Unmanned aerial vehicle assistant

• US 9,471,059 B1
• Filed: 02/17/2015
• Issued: 10/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilkins, Steven James
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Paige, Tyler
• Application Number:
  US14/624,504
• Time in Patent Office: 609 Days
• Field of Search: 701/2, 348/117
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/028 Micro-sized aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/08 Arrangements of cameras
• 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 10/80 UAVs characterised by their small size, e.g. micro air vehicles [MAV]
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 20/50 Foldable or collapsible UAVs with frangible components B64U20/30
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/00 UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/20 for use as communications relays, e.g. high-altitude platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• 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: B64U 30/20 Rotors; Rotor supports
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/19 using electrically powered motors
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 70/00 Launching, take-off or landing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 70/30 for capturing UAVs in flight by ground or sea-based arresting gear, e.g. by a cable or a net
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 80/25 for recharging batteries; for refuelling
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 80/60 by wearable objects, e.g. garments or helmets
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 80/86 Land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0011 : associated with a remote control arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0016 : characterised by the operator's input device input arrangements for computing systems in general G06F3/00
• 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 1/102 : specially adapted for vertical take-off of aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/106 : Change initiated in response to external conditions, e.g. avoidance of elevated terrain or of no-fly zones
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 : Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 : Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/64 : Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 : from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

Techniques and systems for providing miniaturized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are disclosed. The techniques and systems can include significant off-board processing support for the UAVs to enable the UAVs to be smaller, lighter, and less expensive than conventional UAVs. The techniques and systems can include routines to provide enhanced support for police during routine traffic stops. The techniques and systems can also include routines to locate objects or people including, for example, locating a lost child in a crowd or a lost vehicle in a parking lot. The miniaturized UAVs can provide enhances perception for the user to enable the user to over and around objects for improved visibility and safety, among other things.

Claims

1. A method to locate a first object using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:

receiving, at the UAV, a voice command from a user to determine a location of the first object;

sending, via a transceiver of the UAV, the voice command from the UAV to a central control to provide the central control with access to the voice command;

receiving, via the transceiver, a first instruction from the central control, the first instruction being a machine readable command generated from the voice command;

selecting a first autonomous task to perform based on the first instruction, wherein the first autonomous task is a pre-defined search routine;

performing the first autonomous task;

capturing a first image of the first object with a camera on the UAV in response to locating the first object, the first image including environmental imagery that indicates a location of the first object; and

sending, via the transceiver, the first image to the central control or another electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the transceiver, a second instruction from the central control;

selecting a second autonomous task to perform based on the second instruction;

capturing a second image with the camera on the UAV;

sending, via the transceiver, the second image to the central control or another electronic device;

receiving a signal from the central control at the UAV that the first object has been located in a first location; and

providing a start location and the first location to the central control or another electronic device to generate a map to the first object for the user.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, with the transceiver, a second instruction to cause the UAV to activate an indicator to alert the user as to the first location while the UAV is near the first object.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scanning the object with a radio frequency identification (RFID) scanner;

receiving a return signal from an RFID tag located on the object with the RFID scanner; and

sending, with the transceiver, data related to the return signal to the central control.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first autonomous task comprises flying one or more segments of a search pattern to locate the object.

6. A method to provide low altitude imagery using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:

receiving a hover command from a user, wherein the hover command pertains to the UAV hovering above and adjacent to the user;

performing a first autonomous task based on the hover command comprising;

activating a propulsion system on the UAV to provide flight power;

activating at least one of a camera or a microphone on the UAV;

flying to a predetermined position relative to the user; and

maintaining the predetermined position relative to the user in response to the user'"'"'s movements;

receiving an indication from the user that an event has occurred

returning to a predetermined location; and

transmitting at least one of an image or an audio file to a central control or another electronic device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a second command from the user; and

performing a second autonomous task in response to the second command.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second command comprises a distress command;

and

wherein performing the second autonomous task comprises transmitting data from the UAV to a central control with a transceiver on the UAV.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data comprises at least one of:

a GPS location, an image, and a timestamp.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the hover command further comprises:

receiving a voice command from the user at the microphone on the UAV;

transmitting, with a transceiver on the UAV, the voice command from the UAV to a central control for interpretation with voice recognition software; and

receiving, with the transceiver, a first instruction from the central control based on the voice command.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a check license plate command from the user; and

transmitting, with a transceiver on the UAV, data from the UAV to a central control for additional processing;

wherein the data comprises at least an image of a license plate for a vehicle and a request for information related to the license plate.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the additional processing comprises identifying a tag number in the image of the license plate using optical character recognition (OCR).

13. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a check identity command from the user; and

transmitting, with a transceiver on the UAV, data from the UAV to a central control for additional processing;

wherein the data comprises an image of a person and a request for information related to the person.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the additional processing comprises identifying the person using facial recognition software system.

15. A miniaturized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system, the system comprising:

a propulsion system;

a processor to execute one or more instructions;

a transceiver to transmit and receive data between the UAV and a central control;

a camera to provide imaging from the UAV to at least one of a user and the central control; and

a memory module to store a plurality of subroutines to be executed by the processor, the memory module comprising;

a command interpreter to receive commands from the user or the central control, wherein the command interpreter is configured to interpret commands received from the central control, and wherein the commands received from the central control are based on commands received by the UAV from the user and forwarded from the UAV to the central control;

a task module comprising one or more predefined tasks and one or more user defined tasks;

a location module to provide navigation to the UAV; and

an output module to create an output to at least one of the user and the central control.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more predefined tasks comprise a search task to cause the processor to fly the UAV in a predefined flight search pattern to locate an object or a person.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more predefined tasks further comprises an object recognition task to cause the processor to:

activate the camera to capture an image;

transmit, with the transceiver, the image to the central control for image processing; and

receive, with the transceiver, a confirmation from the central control that an object or person is located in the image.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

an indicator to signal a location of the object or person to the user;

wherein the object recognition task causes the output module to activate the indicator upon receiving the confirmation.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more predefined tasks comprise a hover task including instructions to cause the processor to fly the UAV within a predetermined distance of the user.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising a microphone for receiving a voice command from the user;

wherein the command interpreter transmits, via the transceiver, the voice command to the central control for interpretation with voice recognition software;

wherein the command interpreter receives, via the transceiver, one or more instructions for execution by the processor from the central control; and

wherein the one or more instructions are based at least in part on the voice command.