METHOD AND SYSTEM TO DYNAMICALLY AND INTELLIGENTLY ENABLE ACCESS TO UAVS IN ANY LOCATION

• US 20170374190A1
• Filed: 06/27/2016
• Published: 12/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dowlatkhah, Sangar, Cui, Zhi, Shaw, Venson
• Granted Patent: US 10,291,764 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

A method and system for enabling access to an unmanned aerial vehicle are disclosed. The method includes receiving a request from a user for access to an unmanned aerial vehicle through a control system. The method further includes making a determination of whether to grant access to the control system. If the determination is made to grant access the control system then receiving alternate mission parameters for an alternate mission from the user. The method also includes making a decision about whether to implement the alternate mission based on a set of predetermined policies. If the decision is to implement the alternate mission then implementing the alternate mission and saving the alternate mission parameters.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a user for access to an unmanned aerial vehicle through a control system;

making a determination of whether to grant access to the control system;

if the determination is to grant access then receiving alternate mission parameters for an alternate mission from the user;

making a decision about whether to implement the alternate mission based on a set of predetermined policies;

if the decision is to implement the alternate mission then implementing the alternate mission; and

saving the alternate mission parameters.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining whether to grant access to the control system comprises determining whether the user has authorization to access the control system.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein determining whether the user has authorization comprises determining whether the user has authorization based on at least one criteria selected from among a role of the user, a membership of the user in a group, a location of the user, a time, and a transaction type.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein deciding whether to implement the alternate mission further comprises:

making a determination about whether to implement the alternate mission based on a state of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein deciding whether to implement the alternate mission comprises:

accessing a mission subsystem having the set of predetermined policies related to the alternate mission;

accessing an environment subsystem having information about a state of the unmanned aerial vehicle;

determining whether to implement the alternate mission based on the set of predetermined policies and the state of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein saving the alternate mission parameters comprises saving the alternate mission parameters in a data store accessible by an artificial intelligence module.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein making a decision about whether to implement the alternate mission is carried out by a mission decision engine.

8. A system comprising:

an unmanned vehicle;

an unmanned vehicle control system; and

a mission policy management subsystem coupled to the unmanned vehicle control system comprising;

a mission information subsystem;

an environment information subsystem;

and a mission decision engine coupled to the mission information subsystem and the environment information subsystem.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the mission information subsystem comprises information about missions and policies to determine whether to implement a mission.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the environment information subsystem comprises information about a state of the unmanned vehicle and an environment in which the unmanned vehicle is operating.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the mission decision engine determines whether to implement a mission based on the mission and policies.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the mission decision engine determines whether to implement a mission based on the state of the unmanned vehicle and the environment in which the unmanned vehicle is operating.

13. The system of claim 8 further comprising an artificial intelligence module for processing stored information about decisions made by the mission decision engine.

14. A method of controlling an unmanned vehicle comprising:

determining whether a user has authorization to control the unmanned vehicle;

if the user has authorization, then receiving alternate mission parameters from the user;

making a determination about whether to perform an alternate mission based on the alternate mission parameters, a set of policies, and information about a state of the unmanned vehicle;

if it is determined that the alternate mission should be performed, then;

performing the alternate mission; and

storing the alternate mission parameters;

if it is determined that the alternate mission should not be performed then determining whether there is a second unmanned vehicle that may be capable of performing the alternate mission.

15. The method of controlling an unmanned vehicle of claim 14 wherein the set of policies comprise a set of hierarchical security policies.

16. The method of controlling an unmanned vehicle of claim 14 wherein the information about the state of the unmanned vehicle comprises information about available power, payload capacity, and distance to user.

17. The method of controlling an unmanned vehicle of claim 14 further comprising storing information from the step of determining whether to perform the alternate mission.

18. The method of controlling an unmanned vehicle of claim 14 wherein determining whether to perform the alternate mission is performed by a mission decision engine.

19. The method of controlling an unmanned vehicle of claim 17 wherein determining whether to perform the alternate mission comprises accessing a store of information about prior decisions to perform other missions and determining whether to perform the alternate mission based on stored information about prior decisions to perform other missions.

20. The method of controlling an unmanned vehicle of claim 19 wherein determining whether to perform the alternate mission based on stored information about prior decisions to perform other missions is performed by an artificial intelligence module.