# US 9,753,460 B1 · Incident light sensor on autonomous vehicle

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- Number: US 9,753,460 B1
- Document ID: US9753460B1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B1
- Application number: 15/243,892
- Filed: 2016-08-22
- Published: 2017-09-07
- Granted: 2017-09-05
- Earliest claimed: 2016-03-07
- Assignees: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
- Applicants: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
- Inventors: Stephen Thomas Safarik
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9753460B1

## CPC

- H04N 23/71: Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation
- B64D 45/08: optical
- B64U 10/13: Flying platforms
- B64U 50/10: Propulsion (rotors specially adapted for rotorcraft or VTOL B64U30/20)
- G05D 1/00: Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots (drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00)
- G05D 1/0676: {specially adapted for landing}
- H04N 23/72: Combination of two or more compensation controls
- H04N 23/73: by influencing the exposure time
- H04N 23/90: Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
- B64U 2101/64: for parcel delivery or retrieval
- B64U 2201/10: autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS]
- B64U 2201/104: using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS
- B64U 2201/20: Remote controls
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- B64D: EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT
- B64U: UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES [UAV]; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR
- G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES

## Abstract

An incident light meter on an autonomous vehicle receives ambient light and outputs an incident light measurement in response the ambient light. One or more image sensors of the autonomous vehicle image the environment of the autonomous vehicle. An exposure setting is generated at least in part on the incident light measurement. The one or more image sensors capture a digital image at the exposure setting.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), comprising:
a propulsion system;
an incident light meter configured to output an incident light measurement in response to receiving ambient light;
at least one image sensor; and
a management module configured to:
generate an exposure setting based at least in part on the incident light measurement of the incident light meter;
trigger the at least one image sensor to generate image data using the exposure setting; and
adjust the propulsion system based at least in part on the image data from the at least one image sensor.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The UAV of claim 1, wherein the exposure setting comprises an exposure period of the at least one image sensor.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The UAV of claim 1, wherein the management module is further configured to initiate the incident light measurement by sending a request command to the incident light meter.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The UAV of claim 1, wherein the incident light meter is connected to a frame of the UAV and includes a photosensitive element disposed beneath a diffusive dome, wherein the incident light meter is positioned on a top portion of the UAV, and wherein the propulsion system includes a plurality of propellers associated with the frame of the UAV to generate lift.

### Claim 5

An autonomous vehicle, comprising:
an incident light meter to receive ambient light;
at least one image sensor to capture an image of an environment surrounding the autonomous vehicle; and
the autonomous vehicle configured to:
generate an exposure setting based at least in part on an incident light measurement from the incident light meter;
trigger the at least one image sensor to generate image data using the exposure setting; and
adjust a propulsion system of the autonomous vehicle in response to the image data generated using the exposure setting.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 5, wherein the autonomous vehicle is a UAV, and wherein the propulsion system includes a plurality of propellers.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 5 further comprising a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, wherein the propulsion system of the autonomous vehicle is also adjusted based at least in part on a GPS coordinate received from the GPS receiver.

### Claim 8 (depends on 5)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 5, wherein the exposure setting comprises an exposure period of the at least one image sensor.

### Claim 9 (depends on 5)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 5 further configured to initiate the incident light measurement by sending a request command to the incident light meter.

### Claim 10 (depends on 5)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 5, wherein the autonomous vehicle is a UAV, and wherein the incident light meter is positioned on a top portion of the UAV.

### Claim 11 (depends on 5)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 5, wherein the incident light meter comprises a diffusive dome and a photosensitive element positioned under the diffusive dome to receive the ambient light.

### Claim 12 (depends on 5)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 5, wherein the at least one image sensor is among a plurality of image sensors of the autonomous vehicle, and wherein the exposure setting is sent to a first portion of the image sensors in the plurality of image sensors but the exposure setting is not sent to a remaining portion of the image sensors in the plurality of image sensors.

### Claim 13 (depends on 5)

The autonomous vehicle of claim 5, wherein the at least one image sensor is included in a down-ward looking camera.

### Claim 14

A method comprising:
measuring incident light using an incident light meter of an autonomous vehicle;
determining an exposure setting based at least in part on the measured incident light;
capturing, by using an image sensor of the autonomous vehicle, at least one digital image at the exposure setting; and
adjusting a propulsion system of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the at least one digital image.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein determining the exposure setting comprises calculating the exposure setting from an equation, wherein the measured incident light is an input to the equation.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein determining the exposure setting comprises accessing a look-up table that includes exposure setting entries corresponding to incident light values.

### Claim 17 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the autonomous vehicle is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and wherein the at least one digital image comprises a target landing area and adjusting the propulsion system of the autonomous vehicle comprises causing the UAV to center the target landing area under a camera that captured the at least one digital image at the exposure setting.

### Claim 18 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the autonomous vehicle is a UAV, and wherein the propulsion system includes a plurality of propellers for generating lift.

### Claim 19 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the exposure setting is a gain of pixels of the image sensor.

### Claim 20 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein adjusting the propulsion system of the autonomous vehicle comprises re-positioning the autonomous vehicle and capturing a second digital image at a second incident light measurement.