Method and system for drone deliveries to vehicles in route

• US 9,494,937 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2014
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Telematics Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Siegel, Robert S., Welch, Stephen Christopher, Barfield, James Ronald Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Yonel
• Assistant Examiner(s): INGRAM, THOMAS P
• Application Number:
  US14/310,261
• Publication Number:
  US 20150370251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 1/08 the articles being load-carrying devices
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 1/22 Taking-up articles from earth's surface
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/60 for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/64 for parcel delivery or retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/39 Battery swapping
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3438 Rendez-vous, i.e. searching a destination where several users can meet, and the routes to this destination for these users; Ride sharing, i.e. searching a route such that at least two users can share a vehicle for at least part of the route
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/00 Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0684 on a moving platform, e.g. aircraft carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/104 involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping

Abstract

A system comprise a server configured to communicate vehicle information with a vehicle transceiver of a vehicle moving along a vehicle route and communicate drone information with a drone transceiver of a drone moving along a drone route. A computing device with a memory and a processor may be configured to communicatively connect with the server, process the vehicle information and the drone information, identify a plurality of pickup locations based in part on the vehicle information and drone information, select at least one of the plurality of pickup locations based in part on a priority score associated with a travel time to or wait time for each of the plurality of pickup locations, and update the drone route based in part on the selected pickup location.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a server configured to;

communicate, by way of a network, vehicle information with a vehicle transceiver of a vehicle moving along a vehicle route, wherein the vehicle information at least includes a vehicle location, and

communicate, by way of the network, drone information with a drone transceiver of a drone moving along a drone route, the drone transceiver including a coarse-grain transceiver for communication with the network and a fine-grain transceiver for communication with the vehicle transceiver, wherein the drone information at least includes a drone location, wherein the coarse-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured for cellular communication with the network to rendezvous with the vehicle and the fine-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured for direct wireless communication with the vehicle transceiver to engage a docking station; and

a computing device with a memory and a processor configured to;

communicatively connect with the server,

process the vehicle information and the drone information,

identify a plurality of pickup locations based in part on the vehicle information and drone information,

select at least one of the plurality of pickup locations based in part on a priority score associated with a travel time to or wait time for each of the plurality of pickup locations, and

update the drone route based in part on the selected pickup location and the vehicle location relative to the drone location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate at least one of an updated vehicle route and an updated drone route based at least in part on at least one of the vehicle information and the drone information, and

communicate the updated route between the vehicle and the drone.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive, using the network, cargo information including a cargo location associated with a cargo to be retrieved by the drone and delivered to the vehicle,

generate an additional updated drone route based at least in part on the cargo information, and

communicate the additional updated drone route to the drone and the vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the network is further configured to communicate traffic information to at least one of the vehicle transceiver and drone transceiver, wherein the traffic information indicates traffic congestion along the vehicle route.

5. The system of claim 4, where the processor is further configured to:

update at least one of the vehicle route and drone route based at least in part on traffic information, and

communicate the updated at least one of the vehicle route and drone route to at least the vehicle.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the coarse-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured to position the drone relative to the drone route and the fine-grain transceiver is configured to position the drone relative to the vehicle.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the coarse-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured to position the drone relative to the docking station as part of the vehicle.

6. The system of 1, wherein the coarse-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured to receive the vehicle location from the network and the fine-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured to receive a fine vehicle location from the vehicle transceiver, and wherein the processor is configured to compare the vehicle location from the network and the fine vehicle location from the vehicle transceiver.

9. A drone comprising:

a drone transceiver including a coarse-grain transceiver for communication with a network and a fine-grain transceiver for communication with a vehicle transceiver, wherein the coarse-grain transceiver is configured to;

communicatively connect with at least a network,

transmit drone information to the network while the drone moving along a drone route to a destination point, wherein the drone information at least includes a drone location, and

receive vehicle information from the network while a vehicle is moving along a vehicle route, wherein the vehicle information at least includes a vehicle location,

wherein the coarse-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured for cellular communication with the network to rendezvous with the vehicle and the fine-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured for direct wireless communication with a vehicle transceiver of the vehicle to engage a docking station; and

a computing device operatively connected to the drone transceiver, the computing device including a memory and a processor configured to;

update the drone route based at least in part on the destination point and the vehicle location relative to the drone location, and

communicate the updated drone route to the network.

10. The drone of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive traffic information using the network, wherein the traffic information indicates traffic congestion along the vehicle route,

update the drone route based at least in part on traffic information, and

communicate the updated drone route to at least the network.

11. The drone of claim 9, wherein the drone transceiver is further configured to communicatively connect directly with a vehicle transceiver of the vehicle.

12. The drone of claim 9, wherein the fine-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured to receive the vehicle location from the network and the coarse-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured to receive the vehicle location from the vehicle transceiver.

13. The drone of claim 9, wherein the coarse-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured to position the drone relative to the drone route and the fine-grain transceiver is configured to position the drone relative to the vehicle.

14. The drone of claim 9, wherein the fine-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured to position the drone relative to the docking station as part of the vehicle.

15. A method comprising:

receiving, with a network, vehicle information from a vehicle transceiver of a vehicle moving along a vehicle route with respect to a destination point, wherein the vehicle information at least includes a vehicle location, and

receiving, with the network, drone information with a drone transceiver of a drone moving along a drone route, the drone transceiver including a coarse-grain transceiver for communication with the network and a fine-grain transceiver for communication with the vehicle transceiver, wherein the drone information at least includes a drone location, and wherein the coarse-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured for cellular communication with the network to rendezvous with the vehicle and the fine-grain transceiver of the drone transceiver is configured for direct wireless communication with the vehicle transceiver to engage a docking station;

aggregating vehicle information and drone information to update the drone route to minimize a cost function;

update the drone route based at least in part on the destination point and the vehicle location relative to the drone location; and

providing the updated drone route to the drone using the network.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

providing traffic information to at least one of the vehicle transceiver and drone transceiver using the network, wherein the traffic information indicates traffic congestion along the vehicle route.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

updating at least one of the vehicle route and drone route based at least in part on traffic information, and

communicating the updated at least one of the vehicle route and drone route to at least the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

projecting an estimated trajectory of the vehicle route with a neural network; and

changing the drone route based in part on the estimated trajectory of the vehicle.