Unmanned aerial vehicle delivery system

• US 10,783,478 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2016
• Issued: 09/22/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Studnicka, Todd Murray
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Heflin, Brian Adams
• Application Number:
  US15/084,919
• Publication Number:
  US 20170286892A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,637 Days
• Field of Search: 705338
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/64 for parcel delivery or retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/38 by wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/26 Debit schemes, e.g. "pay now"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/389 Keeping log of transactions for guaranteeing non-repudiation of a transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4015 using location information
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/42 Confirmation, e.g. check or permission by the legal debtor of payment

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, mediums, and methods of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) delivery system. The system controls and manages UAVs for delivering packages. The system receives a drop off location for a package and instructs a UAV to navigate to the drop off location with the package. The system notifies a recipient of the package delivery through a device of the recipient, and in response to receiving one or more responses to the notification, causes the UAV to allow access to the package being delivered.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising an unmanned aerial system (UAS) configured to control a flight operation of the UAV along a delivery route and at least one camera able to record an evidentiary image at each delivery site along the delivery route;

a non-transitory memory; and

one or more hardware processors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a user device, a purchase order and a location of the user device;

selecting the UAV from a plurality of available UAVs to use for a delivery of a package corresponding to the purchase order, wherein the selecting the UAV is based on weight information of the package and the location of the user device;

in response to the receiving the purchase order and the selecting the UAV, instructing the UAS to navigate the UAV to the location;

receiving, from the UAS, an indication that the UAV is within a threshold distance of the location;

providing a notification of delivery information to the user device;

receiving, from the user device, a request to accept the package corresponding to the purchase order;

determining a measured weight of the package;

verifying, via communication with the UAS, that the measured weight of the package matches the weight information of the package;

in response to the receiving the request and the verifying, instructing the UAV, via communication with the UAS, to deliver the package and to record, by the camera of the UAV, an image that captures the package and a designated delivery site of the location before instructing the UAS to navigate the UAV to a next location along the delivery route corresponding to a next purchase order;

receiving evidence that the package was delivered by the UAV based on the image; and

in response to the receiving the evidence that the package was delivered by the UAV, transferring funds from a first account associated with the user device to a second account based on payment information received using a point-of-sale interface of the UAV.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise instructing the UAV to change altitude along the delivery route.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein instructing the UAS to navigate the UAV to the location comprises communicating a route leg of the delivery route, wherein the route leg corresponds to the location.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the route leg corresponding to the location depends at least in part on weather conditions between an originating location of the package and the location of the user device or a location of at least one of a plurality of charging stations.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the operations further comprise updating the route leg based on a change in the weather conditions.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructing the UAV to deliver the package comprises instructing the UAV, via communication with the UAS, to land at a user designated location.

7. An unmanned delivery vehicle, comprising:

a camera device able to record an evidentiary image at one or more delivery sites along a delivery route;

an unmanned aerial system (UAS) configured to control a flight operation of the unmanned delivery vehicle along the delivery route, wherein the UAS comprises;

a non-transitory memory storing instructions; and

one or more hardware processors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to read the instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the unmanned delivery vehicle to perform operations comprising;

receiving delivery instructions for delivering a package, wherein the delivery instructions comprise a delivery location and a threshold distance from the unmanned delivery vehicle to the delivery location;

navigating to the delivery location;

measuring a weight of the package;

determining that the measured weight of the package matches a specified weight of the package;

in response to determining that the measured weight of the package matches the specified weight of the package, sending a notification to a user device associated with a recipient of the package;

receiving a payment, using a point-of-sale interface of the unmanned delivery vehicle, for the package carried by the unmanned delivery vehicle;

in response to receiving the payment and reaching the threshold distance, allowing access to the package; and

prior to navigating the unmanned delivery vehicle to a next location corresponding to a next purchase order along the delivery route, capturing an image using the camera device connected to the unmanned delivery vehicle, wherein the image includes the package and a designated delivery site where the package was delivered.

8. The unmanned delivery vehicle of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise receiving and recording a verbal confirmation.

9. The unmanned delivery vehicle of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise capturing at least one image of the recipient using the camera device connected to the unmanned delivery vehicle.

10. The unmanned delivery vehicle of claim 7, wherein the delivery location is a location of a device of the recipient.

11. The unmanned delivery vehicle of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining a condition of the designated delivery site; and

determining a new designated delivery site based at least in part on the condition.

12. The unmanned delivery vehicle of claim 11, wherein determining the new designated delivery site comprises receiving the new designated delivery site from the user device.

13. The unmanned delivery vehicle of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise determining a previous designated delivery site associated with the user device, and wherein determining the new designated delivery site is further based in part on the previous delivery site.

14. The unmanned delivery vehicle of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise communicating the captured image to a remote server.

15. A system, comprising:

an unmanned delivery vehicle comprising;

an unmanned aerial system (UAS) communicatively coupled to a server and configured to control a flight operation of the unmanned delivery vehicle along a delivery route;

a weight sensor configured to measure package weights; and

at least one camera able to record one or more evidentiary images at each delivery site along the delivery route;

a non-transitory memory storing instructions; and

the server having one or more hardware processors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to read the instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a user device, a purchase order comprising a delivery location associated with the delivery route;

in response to receiving the purchase order, instructing the UAS of the unmanned delivery vehicle, via wireless communication with the UAS, to aerially navigate the unmanned delivery vehicle to within a threshold distance of the delivery location;

determining that location information received from the UAS of the unmanned delivery vehicle indicates that the unmanned delivery vehicle is within the threshold distance of the delivery location;

receiving, via the wireless communication with the UAS, a weight measurement of a package associated with the purchase order from the weight sensor of the unmanned delivery vehicle;

in response to determining that the weight measurement of the package matches a stated package weight, instructing the unmanned delivery vehicle, via the wireless communication with the UAS, to deliver the package associated with the purchase order; and

prior to instructing the UAS, via the wireless communication with the UAS, to navigate the unmanned delivery vehicle to a next location along the delivery route corresponding to a next purchase order, capturing, using the at least one camera of the unmanned delivery vehicle and the wireless communication with the UAS, an evidentiary image that includes the package and a delivery site where the package was delivered at the delivery location.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein instructing the unmanned delivery vehicle to deliver the package comprises causing the unmanned delivery vehicle to rest within a threshold distance of a wireless communication device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the threshold distance of the wireless communication device is determined through communications with the wireless communication device.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise sending a notification to the user device confirming the delivery.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the notification comprises the captured evidentiary image that includes the package and the delivery site where the package was delivered at the delivery location.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise receiving a verbal confirmation from a recipient indicating a receipt of the package.