IP Library Granted Patent US 10,304,343
Granted Patent B2
US 10,304,343 · App. 15/442,550 · Granted May 28, 2019

Flight plan implementation, generation, and management for aerial devices

Inventors: Damir Mustafic (Atlanta, GA); Haywood S. Peitzer (Randolph, NJ); James A. Wolters, II (Sandy Springs, GA); Matthew Walsh (Roswell, GA); Thomas Becker (Atlanta, GA)
Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC
G08G5/0034B64C39/024G08G5/0039G08G5/0069H04W36/0083H04W36/08H04W36/32H04W36/36H04W48/04H04W48/08G08G5/0026G08G5/0043G08G5/0082G08G5/0086G08G5/0091H04B7/18506H04W36/0061H04W36/245
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,304,343
App. No.
15/442,550
Granted
May 28, 2019
Kind
B2
Abstract

Example methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture (e.g., physical storage media) to facilitate flight plan implementation, generation, and management are disclosed. An example method includes receiving flight plan information including a flight route and a listing of base stations, connecting to a first base station on the listing, determining a first transition point between the first base station and a second base station on the listing based on the flight route, determining whether the first transition point has been reached, maintaining the connection with the first base station when the first transition point has not been reached, transitioning the connection from the first base station to the second base station when the first transition point has been reached, and/or dropping signals received from base stations not on the listing.

Claims (74)

1. A method to facilitate aerial navigation of a device, the method comprising:

receiving, by the device, flight plan information comprising a flight route and a listing of base stations along the flight route;

connecting to a first base station on the listing of base stations, wherein at least one base station on the listing of base stations is associated with a priority level, wherein a flight of the device is based at least in part on the priority level;

determining a first transition point between the first base station and a second base station on the listing of base stations based on the flight route;

during the flight of the device:

determining whether the first transition point has been reached;

maintaining the connection with the first base station when the first transition point has not been reached;

transitioning the connection from the first base station to the second base station when the first transition point has been reached; and

dropping, by the device, signals received from base stations not on the listing of base stations.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

configuring the device to not connect to base stations not on the listing of base stations.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a second transition point between the second base station and a third base station on the listing of base stations based on the flight route; and

during the flight of the device:

maintaining the connection with the second base station when the second transition point has not been reached; and

transitioning the connection from the second base station to the third base station when the second transition point has been reached.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the first transition point or the second transition point is received as part of the flight plan information, and wherein the flight plan information comprises a position of at least one base station on the listing of base stations.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a first signal and a second signal when the first transition point has not been reached, wherein the second signal is received with a higher signal strength than the first signal;

determining that the first signal is from the first base station;

determining that the second signal is from a third base station; and

dropping the second signal when the third base station is not on the listing of base stations.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a first signal and a second signal, wherein the second signal is received with a higher signal strength than the first signal;

determining that the first signal is from the first base station;

determining that the second signal is from the second base station; and

dropping the second signal when the first transition point has not been reached.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the maintaining the connection comprises pointing a directional antenna of the device at the first base station;

the transitioning the connection comprises transitioning the directional antenna from pointing at the first base station to pointing at the second base station; and

the device comprises an unmanned aerial vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining that a base station is not on the listing of base stations based on an least one identifier contained in a signal received from the base station.

9. A device, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving flight plan information comprising information indicative of a flight route and a plurality of base stations along the flight route, wherein a flight of the device over the flight route is based at least in part on a priority level associated with at least one of a plurality of blocks of a grid representing the flight route;

connecting to a first base station of the plurality of base stations;

during the flight of the device over the flight route:

determining whether to transition the connection based on at least one of a position of the device along the flight route or signal strengths associated with signals received from the first base station and a second base station of the plurality of base stations;

maintaining the connection with the first base station when the determination is to not transition the connection;

transitioning the connection from the first base station to the second base station when the determination is to transition the connection; and

dropping signals received from base stations not among the plurality of base stations.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein the flight plan information comprises a position of each of the plurality of base stations, obstacle information, weather information, and/or emergency broadcast information.

11. The device of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that an end of the flight route has been reached, wherein the flight route is based on a starting point and a destination point; and

navigating a distance between the end of the flight route and the destination point based at least on broadcast messages received from one or more base stations, wherein the broadcast messages comprise obstacle information.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein each of the broadcast messages comprises at least one of a master information block (MIB) message or a system information block (SIB) message.

13. The device of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting a request to adjust the flight route based on information detected by onboard sensors of the device;

receiving an authorization to adjust the flight route based on the request; and

adjusting the flight route upon receiving the authorization.

14. The device of claim 9 , wherein:

the grid comprises a three-dimensional grid.

15. The device of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the plurality of base stations is associated with a priority level, and wherein the flight of the device is based at least in part on the priority level associated with the at least one of the plurality of base stations.

16. A tangible machine readable storage medium including machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause one or more processors of a device to perform operations comprising:

receiving information associated with a starting point and a destination point;

identifying a plurality of base stations associated with a geographic region encompassing the starting point and the destination point;

generating flight plan information comprising a flight rout; a listing of base stations along the flight route, and information indicative of a respective priority level associated with at least one of a plurality of blocks of a grid representing the geographic region associated with the flight route, wherein the flight plan information is based at least on the starting point, the destination point, and air traffic information associated with the plurality of base stations, wherein the listing of base stations comprises a subset of the plurality of base stations selected based at least on the air traffic information, and wherein at least one base station on the listing of base stations is associated with a priority level; and

transmitting the flight plan information.

17. The tangible machine readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

retrieving the air traffic information from the plurality of base stations; and

obtaining geographic information associated with the geographic region,

wherein:

the flight plan information is further based on the geographic information, and

the air traffic information comprises information indicative of a respective utilization rate of at least one of the plurality of base stations.

18. The tangible machine readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an indication of a change in geographic information associated with the geographic region;

generating adjusted flight plan information based on the change in the geographic information; and

transmitting the adjusted flight plan information.

19. The tangible machine readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

generating the grid that represents the geographic region; and

associating each of the plurality of blocks with a respective priority level,

wherein:

the flight route encompasses a subset of the plurality of blocks.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 17, 2021
From: AT&T MOBILITY II LLC
To: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY; KIA CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 058135/0609 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 24, 2017
From: MUSTAFIC, DAMIR; PEITZER, HAYWOOD S.; WOLTERS, JAMES A., II; WALSH, MATTHEW; BECKER, THOMAS
To: AT&T MOBILITY II LLC
Reel/Frame 041377/0433 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20180247544A1 · Aug 30, 2018
Cited By (5)
US 12,225,563 US 12,315,378 US 12,327,479 US 12,520,217 US 12,532,187