AUTONOMOUS DRONE SERVICE SYSTEM

• US 20160306355A1
• Filed: 06/19/2015
• Published: 10/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gordon, Michael S., Kozloski, James R., Malkin, Peter K., Pickover, Clifford A.
• Application Number:
  US14/744,593
• Publication Number:
  US 20160306355A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/00 UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/60 for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/106 Change initiated in response to external conditions, e.g. avoidance of elevated terrain or of no-fly zones
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0043 Traffic management of multiple aircrafts from the ground G08G5/003 takes precedence; data processing specially designed for resource management, e.g. scheduling or allocating time, human or machine resources G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0056 in an emergency situation, e.g. hijacking
• 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

Abstract

An autonomous drone service system controls at least one drone vehicle configured to autonomously navigate along a flight path to provide one or more services requested by a user. The system includes an electronic service provider device to receive at least one service request signal generated by a user device. The request signal indicates at least one requested service provided by the drone service system and location or locations associated with the requested services. The electronic service provider device that automatically maps the at least one requested service to the at least one drone vehicle, and commands the at least one drone vehicle to perform the service request at the one or more locations.

Claims

1. A method using at least one autonomous drone vehicle to perform at least one service provided by a drone service system, the method comprising:

receiving from an electronic user device at least one request for a service provided by the drone service system at one or more user-indicated locations;

determining at least one available drone registered with the drone service system, and automatically mapping the at least one request to at least drone feature included with the at least one available drone to determine whether the at least one available drone is able to perform the at least one request; and

commanding the at least one available drone to perform the service request at the one or more locations in response to determining that the at least one available drone includes at least one drone feature able to perform the at least one request.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting at least one user-selectable criteria to the user device based on the at least one request.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving at least one user-selected criteria from among the plurality of drone features, and wherein the commanding the at least one available drone further comprises determining that the at least one available drone includes at least one drone feature mapped to the received at least one user-selected criteria.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting flight regulation data to the selected at least one drone vehicle, and performing the requested service via the selected at least one autonomous drone vehicle while avoiding at least one restricted travel zone indicated by the flight regulation data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the operation of the selected at least one autonomous drone vehicle based on a comparison between a current monetary cost to perform the service request and a cost budget input by the user.

6. A method of performing at least one service using at least one autonomous drone vehicle included in a drone service system, the method comprising:

cross-referencing at least one registered autonomous drone vehicle included in the drone service system with a respective drone identification (ID);

receiving a service request for at least one service provided by the drone service system;

determining at least one currently operating drone among the at least one registered autonomous drone vehicle based on a received drone ID; and

automatically mapping the at least one service request to the at least one currently operating drone vehicle to select at least one drone to perform the service request, and automatically commanding the at least one selected drone to perform the service request.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising transmitting at least one user-selectable criteria provided by the at least one currently operating drone to the user device, and wherein the electronic drone selection module selects the at least one drone in response to receiving at least one selected user-selectable criteria returned by the user device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one user-selectable criteria is selected from a list comprising camera type, pixel rate, video recording camera type, data streaming capability, sound recording capability, the maximum package delivery weight capability, night vision capability, weather-proofing availability, maximum speed, maximum altitude.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising storing flight regulation data indicating at least one restricted travel zone.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting the flight regulation data to the selected at least one drone such that the at least one drone performs the service request while avoiding the at least one restricted travel zone.