COMMUNICATE AN ALERT VIA AN UNMANNED VEHICLE

• US 20190020428A1
• Filed: 09/11/2018
• Published: 01/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2014
• 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: Sennett, DeWayne A., Musgrove, Charles Peter, Daly, Brian Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 10,530,506 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/08 among terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/59 for emergency or urgency
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/51 of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatuses may use an unmanned vehicle to communicate an alert, such as an emergency alert, to a region, such as one affected by a natural disaster. A method may include receiving a message, which may comprise an alert and information associated with a region, from an alert originator. The message may then be transmitted, via a communication access device, to an unmanned vehicle. After receiving the message, the unmanned vehicle may travel to the region. Upon reaching the region, the unmanned vehicle may communicate the alert, whereby individuals'"'"' reception devices within the region may receive the alert.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

receiving a message and an indication of a geographical region in which the message is to be communicated by an unmanned vehicle comprising a mobile base station;

providing an instruction to the unmanned vehicle to move towards the geographical region;

determining that the unmanned vehicle is within range of a portion of the geographical region; and

responsive to determining that the unmanned vehicle is within the range, instructing the unmanned vehicle to communicate the message via the mobile base station,

wherein the geographical region is defined based on an inability of a fixed base station in a vicinity of the geographical region to provide a reception device with non-impaired connectivity to a cellular network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reception device is not mechanically connected with the unmanned vehicle.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the unmanned vehicle is an inflight unmanned vehicle.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the message is a short message service (SMS) cellular broadcast text message.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining a sub-region of the geographical region based on information associated with a device within the geographical region,

wherein the instruction instructs the unmanned vehicle to move towards the sub-region.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the information comprises an indication of a quantity of devices within the sub-region.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the information comprises an identification of the device as a priority device.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the message is a wireless emergency alert message.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is situated on the unmanned vehicle.

10. An unmanned vehicle comprising:

a mobile base station having a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored thereon executable instructions that cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

receiving a message and an indication of a geographical region in which the message is to be communicated by the unmanned vehicle;

receiving an indication of a geographical region associated with the event;

determining that the unmanned vehicle is within range of a portion of the geographical region; and

responsive to determining that the unmanned vehicle is within the range, broadcasting, via the mobile base station, the message,

wherein the geographical region is defined based on an inability of a fixed base station in a vicinity of the geographical region to provide a reception device with non-impaired connectivity to a cellular network.

11. The unmanned vehicle of claim 10, wherein determining that the unmanned vehicle is within the range comprises determining that the unmanned vehicle is within the range.

12. The unmanned vehicle of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise responsive to receiving the indication of the geographical region, moving the unmanned vehicle towards the geographical region.

13. The unmanned vehicle of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining a sub-region of the geographical region based on information associated with a device within the geographical region; and

causing the unmanned vehicle to move towards the sub-region,

wherein the sub-region comprises the portion of the geographical region.

14. The unmanned vehicle of claim 13, wherein the information comprises an indication of a quantity of devices within the sub-region.

15. The unmanned vehicle of claim 13, wherein the information comprises an identification of the device as a priority device.

16. The unmanned vehicle of claim 10, wherein the message comprises an indication of a severity level pertaining to the indication of the event.

18. The unmanned vehicle of claim 10, wherein the message is broadcast using a short message service (SMS) cellular broadcast text message.

19. A computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that when executed by a processor of an unmanned vehicle cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:

receiving a message and an indication of a geographical region in which the message is to be communicated by a mobile base station of the unmanned vehicle;

causing the unmanned vehicle to move towards the geographical region based on the message;

determining that the unmanned vehicle is within a range of a portion of the geographical region; and

responsive to determining that the unmanned vehicle is within the range, causing the mobile base station to broadcast the message,

wherein the geographical region is defined based on an inability of a fixed base station in a vicinity of the geographical region to provide the reception device with non-impaired connectivity to a cellular network.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the message is a wireless emergency alert message.