Systems and methods for surveillance with a visual marker
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of positioning an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) within an environment, said method comprising:
- capturing, with aid of one or more vision sensors of the UAV while the UAV is in flight, an image including a visual marker having a unique visual pattern within the environment and affixed to a surface within the environment;
identifying and distinguishing the visual marker from a plurality of different markers based on the unique visual pattern of the visual marker in the image, wherein the identified visual marker has a predefined location that is different from locations of the plurality of different markers;
determining, with aid of one or more processors, a location of the UAV within a three- dimensional coordinate system, based on the predefined location of the identified visual marker; and
identifying the unique visual pattern and effecting a sequence of actions by the UAV in response to a plurality of instructions encoded in the identified visual pattern and communicated by the visual marker, the plurality of instructions including at least one of adjusting position of a payload or swapping the payload;
wherein effecting the sequence of actions by the UAV in response to the plurality of instructions includes causing the UAV to perform at least one of adjusting the position of the payload or swapping the payload.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for positing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in an environment. The UAV may be able to identify visual markers and patterns in the environment. The UAV can distinguish between visual markers and other features in the environment. The visual markers can be analyzed with visual sensors to determine the position of the UAV in the environment. The visual markers can encode instructions to the UAV.
47 Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A method of positioning an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) within an environment, said method comprising:
-
capturing, with aid of one or more vision sensors of the UAV while the UAV is in flight, an image including a visual marker having a unique visual pattern within the environment and affixed to a surface within the environment; identifying and distinguishing the visual marker from a plurality of different markers based on the unique visual pattern of the visual marker in the image, wherein the identified visual marker has a predefined location that is different from locations of the plurality of different markers; determining, with aid of one or more processors, a location of the UAV within a three- dimensional coordinate system, based on the predefined location of the identified visual marker; and identifying the unique visual pattern and effecting a sequence of actions by the UAV in response to a plurality of instructions encoded in the identified visual pattern and communicated by the visual marker, the plurality of instructions including at least one of adjusting position of a payload or swapping the payload; wherein effecting the sequence of actions by the UAV in response to the plurality of instructions includes causing the UAV to perform at least one of adjusting the position of the payload or swapping the payload. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 19, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
12. A system for positioning an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) within an environment, said system comprising:
-
one or more vision sensors of the UAV configured to capture an image including a visual marker having a unique visual pattern within the environment and affixed to a surface within the environment, while the UAV is flight; and one or more processors, individually or collectively configured to; identify and distinguish the visual marker from a plurality of different markers based on the unique visual pattern of the visual marker in the image, wherein the identified visual marker has a predefined location that is different from locations of the plurality of different markers; determine a location of the UAV within a three-dimensional coordinate system, based on the predefined location of the identified visual marker; and identify the unique visual pattern and effect a sequence of actions by the UAV in response to a plurality of instructions encoded in the identified visual pattern and communicated by the visual marker, the plurality of instructions including at least one of adjusting position of a payload or swapping the payload; wherein effecting the sequence of actions by the UAV in response to the plurality of instructions includes causing the UAV to perform at least one of adjusting the position of the payload or swapping the payload. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
20. A method of positioning an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) within an environment, said method comprising:
-
capturing, with aid of one or more vision sensors of the UAV while the UAV is in flight, an image including a visual marker having a unique visual pattern within the environment and affixed to a surface within the environment; identifying and distinguishing the visual marker from a plurality of different markers based on the unique visual pattern of the visual marker in the image, wherein the identified visual marker has a predefined location that is different from locations of the plurality of different markers; determining, with aid of one or more processors, a location of the UAV within a three- dimensional coordinate system, based on the predefined location of the identified visual marker; and identifying the unique visual pattern and effecting a sequence of actions by the UAV in response to a plurality of instructions encoded in the identified visual pattern and communicated by the visual marker; wherein; effecting the sequence of actions by the UAV in response to the plurality of instructions includes causing the UAV to perform at least one of adjusting position of a payload or swapping a payload, effecting the sequence of actions by the UAV further includes effecting the sequence of actions by the UAV according to at least one of a specified time interval or a predetermined distance included in the instructions, the specified time interval indicates a wait time before the UAV effects the sequence of actions, and the predetermined distance indicates a distance from the visual marker at which the UAV effects the sequence of actions.
-
Specification