Personal communication drone

• US 9,479,392 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2015
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Anderson, Glen J., Yuen, Kathy, Sherman, Jamie, Durham, Lenitra M., Beckwith, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Frank
• Application Number:
  US14/592,494
• Publication Number:
  US 20160204978A1
• Time in Patent Office: 656 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/20 for use as communications relays, e.g. high-altitude platforms
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/19 Connection re-establishment

Abstract

A system of using a drone for network connectivity, the system may comprise: a connectivity module to: detect an error associated with network traffic on a network connection utilized by a user device; query a connection datastore to retrieve at least one access point location that at least one device of the user has utilized within a predetermined period; a drone coordination module to: transmit configuration settings to a drone, the configuration settings including the at least one access point location and a mode of operation for the drone; and route at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone for transmission according to the configuration settings.

Claims

1. A system of using a drone for network connectivity, the system comprising:

a connectivity module to;

detect an error associated with network traffic on a network connection utilized by a user device;

query a connection datastore to retrieve at least one access point location that at least one device of the user has utilized within a predetermined period;

a drone coordination module to;

transmit configuration settings to a drone, the configuration settings including the at least one access point location and a mode of operation for the drone; and

route at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone for transmission according to the configuration settings.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein to detect the error associated with network traffic, the connectivity module is to:

monitor the throughput of the network traffic.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the drone coordination module is to:

present an option to a user to utilize the drone for the network traffic on the network connection; and

receive an indication that the user has accepted the option before routing the at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the drone coordination module is to:

determine the mode of operation based on a classification of the error.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the mode of operation is a batch data gathering mode when the classification indicates the network connection has insufficient bandwidth for a network activity.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the mode of operation is a forwarding mode when the classification indicates no network traffic is being transmitted on the network connection.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the drone coordination module is to:

determine the mode operation based on the at least one access point location relative to a location of another user device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the drone coordination module is to:

store credentials of a network service utilized by the user; and

transmit the credentials to the drone when the network traffic indicates the user device is connected with the network service.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the drone coordination module is to:

in response to a determination that the location of an access point is within connectivity range of another user device, set the mode of operation to a relay mode.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the drone coordination module is to:

transfer a digital rights management token for a video to the drone when the network traffic indicates the video is attempting to be played over the network connection.

11. A method of using a drone for network connectivity, the method comprising:

detecting an error associated with network traffic on a network connection utilized by a user device;

querying a connection datastore to retrieve at least one access point location that at least one device of the user has utilized within a predetermined period;

transmitting configuration settings to a drone, the configuration settings including the at least one access point location and a mode of operation for the drone; and

routing at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone for transmission according to the configuration settings.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein detecting the error associated with network traffic comprises:

monitoring the throughput of the network traffic.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

presenting an option to a user to utilize the drone for the network traffic on the network connection; and

receiving an indication that the user has accepted the option before routing the at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining the mode of operation based on a classification of the error.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the mode of operation is a batch data gathering mode when the classification indicates the network connection has insufficient bandwidth for a network activity.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the mode of operation is a forwarding mode when the classification indicates no network traffic is being transmitted on the network connection.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining the mode operation based on the at least one access point location relative to a location of another user device.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

storing credentials of a network service utilized by the user; and

transmitting the credentials to the drone when the network traffic indicates the user device is connected with the network service.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

in response to determining that the location of an access point is within connectivity range of another user device, setting the mode of operation to a relay mode.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

transferring a digital rights management token for a video to the drone when the network traffic indicates the video is attempting to be played over the network connection.

21. At least one machine-readable medium including instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

detecting an error associated with network traffic on a network connection utilized by a user device;

querying a connection datastore to retrieve at least one access point location that at least one device of the user has utilized within a predetermined period;

transmitting configuration settings to a drone, the configuration settings including the at least one access point location and a mode of operation for the drone; and

routing at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone for transmission according to the configuration settings.

22. The least one machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the operation of detecting the error associated with network traffic comprises:

monitoring the throughput of the network traffic.

23. The least one machine-readable medium of claim 21, the operations further comprising:

presenting an option to a user to utilize the drone for the network traffic on the network connection; and

receiving an indication that the user has accepted the option before routing the at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone.

24. The least one machine-readable medium of claim 21, the operations further comprising:

determining the mode of operation based on a classification of the error.

25. The least one machine-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the mode of operation is a batch data gathering mode when the classification indicates the network connection has insufficient bandwidth for a network activity.