Management of deployed drones

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10048684-B2
Application number	US-201615048759-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 19, 2016
Priority date	Feb 19, 2016
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture (e.g., physical storage media) to manage deployed drones are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein include detecting, by a first drone, whether the first drone is in communication with a command center via a first communication network to determine a configuration parameter of a first message to broadcast discovery information associated with the first drone. Disclosed example methods also include, in response to the first drone being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, broadcasting, from the first drone, the first message configured with a first value for the configuration parameter. Disclosed example methods further include, in response to the first drone not being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, broadcasting, from the first drone, the first message configured with a second value for the configuration parameter different from the first value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A drone discovery method comprising:
detecting, by executing an instruction with a processor of a first drone, whether the first drone is in communication with a command center via a first communication network;
determining, based on the detecting, a value for a time-to-live parameter of a first message to broadcast first discovery information associated with the first drone, wherein the first message comprises the first discovery information and the time-to-live parameter, and wherein the time-to-live parameter has a configurable value; and
in response to the first drone being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, broadcasting, with a first transceiver of the first drone, the first message configured with a first value for the time-to-live parameter by transmitting the first discovery information and the first value; or
in response to the first drone not being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, broadcasting, with the first transceiver, the first message configured with a second value for the time-to-live parameter by transmitting the first discovery information and the second value, wherein the second value is different from the first value,
wherein:
the value of the time-to-live parameter of the first message specifies a number of communication hops over which the first message is to be re-broadcast, and
each communication hop over which the first message is to be re-broadcast is associated with an adjusting, by a respective receiving drone, of a respective value of the time-to-live parameter of the first message to determine a respective adjusted value and a re-broadcast, by the respective receiving drone, of the first message configured with the respective adjusted value for the time-to-live parameter via transmission of the first discovery information and the respective adjusted value.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first value corresponds to a value of one hop to cause the first message to not be re-broadcast by a receiving drone that receives the first message, and wherein the second value corresponds to a value greater than one hop to cause the first message to be re-broadcast by the receiving drone.

3. The method of claim 1 , further including:
receiving a second message including second discovery information associated with a second drone, the second message configured with a third value for the time-to-live parameter of the second message;
storing the second discovery information in association with an identifier for the second drone; and
in response to the third value specifying more than one hop for the time-to-live parameter of the second message:
decrementing the third value to determine a fourth value for the time-to-live parameter of the second message; and
re-broadcasting the second message configured with the fourth value for the time-to-live parameter.

4. The method of claim 3 , further including:
after receiving the second message, detecting whether the first drone is in communication with the command center via the first communication network; and
in response to the first drone being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, reporting the second discovery information in association with the identifier for the second drone to the command center via the first communication network; or
in response to the first drone not being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, retaining, in memory, the second discovery information in association with the identifier for the second drone for later reporting to the command center.

5. The method of claim 3 , further including:
after receiving the second message, setting a status for the second drone to indicate the second drone is active;
storing the status for the second drone in association with the identifier for the second drone; and
in response to not detecting the second drone over a time interval, changing the status for the second drone to indicate the second drone is inactive.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the first discovery information includes an identifier for the first drone, an origination location for the first drone, a destination location for the first drone and a current location for the first drone, the origination and destination locations defining a corridor along which the first drone is programmed to travel, and
each communication hop over which the first message is to be re-broadcast is associated with a decrementing, by the respective receiving drone, of the respective value of the time-to-live parameter of the first message to determine a respective decremented value and a re-broadcast, by the respective receiving drone, of the first message configured with the respective decremented value for the time-to-live parameter via transmission of the first discovery information and the respective decremented value.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first transceiver communicatively couples the first drone to the first communication network and a second communication network different from the first communication network, the first drone includes a second transceiver to communicatively couple the first drone to the first communication network, the second communication network corresponds to a wireless local area network, and the first communication network corresponds to at least one of a mobile cellular network and a satellite network.

8. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a processor of a first drone to perform operations comprising:
detecting whether the first drone is in communication with a command center via a first communication network to determine a value for a time-to-live parameter of a first message to broadcast first discovery information associated with the first drone, wherein the first message comprises the first discovery information and the time-to-live parameter, and wherein the time-to-live parameter has a configurable value;
in response to the first drone being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, broadcasting, with a first transceiver of the first drone, the first message configured with a first value for the time-to-live parameter by transmitting the first discovery information and the first value; and
in response to the first drone not being in communication with the command center via the first communication network, broadcasting, with the first transceiver, the first message configured with a second value for the time-to-live parameter by transmitting the first discovery information and the second value, wherein the second value is different from the first value,
wherein:
the value of the time-to-live parameter of the first message specifies a number of communication hops over which the first message is to be re-broadcast, and
each communication hop over which the first message is to be re-broadcast is associated with an adjusting, by a respective receiving drone, of a respective value of the time-to-live parameter of the first message to determine a respective adjusted value and a re-broadcast, by the respective receiving drone, of the first message configured with the respective adjusted value for the time-to-live parameter via transmission of the first discovery information and the respective adjusted value.

9. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the first value corresponds to a value of one hop to cause the first message to not be re-broadcast by a receiving drone that receives the first message, and wherein the second value corresponds to a value greater than one ho

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Dowlatkhah Sangar
• Shaw Venson
• Cui Zhi

Classifications

• B64U2201/00

  UAVs characterised by their flight controls · CPC title

• B64U2101/20

  for use as communications relays, e.g. high-altitude platforms · CPC title

• H04W8/005

  Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals · CPC title

• H04W48/16

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title

• H04W88/04

  adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user · CPC title