Dynamic drone navigation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10810890-B2
Application number	US-201815873313-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2018
Priority date	Jan 17, 2017
Publication date	Oct 20, 2020
Grant date	Oct 20, 2020

Abstract

Techniques are described for enabling a drone device to use a dynamic multi-dimensional spatial representation of an indoor property environment to improve autonomous navigation. In some implementations, an instruction to perform an action at a particular location of a property is received by a drone device. A spatial representation of the property that identifies a dynamic object is obtained by the drone device. The status of the dynamic object impacts an ability of the drone device to navigate near the dynamic object. Sensor data collected by one or more sensors of a monitoring system of the property and that indicates a present status of the dynamic object is obtained by the drone device. A path to the particular location is determined by the drone device. The path to the particular location is finally navigated by the drone device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a drone device, an instruction to perform an action at a particular location of a property;
obtaining, by the drone device, a spatial representation of the property that identifies a dynamic object, where a status of the dynamic object indicates an ability of the drone device to navigate near the dynamic object;
obtaining, by the drone device and based at least on identification of the dynamic object in the spatial representation of the property, sensor data collected by one or more sensors of a monitoring system of the property that indicates a present status of the dynamic object;
identifying, by the drone device and based on the sensor data, a set of candidate paths for navigating to the particular location;
determining, by the drone device, that (i) the dynamic object is included in a first candidate path within the set of candidate paths and (ii) the present status of the dynamic object indicates that the dynamic object prevents the ability of the drone device to navigate along the first candidate path;
selecting, by the drone device and based on determining that the present status of the dynamic object indicates that the dynamic object restricts the ability of the drone device to navigate along the first candidate path, a second candidate path, from among the set of candidate paths, the second candidate path being different from the first candidate path; and
navigating, by the drone device, the second candidate path to the particular location.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, based on the sensor data, a change to the status of the dynamic object identified within the spatial representation of the property;
generating a second spatial representation of the property that identifies the present status of the dynamic object, the present status reflecting the change to the status of the dynamic object identified within the spatial representation of the property; and
wherein the second candidate path is selected based on the second spatial representation of the property.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the spatial representation of the property is generated prior to receiving the instruction to perform the action at the particular location of the property.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the dynamic object is a door of the property;
the status of the dynamic object identified in the spatial representation for the property indicates that the door is open;
the present status of the dynamic object indicates that the door has been closed after receiving the instruction to perform the action at the particular location of the property; and
selecting the second candidate path comprises selecting a candidate path, from among the set of candidate paths, that does not include the door.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
collecting, by the drone device, spatial data of a physical environment of the property during an initial registration of the property; and
generating the spatial representation based on the spatial data of the physical environment of the property collected during the initial registration of the property.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spatial representation of the property is generated in response to receiving a prior instruction to perform an action at the particular location.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the drone device, a present location of the drone device within the property based on the spatial representation; and
wherein the second candidate path is selected based on the present location of the drone device within the property.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the sensor data collected by one or more sensors of the monitoring system of the property comprises:
obtaining, from the monitoring system, association data that identifies sensors of the monitoring system as corresponding to physical objects located within the property; and
determining that the one or more sensors from among the sensors of the monitoring system corresponds to a physical object that is represented by the dynamic object within the spatial representation of the property.

9. A system comprising:
one or more computers; and

one or more storage devices storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
receiving, by a drone device, an instruction to perform an action at a particular location of a property;
obtaining, by the drone device, a spatial representation of the property that identifies a dynamic object, where a status of the dynamic object indicates an ability of the drone device to navigate near the dynamic object;
obtaining, by the drone device and based at least on identification of the dynamic object in the spatial representation of the property, sensor data collected by one or more sensors of a monitoring system of the property that indicates a present status of the dynamic object;
identifying, by the drone device and based on the sensor data, a set of candidate paths for navigating to the particular location;
determining, by the drone device, that (i) the dynamic object is included in a first candidate path within the set of candidate paths and (ii) the present status of the dynamic object indicates that the dynamic object restricts the ability of the drone device to navigate along the first candidate path;
selecting, by the drone device and based on determining that the present status of the dynamic object indicates that the dynamic object restricts the ability of the drone device to navigate along the first candidate path, a second candidate path, from among the set of candidate paths, the second candidate path being different from the first candidate path; and
navigating, by the drone device, the second candidate path to the particular location.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining, based on the sensor data, a change to the status of the dynamic object identified within the spatial representation of the property;
generating a second spatial representation of the property that identifies the present status of the dynamic object, the present status reflecting the change to the status of the dynamic object identified within the spatial representation of the property; and
wherein the second candidate path is selected based on the second spatial representation of the property.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the spatial representation of the property is generated prior to receiving the instruction to perform the action at the particular location of the property.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein:
the dynamic object is a door of the property;
the status of the dynamic object identified in the spatial representation for the property indicates that the door is open;
the present status of the dynamic object indicates that the door has been closed after receiving the instruction to perform the action at the particular location of the property; and
selecting the second candidate path comprises selecting a candidate path, from among the set of candidate paths, that does not include the door.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device encoded with computer program instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
receiving, by a drone device, an instruction to perform an action at a particular location of a property;
obtaining, by the drone device, a spatial representation of the property that identifies a dynamic object, where a status of

Assignees

• Alarm Com Inc

Inventors

• Rezvani Babak
• Seyfi Ahmad

Classifications

• B64U2201/10

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

• G08G5/57

  for unmanned aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/55

  for a single aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/32

  for flight plan preparation · CPC title

• B64U2101/31

  for surveillance · CPC title