Autonomous aerial vehicle projection zone selection

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing system of an autonomous aerial vehicle including at least one processor, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• determining informational data to present for at least one person within a group of people;
• capturing at least a first image via at least one imaging sensor of the autonomous aerial vehicle in a vicinity of the at least one person;
• determining a first position of a plurality of positions and a first orientation of a plurality of orientations of the at least one person, wherein the determining the first position and the first orientation of the at least one person comprises determining the plurality of positions and the plurality of orientations of people within the group, wherein the plurality of positions is determined from location information from a network-based system that maintains location information of user devices associated with the people within the group, and wherein the plurality of orientations is determined from the at least the first image;
• identifying, based upon the first position and the first orientation of the at least one person, a plurality of candidate projection areas, each candidate projection area comprising a contiguous area within the at least the first image that is deemed to be visible to the at least one person in accordance with the first position and the first orientation;
• selecting one of the plurality of candidate projection areas as a projection zone in accordance with a plurality of factors, wherein the plurality of factors comprises:
• a number of people within the group to whom the one of the plurality of candidate projection areas is deemed to be visible in accordance with the plurality of positions and the plurality of orientations and a measure of at least one surface characteristic of the one of the plurality of candidate projection areas;
• and
• projecting the informational data on the projection zone via a projector.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processing system including at least one processor of an autonomous aerial vehicle;
• and
• a computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• determining informational data to present for at least one person within a group of people;
• capturing at least a first image via at least one imaging sensor of the autonomous aerial vehicle in a vicinity of the at least one person;
• determining a first position of a plurality of positions and a first orientation of a plurality of orientations of the at least one person, wherein the determining the first position and the first orientation of the at least one person comprises determining the plurality of positions and the plurality of orientations of people within the group, wherein the plurality of positions is determined from location information from a network-based system that maintains location information of user devices associated with the people within the group, and wherein the plurality of orientations is determined from the at least the first image;
• identifying, based upon the first position and the first orientation of the at least one person, a plurality of candidate projection areas, each candidate projection area comprising a contiguous area within the at least the first image that is deemed to be visible to the at least one person in accordance with the first position and the first orientation;
• selecting one of the plurality of candidate projection areas as a projection zone in accordance with a plurality of factors, wherein the plurality of factors comprises:
• a number of people within the group to whom the one of the plurality of candidate projection areas is deemed to be visible in accordance with the plurality of positions and the plurality of orientations and a measure of at least one surface characteristic of the one of the plurality of candidate projection areas;
• and
• projecting the informational data on the projection zone via a projector.