Presentation of information from the sky

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11481997-B1
Application number	US-201916285296-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 26, 2019
Priority date	Mar 9, 2018
Publication date	Oct 25, 2022
Grant date	Oct 25, 2022

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods for presenting information in the sky using drones are disclosed. The presentation of information includes navigating one or more drones to locations in the sky where the locations are associated with an image, emitting light signals at the locations, capturing the light signals with a user device, processing the captured signals to identify the image, capturing a background image including at least one of the locations associated with the image, and presenting simultaneously, on the user device, the identified image and the background image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a drone having a navigation unit, an emitter, a processor, a memory, and programming in the memory, wherein execution of the programming by the processor configures the drone to:
navigate the drone to a plurality of locations using the navigation unit, the plurality of locations associated with a predetermined flight path in space corresponding to locations associated with an image; and
emit, via the emitter, a plurality of light signals at the plurality of locations associated with the image as the drone follows the predetermined flight path to form the image in space, the light signals including a first light pattern or a first color at a start of a line segment of the image and a second light pattern or second color at the end of a line segment of the image as the drone follows the predetermined flight path to form the image; and
a user device including a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a program, wherein execution of the program of the non-transitory computer readable medium configures the user device to:
capture, with an imager of the user device, the light signals emitted by the emitter of the drone;
process the captured light signals to identify the image;
capture, with the imager, a background image including at least one of the plurality of locations associated with the image; and
present simultaneously, on a display of the user device, at least a portion of the identified image and the background image.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of locations are pre-defined locations on the predetermined flight path in space.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of light signals is one of a flash, a color, or a combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the execution of the program of the non-transitory computer readable medium configures the user device to:
generate a plurality of line segments based on the plurality of light signals, wherein each line segment among the plurality of line segments has a position and an orientation defined by the pre-defined locations.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the execution of the program of the non-transitory computer readable medium configures the user device to:
present the plurality of line segments as the identified image.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the execution of the program of the non-transitory computer readable medium configures the user device to:
compare each of the plurality of line segments with pre-determined line segments to identify a match; and
present the matched pre-determined line segments as the identified image.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second drone having a second navigation unit, a second emitter, a second processor, a second memory, and second programming in the second memory, wherein execution of the second programming by the second processor configures the second drone to:
navigate the second drone to a plurality of second locations using the second navigation unit, the plurality of second locations associated with a second predetermined flight path in space corresponding to locations associated with the image;
emit, via the second emitter, a plurality of second light signals at the plurality of second locations associated with the image as the second drone follows the second predetermined flight path to form the image in space, the second light signals including a third light pattern or a third color at a start of a line segment of the image and a fourth light pattern or fourth color at the end of a line segment of the image as the second drone follows the second predetermined flight path to form the image;
wherein the execution of the program of the non-transitory computer readable medium configures the user device to:
capture, with the imager of the user device, the second light signals emitted by the second emitter of the second drone; and
process the captured light signals emitted by the drone and the captured second light signals by the second drone to identify the image.

8. The system of claim 4 , wherein the image comprises the plurality of line segments forming at least one of a character, a number, a letter of an alphabet or combinations thereof.

9. A method for conveying an image, the method comprising the steps of:
navigating at least one drone to a plurality of locations associated with a predetermined flight path in space corresponding to locations associated with an image;
emitting a plurality of light signals from the at least one drone at the plurality of locations associated with the image as the at least one drone follows the predetermined flight path to form the image in space, the light signals including a first light pattern or a first color at a start of a line segment of the image and a second light pattern or second color at the end of a line segment of the image as the at least one drone follows the predetermined flight path to form the image;
capturing, with a user device, the plurality of light signals emitted by the at least one drone;
processing the captured light signals to identify the image;
capturing, with the user device, a background image including at least one of the plurality of locations associated with the image; and
presenting simultaneously, on a display of the user device, at least a portion of the identified image and the background image.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of locations are pre-defined locations on the predetermined flight path in space.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the processing step comprises the step of:
generating a plurality of line segments based on the plurality of light signals, wherein each line segment among the plurality of line segments has a position and an orientation defined by the pre-defined locations.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the presenting step comprises presenting the plurality of line segments as the image.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the step of:
comparing each of the plurality of line segments with pre-determined line segments to identify a match;
wherein the presenting step comprises presenting the matched pre-determined line segments as the image.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein a first emitter of a first drone of the at least one drone emits a first portion of the plurality of light signals and a second emitter of a second drone of the at least one drone emits a second portion of the plurality of light signals and wherein the processing step comprises processing the first and second portions of the plurality of light signals to identify the image.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a program, wherein execution of the program of the non-transitory computer readable medium configures a user device to:
capture, with an imager of the user device, a plurality of light signals emitted by at least one drone at a plurality of locations as the at least one drone follows a predetermined flight path to form line segments of an image in space, the light signals including a first light pattern or a first color at a start of a line segment of the image and a second light pattern or second color at the end of a line segment of the image as the at least one drone follows the predetermined flight path to form the image;
process the captured plurality of light signals to identify the image;
capture with the imager of the user device, a background image including at least one of the plurality of locations associated with the image; and
present simultaneously, on a display of the user device, at lea

Assignees

• Nielsen Simon Saito Haagen
• Conatser Zachary Collins
• Snap Inc

Inventors

• Nielsen Simon Saito Haagen
• Conatser Zachary Collins

Classifications

• B64U2201/102

  adapted for flying in formations · CPC title

• B64U2201/104

  using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• G06F18/22

  Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures · CPC title

• G06V20/17 Primary

  taken from planes or by drones · CPC title

• B64D47/02

  Arrangements or adaptations of signal or lighting devices · CPC title