System and method for utilizing drones for intermittent flights

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10579059-B2
Application number	US-201916285825-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 26, 2019
Priority date	Feb 28, 2018
Publication date	Mar 3, 2020
Grant date	Mar 3, 2020

Abstract

A method for utilizing a drone for intermittent flights can include: receiving instructions of a flight mission with a flight route from an original location to a mission destination of the drone, wherein a plurality of stand-by locations are configured for the drone to land on along the flight route; obtaining data of the stand-by locations; scanning a first area between the original location of the drone and a first stand-by location to determine whether the first area is clear; controlling the drone to navigate over the first area along the flight route if the first area is clear; updating a drone position in real time; scanning a second area between an updated drone position and a second stand-by location to determine whether the second area is clear; and controlling the drone to land on the first stand-by location if the second area is not clear.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method implemented on a drone comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, comprising:
receiving, by the processor, instructions of a flight mission with a flight route from an original location to a mission destination of the drone, wherein a plurality of stand-by locations are along the flight route, and wherein each of the plurality of stand-by locations is at a pre-designated location and is configured for the drone to land on;
obtaining, by the processor, data of the plurality of the stand-by locations, the data being stored in a database;
scanning, by an onboard camera and sensors on the drone, a first area between the original location of the drone and a first stand-by location to determine whether the first area is clear along the flight route;
controlling, by the processor, the drone to navigate to the first stand-by location over the first area along the flight route if the first area is clear;
updating a drone position in real time;
scanning, by the onboard camera and sensors on the drone, a second area between an updated drone position and a second stand-by location to determine whether the second area is clear along the flight route; and
controlling, by the processor, the drone to land on the first stand-by location if the second area is not clear.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising controlling the drone to continuously navigate to the second stand-by location over the second area along the flight route without a break if the second area is clear.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the drone has an unsymmetrical shape with extensions configured to counterbalance a product carried by the drone, and wherein the drone goes into slots of a stand-by location while the stand-by location does not extend outward.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the instructions of the flight mission further comprise mission destination, a drone original location, package original location, package destination, package weight, package capacity, operational parameters of the drone, flight route, and assigned work.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the assigned work conducted by the drone comprises conducting cycle counting operations using on-board high resolution camera and sensors during a flight and when landing on a stand-by location.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the assigned work conducted by the drone comprises picking up a product from the package original location and delivering the product to the package destination.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each stand-by location is configured to move up and down along a column to accommodate a landing of the drone and to provide a mobile spot with changing heights for the drone to access more shelves to conduct an assigned work.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stand-by locations are configured to be framed so as to have an ample room for the drone with a carried product, and wherein the stand-by locations are high enough in excess of a threshold height or within a predefined buffer so as to prevent interactions with customers.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein each stand-by location is configured to provide battery charging and battery swap to the drone.

10. A system comprising:
a central server;
a plurality of stand-by locations;
a plurality of drones, each of the plurality of drones the comprising at least one processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from the central server, instructions of a flight mission with a flight route from an original location to a mission destination of the drone, wherein the plurality of stand-by locations are along the flight route, and wherein each of the plurality of the stand-by locations is at a pre-designated location and is configured for the drone to land on;
obtaining data of the plurality of the stand-by locations, the data being stored in a database;
scanning, by an onboard camera and sensors on the drone, a first area between the original location of the drone and a first stand-by location to determine whether the first area is clear along the flight route;
controlling the drone to navigate to the first stand-by location over the first area along the flight route if the first area is clear;
updating a drone position in real time;
scanning, by the onboard camera and sensors on the drone, a second area between an updated drone position and a second stand-by location to determine whether the second area is clear along the flight route; and
controlling the drone to land on the first stand-by location if the second area is not clear.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise controlling the drone to navigate to the second stand-by location over the second area along the flight route without a break if the second area is clear.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the drone has a unsymmetrical shape with extensions configured to counterbalance a product carried by the drone, and wherein the drone goes into slots of a stand-by location while the stand-by location does not extend outward.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions of the flight mission further comprise mission destination, drone original location, package original location, package destination, package weight, package capacity, operational parameters of the drone, flight route, and assigned work.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the assigned work conducted by the drone comprises conducting cycle counting operations using on-board high resolution camera and sensors during a flight and when landing on a stand-by location.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the assigned work conducted by the drone comprises picking up a product from the package original location and delivering the product to the package destination.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the stand-by location is configured to move up and down along a column to accommodate a landing of the drone and to provide a mobile spot with changing heights for the drone to access more shelves to conduct an assigned work.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the stand-by locations are configured to be framed so as to have an ample room for the drone with a carried product, and wherein the stand-by locations are high enough in excess of a threshold height or within a predefined buffer so as to prevent interactions with customers.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein each stand-by location is configured to provide battery charging and battery swap to the drone.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device comprising a processor, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving, by the processor, instructions of a flight mission with a flight route from an original location to a mission destination of a drone, wherein a plurality of stand-by locations are along the flight route, and wherein each of the plurality of the stand-by locations is at a pre-designated location and is configured for the drone to land on;
obtaining, by the processor, data of the plurality of the stand-by locations, the data being stored in a database;
scanning, by an onboard camera and sensors on the drone, a first area between the original location of the drone and a first stand-by location to determine whether the first area is clear along the flight route;
controlling, by the processor, the drone to n

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Cantrell Robert
• High Donald R
• Mchale Brian
• O'Brien John J

Classifications

• G06Q10/08

  Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management · CPC title

• B60L53/80 Primary

  Exchanging energy storage elements, e.g. removable batteries · CPC title

• B60L2200/10

  Air crafts · CPC title

• B64F1/362

  Installations for supplying conditioned air to parked aircraft · CPC title

• B64C39/024

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