Drone Patents

 

Drone Patents

US Pat. No. 9,221,536
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Operations thereof

The following drone patents were granted in December 2015:

Patent Number Title
D746,194 Autonomous vehicle wing assembly
9,224,302 Four dimensional flight management with time control system and related method
9,224,300 Apparatus and method for controlling autonomous vehicle platooning
9,224,053 Combining multiple estimates of an environment into a consolidated estimate for an autonomous vehicle
9,223,749 Celestial navigation system for an autonomous vehicle
9,223,313 Monitoring, diagnostic and tracking tool for autonomous mobile robots
9,223,310 Ship course obstruction warning transport
9,223,025 Underwater platform with LIDAR and related methods
9,223,002 System and method for determining the position of an underwater vehicle
9,221,557 UAV retrieval system and method
9,221,555 Structural health management with active control using integrated elasticity measurement
9,221,546 Aircraft hybrid fuel system
9,221,538 Flight control system for unmanned aerial vehicle
9,221,537 Unmanned aerial vehicle and operations thereof
9,221,536 Unmanned aerial vehicle and operations thereof
9,221,461 Construction zone detection using a plurality of information sources
9,221,396 Cross-validating sensors of an autonomous vehicle
9,220,086 Adaptive communication mode switching
9,219,993 Method and system for determining object motion by capturing motion data via radio frequency phase and direction of arrival detection
9,219,647 Modular device and data management system and gateway for a communications network
9,219,568 Systems and methods for interaction with thermal detectors
9,218,646 Distributed path planning for mobile sensors
9,217,532 Wing spar retention system and method
9,216,818 Impact protection apparatus
9,216,743 Motor vehicle having a driver assistance device and method for operating a motor vehicle
9,216,737 System and method for automatically detecting key behaviors by vehicles
D745,435 Unmanned aerial vehicle
9,214,021 Distributed position identification
9,213,938 Systems and methods for estimating pose
9,213,337 Detecting lane closures and lane shifts by an autonomous vehicle
9,213,046 Micro inertial measurement system
9,212,926 In-vehicle path verification
9,211,959 UAV launching from moving platform
9,211,947 Unmanned aerial vehicle angular reorientation
9,211,025 Postal cube
D744,935 Autonomous vehicle storage bin/tray
9,208,688 Wind calculation system using a constant bank angle turn
9,208,619 Tracking the use of at least one destination location
9,208,456 Vehicle activity module
9,207,681 Automatic recovery method for an unmanned aerial vehicle
9,207,680 Estimating multi-vehicle motion characteristics by finding stable reference points
9,207,679 System and method for determining position and distance of objects using road fiducials
9,207,674 Autonomous moving robot and control method thereof
9,207,323 Methods and systems for detecting weather conditions including wet surfaces using vehicle onboard sensors
9,205,922 Systems and methods for implementing a payload distribution system
9,205,902 External payload module for an autonomous underwater vehicle
9,205,835 Systems and methods for detecting low-height objects in a roadway
9,205,828 Method and apparatus for determining vehicle location based on motor feedback
9,205,815 Method and device for autonomous braking of a vehicle following collision
9,205,805 Limitations on the use of an autonomous vehicle

Drone Patent Applications

 

The following drone patent applications were published in December 2015:

