Package delivery and reception with drones

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9926078-B2
Application number	US-201514931891-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2015
Priority date	Nov 4, 2015
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

A method for automatically delivering a physical mail includes receiving, by an unmanned aerial vehicle from an unmanned aerial vehicle management system, a delivery information, the delivery information includes information about a first secure mailbox and information about a second secure mailbox, the first secure mailbox being related to a first target user, delivering the physical mail to the first secure mailbox, and rerouting the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying the physical mail from the first secure mailbox to the second secure mailbox in response to the physical mail being delivered to the first secure mailbox.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for automatically delivering a physical mail, the method comprising:
sending, from an unmanned aerial vehicle management system, a delivery information to a unmanned aerial vehicle carrying the physical mail, the delivery information comprises information about a first secure mailbox and information about a second secure mailbox, the first secure mailbox being related to a first target user;
delivering, by the unmanned aerial vehicle, the physical mail to the first secure mailbox;
in response to the unmanned aerial vehicle not being able to deliver the physical mail to the first secure mailbox, receiving a rerouting information associated with the second secure mailbox from the unmanned aerial vehicle management system, wherein the rerouting information to the second secure mailbox is based on a predefined rerouting rule;
sending, by the unmanned aerial vehicle management system, a message to the first target user requesting a confirmation of the rerouting information;
in response to the first target user accepting the rerouting information, rerouting the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying the physical mail from the first secure mailbox to the second secure mailbox, wherein the second secure mailbox comprises a plurality of individually lockable compartments controlled by a mailbox controller that is able to communicate with the unmanned aerial vehicle management system;
sending, from the unmanned aerial vehicle management system, to the mailbox controller in the second secure mailbox one or more security credentials associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle;
simultaneously sending, from the unmanned aerial vehicle management system, to the unmanned aerial vehicle one or more security credentials associated with the second secure mailbox;
exchanging the one or more security credentials associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle and the one or more security credentials associated with the second secure mailbox; and
in response to the one or more security credentials matching, opening at least one compartment of the plurality of individually lockable compartments to deliver the physical mail.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the unmanned aerial vehicle, global positioning system data of the first secure mailbox and the second secure mailbox, information about a content class of the physical mail to be delivered, security credentials, and a compartment identifier.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the rerouting rule is based on:
a content class of the physical mail;
a compartment attribute of the first secure mailbox and a compartment attribute of the second secure mailbox, wherein each compartment attribute comprises a size, a filled status, a cooling option, a trust status, or a collection status; and
preferences and instructions provided by the first target user to the unmanned aerial vehicle management system.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of individually lockable compartments are identifiable by a compartment identifier, wherein each compartment is adapted for receiving and storing the physical mail.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
sending a request to the unmanned aerial vehicle for physical mail collection from the first secure mailbox.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the information about the first secure mailbox and the information about the second secure mailbox is stored by the unmanned aerial vehicle management system, the information comprises the-predefined rerouting rule, a maximum total capacity, an actual free capacity, GPS data and an address data of the first target user.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the information about the first secure mailbox and the information about the second secure mailbox stored by the unmanned aerial vehicle management system further comprises a compartment attribute for each compartment of the first secure mailbox and the second secure mailbox.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to the first target user rejecting the rerouting information, presenting a list of alternative secure mailboxes to the first target user, wherein the list of alternative secure mailboxes is in accordance with the predefined rerouting rule; and
in response to the user selecting a third secure mailbox from the list of alternative mailboxes, rerouting the unmanned aerial vehicle to the third secure mailbox.

9. A computer system for automatically delivering a physical mail, the computer system comprising:
one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, wherein the computer system is capable of performing a method comprising:
sending, from an unmanned aerial vehicle management system, a delivery information to a unmanned aerial vehicle carrying the physical mail, the delivery information comprises information about a first secure mailbox and information about a second secure mailbox, the first secure mailbox being related to a first target user;
delivering, by the unmanned aerial vehicle, the physical mail to the first secure mailbox;
in response to the unmanned aerial vehicle not being able to deliver the physical mail to the first secure mailbox, receiving a rerouting information associated with the second secure mailbox from the unmanned aerial vehicle management system, wherein the rerouting information to the second secure mailbox is based on a predefined rerouting rule;
sending, by the unmanned aerial vehicle management system, a message to the first target user requesting a confirmation of the rerouting information;
in response to the first target user accepting the rerouting information, rerouting the unmanned aerial vehicle carrying the physical mail from the first secure mailbox to the second secure mailbox, wherein the second secure mailbox comprises a plurality of individually lockable compartments controlled by a mailbox controller that is able to communicate with the unmanned aerial vehicle management system;
sending, from the unmanned aerial vehicle management system, to the mailbox controller in the second secure mailbox one or more security credentials associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle;
simultaneously sending, from the unmanned aerial vehicle management system, to the unmanned aerial vehicle one or more security credentials associated with the second secure mailbox;
exchanging the one or more security credentials associated with the unmanned aerial vehicle and the one or more security credentials associated with the second secure mailbox; and
in response to the one or more security credentials matching, opening at least one compartment of the plurality of individually lockable compartments to deliver the physical mail.

10. The computer system according to claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, by the unmanned aerial vehicle, global positioning system data of the first secure mailbox and the second secure mailbox, information about a content class of the physical mail to be delivered, security credentials, and a compartment identifier.

11. The computer system according to claim 9 , wherein the rerouting rule is based on:
a content class of the physical mail;
a compartment attribute of the first secure mailbox and a compartment attribute of the second secure mailbox, wherein each compartment attribute comprises a size, a filled status, a cooling option, a trust status,

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Bonazzoli Simone
• Borgianni Marco
• Falcone Claudio
• Fioravanti Alessio
• Longobardi Giuseppe
• Lutri Silvano
• Presti Luigi
• Salerno Paolo
• Tomasi Alessandro
• Ziantoni Francesca

Classifications

• G06Q10/083

  Shipping · CPC title

• A47G29/141

  comprising electronically controlled locking means · CPC title

• A47G2029/147

  the receptacle comprising heating or cooling means · CPC title

• A47G2029/149

  with central server link · CPC title

• G06Q10/00

  Administration; Management · CPC title