Drone piggybacking on vehicles

• US 9,841,757 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2015
• Issued: 12/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mikan, Jeffrey, Cenciarelli, Fulvio, Davis, III, John P., Aguirre, Quinn
• Primary Examiner(s): Camby, Richard M
• Application Number:
  US14/958,408
• Publication Number:
  US 20170160735A1
• Time in Patent Office: 740 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/60 for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 80/25 for recharging batteries; for refuelling
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 80/86 Land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft

Abstract

A system for providing drone piggybacking on vehicles is disclosed. In particular, the system may enable drones or other unmanned mobile connected devices to piggyback onto various types of hosts, such as vehicles, in a symbiotic fashion. Through the symbiotic relationship created between the drones and hosts, the drones may utilize the hosts as a means for transport, such as while delivering a good to an intended destination, and the hosts may receive certain incentives in exchange for transporting the drones. Drones may be paired with hosts based on any number of factors, such as whether the host is traveling on a route that corresponds with reaching the intended destination, whether the host is capable of recharging the drone, and whether the drone has sufficient power to reach the intended destination. By enabling drones to piggyback with hosts, the required traveling range for a drone may be reduced.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory that stores instructions;

a processor that executes the instructions to perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving information associated with an object to be delivered to an intended destination;

calculating, based on the information, a first route for a drone to deliver the object to the intended destination;

initiating, by utilizing the drone, delivery of the object to the intended destination using the first route;

determining whether a portion of a second route associated with a host vehicle corresponds with reaching the intended destination;

causing, if the portion of the second route associated with the host vehicle corresponds with reaching the intended destination, the drone to piggyback with the host vehicle during the portion of the second route; and

delivering, based on the drone piggybacking with the host vehicle during the portion of the second route, the object to the intended destination.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise causing the drone to connect to a charging device of the host vehicle when the drone piggybacks with the host vehicle.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise charging a power source of the drone by utilizing the charging device of the host vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise determining whether a threshold amount of congestion exists on the portion of the second route.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the operations further comprise delivering, if the threshold amount of congestion exists on the portion of the second route, the object to the intended destination without having the drone piggyback with the host vehicle.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting an instruction to the drone to cause the drone to land at a drone nesting location after delivering the object to the intended destination.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the drone from a drone inventory based on a battery level associated with the drone.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the drone based on a proximity of the drone to the intended destination.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise causing the drone to detach from the host vehicle if the host vehicle veers off the second route by a maximum threshold distance.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise causing, if the host vehicle veers off the second route by the maximum threshold distance, the drone to piggyback to a different host vehicle associated with a third route corresponding to the intended destination.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving the information associated with the object, wherein the information comprises a weight of the object, a delivery time required for delivering the object, a dimension of the object, an identification of the object, or a combination thereof.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving a request from a user to deliver a different object at a different intended destination.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise calculating a third route for delivering the different object at the different intended destination, and wherein the operations further comprise delivering the different object at the different intended destination using the third route.

14. A method, comprising:

receiving information associated with an object to be delivered to an intended destination;

determining, based on the information, a first route for a drone to deliver the object to the intended destination;

initiating, by utilizing the drone, delivery of the object to the intended destination using the first route;

determining, by utilizing instructions from a memory that are executed by a processor, whether a portion of a second route associated with a host vehicle overlaps with a corresponding portion of the first route;

causing, if the portion of the second route associated with the host vehicle is determined to overlap with the corresponding portion of the first route, the drone to piggyback with the host vehicle during the portion of the second route; and

delivering, based on the drone piggybacking with the host vehicle during the portion of the second route, the object to the intended destination.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining a first congestion level for the portion of the second route and a second congestion level for the corresponding portion of the first route.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising not causing the drone to piggyback with the host vehicle if the first congestion level is greater than the second congestion level, and further comprising delivering, based on only the first route, the object to the intended destination.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising causing the drone to connect to a charging device of the host vehicle when the drone piggybacks with the host vehicle.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising charging a power source of the drone by utilizing the charging device of the host vehicle.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising causing the drone to piggyback with the host vehicle if the drone enters a blacked out region while on the first route.

20. A computer-readable device comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

calculating, based on information received for an object, a first route for a drone to deliver the object to an intended destination;

initiating, by utilizing the drone, delivery of the object to the intended destination using the first route;

determining whether a portion of a second route associated with a host vehicle corresponds with reaching the intended destination;

causing, if the portion of the second route associated with the host vehicle corresponds with reaching the intended destination, the drone to piggyback with the host vehicle during the portion of the second route; and

delivering, based on the drone piggybacking with the host vehicle during the portion of the second route, the object to the intended destination.