Signaling print substances

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10112715-B2
Application number	US-201615138768-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2016
Priority date	Apr 26, 2016
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

An example unmanned aerial vehicle includes an electromagnetic radiation (EMR) sensor. The EMR sensor detects a signal indicative of a substance to print. The unmanned aerial vehicle also includes a nozzle to eject the substance based on a location at which the signal is detected.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:
an electromagnetic radiation (EMR) sensor to detect a signal indicative of a substance to be printed and corresponding to an image to be printed; and
a nozzle to eject the substance based on a location at which the signal is detected.

2. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a distance sensor to measure a distance to a print target; and a controller to maintain a fixed distance from the print target.

3. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the signal comprises light of a color, and wherein the nozzle is to eject a substance of the color.

4. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the light comprises a modulation, and wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle further comprises a controller to extract the color from background EMR based on the modulation.

5. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a reservoir to store a substance of a first color, wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle does not store a substance of a second color, and wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle further comprises a controller to instruct the nozzle to eject the substance of the first color based on the EMR sensor detecting a signal indicative of the first color and to instruct the nozzle not to eject based on the EMR sensor detecting a signal indicative of the second color.

6. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising an accelerometer to detect movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and a controller to determine when to eject the substance from the nozzle based on measurements by the accelerometer and the location at which the signal is detected.

7. The unmanned aerial vehicle of claim 6 , further comprising a gyroscope to determine an orientation of the unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the controller is to determine when to eject the substance from the nozzle based on measurements by the gyroscope.

8. A method, comprising:
emitting electromagnetic radiation (EMR) indicative of an image to print, wherein the emitted EMR varies based on a direction of emission;
detecting at a location, using an unmanned aerial vehicle, the emitted EMR; and
ejecting, based on the location of detection and using the unmanned aerial vehicle, a substance corresponding to the EMR detected.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the emitting and the ejecting includes a correction to the direction of emission or the location of detection based on a position of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising navigating the unmanned aerial vehicle based on at least one of a fuzzy grid pattern and pseudorandom movement.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein detecting comprises detecting the emitted EMR with an image sensor, and wherein ejecting comprises ejecting a next substance detected at a location in the image sensor corresponding to the direction of movement.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein detecting the EMR comprises detecting EMR corresponding to a first color in a first color space, and wherein the method further comprises converting the first color to a second color in a second color space.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising determining at least one of a velocity, a pitch, a yaw, and a roll, wherein ejecting the substance comprises determining ejection timing based on the at least one of the velocity, the pitch, the yaw, and the roll.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising moving the unmanned aerial vehicle at a substantially constant velocity while ejecting the substance.

15. A system, comprising:
a electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emitter to emit EMR indicative of a first substance to print at a first location towards the first location and to emit EMR indicative of a second substance to print at a second location towards the second location, the EMR indicative of the first substance and the EMR indicative of a second substance corresponding to an image to be printed; and
a modulation engine to cause the EMR emitter to emit the EMR with a modulation distinguishable from background EMR.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the EMR emitter is to emit light of a color to be printed, and wherein the modulation engine is to cycle power to the EMR emitter at a predetermined frequency.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the EMR emitter is to project an image to be printed towards a location at which the image is to be printed.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the EMR emitter is to emit the EMR indicative of the first substance at a predetermined offset from the first location based on a predetermined distance between an unmanned aerial vehicle and a print target.

19. The system of claim 15 , further comprising a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles, at least one of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles to detect EMR of a first color and to eject a non-color substance based on detection of the EMR of the first color.

20. The system of claim 15 , further comprising a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles, wherein each unmanned aerial vehicle is to print based on the emitted EMR without coordinating with others of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicle.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Whitmarsh Mike
• White Benjiman
• Hertling William E

Classifications

• B64U2201/10

  autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS] · CPC title

• B64D1/18 Primary

  by spraying, e.g. insecticides · CPC title

• B64C39/02

  characterised by special use · CPC title

• B64C2201/141

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B64C2201/12

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic