Methods and systems for requesting and displaying UAV information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10467578-B2
Application number	US-201715588915-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2017
Priority date	May 8, 2017
Publication date	Nov 5, 2019
Grant date	Nov 5, 2019

Abstract

Described herein are methods and systems that help facilitate the summoning and loading of a pickup and delivery unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In particular, a computing system may display a graphical interface including an interface feature that indicates UAV assignments. That computing system may receive a message including a UAV identifier that identifies a particular UAV assigned to a particular item based on a UAV-assignment request for the particular item. And the computing system may use the received UAV identifier as a basis for displaying, on the graphical interface, (i) a graphical identifier of the particular UAV assigned to the particular item based on the UAV-assignment request for the particular item and (ii) a graphical identifier of the particular item.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method comprising:
displaying, by a computing system, a graphical interface comprising an interface feature that indicates unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assignments;
receiving, by the computing system, a message comprising a UAV identifier that identifies a particular UAV assigned to a particular item based on a UAV-assignment request for the particular item, wherein the UAV-assignment request comprises a request to have a UAV assigned to pick up the particular item at a source location for subsequent transport of the particular item from the source location to another location;
using the received UAV identifier as a basis for displaying, on the graphical interface, (i) a graphical identifier of the particular UAV assigned to the particular item based on the UAV-assignment request for the particular item and (ii) a graphical identifier of the particular item;
receiving, by the computing system, a flight-status notification indicating a status of flight by the particular UAV to the source location for pickup of the particular item; and
using the received flight-status notification as a basis for displaying, on the graphical interface, a graphical status indicating the status of flight by the particular UAV to the source location for pickup of the particular item.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the computing system, the UAV-assignment request for the particular item; and
in response to receiving the UAV-assignment request, transmitting, by the computing system, the UAV-assignment request to a server that coordinates UAV assignments,
wherein receiving the message comprises receiving the message from the server in response to transmitting the UAV-assignment request to the server.

3. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the UAV-assignment request is based on a transport request requesting to have the particular item transported from the source location to another location,
wherein the source location is associated with the computing system displaying the graphical interface,
wherein the transport request is received at a server that coordinates UAV assignments, and
wherein receiving the message comprises receiving the message from the server based on the computing system being associated with the source location.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message further comprises an item identifier of the particular item, thereby indicating that the UAV identifier identifies the particular UAV assigned to the particular item based on the UAV-assignment request for the particular item.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the UAV-assignment request includes a weight of the particular item, and wherein the particular UAV is assigned based at least on the weight of the particular item.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flight-status notification indicating the status of flight by the particular UAV to the source location for pickup of the particular item comprises the flight-status notification indicating one or more of the following: (i) that the particular UAV is waiting for takeoff to the source location, (ii) that the particular UAV is en route to the source location, or (iii) an estimated time-of-arrival of the particular UAV at the source location.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the UAV-assignment request is a first UAV-assignment request, wherein the particular item is a first item, wherein the message is a first message, wherein the UAV identifier is a first UAV identifier, wherein the particular UAV is a first UAV, the method further comprising:
receiving, by the computing system, a second message comprising a second UAV identifier that identifies a second UAV assigned to a second item based on a second UAV-assignment request for the second item; and
using the received second UAV identifier as a basis for displaying, on the graphical interface, (i) a graphical identifier of the second UAV assigned to the second item based the second UAV-assignment request for the second item and (ii) a graphical identifier of the second item.

8. The method of claim 7 ,
wherein the graphical identifier of the first item is displayed on the graphical interface substantially alongside the graphical identifier of the first UAV, thereby indicating that the first UAV is assigned to the first item based on the first UAV-assignment request for the first item, and
wherein the graphical identifier of the second item is displayed on the graphical interface substantially alongside the graphical identifier of the second UAV, thereby indicating that the second UAV is assigned to the second item based on the second UAV-assignment request for the second item.

9. A method comprising:
displaying, by a computing system, a graphical interface comprising an interface feature that indicates unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assignments;
receiving, by the computing system, an indication that a weight of a particular item is higher than a threshold weight;
in response to receiving the indication, displaying, on the graphical interface, a graphical status indicating that the weight is higher than the threshold weight, wherein the graphical status is a graphical prompt requesting an update to the weight of the particular item;
receiving, by the computing system, a message comprising a UAV identifier that identifies a particular UAV assigned to the particular item based on a UAV-assignment request for the particular item, wherein the UAV-assignment request includes the weight of the particular item; and
using the received UAV identifier as a basis for displaying, on the graphical interface, (i) a graphical identifier of the particular UAV assigned to the particular item based on the UAV-assignment request for the particular item and (ii) a graphical identifier of the particular item.

10. A method comprising:
displaying, by a computing system, a graphical interface comprising an interface feature that indicates unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assignments;
receiving, by the computing system, an indication that a weight of a particular item is higher than a threshold weight;
in response to receiving the indication, displaying, on the graphical interface, a graphical status indicating that the weight is higher than the threshold weight;
receiving, by the computing system, an update to a UAV-assignment request indicating an update to the weight of the particular item;
receiving, by the computing system, a message comprising a UAV identifier that identifies a particular UAV assigned to the particular item based on the UAV-assignment request for the particular item, wherein the particular UAV is assigned based at least on the updated weight of the particular item; and
using the received UAV identifier as a basis for displaying, on the graphical interface, (i) a graphical identifier of the particular UAV assigned to the particular item based on the UAV-assignment request for the particular item and (ii) a graphical identifier of the particular item.

11. A method comprising:
displaying, by a computing system, a graphical interface comprising an interface feature that indicates unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assignments;
receiving, by the computing system, a message comprising a UAV identifier that identifies a particular UAV assigned to a particular item based on a UAV-assignment request for the particular item, wherein the UAV-assignment request comprises a request to have a UAV assigned to pick up the particular item at a source location for subsequent transport of the particular item from the source location to another location;
using the received UAV identifier as a basis for displaying, on the graphical interface, (i) a graphical identifier of the particular UAV assigned to th

Assignees

• Wing Aviation Llc

Inventors

• Barrington Luke
• Lesser Jonathan

Classifications

• B64D1/22

  Taking-up articles from earth's surface · CPC title

• G06Q10/083 Primary

  Shipping · CPC title

• B64C39/024

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

• G06Q50/28

  Physics · mapped topic

• B64C2201/128

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic