DRONE DELIVERY OF COFFEE BASED ON A COGNITIVE STATE OF AN INDIVIDUAL

• US 20170174343A1
• Filed: 12/22/2015
• Published: 06/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DoorDash, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: ERICKSON, Thomas David, FERIS, Rogerio S., VUKOVIC, Maja, PICKOVER, Clifford A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,040,551 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 36/2483 with electrical heating means
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 36/28 Warming devices generating the heat by exothermic reactions, e.g. heat released by the contact of unslaked lime with water
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 47/14 Carriers for prepared human food lunch boxes, picnic boxes, or the like A45C11/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/112 for measuring diameter of pupils
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/082 Evaluation by breath analysis, e.g. determination of the chemical composition of exhaled breath A61B5/083, A61B5/091 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1128 using image analysis A61B5/1127 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1176 Recognition of faces
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4812 Detecting sleep stages or cycles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4815 Sleep quality
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6887 mounted on external non-worn devices, e.g. non-medical devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/10 Rotorcrafts
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 : Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/14 : with four distinct rotor axes, e.g. quadcopters
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/60 : for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/10 : autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/37 : Charging when not in flight
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/39 : Battery swapping
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 : for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

Coffee or other drink, for example a caffeine containing drink, is delivered to individuals that would like the drink, or who have a predetermined cognitive state, using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)/drone. The drink is connected to the UAV, and the UAV flies to an area including people, and uses sensors to scan the people for an individual who has gestured that they would like the drink, or for whom an electronic analysis of sensor data indicates to be in a predetermined cognitive state. The UAV then flies to the individual to deliver the drink. The analysis can include profile data of people, including electronic calendar data, which can be used to determine a potentially predetermined cognitive state.

Claims

1. A method for delivering a drink to an individual, comprising:

connecting the drink to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV);

flying the UAV to an area including a plurality of people;

scanning the people, using one or more sensors connected to the UAV, the one or more sensors connected to an electronic processing circuit which identifies an individual among the people that may have a predetermined cognitive state including determining a confidence level corresponding to a probable desire of the individual for the drink, based on sensor data and using sleep data pertaining to sleep experienced by the people when selecting the individual that may have a predetermined cognitive state; and

if the confidence level reaches a predetermined level, flying the UAV to the individual that may have the predetermined cognitive state to deliver the drink to the individual.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the UAV is fully autonomous, and flies to the area and flies to the individual without human assistance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic processing circuit is on the UAV.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic processing circuit is not on the UAV, and the UAV transmits sensor data wirelessly to the electronic processing circuit to identify the individual.

5. The method of claim 1, where the drink includes coffee.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor circuit determines an individual that may have a predetermined cognitive state by examining a physiological state of the individual determinable using the sensor data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined cognitive state is sleepiness.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the images are analyzed to determine an angular disposition of at least one of the head, eyes, back, and shoulders of one or more of the people.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the sensor data includes one or more of heart rate, blood pressure, pupil dilation, breathing rate, skin temperature, and a chemical composition of breath, of at least one of the people.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the sensor data includes one or more of biometrics, blood pressure, and facial expression analysis.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor circuit uses sensor data to determine an identity of one or more of the people.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor circuit uses image data of one or more of the people to determine an identity of an individual using a face recognition algorithm.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic processing circuit accesses electronic calendar data relating to one or more of the people, and determines a likelihood that an individual among the people may have a predetermined cognitive state using at least one of meeting schedules of individuals among the people.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein if the individual identified rejects the delivered drink, the UAV selects another individual for delivery of the drink.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the people have provided informational profiles including data relating to at least one of a drink preparation preference, a sleep state, an affinity for the drink, times during the day in which the drink is typically desired, and events during the day when the drink is typically desired.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data is analyzed by the electronic processor circuit to identify a gesture of at least one of the people indicating a desire for the drink.

19. A method for delivering a drink to an individual, comprising:

connecting at least one coffee drink to a fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV);

the UAV autonomously flying to an area including a plurality of people;

scanning the people, using one or more sensors connected to the UAV, the one or more sensors connected to an electronic processing circuit which identifies an individual among the people that may have a predetermined cognitive state, based upon a schedule of meetings for the individual that day;

processing by the electronic processing circuit to determine that the individual is eligible for delivery of the drink; and

the UAV autonomously flying to the individual that may have the predetermined cognitive state to deliver the drink to the individual.

6. The method of claim 19, wherein identifying an individual among the people that may have a predetermined cognitive state includes determining a confidence level corresponding to a probable desire of the individual for the drink, and if the confidence level reaches a predetermined level, delivering the drink to the individual.

7. The method of claim 19, wherein the electronic processor circuit further accesses data pertaining to sleep experienced by the people, and uses the sleep data when selecting the individual that may have a predetermined cognitive state.

20. A system for delivering a drink to an individual, comprising:

at least one fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV);

a drink holder connected to each of the at least one UAV;

at least one sensor including at least a camera connected to the UAV; and

at least one electronic processing circuit connected to obtain data from the at least one sensor, the circuit configured to use data from the sensors, including scanning images from the camera, to identify an individual that may have a predetermined cognitive state based upon at least one of an amount of sleep the individual recently had and a schedule of meetings for the individual that day, and determining a confidence level corresponding to a probable desire of the individual for the drink, and if the confidence level reaches a predetermined level, to thereby cause the UAV to fly to the individual to deliver a caffeine containing drink to the individual from the drink holder.