Systems and methods for adapting unmanned aerial vehicle video stream quality to wireless connection quality with ground station

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12532007-B2
Application number	US-202318522913-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 29, 2023
Priority date	Nov 29, 2022
Publication date	Jan 20, 2026
Grant date	Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

Systems, methods, and software for operating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). A method includes capturing a video stream using one or more camera sensors of the UAV. The method includes transmitting data representative of the video stream to a ground station communicably coupled to the UAV. The method includes determining one or more performance characteristics of a communications link between the UAV and the ground station. The method includes adjusting a resolution of the video stream according to the one or more performance characteristics of the communication link. Embodiments of the present technology provide continuity of video quality for viewing by UAV users at ground stations responsive to variations in video data transmission capacity during flight operations with minimal, or no, detrimental impact on user experience.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of operating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:
capturing a video stream using one or more camera sensors of the UAV; encoding the video stream in accordance with a control schedule resulting in a first encoded video stream and a second encoded video stream; transmitting data representative of one of the first and second encoded video streams to a ground station communicably coupled to the UAV; determining one or more performance characteristics of a communications link between the UAV and the ground station; and adjusting a resolution of the video stream according to the one or more performance characteristics of the communications link, wherein adjusting the resolution of the video stream comprises:
encoding, out-of-synchronization with the control schedule, at least a portion of the one of the first encoded video stream and the second encoded video stream resulting in an updated one of the first and second encoded video streams; and
switching transmission of the data representative of the video stream from the one of the first and second encoded video streams to the updated one of the first and second encoded video streams.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising scaling the video stream captured from the one or more camera sensors to a scaled video stream prior to the transmitting.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein encoding the video stream occurs after the scaling and prior to the transmitting.

4 . The method of claim 3 further comprising changing a bit rate of at least one encoder for the encoding according to the one or more performance characteristics of the communications link.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein scaling the video stream comprises:
first scaling the video stream to a 360p video stream; and second scaling the video stream to a 720p video stream.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the first encoded video stream comprises an encoded 720p video stream, and wherein the second encoded video stream comprises an encoded 360p video stream.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein encoding, out-of-synchronization with the control schedule, at least the portion of the one of the first and second video streams comprises encoding at least the portion of one of the first and second video streams ahead of a scheduled time indicated in the control schedule.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein determining one or more performance characteristics of the communications link comprises determining that a bandwidth of the communications link has decreased to, or below, a predetermined bandwidth value.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein adjusting the resolution of the video stream according to the one or more performance characteristics of the communications link comprises adjusting the resolution of the video stream in response to determining that the bandwidth of the communications link has decreased to, or below, the predetermined bandwidth value.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein transmitting the data representative of the one of the first and second video streams comprises transmitting the first encoded video stream to the ground station, and wherein switching transmission of the data representative of the video stream comprises generating a signal to selectively provide the updated second encoded video stream for transmission via the communication link between the UAV and the ground station.

11 . The method of claim 9 further comprising:
further in response to determining that the bandwidth of the communications link has decreased to, or below, the predetermined bandwidth value,
monitoring a frame structure of the second encoded video stream; and
determining, based on the monitoring, a presence of an I frame in the second encoded video stream.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein transmitting the data representative of the one of the first and second video streams comprises transmitting the first encoded video stream to the ground station, and wherein switching transmission of the data representative of the video stream comprises generating a signal to selectively provide the second encoded video stream for transmission via the communication link between the UAV and the ground station upon determining the presence of the I frame in the second encoded video stream.

13 . The method of claim 6 , wherein transmitting data representative of the one of the first and second encoded video streams to the ground station comprises transmitting the second encoded video stream to the ground station.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein determining one or more performance characteristics of the communications link comprises determining that a bandwidth of the communications link has increased to, or above, a predetermined bandwidth value.

15 . The method of claim 14 wherein switching transmission of the data representative of the video stream comprises generating a signal to selectively provide the updated first encoded video stream for transmission via the communication link between the UAV and the ground station in response to determining that the bandwidth of the communications link has increased to, or above, the predetermined bandwidth value.

16 . The method of claim 15 further comprising:
further in response to determining that the bandwidth of the communications link has increased to, or above, the predetermined bandwidth value,
monitoring a frame structure of the first encoded video stream; and
determining, based on the monitoring, a presence of an I frame in the first encoded video stream.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein transmitting the data representative of the one of the first and second video streams comprises transmitting the second encoded video stream to the ground station, and wherein switching transmission of the data representative of the video stream comprises generating a signal to selectively provide the first encoded video stream for transmission via the communication link between the UAV and the ground station determining the presence of the I frame in the first encoded video stream.

18 . A system for operating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the system comprising:
one or more camera sensors for capturing a video stream; a communications interface; and at least one computing device disposed onboard the UAV and operably coupled to: the communications interface, and the one or more camera sensors, the at least one computing device configured to:
encode the video stream captured by the one or more camera sensors in accordance with a control schedule, resulting in a first encoded video stream and a second encoded video stream;
direct the communications interface to transmit, via a communications link, data representative of one of the first and second video streams to a ground station communicably coupled to the UAV;
determine one or more performance characteristics of the communications link; and
adjust a resolution of the video stream according to the one or more performance characteristics of the communications link based on:
encoding, out-of-synchronization with the control schedule, at least a portion of the one of the first encoded video stream and the second encoded video stream resulting in an updated one of the first and second encoded video streams; and
directing the communications interface to switch transmission of the data representative of the video stream from the one of the first and second encoded video streams to the updated one of the first and second encoded video streams.

Assignees

• Skydio Inc

Inventors

• Moskovchenko Stepan
• Feng Jerry

Classifications

• H04N21/234363

  by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution · CPC title

• H04N19/146

  Data rate or code amount at the encoder output · CPC title

• H04N19/164

  Feedback from the receiver or from the transmission channel · CPC title

• H04N19/33 Primary

  in the spatial domain · CPC title