Methods and devices for heart rate controlled drones

• US 9,513,629 B1
• Filed: 10/30/2015
• Issued: 12/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Mobile Communications Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Thrn, Ola
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc, Mcdieunel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stroud, James E
• Application Number:
  US14/927,506
• Time in Patent Office: 403 Days
• Field of Search: 701/22
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7278 Artificial waveform generation or derivation, e.g. synthesising signals from measured signals A61B5/327 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/0028 for running, jogging or speed-walking movable endless bands A63B22/02
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/08 Arrangements of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/10 autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
• 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 1/12 Target-seeking control
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

A method for controlling a drone including performing operations on a processor configured to control location of the drone are described. The operations on the processor include receiving heart rate messages from a remote device carried by a user, where each heart rate message includes heart rate information of the user, and receiving location messages from the remote device carried by the user, where each location message includes location information of the user. The method includes predicting a future location of the user based on the heart rate messages and the location messages, generating a target location to which the drone is to be moved based on the future location of the user, and commanding the drone to move to the target location. Related devices are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a drone, the method comprising:

performing operations as follows on a processor configured to control location of the drone;

receiving a plurality of heart rate messages from a remote device carried by a user, each heart rate message of the plurality of heart rate messages comprising heart rate information of the user;

receiving a plurality of location messages from the remote device carried by the user, each location message of the plurality of location messages comprising location information of the user;

predicting a future location of the user based on the heart rate messages and the location messages;

generating a target location to which the drone is to be moved based on the future location of the user; and

commanding the drone to move to the target location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicting the future location of the user based on the heart rate messages and the location messages comprises:

predicting the future location of the user based on differences in the heart rate information in at least two of the heart rate messages and differences in the location information in at least two of the location messages.

3. The method of claim 2,

wherein the predicting the future location of the user further comprises predicting the future location of the user based on a pace determined for the user, and

wherein the generating a target location to which the drone is to be moved comprises generating the target location based on the pace of the user.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining the pace of the user based on recorded historical measurements of the user'"'"'s pace over defined time intervals within a threshold distance of a present location of the user.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

scaling the pace of the user by a weighting factor based on a comparison of a heart rate indicated by at least one of the plurality of heart rate messages to a threshold heart rate.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

scaling the pace of the user by a weighting factor defined based on whether the heart rates have increased or decreased over a defined time interval.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving environment information associated with the location information of the user; and

determining an adjusted pace of the user based on the environment information and the pace of the user,

wherein the predicting the future location of the user further comprises predicting the future location of the user based on the adjusted pace.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the receiving the environment information comprises determining weather conditions, terrain information, geographical features, and/or a location of another user.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the environment information indicates presence of persons in a proximity of the user based on detecting radio frequency signals received from devices carried by the persons, the method further comprising:

scaling the adjusted pace of the user by a weighting factor in response to determining the presence of persons in the proximity of the user.

10. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining, based on the differences in the heart rate information, that the user is maintaining a steady heart rate;

determining, based on the differences in the location information, that the user is stationary; and

controlling the location of the drone to be stationary based on the determining that the user is maintaining a steady heart rate and the determining that the user is stationary.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining, based on the differences in the heart rate information, that the user is accelerating or decelerating;

predicting, based on the determining that the user is accelerating or decelerating, the future location of the user; and

controlling a speed of the drone based on the determining that the user is accelerating or decelerating and the future location predicted for the user.

12. The method of claim 11,

wherein the determining, based on the differences in the heart rate information, that the user is accelerating or decelerating comprises:

determining that the user is accelerating based on a first heart rate information of one of the plurality of heart rate messages being greater than a second heart rate information of a previous one of the plurality of heart rate messages; and

determining that the user is decelerating based on the first heart rate information being less than the second heart rate information;

wherein the controlling the speed of the drone based on the determining that the user is accelerating or decelerating comprises;

increasing the speed of the drone as the drone travels to the future location of the user that was predicted, in response to the determining that the user is accelerating; and

decreasing the speed of the drone as the drone travels to the future location of the user that was predicted, in response to the determining that the user is decelerating.

13. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing an input to a camera associated with the drone, in response to the predicting the future location of the user based on the differences in the heart rate information and the differences in the location information.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

controlling a zoom of the camera, in response to the predicting the future location of the user based on the differences in the heart rate information and the differences in the location information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the controlling the zoom of the camera comprises:

determining, based on differences in the heart rate information in at least two of the heart rate messages, that the user is accelerating or decelerating;

decreasing the zoom of the camera responsive to determining that the user is accelerating; and

increasing the zoom of the camera responsive to determining that the user is decelerating.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

adjusting a field of view of the camera, in response to the predicting the future location of the user based on the differences in the heart rate information and the differences in the location information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein adjusting the field of view of the camera further comprises:

determining, based on differences in the heart rate information in at least two of the heart rate messages, that the user is accelerating or decelerating;

increasing the field of view of the camera responsive to determining that the user is accelerating; and

decreasing the field of view of the camera responsive to determining that the user is decelerating.

18. The method of claim 1,

wherein the commanding the drone to move to the target location comprises generating information related to the altitude, speed, yaw, roll, pitch, and/or heading of the drone.

19. A device for controlling a position of the drone, wherein the device comprises a processor configured to perform operations comprising:

receiving a plurality of heart rate messages from a remote device carried by a user, each heart rate message of the plurality of heart rate messages comprising heart rate information of the user;

receiving a plurality of location messages from the remote device carried by the user, each location message of the plurality of location messages comprising location information of the user;

predicting a future location of the user based on the heart rate messages and the location messages;

generating a target location to which the drone is to be moved based on the future location of the user; and

commanding the drone to move to the target location.

20. The device for controlling the position of the drone of claim 19, wherein the predicting the future location of the user based on the heart rate messages and the location messages comprises:

predicting the future location of the user based on differences in the heart rate information in at least two of the heart rate messages and differences in the location information in at least two of the location messages.

21. The device for controlling the position of the drone of claim 19, further comprising:

providing an input to a camera associated with the drone, in response to the predicting the future location of the user based on the differences in the heart rate information and the differences in the location information.

22. A method of controlling a drone, the method comprising:

performing operations as follows on a processor of the drone;

receiving a plurality of heart rate messages from a remote device carried by a user, each heart rate message of the plurality of heart rate messages comprising heart rate information of the user;

receiving a plurality of location messages from the remote device carried by the user, each location message of the plurality of location messages comprising location information of the user;

predicting a future location of the user based on determining a pace of the user associated with differences in the heart rate information in at least two of the heart rate messages and differences in the location information in at least two of the location messages;

generating a target location to which the drone is to be moved, in response to the identifying the future location of the user based on the pace of the user; and

commanding the drone to move to the target location,

wherein the commanding the drone to move to the target location comprises controlling a speed, altitude, and/or heading of the drone.