PACKAGE DELIVERY AND RECEPTION WITH DRONES

• US 20170121021A1
• Filed: 11/04/2015
• Published: 05/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Borgianni, Marco, Falcone, Claudio, Fioravanti, Alessio, Longobardi, Giuseppe, Lutri, Silvano, Presti, Luigi, Salerno, Paolo, Tomasi, Alessandro, Bonazzoli, Simone, Ziantoni, Francesca
• Granted Patent: US 9,926,078 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A47G 2029/147 the receptacle comprising heating or cooling means
• CPC Class Codes: A47G 2029/149 with central server link
• CPC Class Codes: A47G 29/141 comprising electronically controlled locking means
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 1/08 the articles being load-carrying devices
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/60 for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/104 using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping

Abstract

A method for automatically delivering a physical mail includes receiving, by an unmanned aerial vehicle from an unmanned aerial vehicle management system, a delivery information, the delivery information includes information about a first secure mailbox and information about a second secure mailbox, the first secure mailbox being related to a first target user, delivering the physical mail to the first secure mailbox, and rerouting the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying the physical mail from the first secure mailbox to the second secure mailbox in response to the physical mail being delivered to the first secure mailbox.

Claims

1. A method for automatically delivering a physical mail, the method comprising:

receiving, by an unmanned aerial vehicle from an unmanned aerial vehicle management system, a delivery information, the delivery information comprises information about a first secure mailbox and information about a second secure mailbox, the first secure mailbox being related to a first target user;

delivering the physical mail to the first secure mailbox; and

rerouting the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying the physical mail from the first secure mailbox to the second secure mailbox in response to the physical mail being delivered to the first secure mailbox.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the unmanned aerial vehicle, global positioning system data of the first secure mailbox or the second secure mailbox, information about a content class of the physical mail to be delivered, security credentials, and a compartment identifier.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second secure mailbox is selected according to a predefined rerouting rule.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the rerouting rule is based on the content class of the physical mail to be delivered.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first secure mailbox and the second secure mailbox each comprises a plurality of individually lockable compartments identifiable by the compartment identifier, wherein each compartment is adapted for receiving and storing the physical mail.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending a request to the unmanned aerial vehicle for physical mail collection from the first secure mailbox.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information about the first secure mailbox and the information about the second secure mailbox comprises the predefined rerouting rule, a maximum total capacity, a compartment attribute for each compartment of the first secure mailbox and the second secure mailbox, an actual free capacity, GPS data or an address data of the first target user.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the compartment attribute comprises a size, a filled status, a cooling option, a trust status, or a collection status.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending a message to the first target user in case of rerouting the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying the physical mail from the first secure mailbox to the second secure mailbox.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a confirmation from the first target user before rerouting the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying the physical mail from the first secure mailbox to the second secure mailbox.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending a list comprising at least one potential second secure mailbox for rerouting to the first target user; and

receiving an identifier of a selected second secure mailbox before rerouting happens.

12. A computer system for automatically delivering a physical mail, the computer system comprising:

one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, wherein the computer system is capable of performing a method comprising;

receiving, by an unmanned aerial vehicle from an unmanned aerial vehicle management system, a delivery information, the delivery information comprises information about a first secure mailbox and information about a second secure mailbox, the first secure mailbox being related to a first target user;

delivering the physical mail to the first secure mailbox; and

rerouting the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying the physical mail from the first secure mailbox to the second secure mailbox in response to the physical mail being delivered to the first secure mailbox.

13. The computer system according to claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, by the unmanned aerial vehicle, global positioning system data of the first secure mailbox or the second secure mailbox, information about a content class of the physical mail to be delivered, security credentials, and a compartment identifier.

14. The computer system according to claim 12, wherein the second secure mailbox is selected according to a predefined rerouting rule.

15. The computer system according to claim 14, wherein the rerouting rule is based on the content class of the physical mail to be delivered.

16. The computer system according to claim 12, wherein the first secure mailbox and the second secure mailbox each comprises a plurality of individually lockable compartments identifiable by the compartment identifier, wherein each compartment is adapted for receiving and storing the physical mail.

17. The computer system according to claim 12, further comprising:

sending a request to the unmanned aerial vehicle for physical mail collection from the first secure mailbox.

18. The computer system according to claim 12, wherein the information about the first secure mailbox and the information about the second secure mailbox comprises the predefined rerouting rule, a maximum total capacity, a compartment attribute for each compartment of the first secure mailbox and the second secure mailbox, an actual free capacity, GPS data or an address data of the first target user.

19. The computer system according to claim 18, wherein the compartment attribute comprises a size, a filled status, a cooling option, a trust status, or a collection status.

20. The computer system according to claim 12, further comprising:

sending a message to the first target user in case of rerouting the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying the physical mail from the first secure mailbox to the second secure mailbox.