Drone Patents
U.S. Pat. No. 9,242,729
Transformable Aerial Vehicle
The following drone patents were granted in January 2016:
| Patent Number | Title |
|---|---|
| D748,302 | Autonomous vehicle taillamp |
| 9,247,364 | Variable aperture phased array incorporating vehicle swarm |
| 9,245,519 | Forward speaker noise cancellation in a vehicle |
| 9,245,447 | Method and device for the position determination of objects in road traffic, based on communication signals, and use of the device |
| 9,245,428 | Systems and methods for haptic remote control gaming |
| 9,244,462 | Vehicle trajectory planning for autonomous vehicles |
| 9,244,459 | Reflexive response system for popup threat survival |
| 9,244,147 | Automated package delivery to a delivery receptacle |
| 9,244,128 | Deep-discharge protection method and motor vehicle |
| 9,243,930 | Vehicle-based automatic traffic conflict and collision avoidance |
| 9,243,440 | Systems and methods for altering one or more vehicle functions |
| 9,242,800 | Storage and retrieval system case unit detection |
| 9,242,729 | Transformable aerial vehicle |
| 9,242,728 | All-electric multirotor full-scale aircraft for commuting, personal transportation, and security/surveillance |
| 9,242,714 | Transformable aerial vehicle |
| 9,242,571 | Charge managing system for automated guided vehicle |
| 9,239,959 | Multi-resolution, wide field-of-view, unmanned ground vehicle navigation sensor |
| 9,238,414 | Charging system for battery-powered unmanned aerial vehicles |
| 9,235,987 | System and method for closed-loop driver attention management |
| 9,235,902 | Image-based crack quantification |
| 9,235,211 | Method and arrangement for handover warning in a vehicle having autonomous driving capabilities |
| 9,234,618 | Characterizing optically reflective features via hyper-spectral sensor |
| 9,234,501 | Power generating windbags and waterbags |
| 9,233,754 | Unmanned aerial vehicle and operations thereof |
| 9,233,751 | Geodetic marking system for marking target points |
| 9,233,692 | Method to control a vehicle path during autonomous braking |
| 9,233,688 | Systems and methods for lane end recognition |
| 9,232,383 | Courier network |
| 9,230,531 | Road noise masking in a vehicle |
| 9,230,453 | Open-ditch pipeline as-built process |
| 9,229,838 | Modeling and evaluating application performance in a new environment |
| 9,229,453 | Unified motion planner for autonomous driving vehicle in avoiding the moving obstacle |
| 9,229,450 | Autonomous movement system |
| 9,229,108 | Underwater platform with LIDAR and related methods |
| 9,227,735 | Aerial refueling system and method |
| 9,227,531 | Autonomous vehicle with reconfigurable seats |
Drone Patent Applications
The following drone patent applications were published in January 2016:
| Publication Number | Title |
|---|---|
| 20160028830 | RURAL AREA NETWORK DEVICE |
| 20160028824 | Highly Assisted Driving Platform |
| 20160028471 | DEPLOYMENT CRITERIA FOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES TO IMPROVE CELLULAR PHONE COMMUNICATIONS |
| 20160027273 | Multi Sensor Detection, Stall to Stop and Lock Disabling System |
| 20160026967 | METHOD FOR ASSISTING IN COLLECTION OF GOODS BY A VEHICLE |
| 20160026184 | CURB DETECTION USING LIDAR WITH SPARSE MEASUREMENTS |
| 20160026182 | Personalized Driving of Autonomously Driven Vehicles |
| 20160026181 | METHOD FOR ALLOCATING CONTROL IN A SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS |
| 20160026179 | SPATIAL RECOGNITION IN AN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE GROUP |
| 20160025845 | FREQUENCY SHIFT KEYED CONTINUOUS WAVE RADAR |
| 20160025505 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR GENERATING GLOBAL PATH FOR AN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE |
