Controlling devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11210137-B2
Application number	US-202016787485-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 11, 2020
Priority date	Feb 12, 2019
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

Method and apparatuses for communicating instruction data items from a control apparatus to a device to be controlled are disclosed. The control apparatus receives a request for at least one instruction data item from a device and responds the request by sending a response message. The responding comprises selectively including at least one instruction data item in the response message based at least partly on determination whether the requested at least one data item has been sent before.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of communicating instruction data items from a control apparatus, comprising
receiving, by the control apparatus, a request for at least one instruction data item from a device, and
responding, by the control apparatus, to the request by sending a response message, the responding comprising selectively including at least one instruction data item in the response message based at least partly on determination whether the requested at least one data item has been sent before,
wherein the method further comprises at least one of:
selectively including, in response to a request for a single instruction data item, either a single instruction data item or multiple instruction data items in the response message,
dynamically adjusting the number of instruction data items in the response message,
including in the response message at least one instruction data item that was not requested by the request, or
including multiple instruction data items in the response message, wherein the number of instruction data items included in the response message is greater than the number of data items indicated by the request.

2. A method according to claim 1 , comprising:
including a single instruction data item in the response message in response to determining that the request concerns an instruction data item that has already been sent to the device, or
including multiple instruction data items in the response message in response to determining that the request concerns an instruction data item that has not yet been sent to the device.

3. A method of obtaining instruction data items at a device, comprising:
sending from the device to a control apparatus a request for at least one instruction data item,
receiving, by the device from the control apparatus, a response message to the request comprising one or more instruction data items, wherein the number of instruction data items that are received has been selected based at least partly on determination whether the requested at least one data item has been sent before to the device, and
controlling operation of the device based on the received at least one or more instruction data item in the response message,
wherein the response message that is received comprises at least one of:
either a single instruction data item or multiple instruction data items that have been selectively included in the response message in response to the request for a single instruction data item;
the number of instruction data items that have been dynamically adjusted;
at least one instruction data item that was not requested by the request; or
multiple instruction data items, wherein the number of instruction data items included in the response message is greater than the number of data items indicated by the request.

4. A method according to claim 3 , comprising
receiving a first response message from the control apparatus including multiple instruction data items,
using an instruction data item of the received multiple instruction data items for control of the device and saving the other instruction data items of the multiple instruction data items in a memory of the device,
sending, in response to a failure to obtain one of the saved instruction data items from the memory, a second request for said non-obtained instruction data item,
receiving a second response message including at least one instruction data item, wherein the at least one instruction data item is different from the instruction data item requested by the second request, and
continuing operation of the device based on the received at least one instruction data item.

5. A method according to claim 3 , wherein the device comprises one of an unmanned aerial vehicle, unmanned land vehicle, unmanned watercraft, unmanned control apparatus, unmanned machine, or a device operated in an Internet of things environment.

6. An apparatus comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:
receive a request for at least one instruction data item from a device; and
send a response message to the request, the sending comprising selectively including at least one instruction data item in the response message based at least partly on determination whether the requested at least one data item has been sent before,
wherein the apparatus is further caused to perform at least one of:
selectively include, in response to a request for a single instruction data item, either a single instruction data item or multiple instruction data items in the response message,
dynamically adjust the number of instructions data items in the response message,
include in the response message at least one instruction data item that was not requested by the request, or
include multiple instruction data items in the response message, wherein the number of instruction data items included in the response message is greater than the number of data items indicated by the request.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6 , comprising including a single instruction data item in the response message in response to determining that the request concerns an instruction data item that has already been sent to the device, and including multiple instruction data items in the response message in response to determining that the request concerns an instruction data item that has not yet been sent to the device.

8. An apparatus according to claim 6 , comprising:
sending to a remote control apparatus a request for at least one instruction data item,
receiving, from the remote control apparatus, the response message comprising one or more instruction data items, wherein the number of the instruction data items has been selected based at least partly on determination whether the requested at least one data item has been sent before to the device, and
controlling operation of the device based on the received one or more instruction data items in the response message.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8 , comprising processing at least one instruction data item on the response message that was not requested by the request.

10. An apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein
receiving are configured to receive a first response message from the control apparatus including multiple instruction data items,
controlling are configured to use an instruction data item of the received multiple instruction data items for control of the device and save the other instruction data items of the multiple instruction data items in a memory of the device,
sending are configured for sending, in response to a failure to obtain one of the saved instruction data items from the memory, a second request for said non-obtained instruction data item,
receiving are configured to receive a second response message including at least one instruction data item, wherein the at least one instruction data item is different from the instruction data item requested by the second request, and
controlling are configured to continue control of operation of the device based on the received at least one instruction data item.

11. An apparatus according to claim 6 , configured to handle the requests and responses based on Mavlink protocol and user datagram protocol.

12. An apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the device comprises one of an unmanned aerial vehicle, unmanned land vehicle, unmanned watercraft, unmanned control apparatus, unmanned machine, or a device operable in an Internet of things environment.

13. An apparat

Assignees

• Nokia Technologies Oy

Inventors

• Suvitie Arto Kristian

Classifications

• B64U2201/00

  UAVs characterised by their flight controls · CPC title

• G06F9/3887

  controlled by a single instruction for multiple data lanes [SIMD] · CPC title

• B64U2201/20

  Remote controls · CPC title

• B64U2201/10

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

• B64U10/13

  Flying platforms · CPC title