Disaster Damage Analysis and Loss Mitigation Implementing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024354863-A1
Application number	US-202418756780-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 27, 2024
Priority date	Sep 22, 2014
Publication date	Oct 24, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

Various techniques are described utilizing one or more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or “drones”) for various disaster and/or catastrophe-related purposes. UAVs may collect data in an attempt to predict the occurrence and/or extent of a catastrophe and/or to mitigate the impact of a catastrophe before and, if not at that time, once it has occurred. The UAVs may perform various tasks such that the damage to property caused by a catastrophe (or potential catastrophe) may be eliminated or mitigated. A UAV may receive a flight path based on an energy consumption related condition and operate based on the flight path. Operating based on the flight path includes docking the UAV with a power supply device for charging a power source of the UAV.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) configured to provide a natural disaster response recommendation comprising:
a display; a speaker; a processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable memory coupled with the processor, the non-transitory computer-readable memory storing executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
receive a flight path to a destination location, wherein the flight path is based upon a geographic location of the UAV and a battery charge level of a battery associated with the UAV;
operate based on the flight path; and
upon arriving at the destination location, provide, via the speaker and/or the display, a recommendation to one or more people at the destination location on how to respond to a natural disaster at the destination location.

2 . The UAV of claim 1 , wherein to operate based on the flight path, the instructions cause the processor to:
dock the UAV with a power supply device for charging the battery associated with the UAV.

3 . The UAV of claim 2 , wherein to dock the UAV, the instructions cause the processor to:
land the UAV on a power line; and charge the battery associated with the UAV using the power line.

4 . The UAV of claim 2 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
receive a command to follow the flight path to a location of the power supply device and to charge the battery utilizing the power supply device at the power supply device location.

5 . The UAV of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
transmit data indicative of the battery charge level of the battery associated with the UAV to a server device; and receive the flight path from the server device in response to the data indicative of the battery charge level.

6 . The UAV of claim 2 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
couple the UAV to the power supply device via a tether.

7 . A computer-implemented method for providing a natural disaster response recommendation via an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors, a flight path to a destination location based upon a geographic location of the UAV and a battery charge level of a battery associated with the UAV; operating, by the one or more processors, based on the flight path; and upon arriving at the destination location, providing, by the one or more processors via a speaker and/or display in the UAV, a recommendation to one or more people at the destination location on how to respond to a natural disaster at the destination location.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein operating based on the flight path includes docking the UAV with a power supply device for charging the battery associated with the UAV.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein docking the UAV with the power supply device includes:
landing the UAV on a power line; and charging the battery associated with the UAV using the power line.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising:
receiving, by the one or more processors, a command to follow the flight path to a location of the power supply device and to charge the battery utilizing the power supply device at the power supply device location.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:
transmitting, by the one or more processors, data indicative of the battery charge level of the battery associated with the UAV to a server device; and receiving, by the one or more processors, the flight path from the server device in response to the data indicative of the battery charge level.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising:
coupling, by the one or more processors, the UAV to the power supply device via a tether.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable memory storing executable instructions for providing a natural disaster response recommendation that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a flight path for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to a destination location based upon a geographic location of the UAV and a battery charge level of a battery associated with the UAV; operate based on the flight path; and upon arriving at the destination location, provide, via a speaker and/or display in the UAV, a recommendation to one or more people at the destination location on how to respond to a natural disaster at the destination location.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 13 , wherein to operate based on the flight path, the instructions cause the one or more processors to:
dock the UAV with a power supply device for charging the battery associated with the UAV.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 14 , wherein to dock the UAV, the instructions cause the one or more processors to:
land the UAV on a power line; and charge the battery associated with the UAV using the power line.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
receive a command to follow the flight path to a location of the power supply device and to charge the battery utilizing the power supply device at the power supply device location.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
transmit data indicative of the battery charge level of the battery associated with the UAV to a server device; and receive the flight path from the server device in response to the data indicative of the battery charge level.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
couple the UAV to the power supply device via a tether.

Assignees

• State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co

Inventors

• Tofte Nathan L
• Ryan Timothy W
• Baumann Nathan W
• Jacob Michael Shawn
• Lillie Joshua David
• Harvey Brian N
• Lyons Roxane
• Grant Rosemarie Geier

Classifications

• G06T2215/16

  Using real world measurements to influence rendering · CPC title

• G06T2207/30232

  Surveillance · CPC title

• G06T2207/10032

  Satellite or aerial image; Remote sensing · CPC title

• G06T17/05

  Geographic models · CPC title

• G06T11/60

  Creating or editing images; Combining images with text · CPC title