# US 10,121,117 B1 · Drone location signature filters > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,121,117 B1 - Document ID: US10121117B1 - Status: Granted - Kind: B1 - Application number: 15/260,057 - Filed: 2016-09-08 - Granted: 2018-11-06 - Earliest claimed: 2016-09-08 - Assignees: Amazon Technologies, Inc. - Applicants: Amazon Technologies, Inc. - Inventors: Scott Patrick Boyd; Chengwu Cui; Sarah Graber; Barry James O'Brien; Joshua John Watson; Scott Michael Wilcox - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10121117B1 ## CPC - G06Q 10/083: Shipping - G05D 1/0676: {specially adapted for landing} - G05D 1/101: {specially adapted for aircraft} - G06V 10/225: {based on a marking or identifier characterising the area} - G06V 10/44: Local feature extraction by analysis of parts of the pattern, e.g. by detecting edges, contours, loops, corners, strokes or intersections; Connectivity analysis, e.g. of connected components - G06V 10/751: {Comparing pixel values or logical combinations thereof, or feature values having positional relevance, e.g. template matching} - G06V 20/13: Satellite images - G06V 30/224: of printed characters having additional code marks or containing code marks - G08G 5/21: located onboard the aircraft - G08G 5/26: Transmission of traffic-related information between aircraft and ground stations - G08G 5/32: for flight plan preparation - G08G 5/34: for flight plan modification - G08G 5/54: for approach or landing - G08G 5/55: for a single aircraft - G08G 5/57: for unmanned aircraft - B64U 70/30: for capturing UAVs in flight by ground or sea-based arresting gear, e.g. by a cable or a net - B64U 2101/30: for imaging, photography or videography - B64U 2101/64: for parcel delivery or retrieval - B64U 2101/69: the UAVs provided with means for airdropping goods, e.g. deploying a parachute during descent - B64U 2201/10: autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS] - B64U 2201/20: Remote controls - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES - G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING - G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93}) - B64U: UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES [UAV]; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR ## Abstract Techniques for providing a verification of a flight path or landing zone may be provided. For example, during delivery an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may capture one or more images of a plurality of delivery locations within an area. A computer system may generate one or more image templates or filters using the one or more images and subsequently use the image filters to verify a flight path or landing zone for a delivery by the UAV during flight. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer-implemented method, comprising: maintaining, by a computer system, a plurality of image filters for one or more locations in a first area, an image filter of the plurality of image filters comprising image information for a location of the one or more locations that can serve as an image template; receiving, by the computer system, an order to deliver an item to a particular location of the one or more locations; generating, by the computer system, a flight plan that instructs an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to deliver the item to the particular location; receiving, by the computer system and from the UAV, a series of images for the one or more locations during flight to the particular location; updating, by the computer system, the plurality of image filters based at least in part on the series of images; verifying, by the computer system, the flight plan for the UAV in route to the particular location based at least in part on the updated plurality of image filters and the series of images; identifying, by the computer system, that an obstruction is in a landing zone of the particular location based at least in part on the updated plurality of image filters and the series of images; and transmitting, by the computer system and to a user device, a notification that indicates the obstruction in the landing zone based at least in response to identifying the obstruction. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the image filter is generated, by the computer system, by removing certain objects from the image information. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising generating, by the computer system, a new flight plan in response to receiving, from the user device, an opt-out for UAV deliveries, the new flight plan generated based at least in part on the updated plurality of image filters. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the new flight plan includes instructing the UAV to climb to a certain altitude when flying by locations associated with opt-outs for the UAV deliveries. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the computer system and from the UAV, information identifying an equipment failure for the UAV; generating, by the computer system, a new landing location based at least in part on the information and the updated plurality of image filters; and instructing, by the computer system, the UAV to land at the new landing location. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of image filters for the one or more locations in the first area identify one or more obstructions to the flight plan in the first area. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising generating, by the computer system, a map of the one or more obstructions. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising updating the flight plan for the UAV in route to the particular location based at least in part on the map of the one or more obstructions. ### Claim 9 A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, by a computer system and from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), one or more images captured by the UAV during flight within an area; extracting, by the computer system, first information from the one or more images using an image processing algorithm; generating, by the computer system, a plurality of image filters to serve as image templates for one or more locations that correspond to previous deliveries by the UAV, the one or more locations within the area; receiving, by the computer system, an order to deliver an item to a particular location of the one or more locations; verifying, by the computer system, a flight path for the UAV during flight by the UAV to deliver the item based at least in part on updated one or more images captured by the UAV and the plurality of image filters; identifying, by the computer system, that an obstruction is in a landing zone of the particular location based at least in part the updated one or more images captured by the UAV and the plurality of image filters; and transmitting, by the computer system and to a user device, a first notification that identifies the obstruction in the landing zone in response to identifying the obstruction. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein extracting the first information from the one or more images using the image processing algorithm includes removing certain objects and certain information from the one or more images. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising generating, by the computer system, a new flight path in response to receiving second information identifying an entity opting-out from UAV deliveries. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the new flight path includes instructions for modulating propellers associated with the UAV to generate an expected sound when flying within a certain distance from the entity. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising: receiving, by the computer system and from the UAV, second information identifying an equipment failure for the UAV; generating, by the computer system, a new landing location based at least in part on the second information and the updated one or more images captured by the UAV and the plurality of image filters; and instructing, by the computer system, the UAV to land at the new landing location. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting, by the computer system and to the user device, a second notification that identifies an update to a particular image filter for the particular location when the update to the particular image filter exceeds a certain threshold for the particular location. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the image templates for the one or more locations include identifications for one or more obstructions to the UAV in the flight path. ### Claim 16 An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising: an image capture component; a set of propellers associated with a propulsion system configured to provide propulsion for the UAV; and a computing system configured to manage the propulsion system during a flight associated with a delivery of a payload and further configured to instruct the UAV to: capture, via the image capture component, one or more images of an area during flight; extract, by the computing system, first information from the one or more images using an image processing algorithm; generate, by the computing system, a plurality of image filters to serve as image templates for one or more locations in the area; verify, by the computing system, a flight path for the UAV to deliver an item based at least in part on the plurality of image filters and updated one or more images of the one or more locations in the area; identify an obstruction in a landing zone of a particular location of the one or more locations based at least in part on the plurality of image filters and the updated one or more images; and transmit, to a user device, a notification that identifies the obstruction in the landing zone in response to identifying the obstruction. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The UAV of claim 16, wherein the computing system is further configured to verify the landing zone for the UAV to deliver the item based at least in part on a particular image filter of the plurality of image filters and the updated one or more images of the one or more locations in the area. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The UAV of claim 16, wherein the obstruction in the landing zone is illuminated using one or more colored lights.