Personal communication drone

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9479392-B2
Application number	US-201514592494-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 8, 2015
Priority date	Jan 8, 2015
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

A system of using a drone for network connectivity, the system may comprise: a connectivity module to: detect an error associated with network traffic on a network connection utilized by a user device; query a connection datastore to retrieve at least one access point location that at least one device of the user has utilized within a predetermined period; a drone coordination module to: transmit configuration settings to a drone, the configuration settings including the at least one access point location and a mode of operation for the drone; and route at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone for transmission according to the configuration settings.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system of using a drone for network connectivity, the system comprising:
a connectivity module to:
detect an error associated with network traffic on a network connection utilized by a user device;
query a connection datastore to retrieve at least one access point location that at least one device of the user has utilized within a predetermined period;

a drone coordination module to:
transmit configuration settings to a drone, the configuration settings including the at least one access point location and a mode of operation for the drone; and
route at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone for transmission according to the configuration settings.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein to detect the error associated with network traffic, the connectivity module is to:
monitor the throughput of the network traffic.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the drone coordination module is to:
present an option to a user to utilize the drone for the network traffic on the network connection; and
receive an indication that the user has accepted the option before routing the at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the drone coordination module is to:
determine the mode of operation based on a classification of the error.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the mode of operation is a batch data gathering mode when the classification indicates the network connection has insufficient bandwidth for a network activity.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the mode of operation is a forwarding mode when the classification indicates no network traffic is being transmitted on the network connection.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the drone coordination module is to:
determine the mode operation based on the at least one access point location relative to a location of another user device.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the drone coordination module is to:
store credentials of a network service utilized by the user; and
transmit the credentials to the drone when the network traffic indicates the user device is connected with the network service.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the drone coordination module is to:
in response to a determination that the location of an access point is within connectivity range of another user device, set the mode of operation to a relay mode.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the drone coordination module is to:
transfer a digital rights management token for a video to the drone when the network traffic indicates the video is attempting to be played over the network connection.

11. A method of using a drone for network connectivity, the method comprising:
detecting an error associated with network traffic on a network connection utilized by a user device;
querying a connection datastore to retrieve at least one access point location that at least one device of the user has utilized within a predetermined period;
transmitting configuration settings to a drone, the configuration settings including the at least one access point location and a mode of operation for the drone; and
routing at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone for transmission according to the configuration settings.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein detecting the error associated with network traffic comprises:
monitoring the throughput of the network traffic.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
presenting an option to a user to utilize the drone for the network traffic on the network connection; and
receiving an indication that the user has accepted the option before routing the at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining the mode of operation based on a classification of the error.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the mode of operation is a batch data gathering mode when the classification indicates the network connection has insufficient bandwidth for a network activity.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the mode of operation is a forwarding mode when the classification indicates no network traffic is being transmitted on the network connection.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining the mode operation based on the at least one access point location relative to a location of another user device.

18. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
storing credentials of a network service utilized by the user; and
transmitting the credentials to the drone when the network traffic indicates the user device is connected with the network service.

19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
in response to determining that the location of an access point is within connectivity range of another user device, setting the mode of operation to a relay mode.

20. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
transferring a digital rights management token for a video to the drone when the network traffic indicates the video is attempting to be played over the network connection.

21. At least one machine-readable medium including instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
detecting an error associated with network traffic on a network connection utilized by a user device;
querying a connection datastore to retrieve at least one access point location that at least one device of the user has utilized within a predetermined period;
transmitting configuration settings to a drone, the configuration settings including the at least one access point location and a mode of operation for the drone; and
routing at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone for transmission according to the configuration settings.

22. The least one machine-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the operation of detecting the error associated with network traffic comprises:
monitoring the throughput of the network traffic.

23. The least one machine-readable medium of claim 21 , the operations further comprising:
presenting an option to a user to utilize the drone for the network traffic on the network connection; and
receiving an indication that the user has accepted the option before routing the at least a portion of the network traffic of the user device to the drone.

24. The least one machine-readable medium of claim 21 , the operations further comprising:
determining the mode of operation based on a classification of the error.

25. The least one machine-readable medium of claim 24 , wherein the mode of operation is a batch data gathering mode when the classification indicates the network connection has insufficient bandwidth for a network activity.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Anderson Glen J
• Yuen Kathy
• Sherman Jamie
• Durham Lenitra M
• Beckwith Richard

Classifications

• B64U2101/20

  for use as communications relays, e.g. high-altitude platforms · CPC title

• H04W4/02 Primary

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• B64C2201/122

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• H04L41/0668 Primary

  by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure · CPC title

• B64C39/024

  of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV · CPC title