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US 2016/0244163 A1Published application
Providing Services Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorsEric Peeters, Eric Teller, William Graham Patrick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments described herein may help to provide support via a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). An illustrative medical-support system may include multiple UAVs, which are configured to provide support for a number of different situations. Further, the medical-support system may be configured to: (a) identify a remote situation, (b) determine a target location corresponding to the situation, (c) select a UAV from the fleet of UAVs, where the selection of the UAV is based on a determination that the selected UAV is configured for the identified situation, and (d) cause the selected UAV to travel to the target location to provide support.
Claims20
A computer-implemented method comprising:
- identifying, by a processor, a remote situation;
- determining, by the processor, a target location corresponding to the identified remote situation;
- selecting, by the processor, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from a plurality of UAVs that are configured to provide support for a plurality of situations, wherein the plurality of UAVs comprises at least a first UAV configured to provide support for a first situation and a second UAV configured to provide support for a second situation, and wherein the selection of the UAV is based at least in part on a determination that the selected UAV is configured to provide support for the identified remote situation;
- and
- causing the selected UAV to:
- (a) travel to the target location in a forward-flight mode to provide support for the identified remote situation, (b) transition to a hover flight mode when the UAV is located at or near to the target location, and (c) while in the hover flight mode at or near to the target location, deliver one or items to a ground location at or near the target location.
3 more elements
A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions that are executable to cause a processor to perform functions comprising:
- identifying a remote situation;
- determining a target location corresponding to the remote situation;
- selecting an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from a plurality of UAVs that are configured to provide support for a plurality of remote situations, wherein the plurality of UAVs comprises at least a first UAV configured to provide support for a first situation and a second UAV configured to provide support for a second situation, and wherein the selection of the UAV is based at least in part on a determination that the selected UAV is configured to provide medial support for the identified remote situation;
- and
- causing the selected UAV to:
- (a) travel in a forward-flight mode to the target location to provide support for the identified remote situation, (b) transition to a hover flight mode when the UAV is located at or near to the target location, and (c) while in the hover flight mode at or near to the target location, deliver one or items to a ground location at or near the target location.
3 more elements
A system comprising:
- at least one non-transitory computer readable medium in at least one component of the system;
- and
- program instructions stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to:
- identify a remote situation;
- determine a target location corresponding to the identified remote situation;
- unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from a plurality of UAVs that are configured to provide support for a plurality of remote situations, wherein the plurality of UAVs comprises at least a first UAV configured to provide support for a first situation and a second UAV configured to provide support for a second situation, and wherein the selection of the UAV is based at least in part on a determination that the selected UAV is configured to provide medial support for the identified remote situation;
- and
- causes the selected UAV to:
- (a) travel in a forward-flight mode to the target location to provide support for the identified remote situation, (b) transition to a hover flight mode when the UAV is located at or near to the target location, and (c) while in the hover flight mode, deliver one or items to a ground location at or near the target location.
6 more elements
A system comprising:
- a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), wherein the plurality of UAVs are configured to provide support for a plurality of situations, and wherein the plurality of UAVs comprises at least a first UAV configured to provide support for a first situation and a second UAV configured to provide support for a second situation;
- and
- at least one component that is configured to:
- identify a remote situation;
- determine a target location corresponding to the identified remote situation;
- select an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from a plurality of UAVs, wherein the selection of the UAV is based at least in part on a determination that the selected UAV is configured to provide medial support for the identified remote situation;
- and
- cause the selected UAV to:
- (a) travel in a forward-flight mode to the target location to provide support for the identified remote situation, (b) transition to a hover flight mode when the UAV is located at or near to the target location, and (c) while in the hover flight mode, deliver one or items to a ground location at or near the target location.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.