IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,638,865
Granted Patent B2
US 12,638,865 · App. 18/136,894 · Granted May 26, 2026

Gimbal and gimbal control method

Inventors: Tianhang Ma (Shenzhen, CN); Yang Zhao (Shenzhen, CN); Xiaoxuan Sun (Shenzhen, CN); Qinghe Fan (Shenzhen, CN)
Assignee: SZ DJI TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
G05D3/20F16M11/105F16M11/2064F16M13/04G03B17/561G05B19/4155G05B2219/34013
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,638,865
App. No.
18/136,894
Granted
May 26, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A gimbal and a gimbal control method are disclosed. The gimbal control method may include: acquiring attitude information of a gimbal; determining whether the gimbal is in a falling state based upon the attitude information; and when the gimbal is in the falling state, triggering a protection mode and controlling the gimbal to rotate to a set attitude. The set attitude may be an attitude at which the gimbal is not easy to be broken from falling, thereby reducing the probability of the gimbal being broken from falling.

Claims (51)

1 . A gimbal control method, comprising:

acquiring attitude information of a gimbal;

determining whether the gimbal is in a falling state based upon the attitude information; and

upon determining that the gimbal is in the falling state, triggering a protection mode and controlling the gimbal to rotate to a set attitude;

wherein the triggering the protection mode when the gimbal is in the falling state comprises:

determining whether the gimbal is in a triggering attitude based upon the attitude information; and

upon determining that the gimbal is in a triggering attitude, triggering the protection mode, wherein the gimbal comprises a support and a gimbal body arranged on the support, and the gimbal body is located below the support when the gimbal is in the triggering attitude.

2 . The gimbal control method of claim 1 , wherein the attitude information comprises motion information, and the determining whether the gimbal is in the falling state based upon the attitude information comprises:

determining whether the gimbal is in the falling state based upon the motion information.

3 . The gimbal control method of claim 2 , wherein the motion information comprises an acceleration, and the determining whether the gimbal is in the falling state based upon the motion information comprises:

determining whether the gimbal is in the falling state based upon the acceleration.

4 . The gimbal control method of claim 3 , wherein the determining whether the gimbal is in the falling state based upon the acceleration comprises:

under a condition that a magnitude of the acceleration is greater than or equal to a first set value, determining that the gimbal is in the falling state; or

under a condition that the magnitude of the acceleration is greater than or equal to the first set value and a duration of the acceleration is not less than a first set time, determining that the gimbal is in the falling state.

5 . The gimbal control method of claim 4 , wherein the first set value is an acceleration value of gravity.

6 . The gimbal control method of claim 1 , wherein the triggering attitude is a first triggering attitude, the protection mode is a first protection mode, and the triggering the protection mode when the gimbal is in the falling state further comprises:

upon determining that the gimbal is in a second triggering attitude, triggering a second protection mode.

7 . The gimbal control method of claim 6 , wherein the gimbal body is located above the support when the gimbal is in the second triggering attitude.

8 . The gimbal control method of claim 7 , wherein the determining the positional relationship between the gimbal body and the support comprises:

acquiring angle information and acceleration information of the gimbal; and

based upon the angle information and the acceleration information, determining the positional relationship between the gimbal body and the handle support.

9 . The gimbal control method of claim 6 , wherein the gimbal comprises a yaw shaft assembly, a roll shaft assembly connected to the yaw shaft assembly, and a pitch shaft assembly connected to the roll shaft assembly;

wherein the triggering the first protection mode comprises controlling the pitch shaft assembly and the roll shaft assembly to rotate to a first set position; and

wherein the triggering the second protection mode comprises controlling the pitch shaft assembly to rotate to a second set position.

10 . The gimbal control method of claim 1 , wherein the gimbal comprises a yaw shaft assembly, a roll shaft assembly connected to the yaw shaft assembly, and a pitch shaft assembly connected to the roll shaft assembly, and the controlling the gimbal to rotate to the set attitude comprises:

controlling the roll shaft assembly to rotate by a first set angle, so that a distance between the pitch shaft assembly and the yaw shaft assembly satisfies a set distance.

11 . The gimbal control method of claim 10 , wherein the gimbal further comprises at least one of a limiting structure or an image capturer mounted on the pitch shaft assembly; and the controlling the gimbal to rotate to the set attitude further comprises at least one of:

controlling the pitch shaft assembly to rotate by a second set angle, so as to drive the image capturer to rotate to a direction facing the roll shaft assembly; or

controlling the yaw shaft assembly to rotate by a third set angle, so as to drive the image capturer to rotate in a direction away from the limiting structure.

12 . The gimbal control method of claim 1 , wherein after controlling the gimbal to rotate to the set attitude, the gimbal control method further comprises:

determining whether the gimbal is in a collision state based upon the attitude information; and

upon determining that the gimbal is in the collision state, triggering a recording mode and recording the attitude information of the gimbal before the gimbal is in the collision state.

13 . The gimbal control method of claim 12 , wherein the attitude information comprises motion information, and the determining whether the gimbal is in the collision state based upon the attitude information comprises:

determining whether the gimbal is in the collision state based upon the motion information.

14 . The gimbal control method of claim 1 , wherein the acquiring the attitude information of the gimbal comprises detecting and acquiring the attitude information of the gimbal in real time when the gimbal is operating.

15 . The gimbal control method of claim 1 , wherein the support includes a handle.

16 . The gimbal control method of claim 1 , wherein the set attitude includes that the gimbal body is tilted relative to the support.

17 . The gimbal control method of claim 1 , wherein the set attitude includes that a roll axis of the gimbal body is tilted relative to the support with a tilt angle, and the tilt angle is not 90°.

18 . The gimbal control method of claim 1 , wherein the gimbal further comprises an image capturer mounted on the gimbal body, and an angle is formed between an axis of a lens of the image capturer and a roll axis of the gimbal body when the gimbal is in the triggering attitude.

19 . A gimbal comprising a gimbal body and a processor electrically connected to the gimbal body, the processor being configured to:

determine whether the gimbal is in a falling state based upon attitude information of the gimbal; and

upon determining that the gimbal is in the falling state, trigger a protection mode, and control the gimbal to rotate to a set attitude;

wherein the triggering the protection mode when the gimbal is in the falling state comprises:

determining whether the gimbal is in a triggering attitude based upon the attitude information; and

upon determining that the gimbal is in a triggering attitude, triggering the protection mode, wherein the gimbal comprises a support and a gimbal body arranged on the support, and the gimbal body is located below the support when the gimbal is in the triggering attitude.

20 . A gimbal control method, comprising:

acquiring attitude information of a gimbal;

determining whether the gimbal is in a falling state based upon the attitude information; and

upon determining that the gimbal is in the falling state, triggering a protection mode and controlling the gimbal to rotate to a set attitude;

wherein the gimbal comprises a yaw shaft assembly, a roll shaft assembly connected to the yaw shaft assembly, and a pitch shaft assembly connected to the roll shaft assembly, and the controlling the gimbal to rotate to the set attitude comprises:

controlling the roll shaft assembly to rotate by a first set angle, so that a distance between the pitch shaft assembly and the yaw shaft assembly satisfies a set distance.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 20, 2023
From: MA, TIANHANG; ZHAO, YANG; SUN, XIAOXUAN; FAN, QINGHE
To: SZ DJI TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 063410/0485 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation PCTCN2020122235 · Oct 20, 2020
Related Publication 20230266775A1 · Aug 24, 2023
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