External microphone for an unmanned aerial vehicle

• US 9,922,659 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2015
• Issued: 03/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LR Acquisition LLC
• Original Assignee: LR Acquisition LLC
• Inventors: Bradlow, Henry W., Balaresque, Antoine
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Vivian
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAMID, AMMAR T
• Application Number:
  US14/875,268
• Publication Number:
  US 20160336020A1
• Time in Patent Office: 897 Days
• Field of Search: 381 941
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/00 UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/104 using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0038 by providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras located onboard the vehicle, e.g. tele-operation images analyzed by a computer and used for automatic navigation G05D1/0246
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/005 by providing the operator with signals other than visual, e.g. acoustic, haptic
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0094 involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/167 Audio streaming, i.e. formatting and decoding of an encoded audio signal representation into a data stream for transmission or storage purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/57 for processing of video signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/086 Protective screens, e.g. all weather or wind screens
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/01 Input selection or mixing for amplifiers or loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/07 Use of position data from wide-area or local-area positioning systems in hearing devices, e.g. program or information selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/13 Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

Several embodiments include a remote tracker for a videography drone. The remote tracker can include a spatial information sensor and a microphone configured to capture audio data surrounding the remote tracker. The remote tracker can also include a logic control component configured to decorate the audio data with location-based metadata or temporal metadata. A network interface of the remote tracker can communicate with the videography drone, including streaming the audio data captured by the microphone to the videography drone.

Claims

1. A video drone control system, comprising:

an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that comprises;

a camera configured to capture video data,

a processor configured to process the video data,

a drone-side microphone configured to capture background audio data surrounding the UAV, and

a drone-side network interface configured to communicate with a remote tracker; and

the remote tracker that comprises;

a spatial information sensor configured to generate location-based metadata by continuously determining spatial location of the remote tracker,

a tracker-side microphone configured to capture audio data surrounding the remote tracker,

a logic control component configured to decorate the audio data with the location-based metadata and temporal metadata, and

a tracker-side network interface configured to communicate with the drone-side network interface,

wherein the tracker-side network interface is configured to stream the audio data decorated by the logic control component to the drone-side network interface, and

wherein, upon receiving the audio data from the remote tracker, the processor of the UAV is configured to;

produce filtered audio data by filtering the background audio data from the audio data, and

generate audio/video (A/V) data by synchronizing the video data and the filtered audio data based on the temporal metadata or the location-based metadata.

2. The video drone control system of claim 1, wherein the UAV further comprises a first global positioning system (GPS) module, wherein the remote tracker further comprises a second GPS module, and wherein the first GPS module and the second GPS module are of a same type and model.

3. The video drone control system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to synchronize, in real-time, a video stream captured form the camera and an audio stream captured from the tracker-side microphone and streamed from the remote tracker to the UAV via the tracker-side network interface.

4. The video drone control system of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to synchronize the video stream and the audio stream based on at least a timestamp entry associated with the video stream and a timestamp entry associated with the audio stream.

5. The video drone control system of claim 4, wherein the timestamp entry associated with the video stream and the timestamp entry associated with the audio stream are global positioning system (GPS) timestamps from a single GPS module or GPS modules of a same type and model.

6. The video drone control system of claim 1, wherein the logic control component is configured to analyze the audio data from the tracker-side microphone to select a voice command by matching against one or more voice patterns associated with one or more voice commands.

7. The video drone control system of claim 6, wherein the tracker-side network interface is configured to send the selected voice command to the drone-side network interface.

8. The video drone control system of claim 1, wherein the logic control component is configured to analyze the audio data to identify a high noise event, and wherein the tracker-side network interface is configured to notify the drone-side network interface regarding the high noise event.

9. The video drone control system of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to process the video data differently in response to the drone-side network interface receiving a message indicative of the high noise event.

10. The video drone control system of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to process the video data differently by processing the video data in slow motion.

11. The video drone control system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to filter propeller noise from the streamed audio data received from the remote tracker.

12. The video drone control system of claim 1, wherein the tracker-side microphone is configured to start recording the audio data when the drone-side network interface notifies the tracker-side network interface that the UAV is in flight or the UAV is on.

13. The video drone control system of claim 1, wherein the tracker-side microphone is configured to start recording when the tracker-side network interface receives a command from a mobile device separate from the UAV.

14. A portable device configured to communicate with a videography drone, the portable device comprising:

a spatial information sensor configured to generate location-based metadata by continuously determining spatial location of the portable device;

a microphone configured to capture audio data surrounding the portable device;

a logic control component configured to;

generate temporal metadata using a digital clock, and

decorate the audio data with the location-based metadata and the temporal metadata; and

a tracker-side network interface configured to communicate with the videography drone,

wherein the tracker-side network interface is configured to stream the audio data decorated by the logic control component to the videography drone,

wherein the videography drone is configured to capture background audio data, and

wherein the videography drone is further configured to, upon receiving the stream of the audio data, produce filtered audio data by filtering the background audio data from the audio data, and generate audio/video (A/V) data by synchronizing video data captured by the videography drone and the filtered audio data based on the temporal metadata or the location-based metadata.

15. The portable device of claim 14, further comprising a shockproof casing enclosing the spatial information sensor or the microphone.

16. The portable device of claim 14, further comprising:

a protective shell partially enclosing the microphone and exposing a portion of the microphone.

17. The portable device of claim 16, further comprising an impact dampener between the protective shell and the microphone.

18. The portable device of claim 14, wherein the tracker-side network interface is configured to automatically discover a network interface of the videography drone when the videography drone is within wireless communication radius from the portable device.

19. The portable device of claim 14, wherein the logic control component is configured to convert the audio data to text via a voice recognition process and annotate the audio data with a caption based on the text.

20. The portable device of claim 14, wherein the logic control component is configured to remove propeller noise from the audio data prior to streaming the audio data to the videography drone.

21. The portable device of claim 14, further comprising a speaker configured to play a sound in response to a command or an alert received from the videography drone via the tracker-side network interface.

22. The portable device of claim 14, further comprising a camera flash or a light source to facilitate the videography drone to photograph a user carrying the portable device.

23. A method comprising:

recording background noise data with a microphone of a videography drone;

receiving a stream of location data and audio data from a user tracker device, the user tracker device separate from the videography drone,

wherein the audio data is decorated with location-based metadata or temporal metadata;

navigating the videography drone based on the location data;

capturing video data with a camera in the videography drone;

producing filtered audio data by filtering the background noise data from the audio data; and

generating audio/video (A/V) data by synchronizing the filtered audio data and the video data based on the temporal metadata or the location-based metadata.