Publication Number Title
20150382169 Courier Network
20150380783 METHOD AND DEVICE PROVIDING THE TEMPERATURE REGULATION OF A RECHARGEABLE ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE BATTERY
20150379874 DYNAMIC SELECTION OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES
20150379869 Use of Relationship between Activities of Different Traffic Signals in a Network to Improve Traffic Signal State Estimation
20150379781 Tracking the Use of at Least One Destination Location
20150379661 EFFICIENT HARDWARE MECHANISM TO ENSURE SHARED RESOURCE DATA COHERENCY ACROSS DRAW CALLS
20150379468 METHODS FOR DELIVERY TO MULTIPLE LOCATIONS USING AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
20150378837 MULTIMEDIA FILE REPAIR METHODS AND APPARATUS
20150377635 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING A DROP-OFF AND A PICK-UP LOCATION BASED ON FITNESS GOALS
20150377615 METHOD OF DOCUMENTING A POSITION OF AN UNDERGROUND UTILITY
20150377405 INSPECTION SYSTEMS
20150377116 Forced Air Blower Bypass System
20150376989 SUBSEA ON-SITE CHEMICAL INJECTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
20150375938 AUTONOMOUS TRANSPORTS FOR STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS
20150375862 Stealth Aerial Vehicle
20150375840 STAND-OFF DELIVERY OF UNMANNED UNDERWATER VEHICLES
20150375765 LEAD RAIL VEHICLE WITH DRONE VEHICLE AND METHOD
20150375757 Autonomous driving system for a vehicle and method for carrying out the operation
20150375586 COMBINED SUBMERSIBLE VESSEL AND UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE
20150372346 ELECTRIC VEHICLE PROPULSION SYSTEM AND METHOD UTILIZING SOLID-STATE RECHARGEABLE ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
20150371771 WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER SYSTEMS AND METHODS
20150370533 Solar tablet verbal
20150370258 METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A PATH OF A ROTARY-WING DRONE, A CORRESPONDING SYSTEM, A ROTARY-WING DRONE IMPLEMENTING THIS SYSTEM AND THE RELATED USES OF SUCH A DRONE
20150370255 METHODS FOR OPERATION OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES IN SPECIAL CONTROL ZONES
20150370252 SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MULTI-MODE UNMANNED VEHICLE MISSION PLANNING AND CONTROL
20150370251 Method and system for drone deliveries to vehicles in route
20150370250 MAGIC WAND INTERFACE AND OTHER USER INTERACTION PARADIGMS FOR A FLYING DIGITAL ASSISTANT
20150367957 PROVIDING VISIBILITY TO A VEHICLE’S ENVIRONMENT VIA A SET OF CAMERAS WHICH IS CONFORMAL TO THE VEHICLE
20150367932 Delta M-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
20150367850 SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MIMICKING A LEADING VEHICLE
20150365792 NETWORK ARCHITECTURE FOR SYNCHRONIZED DISPLAY
20150365159 UNMANNED AIR VEHICLE WITH AUTONOMOUS AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITY
20150363717 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING OF UAV BASED DATA FOR RISK MITIGATION AND LOSS CONTROL
20150363156 MEDIA SPLITTING AND REDUCTION IN STORAGE REQUIREMENTS BASED ON COMMON CONTENT
20150362918 Method of Operating a Remotely Accessible Unmanned Underwater Vehicle
20150362917 MESSAGING-ENABLED UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE
20150360797 UNMANNED AIR VEHICLE RECOVERY SYSTEM
20150360777 Multi-Task Frisbee-Umbrella
20150360692 Robust Method for Detecting Traffic Signals and their Associated States
20150360665 METHOD FOR OPERATING AN ELECTROMECHANICAL VEHICLE BRAKING
20150360663 METHOD FOR OPERATING AN ELECTROMECHANICAL VEHICLE BRAKE SYSTEM
20150358790 AUTOMATED MOBILE SYSTEM
20150358773 LOCATION-BASED NETWORK SYSTEM AND LOCATION-BASED COMMUNICATION METHOD
20150358345 ACTIVE ATTACK DETECTION SYSTEM
20150357868 Optical Energy Transfer and Conversion System
20150356885 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING AND DELIVERING PERSONALIZED NUTRITION
20150356868 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MEASURING THE REAL TRAFFIC FLOW OF AN AREA
20150356665 PRE-PURCHASE MECHANISM FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
20150356482 AERIAL DRONE FOR WELL-SITE AND SIGNAL SURVEY
20150355641 LANE CHANGING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE

Definitions

As we use the word here, a “drone” is a vehicle that does not have an on-board human operator. Most drones have some degree of autonomous operation. At least some aspect of a drone’s operation is controlled internally. This requires a computer and software. Vehicles that require a human to control every aspect of operation, such as a hobbyist’s remote controlled airplane, are generally not considered drones.

Most drones use a mixture of autonomous and human control. For example, many drones have the ability to automatically stabilize the vehicles by adjusting control elements and power settings, but a human is needed to tell the drone where to go.

Aerial drones are also known by several different names and acronyms.  Here are the most popular:

  • Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV)
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
  • Unmanned Aircraft (UA)
  • Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS)
  • Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV)

Since drones use a very wide range of technologies (please see our drone technology article), we do not attempt to include every patent or application that could be applied to drones. As we use it here, the term “drone” includes any autonomous vehicle. Please let us know if we have missed any important patents.

Drone patent applications are applications that have been filed with and published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Although most applications are published, a small percentage (about 7% nation wide) are not published for various reasons. Patent applications are generally published 18 months after the first priority date of the application. Published applications have not necessarily been examined and some applications will be abandoned after publication. Once an application is examined and approved and all fees and formalities have been satisfied, the Patent Office grants a patent.

More Information

Please see our patent page for more information on patents and our intellectual property page for more information on intellectual property.

Inventions and patents are time sensitive. If you have a question about patents, please contact us right away.