Granted Patent B2

US 12,656,501 · App. 18/777,484 · Granted Jun 16, 2026

Inventor: Gaviphat Lekutai (Kirkland, WA)

Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc.

G01S19/03G08G5/26G08G5/55G08G5/57H04W4/021H04W4/44H04W76/10H04W84/12

Abstract

Claims (57)

1 . A method comprising:

monitoring, by a first UAV, a predefined area;

determining, at the first UAV, that a vehicle has entered the predefined area;

establishing communication between the first UAV and with the vehicle;

receiving, at the first UAV, global position system (GPS) data associated with the vehicle via the communication;

determining, at the first UAV, that the vehicle has left the predefined area based at least on the GPS data;

sending, by the first UAV, a transmission to a second UAV instructing the second UAV to communicate with the vehicle after the vehicle has left the predefined area; and

returning the first UAV to an initial position in response to determining that the vehicle has left the predefined area.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing communication with the vehicle comprises establishing at least one of a Wi-Fi connection with the vehicle, a PC5 connection with the vehicle, or a unicast connection with the vehicle.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining a position relative to the vehicle as the vehicle moves through the predefined area.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising ending the communication with the vehicle in response to determining that the vehicle has left the predefined area.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the GPS data comprises first GPS data, the method further comprising:

receiving, at the first UAV, second GPS data from a GPS satellite; and

sending, by the first UAV, the second GPS data to the vehicle.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein determining the vehicle has left the predefined area is based at least on the second GPS data.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises a first vehicle and the method further comprises:

determining that a second vehicle has entered the predefined area; and

receiving third GPS data from the second vehicle.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

measuring a signal strength of a GPS signal associated with the vehicle; and

determining that the signal strength is below a threshold value.

9 . A first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing instructions operable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

monitoring, by a first UAV, a predefined area;

determining, at the first UAV, that a vehicle has entered the predefined area;

establishing communication between the first UAV and with the vehicle;

receiving, at the first UAV, first global position system (GPS) data associated with the vehicle via the communication;

determining, at the first UAV, that the vehicle has left the predefined area based at least on the GPS data;

sending, by the first UAV, a transmission to a second UAV instructing the second UAV to communicate with the vehicle after the vehicle has left the predefined area; and

returning the first UAV to an initial position in response to determining that the vehicle has left the predefined area.

10 . The first UAV of claim 9 , wherein establishing communication with the vehicle comprises establishing at least one of a Wi-Fi connection with the vehicle, a PC5 connection with the vehicle, or a unicast connection with the vehicle.

11 . The first UAV of claim 9 , further comprising maintaining a position relative to the vehicle as the vehicle moves through the predefined area.

12 . The first UAV of claim 9 , further comprising ending the communication with the vehicle in response to determining that the vehicle has left the predefined area.

13 . The first UAV of claim 9 , wherein the GPS data comprises first GPS data, the operations further comprising:

receiving, at the first UAV, second GPS data from a GPS satellite; and

sending, by the first UAV, the second GPS data to the vehicle.

14 . The first UAV of claim 9 , wherein determining the vehicle has left the predefined area is based at least on the second first GPS data.

15 . The first UAV of claim 9 , wherein the vehicle comprises a first vehicle and the operations further comprises:

determining that a second vehicle has entered the predefined area; and

receiving third GPS data from the second vehicle.

16 . The first UAV of claim 9 , further comprising:

measuring a signal strength of a GPS signal associated with the vehicle; and

determining that the signal strength falls below a threshold value.

17 . A method performed by a computing device comprising:

monitoring, by the computing device, a predefined area;

determining, at the computing device, that a vehicle has entered the predefined area;

sending an instruction to a first UAV to establish communication between the first UAV and the vehicle;

receiving, at the computing device, first global position system (GPS) data associated with the vehicle via the communication;

determining, at the computing device, that the vehicle has left the predefined area based at least on the GPS data;

sending, by the computing device, a transmission to a second UAV instructing the second UAV to communicate with the vehicle after the vehicle has left the predefined area; and

sending, by the computing device, an instruction to return the first UAV to an initial position in response to determining that the vehicle has left the predefined area.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the computing device comprises a base station.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the instruction includes data including at least one of frequency data, bandwidth data, size of the packet data, vehicle SIM data, a GPS location of the vehicle, vehicle speed, vehicle velocity, dimensions of a zone index.

20 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

receiving GPS data from the UAV; and

sending the GPS data to the vehicle.

Continuity (2)

References Cited (21)