller icon is converted to a control signal of changing the flight speed of the UAV.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flight data comprises the flight orientation, a flight height, altitude and longitude coordinates of the UAV, and a real time image of the monitored area.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising:

determines if an abnormity appears in the real time image of the monitored area by comparing the real time image with an initial image of the monitored area; and

prompting the user to send a new control signal to the UAV via the screen in response that an abnormity appears in the real time image.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein displaying the flight data on corresponding display regions of the screen comprising:

displaying the flight height, the altitude and longitude coordinates of the UAV on a data display region of the screen, and displaying the real time image on an image display region of the screen.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the screen is a touch-sensitive display.

8. An electronic device, comprising:

a screen;

a storage device;

a processor; and

one or more programs that are stored in the storage device and are executed by the at processor, the one or more programs comprising;

a creation module operable to create a three-dimensional (3D) virtual scene of a monitored area of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a representation icon of the UAV;

a display module operable to display a portion of the 3D virtual scene of the monitored area on a 3D scene region of the screen, and display the representation icon of the UAV on a preset position of the 3D scene region;

a flight control module operable to convert an operation signal received on an operation region of the screen to a control signal, and send the control signal to the UAV;

a flight data receiving module operable to receive flight data sent from the UAV;

the display module further operable to display the flight data on corresponding display regions of the screen; and

an adjustment module operable to recognize movements of the UAV according to the flight data, and determine adjustments to the portion of the 3D virtual scene, to control displaying of the 3D virtual scene based on the recognized movements while maintaining the representation icon of the UAV on the preset position of the 3D scene region and maintaining a direction the user presumed to be viewing the 3D virtual scene the same as a flight orientation of the UAV.

9. The electronic device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the adjustments comprise a movement direction adjustment and a display direction adjustment of the portion of the 3D virtual scene.

10. The electronic device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the operation region comprises a direction controller icon, a height controller icon and a speed controller icon, wherein the flight control module converts an operation on the direction controller icon to a control signal of changing the flight orientation of the UAV, converts an operation on the height controller icon to a control signal of changing the flight height of the UAV, and converts an operation on the speed controller icon to a control signal of changing the flight speed of the UAV.

11. The electronic device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the flight data comprises a flight orientation, a flight height, altitude and longitude coordinates of the UAV, and a real time image of the monitored area.

12. The electronic device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the one or more programs further comprise a prompt module operable to:

determine if an abnormity appears in the real time image of the monitored area by comparing the real time image with an initial image of the monitored area; and

prompt the user to send a new control signal to the UAV via the screen in response that an abnormity appears in the real time image.

13. The electronic device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the display module displays the flight height, the altitude and longitude coordinates of the UAV on a data display region of the screen, and displays the real time image on an image display region of the screen.

14. The electronic device as claimed in claim 11, wherein the screen is a touch-sensitive display.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a set of instructions, the set of instructions capable of being executed by a processor of an electronic device to perform a method for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using an electronic device, the method comprising:

creating a three-dimensional (3D) virtual scene of a monitored area of the UAV and a representation icon of the UAV;

displaying a portion of the 3D virtual scene of the monitored area on a 3D scene region of a screen of the electronic device, and displaying the representation icon of the UAV on a preset position of the 3D scene region;

converting an operation signal received on an operation region of the screen to a control signal, and sending the control signal to the UAV;

receiving flight data sent from the UAV;

displaying the flight data on corresponding display regions of the screen; and

recognizing movements of the UAV according to the flight data, and determining adjustments to the portion of the 3D virtual scene, to control displaying of the 3D virtual scene based on the recognized movements while maintaining the representation icon of the UAV on the preset position of the 3D scene region and maintaining a direction the user presumed to be viewing the 3D virtual scene the same as the flight orientation of the UAV.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein the adjustments comprise a movement direction adjustment and a display direction adjustment of the portion of the 3D virtual scene.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein the operation region comprises a direction controller icon, a height controller icon and a speed controller icon, wherein an operation on the direction controller icon is converted to a control signal of changing the flight orientation of the UAV, an operation on the height controller icon is converted to a control signal of changing the flight height of the UAV, and an operation on the speed controller icon is converted to a control signal of changing the flight speed of the UAV.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein the flight data comprises a flight orientation, a flight height, altitude and longitude coordinates of the UAV, and a real time image of the monitored area.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

determines if an abnormity appears in the real time image of the monitored area by comparing the real time image with an initial image of the monitored area; and

prompting the user to send a new control signal to the UAV via the screen in response that an abnormity appears in the real time image.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 18, wherein displaying the flight data on corresponding display regions of the screen comprising:

displaying the flight height, the altitude and longitude coordinates of the UAV on a data display region of the screen, and displaying the real time image on an image display region of the screen.