Launching unmanned aerial copter from mid-air

• US 9,612,599 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2016
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LR Acquisition LLC
• Original Assignee: Lily Robotics, Inc.
• Inventors: Bradlow, Henry W., Balaresque, Antoine
• Primary Examiner(s): PAIGE, TYLER D
• Application Number:
  US15/053,592
• Publication Number:
  US 20160179096A1
• Time in Patent Office: 404 Days
• Field of Search: 701 8, 244 64
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 19/00 Aircraft control not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 27/00 Rotorcraft; Rotors peculiar thereto
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 27/08 with two or more rotors
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/02 characterised by special use
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/10 Rotorcrafts
• 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 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: 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 30/293 Foldable or collapsible rotors or rotor supports
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/19 using electrically powered motors
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/39 Battery swapping
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 70/00 Launching, take-off or landing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 70/10 for releasing or capturing UAVs by hand
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 80/70 in containers B64U80/60 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0022 characterised by the communication link data switching networks in general H04L12/00
• 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 1/0661 : specially adapted for take-off
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0669 : specially adapted for vertical take-off
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/102 : specially adapted for vertical take-off of aircraft

Abstract

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) copter for consumer photography or videography can be launched by a user throwing the UAV copter into mid-air. The UAV copter can detect that the UAV copter has been thrown upward while propeller drivers of the UAV copter are inert. In response to detecting that the UAV copter has been thrown upward, the UAV copter can compute power adjustments for propeller drivers of the UAV copter to have the UAV copter reach a predetermined elevation above an operator device. The UAV copter can then supply power to the propeller drivers in accordance with the computed power adjustments.

Claims

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) copter comprising:

a plurality of propellers;

a plurality of propeller drivers adapted to drive the propellers;

an inertial sensor component;

a wireless communication component configured to communicate with a remote operator device to determine relative positions between the UAV copter and the remote operator device; and

a control system configured to;

monitor inertial sensor readings from the inertial sensor component when the plurality of propeller drivers are turned off;

detect that the UAV copter has been thrown upward while the plurality of propeller drivers are turned off by comparing a preset acceleration pattern against the inertial sensor readings;

in response to detecting that the UAV copter has been thrown upward, computing power levels for the propeller drivers to launch the UAV copter in mid-air and to reach a predetermined elevation above the remote operator device; and

supply power to the propeller drivers in accordance with the computed power levels.

2. The UAV copter of claim 1, wherein the acceleration pattern is a predetermined level of acceleration magnitude.

3. The UAV copter of claim 1, wherein the acceleration pattern is a predetermined level of upward acceleration away from downward pull of gravity.

4. The UAV copter of claim 1, wherein the acceleration pattern is a change in direction of an acceleration vector of the UAV copter according to the inertial sensor readings.

5. The UAV copter of claim 1, wherein said computing the power levels includes determining how much power to supply to each of the propellers to rotate the UAV copter to a balanced state that is capable of maintaining a constant elevation above ground.

6. The UAV copter of claim 1, wherein said computing the power levels includes determining how much power to supply to each of the propellers to maintain flight above a predetermined absolute elevation reading.

7. The UAV copter of claim 1, wherein said computing the power levels includes determining how much power to supply to each of the propellers to maintain flight above a predetermined elevation above the remote operator device.

8. The UAV copter of claim 1, further comprising a power source;

and wherein the control system is configured to determine the power source is soon to be out of charge by comparing a charge ratio of the power source to a preset percentage of charge and to navigate the UAV copter to land on a ground surface in response to said determining that the power source is soon to be out of charge.

9. A method of operating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) copter, comprising:

detecting that the UAV copter has been thrown upward and before reaching free fall while a plurality of propeller drivers of the UAV copter are inert;

in response to detecting that the UAV copter has been thrown upward and before reaching free fall, computing power adjustments for the plurality of propeller drivers to have the UAV copter reach a predetermined elevation above an operator device; and

supplying power to the propeller drivers in accordance with the computed power adjustments.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said detecting the UAV copter has been thrown upward includes:

monitoring velocity readings of the UAV copter; and

determining that the UAV copter has been thrown upward by comparing the velocity readings to a preset upward velocity.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said detecting the UAV copter has been thrown upward includes:

monitoring elevation readings of the UAV copter; and

determining that the UAV copter has been thrown upward by detecting a change in elevation of the UAV copter based on the elevation readings.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein monitoring the elevation readings includes monitoring a z-axis coordinate value of the UAV copter from a global positioning system (GPS) module on the UAV copter.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein monitoring the elevation readings includes monitoring a barometer reading from a barometer on the UAV copter.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said detecting the UAV copter has been thrown upward includes detecting motion via one or more cameras on the UAV copter.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said detecting the motion includes detecting the motion from one or more video feeds of the cameras by comparing consecutive frames.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein an autofocusing mechanism of the cameras is used to detect the motion.

17. A non-transitory computer readable data memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a computer-implemented method, the computer-executable instructions comprising:

instructions for monitoring sensor readings from a sensor of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) copter when a plurality of propeller drivers of the UAV copter are turned off;

instructions for detecting that the UAV copter has been thrown upward by comparing a preset pattern against the sensor readings;

instructions for, in response to detecting that the UAV copter has been thrown upward, computing power levels for the propeller drivers to launch the UAV copter in mid-air and to reach a predetermined elevation above a remote operator device separate from the UAV copter; and

instructions for supplying power to the propeller drivers in accordance with the computed power levels.

18. The non-transitory computer readable data memory of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprises instructions for calibrating the propeller drivers on an even ground surface prior to being launched in midair.

19. The non-transitory computer readable data memory of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprises instructions for calibrating the propeller drivers in midair.

20. The non-transitory computer readable data memory of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprises instructions for skipping calibration of the propeller drivers in response to the UAV copter having had uninterrupted power since a previous calibration session.