System, control device, and module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11214369-B2
Application number	US-202117206102-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 18, 2021
Priority date	Sep 21, 2018
Publication date	Jan 4, 2022
Grant date	Jan 4, 2022

Abstract

There is provided a system including: a control device mounted on an aircraft and configured to control the aircraft, the aircraft having a battery, and a wireless device configured to use power stored in the battery to provide a wireless communication service to a user terminal; and a module that is physically attachable to and detachable from the control device, in which the control device has a housing that includes a module attachment and detachment unit, and an electrical connection unit configured to electrically connect the module to the battery when the module is attached to the module attachment and detachment unit, and the module has, a power receiving unit configured to receive power from the battery, and a communication processing unit configured to use the power received by the power receiving unit to communicate with the wireless device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a control device mounted on an aircraft and configured to control the aircraft, the aircraft having
a battery, and
a wireless device configured to use power stored in the battery to form a communication area on the ground, and provide a wireless communication service to a user terminal in the communication area; and

a module that is physically attachable to and detachable from the control device, wherein
the control device has
a housing that includes a module attachment and detachment unit to and from which the module is physically attachable and detachable,
an electrical connection unit configured to electrically connect the module to the battery when the module is attached to the module attachment and detachment unit,
a variation information storage unit configured to store variation information which indicates a variation of the battery level of the battery for each date and time, and
a power control unit configured to control an amount of power supplied from the battery to the module, wherein the power control unit is configured to control the amount of power supplied from the battery to the module based on the variation information, and

the module has
a housing that is physically attachable to and detachable from the module attachment and detachment unit,
a power receiving unit configured to electrically connect to the battery and receive power from the battery when the housing of the module is attached to the module attachment and detachment unit, and
a communication processing unit configured to use the power received by the power receiving unit to communicate with the wireless device.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein
the control device includes a battery level acquisition unit configured to acquire a battery level of the battery, and
the power control unit is configured to control the amount of power supplied from the battery to the module according to the battery level.

3. The system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the power control unit is configured to stop power supply from the battery to the module when the battery level is lower than a predetermined threshold.

4. The system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the power control unit is configured to decrease the amount of power supplied from the battery to the module as the battery level decreases.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein
the wireless device is configured to operate as a wireless base station in a mobile wireless communication system, and
the communication processing unit is configured to communicate with the wireless device as a user terminal in the mobile wireless communication system.

6. The system according to claim 5 , wherein
the wireless device has
a feeder link antenna configured to communicate with a ground station, and
a service link antenna configured to communicate with the user terminal, and
the communication processing unit is configured to communicate with the wireless device by receiving radio waves sent by the service link antenna.

7. The system according to claim 6 ,
wherein the communication processing unit is configured to communicate with the wireless device by receiving leaked radio waves sent by the service link antenna.

8. The system according to claim 6 , wherein
the module has a data storage unit configured to store data, and
the wireless device is configured to transmit, to the module, data received by the service link antenna from the user terminal, and cause the data to be stored in the data storage unit when it is not possible to execute the communication with the ground station by the feeder link antenna.

9. The system according to claim 8 ,
wherein the wireless device is configured to transmit, to the ground station, the data which has been caused to be stored in the data storage unit, when a state in which it is not possible to execute the communication with the ground station by the feeder link antenna changes into a state in which it is possible to execute the communication with the ground station by the feeder link antenna.

10. The system according to claim 5 ,
wherein the wireless device is configured to restrict the communication of the communication processing unit when the communication traffic in the wireless communication service provided to the user terminal is higher than a predetermined threshold.

11. The system according to claim 10 ,
wherein the wireless device is configured to restrict the communication of the communication processing unit by reducing a communication band allocated to the communication processing unit.

12. The system according to claim 10 ,
wherein the wireless device is configured to restrict the communication of the communication processing unit by prohibiting the communication performed by the communication processing unit.

13. A system comprising:
a control device mounted on an aircraft and configured to control the aircraft, the aircraft having
a battery, and
a wireless device configured to use power stored in the battery to form a communication area on the ground, and provide a wireless communication service to a user terminal in the communication area; and

a module that is physically attachable to and detachable from the control device, wherein
the control device has
a housing that includes a module attachment and detachment unit to and from which the module is physically attachable and detachable,
an electrical connection unit configured to electrically connect the module to the battery when the module is attached to the module attachment and detachment unit,
a traffic acquisition unit configured to acquire traffic information which indicates communication traffic in the wireless communication services provided to the user terminal by the wireless device, and
a power control unit configured to control an amount of power supplied from the battery to the module, wherein the power control unit is configured to control the amount of power supplied from the battery to the module according to the communication traffic, and

the module has
a housing that is physically attachable to and detachable from the module attachment and detachment unit,
a power receiving unit configured to electrically connect to the battery and receive power from the battery when the housing of the module is attached to the module attachment and detachment unit, and
a communication processing unit configured to use the power received by the power receiving unit to communicate with the wireless device.

14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein
the aircraft has a solar panel,
the battery is configured to store power generated by the solar panel,
the control device has a power generation amount acquisition unit configured to acquire a power generation amount of the power generated by the solar panel, and
the power control unit is configured to control the amount of power supplied from the battery to the module according to the power generation amount.

15. The system according to claim 13 , wherein
the aircraft has a solar panel,
the battery is configured to store the power generated by the solar panel,
the control device has a light reception amount acquisition unit configured to acquire a light reception amount of light received by the solar panel, and
the power control unit is configured to control the amount of power supplied from the battery to the module according to the light reception amount.

16. A system comprising:
a control device mounted on an aircraft and configured to control the aircraft, the aircraft having
a battery,

Assignees

• Hapsmobile Inc

Inventors

• TSUTSUI Tatsushi
• Kusunoki Koji
• Baba Akihiro
• Hashimoto Naoyoshi
• Kamimura Osamu
• UETSUKI Nobuyuki
• Otake Hiroshi
• Sato Ayako
• HIROSAWA Chie

Classifications

• B64U2201/00

  UAVs characterised by their flight controls · CPC title

• B64U10/25

  Fixed-wing aircraft (VTOL aircraft B64U10/20) · CPC title

• B64U2201/20

  Remote controls · CPC title

• B64U50/31

  generated by photovoltaics · CPC title

• G08C17/02 Primary

  using a radio link · CPC title