| 20160025495 | AUTONOMOUS COORDINATION OF AGENTS VIA ATTRACTION AND REPULSION |
| 20160025457 | MULTIMODE UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE |
| 20160023762 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR UAV DOCKING |
| 20160023761 | METHOD FOR INSTALLING AN OBJECT USING AN UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE |
| 20160023760 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS COUNTERING AN UNMANNED AIR VEHICLE |
| 20160023744 | TRANSFORMABLE AERIAL VEHICLE |
| 20160023739 | ADAPTABLE MODULAR POWER SYSTEM (AMPS) AND DEDICATED CONNECTOR; MODULAR PAYLOAD BOXES AND AUTONOMOUS WATER VEHICLE CONFIGURED TO ACCEPT SAME |
| 20160023725 | WATER VEHICLES |
| 20160023722 | AUTONOMOUS SUBMERSIBLE VEHICLE AND METHOD FOR PULLING IN SAME |
| 20160023404 | THREE-DIMENSIONAL MANUFACTURING, FABRICATING, FORMING, AND/OR REPAIRING APPARATUS AND METHOD |
| 20160021849 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR LOCALIZING AND DISPLAYING POSITIONS OF AUTONOMOUSLY MOBILE OBJECTS |
| 20160021670 | Joint Waveform Design and Interference Pre-Cancellation for Time-Reversal Systems |
| 20160021595 | Integrating Mobile Femto-cell Access Point Into Home Appliance Network |
| 20160021178 | DISTRIBUTED COMMUNICATION OF INDEPENDENT AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES TO PROVIDE REDUNDANCY AND PERFORMANCE |
| 20160018822 | AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE OPERATION |
| 20160018559 | Method And System For Performing Surveying And Sampling In A Body Of Water |
| 20160018558 | Method and System For Identifying and Sampling Hydrocarbons |
| 20160018532 | RADIATION DETECTION DEVICE AND METHOD |
| 20160018526 | SURROUND SENSING SYSTEM |
| 20160018377 | Method and System For Identifying And Sampling Hydrocarbons With Buoys |
| 20160018229 | ACCURATE CURVATURE ESTIMATION ALGORITHM FOR PATH PLANNING OF AUTONOMOUS DRIVING VEHICLE |
| 20160018224 | Symbiotic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Unmanned Surface Vehicle System |
| 20160017902 | FIBRILLAR STRUCTURES TO REDUCE VISCOUS DRAG ON AERODYNAMIC AND HYDRODYNAMIC WALL SURFACES |
| 20160016675 | SMALL UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (SUAV) SHIPBOARD RECOVERY SYSTEM |
| 20160016672 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETECTING AND MANAGING THE UNAUTHORIZED USE OF AN UNMANNED AIRCRAFT |
| 20160016663 | Automotive Drone Deployment System |
| 20160016654 | SELF-TIGHTENING ROTOR |
| 20160016649 | Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Hover Apparatus, Method, and Applications |
| 20160016525 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MEASURING AND REDUCING VEHICLE FUEL WASTE |
| 20160016506 | Daylight Opening Surround |
| 20160014956 | ELECTRIC WORK VEHICLE |
| 20160014818 | MOBILE DYNAMIC MESH CLUSTER BRIDGING METHOD AND APPARATUS AT INCIDENT SCENES |
| 20160013858 | ANTENNA BEAM MANAGEMENT AND GATEWAY DESIGN FOR BROADBAND ACCESS USING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV) PLATFORMS |
| 20160012730 | UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE COMMUNICATION, MONITORING, AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT |
| 20160012411 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT OF MOBILE BANKING RESOURCES |
| 20160012393 | PARCEL DELIVERY METHOD USING AN UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE |
| 20160011596 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REMOTE CONTROL OF UNMANNED VEHICLES |
| 20160011593 | Mobile Platforms for Performing Operations Along an Exterior of a Fuselage Assembly |
| 20160011324 | Method For Harvesting Seismic Data And Generating Seismic Output Files |
Definitions
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 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.