Drone Patents

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.

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