Delivery of food items by aerial or ground drones to and from delivery vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11816624-B2
Application number	US-201916696537-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 26, 2019
Priority date	Nov 27, 2018
Publication date	Nov 14, 2023
Grant date	Nov 14, 2023

Abstract

Technologies are generally described for preparation and drone based delivery of food items. In some examples, a delivery vehicle may be arranged for autonomous or semi-autonomous preparation of food items while the vehicle is en route to a delivery destination or parked at the delivery destination. Aerial and/or ground based drones, which may be stored in the vehicle, may be loaded with prepared food items and deliver their payloads to delivery locations. Preparation timing and other parameters for the food items, travel parameters for the delivery vehicle, and/or the delivery destination may be selected based on suitability of the delivery destination for launching/recovering the drones or delivery of the food items to the delivery locations. The drones may carry multiple payloads to multiple locations and may have environmentally controlled storage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle for preparation and drone based delivery of food items, the vehicle comprising:
a cargo area configured to provide a sterile environment for preparation of the food items via preparation equipment;
a storage area for a plurality of drones, the plurality of drones configured to carry payloads comprising the food items to a plurality of delivery locations;
one or more docking stations configured to:
provide a secure docking mechanism to the plurality of drones;
facilitate transfer of the food items as the payloads to the plurality of drones; and
provide a launching mechanism for the plurality of drones; and

an on-board controller configured to:
determine vehicle travel information, drone travel information, food item information, and preparation information associated with the food items to be prepared and delivered;
control one or more food preparation equipment to execute the preparation of the food items;
adjust one or more parameters of the preparation of the food items based on one or more of the vehicle travel information, availability of the plurality of drones, or delivery progress of the plurality of drones; and
control an operation of the plurality of drones to carry the prepared food items from the delivery destination to the plurality of delivery locations.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of drones includes one or more aerial drones or one or more ground based drones.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of drones is configured to carry multiple payloads to the plurality of delivery locations.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the on-board controller is further configured to:
adjust one or more parameters of the preparation, vehicle travel, and/or drone travel based on one or more of the vehicle travel information, the drone travel information, the food item information, and the preparation information, and
wherein
the one or more parameters of the vehicle travel include a speed of the vehicle, a route of travel of the vehicle, or a selection of the delivery destination,
the one or more parameters of the drone travel include a speed of each drone, a route of travel of each drone, a number of payloads for each drone, or a selection of the plurality of delivery locations.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the on-board controller is further configured to:
measure a characteristic of an external environment at the delivery destination; and
determine whether the delivery destination is suitable for delivery of the prepared food items to a delivery location by at least one of the plurality of drones based at least in part on the measured characteristic of the external environment at the delivery destination.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the on-board controller is further configured to:
in response to a determination that the delivery destination is not suitable for the delivery of the prepared food items due to a structural hinderance, select one or more of a new delivery destination or a new delivery method; and
in response to a determination that the delivery destination is not suitable for the delivery of the prepared food items due to a weather-related or regulatory hinderance, select one or more of a new delivery destination, a new delivery time, or a new delivery method.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the on-board controller is further configured to:
in response to a determination that the delivery destination is not suitable for the delivery of the prepared food items, transmit one or more of a recommendation or a selection associated with the new delivery destination, the new delivery time, or the new delivery method to a delivery recipient; and
receive a confirmation of the recommendation or an indication of the selection from the delivery recipient.

8. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of drones includes a sensor configured to sense the measured characteristic, and wherein a controller on the at least one of the plurality of drones is configured to select another delivery location based on the sensed characteristic.

9. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more docking stations comprises a skirt having a shape that is complementary to a corresponding portion of a dock interface of a drone and the skirt is configured to contact the corresponding portion of the dock interface along a portion of an inner periphery of the skirt when the drone is docked to the at least one of the one or more docking stations.

10. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more docking stations comprises a skirt having a shape that is complementary to a corresponding portion of a dock interface of a drone and the skirt is configured to contact the corresponding portion of the dock interface along an entire inner periphery of the skirt when the drone is docked to the at least one of the one or more docking stations.

11. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more docking stations comprises a robotic appendage to transfer multiple payloads to a single drone configured to carry the multiple payloads to a plurality of delivery locations.

12. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more docking stations comprises a transfer lock to transfer a payload to a drone when docked to the at least one of the one or more docking stations, the transfer lock comprising a transfer chamber with two or more doors such that an opening and a closing of the two or more doors minimizes an exposure of an interior of the vehicle to an external environment exterior to the vehicle.

13. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising:
a refueling module to refuel the plurality of drones, wherein the refueling module is positioned in one of the one or more docking stations or the storage area for the plurality of drones, and the refueling module is configured to refuel the plurality of drones by providing an electrical charge, a liquid fuel, or a gaseous fuel.

14. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the on-board controller is further configured to:
control the one or more food preparation equipment to autonomously execute the preparation of the food items such that at least a portion of the food items are prepared when the vehicle reaches the delivery destination.

15. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the on-board controller is further configured to:
control the one or more food preparation equipment to autonomously execute the preparation such that at least a portion of the food items are prepared while the vehicle is at the delivery destination.

16. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising:
a delivery window to provide direct delivery of at least a portion of the prepared food items to customers from the vehicle along with the delivery of at least another portion of the prepared food items via the plurality of drones.

Assignees

• Zume Inc
• Congruens Group Llc

Inventors

• Goldberg Joshua Gouled

Classifications

• G08G5/56

  for two or more aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/30

  Flight plan management · CPC title

• G08G5/26

  Transmission of traffic-related information between aircraft and ground stations · CPC title

• G08G5/57

  for unmanned aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/55

  for a single aircraft · CPC title