Distributed, unmanned aerial vehicle package transport network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016209839-A1
Application number	US-201514598281-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 16, 2015
Priority date	Jan 16, 2015
Publication date	Jul 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

According to an aspect, a distributed package transport system includes unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), each of which is configured to transport packages within a geographic area and along a travel route. The system also includes UAV enclosures dispersed within the geographic area. The UAV enclosures include a number of cells, each of which provides a receptacle to temporarily house a UAV. At least one of the UAV enclosures is dynamically assigned to a location within the geographic area. Each of the UAV enclosures includes a computer processor and communication network interface and, for each of the UAVs in transit, the UAV enclosures communicate information specifying an origination point, drop off point, and return point amongst each other and coordinate to define, based on locations of the UAV enclosures and capacities of the UAV enclosures, a refined travel route including a subset of the UAV enclosures to serve as hops.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A distributed package transport system, comprising:
a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), each of which is configured to transport packages within a geographic area and along a travel route that includes an origination point, a package drop off point, and a post-drop off return point; a plurality of UAV enclosures geographically dispersed within the geographic area, the UAV enclosures each comprising a plurality of cells, each of the cells comprising a receptacle for providing temporary housing to a corresponding UAV, the receptacle having electrical circuitry to recharge the corresponding UAV, wherein at least one of the plurality of UAV enclosures is dynamically assigned to a location within the geographic area; and a plurality of structures communicatively coupled to corresponding UAV enclosures, the UAV enclosures configured to recharge the UAVs by electrical power provided by the structures through the electrical circuitry of the cells of the UAV enclosures; wherein each of the plurality of UAV enclosures includes a computer processor and communication network interface and, for each of the UAVs in transit, the UAV enclosures communicate information specifying the origination point, the drop off point, and the return point amongst each other and coordinate to define, based on locations of the UAV enclosures and capacities of the UAV enclosures, a refined travel route including a subset of the UAV enclosures to serve as hops.

2 . The distributed package transport system of claim 1 , wherein the UAV enclosures are disposed at a minimum specified height with respect to the structures, the minimum specified height defined, in part, as a function of government-imposed UAV flight regulations.

3 . The distributed package transport system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the structures is a mobile vehicle, and the dynamic assignment of the at least one of the plurality of UAVs to the location includes determining capacities of the UAV enclosures disposed within a specified range of the geographic area, and transporting the at least one of the plurality of UAV enclosures to the location via the mobile vehicle for a specified period of time, when the determined capacities meets a threshold level.

4 . The distributed package transport system of claim 1 , wherein the cells further comprise presence detection devices and the computer processors of the UAV enclosures are configured to:
track the capacities of the cells based on presence detection signals received from the presence detection devices, the tracking including determining any vacancies;

5 . The distributed package transport system of claim 1 , wherein the computer processors of the UAV enclosures are configured to:
reserve the cells based on acceptance by the computer processors of requests received from other UAV enclosures for UAV docking; verify identities of UAVs attempting a docking process in response to the acceptance of the requests; activate cell opening apparatus to receive and dispatch UAVs; and track recharging statuses of UAVs docked in cells.

6 . The distributed package transport system of claim 1 , wherein the UAV enclosures are polygonal in shape, the cells of each of the UAV enclosures are configured in a honeycomb pattern, and the cells are disposed around a circumference of the UAV enclosures.

7 . The distributed package transport system of claim 6 , wherein the UAV enclosures are configured to rotate 360 degrees along a vertical axis of the UAV enclosures, such that a UAV enclosure is rotatable to a position determined by a corresponding computer processor based on pre-defined criteria.

8 . A method for providing distributed package transport, the method comprising:
communicating, among unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) enclosures that are geographically dispersed within a geographic area, information specifying an origination point, a package drop off point, and a post-drop off return point with respect to a plurality of UAVs, each of the UAVs configured to transport packages within the geographic area and along a travel route that includes the origination point, the package drop off point, and the post-drop off return point, UAV enclosures each comprising a computer processor, communication network interface, and a plurality of cells, each of the cells comprising a receptacle for providing temporary housing to a corresponding UAV, the receptacle having electrical circuity to recharge the corresponding UAV; dynamically assigning at least one of the UAV enclosures to a location within a geographic area; communicatively coupling each of the plurality of UAV enclosures to a corresponding structure, the UAV enclosures configured to recharge the UAVs by electrical power provided by the structures through the electrical circuitry of the cells of the UAV enclosures; and coordinating, based on locations of the UAV enclosures and capacities of the UAV enclosures, a refined travel route including a subset of the UAV enclosures to serve as hops.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the UAV enclosures are disposed at a minimum specified height with respect to the structures, the minimum specified height defined, in part, as a function of government-imposed UAV flight regulations.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the structures is a mobile vehicle, and dynamic assignment of the at least one of the plurality of UAVs to the location includes determining capacities of the UAV enclosures disposed within a specified range of the geographic area, and transporting the at least one of the plurality of UAV enclosures to the location via the mobile vehicle for a specified period of time, when the determined capacities meets a threshold level.

11 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
tracking the capacities of the cells based on presence detection signals received from presence detection devices, the tracking including determining any vacancies;

12 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
reserving the cells based on acceptance by the computer processors of requests received from other UAV enclosures for UAV docking; verifying identities of UAVs attempting a docking process in response to the acceptance of the requests; activating cell opening apparatus to receive and dispatch UAVs; and tracking recharging statuses of UAVs docked in cells.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the UAV enclosures are polygonal in shape, the cells of each of the UAV enclosures are configured in a honeycomb pattern, and the cells are disposed around a circumference of the UAV enclosures.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the UAV enclosures are configured to rotate 360 degrees along a vertical axis of the UAV enclosures, such that a UAV enclosure is rotatable to a position determined by a corresponding computer processor based on pre-defined criteria.

15 . A computer program product comprising:
a tangible storage medium readable by processing circuits of a distributed package transport system and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuits to perform a method, comprising: communicating, among unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) enclosures that are geographically dispersed within a geographic area, information specifying an origination point, a package drop off point, and a post-drop off return point with respect to a plurality of UAVs, each of the UAVs configured to transport packages within the geographic area and along a travel route that includes the origination point, the package drop off point, and the post-drop off return point, UAV enclosures each comprising

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Hoareau Guillaume
• Liebenberg Johannes J
• Musial John G
• Whitman Todd R

Classifications

• B64U2101/60

  for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons · CPC title

• B64U10/13

  Flying platforms · CPC title

• B64U80/00

  Transport or storage specially adapted for UAVs · CPC title

• B64U80/70

  in containers (B64U80/60 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B64U2201/20

  Remote controls · CPC title