IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,756,438
Granted Patent B2
US 11,756,438 · App. 17/591,556 · Granted Sep 12, 2023

Mobile aerial drone early warning privacy breach detect, intercept, and defend systems and methods

Inventors: Eric Yocam (Sammamish, WA); Damon Laursen (Mukilteo, WA)
Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc.
G08G5/0082B64C39/024G08G5/0026H04W4/029H04W4/40
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,756,438
App. No.
17/591,556
Granted
Sep 12, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and methods for aerial unmanned vehicle (for example, drone) early warning privacy breach detection, interception, and defense are disclosed. The system detects drones within a threshold distance of an individual or configurable location, notifies the individual of the drones' existence, tracks the drones, and executes countermeasures. The system can communicate with telecommunication networks or other sources (for example, FAA) to identify and filter out drones that are authorized to be in the airspace around the individual.

Claims (56)

1. A system for detecting, intercepting, and defending against privacy breaches carried out by drones, the system comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processors of the system cause the system to:

receive an indication of presence of a drone within a vicinity of a mobile device;

when one or more notification criteria of a user is satisfied, display, at a user interface of the mobile device, an alert notifying the user of the presence of the drone within the vicinity of the mobile device; and

receive, via the user interface of the mobile device, instructions from the user, wherein the instructions enable execution of at least one privacy breach countermeasure against the drone.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more notification criteria is based on one or more features of the drone, or location of the drone, or both.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processors of the system further cause the system to:

display, at the user interface of the mobile device, a trajectory of the drone.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the alert comprises information of the drone comprising features of the drone, location of the drone, proximity of the drone to the mobile device or the location selected by the user, trajectory of the drone, authorization status of the drone, or any combination thereof.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processors of the system further cause the system to:

display, at the user interface of the mobile device, a map depicting: a current location of the drone, a trajectory of the drone, a relative position of the drone with respect to the mobile device or a location selected by the user, or any combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface simultaneously displays alerts about two or more drones.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface simultaneously displays alerts about two or more drones, and

wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processors of the system further cause the system to:

receive, via the user interface of the mobile device: (1) a selection of at least one drone among the two or more drones, and (2) an action to be performed against the selected drone, wherein the action comprises: tracking a location of the selected drone, locking the location of the selected drone, performing the at least one privacy breach countermeasure against the selected drone, contacting an operator of the selected drone, or any combination thereof.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processors of the system further cause the system to:

display, at the user interface of the mobile device, a set of privacy breach countermeasures that can be performed against the drone,

wherein the set of privacy breach countermeasures is determined based on one or more of the following:

features of the drone, location of the drone, proximity of the drone to the mobile device or the location selected by the user, trajectory of the drone, authorization status of the drone, or any combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processors of the system further cause the system to:

display, at the user interface of the mobile device, a set of privacy breach countermeasures that can be performed against the drone, and

receive, at the user interface of the mobile device, a selection of the at least one privacy breach countermeasure from the set of privacy breach countermeasures.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processors of the system further cause the system to:

display, at the user interface of the mobile device, a set of privacy breach countermeasures that can be performed against the drone,

wherein privacy breach countermeasures in the set of privacy breach countermeasures are ranked according to a priority value.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one privacy breach countermeasure is executed for a configurable time period based on:

user preferences,

a location of the drone,

a trajectory of the drone,

a proximity of the drone to the mobile device or a location selected by the user,

features of the drone,

or any combination thereof.

12. A method executed by a mobile application for detecting, intercepting, and defending against privacy breaches carried out by unmanned aerial vehicles, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of presence of an unmanned aerial vehicle within a vicinity of a location;

when one or more notification criteria of a user is satisfied, outputting, at a set of user equipment, one or more signals indicative of the presence of the unmanned aerial vehicle within the vicinity of the location;

receiving instructions that enable execution of at least one privacy breach countermeasure against the unmanned aerial vehicle; and

display, at a user interface of the set of user equipment, a set of privacy breach countermeasures that can be performed against the unmanned aerial vehicle,

wherein the privacy breach countermeasures in the set of privacy breach countermeasures are ranked according to priority value.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the location is a current location of mobile device or a location selected by the user.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the two or more user equipment in the set of user equipment act in tandem to notify the user of the presence of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the signals are video signals, audio signals, visual alerts, haptic signals, vibrations, or any combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more notification criteria is based on one or more features of the unmanned aerial vehicle, or a location of the unmanned aerial vehicle, or both.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

displaying, at a user interface of a user equipment among the set of user equipment, a trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least one privacy breach countermeasure is executed for a configurable time period based on:

user preferences,

a location of the unmanned aerial vehicle,

a trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle,

a proximity of the unmanned aerial vehicle to the location,

features of the unmanned aerial vehicle,

or any combination thereof.

19. At least one computer-readable memory carrying instructions to be executed by at least one processor, wherein the instructions are for performing a method of defending against privacy breaches carried out by unmanned aerial vehicles, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of presence of at least one unmanned aerial vehicle within a vicinity of a mobile device;

when one or more notification criteria of a user is satisfied, outputting via the mobile device, an alert notifying the user of the presence of the at least one unmanned aerial vehicle within the vicinity of the mobile device; and

receive, via the mobile device, instructions that enable execution of at least one privacy breach countermeasure against the at least one unmanned aerial vehicle.

20. The computer-readable memory of claim 19 , wherein the method further comprises:

displaying, at a user interface of the mobile device, a map depicting: a current location of the at least one unmanned aerial vehicle, a trajectory of the at least one unmanned aerial vehicle, a relative position of the at least one unmanned aerial vehicle with respect to the mobile device or a location selected by the user, or any combination thereof.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 2, 2022
From: YOCAM, ERIC; LAURSEN, DAMON
To: T-MOBILE USA, INC.
Reel/Frame 058868/0558 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation 16151258 · Oct 3, 2018
Related Publication 20220157181A1 · May 19, 2022
Cited By (1)
US 12,328,185