Flight device, flight method thrown by user and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10086309-B2
Application number	US-201615278791-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2016
Priority date	Nov 25, 2015
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

A flight device includes at least one propelling unit and a controller unit for flying in the air, and the flight device is thrown by a user. The controller unit drives the propelling unit after throwing is performed by the user, such that the flight device flies based on a state of the flight device at a moment when the throwing is performed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A flight device which has at least one propelling unit for flying in the air and which is throwable by a user, said flight device comprising:
a controller that drives the propelling unit after throwing is performed by the user, such that the flight device flies based on a state of the flight device at a moment when the throwing is performed;
a flight sensor that detects acceleration values; and
a touch detection sensor that detects a touch of the flight device by the user and a release of the flight device by the user;
wherein the controller calculates velocities of directions of individual coordinate axes of a predetermined absolute coordinate system at a moment after the throwing is performed, and calculates an initial velocity, a horizontal angle of the throwing on a coordinate plane parallel to the ground, and a vertical angle of the throwing on a coordinate plane perpendicular to the ground, based on the velocities of the directions of the individual coordinate axes; and
wherein the controller calculates the velocities of the directions of the individual coordinate axes at the moment when the throwing is performed, by integrating an acceleration value of the direction of each of coordinate axes output from the flight sensor, from a time when the acceleration value of the direction of the corresponding coordinate axis exceeds a predetermined threshold, to a time when the touch detection sensor detects that the flight device is released by the user based on the acceleration value of the direction of the corresponding coordinate axis.

2. The flight device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the coordinate system is a three-dimensional coordinate system having an x axis, a y axis and a z axis each of which is perpendicular to one another; and
when the time when the acceleration value of the direction of each coordinate axis output from the flight sensor exceeds the predetermined threshold is ts, the time when the touch detection sensor unit detects that the flight device is released by the user is tr, the velocities of the directions of the individual coordinate axes are Vx, Vy, and Vz, and the acceleration values of the directions of the individual coordinate axes output from the flight sensor are ax, ay, and az, the controller calculates the velocities Vx, Vy, and Vz of the directions of the individual coordinate axes by operations equivalent to the following Expressions 12, 13, and 14:
V x =∫ t s t r a x Δt,   [Expression 12]

V y =∫ t s t r a y Δt , and  [Expression 13]

V z =∫ t s t r a z Δt.   [Expression 14]

3. The flight device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the coordinate system is a three-dimensional coordinate system having an x axis, a y axis and a z axis each of which is perpendicular to one another;
when the horizontal angle is α, and the vertical angle is β, the controller calculates the horizontal angle α by an operation equivalent to the following Expression 15:

α
=

tan

-
1

(

V
z

V
x
2

+

V
y
2

)

,

[

Expression
⁢

⁢
15

]

and
the controller calculates the vertical angle β by an operation equivalent to the following Expression 16:

β
=

tan

-
1

⁡

(

V
y

V
x

)

.

[

Expression
⁢

⁢
16

]

4. The flight device according to claim 3 , wherein:
when the velocities of the directions of the individual coordinate axes are Vx, Vy, and Vz, and the initial velocity is Vini, the controller calculates the initial velocity Vini by an operation equivalent to the following Expression 17:
V ini =√{square root over ( V x 2 +V y 2 +V z 2 )},  [Expression 17]

when a release time when the flight device is released by the user is tr, an elapsed time from the release time is t, a flight altitude and a horizontal flight distance from a location at the release time tr are H and L, respectively, the acceleration of gravity is g, and a throwing correction coefficient is K, the controller calculates the flight altitude H by an operation equivalent to the following Expression 18:

H
=

V
ini

×
K
×
sin
⁢

⁢
β
×
t

-

1
2

Assignees

• Casio Computer Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamada Shunsuke
• Mizushina Takahiro
• Matsuda Hideaki
• Takahashi Toshihiro

Classifications

• B64U2101/30

  for imaging, photography or videography · CPC title

• A63H27/12 Primary

  Helicopters (A63H27/04 takes precedence); Flying tops · CPC title

• G03B15/006

  Apparatus mounted on flying objects · CPC title

• B64C2201/088

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B64C39/024

  of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV · CPC title