DEVICE THAT CONTROLS FLIGHT ALTITUDE OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE

• US 20170217589A1
• Filed: 12/21/2016
• Published: 08/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: MAEKAWA, HAJIME
• Granted Patent: US 10,029,790 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• 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 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0094 involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/042 specially adapted for aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/66 Remote control of cameras or camera parts, e.g. by remote control devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming

Abstract

A device that controls the flight altitude of an unmanned aerial vehicle having mounted thereon an imaging device that captures an image of the ground, the device being provided with: one or more memories; and circuitry which, in operation, recognizes, as a plurality of markers, a plurality of objects located on the ground from the image captured by the imaging device, calculates the area of a polygon formed by the plurality of markers, and controls the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle in such a way that the area of the polygon is maximized.

Claims

1. A device that controls a flight altitude of an unmanned aerial vehicle having mounted thereon an imaging device that captures an image of a ground, the device comprising:

one or more memories; and

circuitry which, in operation,

recognizes, as a plurality of markers, a plurality of objects located on the ground from the image captured by the imaging device,

calculates an area of a polygon formed by the plurality of markers, and

controls the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle in such a way that the area of the polygon is maximized.

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

a first memory that stores a number of the markers to be recognized by the circuitry, as a registered marker number,

wherein the circuitry

compares the number of the plurality of markers and the registered marker number,

when the number of the plurality of markers is less than the registered marker number, performs control that increases the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and,

when the number of the plurality of markers matches the registered marker number, and the area of the polygon is smaller than the area of the polygon previously calculated, performs control that decreases the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

3. The device according to claim 2,

wherein the imaging device includes a zoom imaging device capable of a zoom operation, and

the circuitry,

when the number of the plurality of markers matches the registered marker number, and the area of the polygon is equal to or larger than the area of a polygon previously calculated, performs control that maintains the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle at a present flight altitude,

recognizes the plurality of objects as the plurality of markers, from the image captured by the imaging device while the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle is maintained at the present flight altitude,

calculates, as an altitude-maintained area, the area of the polygon formed by the plurality of markers recognized while the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle is maintained at the present flight altitude, and

controls a zoom ratio of the zoom imaging device in such a way that the altitude-maintained area is maximized.

4. The device according to claim 3,

wherein, when the number of the plurality of markers recognized while the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle is maintained at the present flight altitude is less than the registered marker number, the circuitry controls the zoom imaging device in such a way that the zoom imaging device zooms out.

5. The device according to claim 4,

wherein, when the zoom imaging device cannot zoom out, the circuitry performs control that maintains the present zoom ratio of the zoom imaging device, and performs control that increases the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

6. The device according to claim 3,

wherein, when the number of the plurality of markers recognized while the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle is maintained at the present flight altitude matches the registered marker number, and the altitude-maintained area is smaller than the altitude-maintained area previously calculated, the circuitry controls the zoom imaging device in such a way that the zoom imaging device zooms in.

7. The device according to claim 6,

wherein, when the zoom imaging device cannot zoom in, the circuitry performs control that maintains the present zoom ratio of the zoom imaging device, and performs control that decreases the flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

8. The device according to claim 7,

wherein the circuitry

acquires, as a plurality of recognition-subject markers, a plurality of objects selected by a user from among the plurality of objects,

recognizes the plurality of recognition-subject markers as the plurality of markers, from the image captured by the imaging device, and

calculates the area of the polygon formed by the plurality of recognition-subject markers.

9. The device according to claim 8,

wherein the circuitry acquires, as the plurality of recognition-subject markers, the plurality of markers selected by the user from among the plurality of markers, which are displayed superimposed on the image captured by the imaging device.

10. An unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:

an imaging device that captures an image of a ground; and

circuitry which, in operation,

recognizes, as a plurality of markers, a plurality of objects located on the ground from the image captured by the imaging device,

calculates an area of a polygon formed by the plurality of markers, and

controls a flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle in such a way that the area of the polygon is maximized.

11. A method, including:

recognizing, as a plurality of markers, a plurality of objects located on a ground from an image captured by an imaging device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle;

calculating an area of a polygon formed by the plurality of markers; and

controlling a flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle in such a way that the area of the polygon is maximized.

12. A computer-readable non-transitory recording medium having recorded thereon a program that controls an unmanned aerial vehicle having mounted thereon an imaging device that captures an image of a ground,

wherein the program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to execute a method including:

recognizing, as a plurality of markers, a plurality of objects located on the ground from the image captured by the imaging device;

calculating an area of a polygon formed by the plurality of markers; and

controlling a flight altitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle in such a way that the area of the polygon is maximized.