Patent Grant
9904901
The present invention relates generally to a method for determining a location for delivery and in particular to a method and associated system for determining a specified perimeter associated with an aerial vehicle with respect to the location for delivery.
Determining an area for delivery of products typically includes an inaccurate process with little flexibility. Resolving accuracy issues with respect to the delivery area may include a complicated process that may be time consuming and require a large amount of resources. A delivery method may not take into account all related factors and therefore is unable to execute appropriate delivery actions. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome at least some of the deficiencies and limitations described herein above.
A first aspect of the invention provides a delivery location determination method comprising: enabling, by a computer processor of an embedded computing device in response to a command from a user, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) delivery software application associated with specifying a delivery location for delivery of at least one package; receiving, by said computer processor from said user, a street address defining said delivery location; enabling, by said computer processor, an eyewear based video device of said embedded computing device; directing, by said computer processor, said eyewear based video device towards a specified geographical area associated with said delivery of said at least one package; retrieving, by said computer processor from said eyewear based video device, GPS data associated with said specified geographical area; retrieving, by said computer processor from a GPS system, first GPS coordinates identifying a location of said embedded computing device; calculating, by said computer processor, a distance between said first GPS coordinates and said specified geographical area; calculating, by said computer processor based on said GPS data, said distance, and said first GPS coordinates, second GPS coordinates identifying said specified geographical area; and first determining, by said computer processor, if said second GPS coordinates are located within a specified perimeter surrounding said street address defining said delivery location.
A second aspect of the invention provides delivery method comprising: receiving, by a computer processor of an embedded computing device comprising an eyewear based video device, a street address for delivery of at least one package to a user; determining, by said computer processor, that said street address comprises an apartment complex comprising a plurality of residences; retrieving, by said computer processor from a data store associated with said user and said apartment complex in response to results of said determining, data describing said user and a specified geographical area located within a specified perimeter surrounding said street address; and enabling, by said computer processor, a flight plan for a UAV for delivering said at least one package to said specified geographical area.
A third aspect of the invention provides a computer program product, comprising a computer readable hardware storage device storing a computer readable program code, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm that when executed by a computer processor of an embedded computing device implements a delivery location determination method, said method comprising: enabling, by said computer processor in response to a command from a user, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) delivery software application associated with specifying a delivery location for delivery of at least one package; receiving, by said computer processor from said user, a street address defining said delivery location; enabling, by said computer processor, an eyewear based video device of said embedded computing device; directing, by said computer processor, said eyewear based video device towards a specified geographical area associated with said delivery of said at least one package; retrieving, by said computer processor from said eyewear based video device, GPS data associated with said specified geographical area; retrieving, by said computer processor from a GPS system, first GPS coordinates identifying a location of said embedded computing device; calculating, by said computer processor, a distance between said first GPS coordinates and said specified geographical area; calculating, by said computer processor based on said GPS data, said distance, and said first GPS coordinates, second GPS coordinates identifying said specified geographical area; and first determining, by said computer processor, if said second GPS coordinates are located within a specified perimeter surrounding said street address defining said delivery location.
The present invention advantageously provides a simple method and associated system capable of determining an area for delivery.
1. Utilization of an eyewear based video device (e.g., a eyewear gadget/glasses comprising an integrated display, camera, and GPS) to specify/modify an UAV based consignment delivery location for a specified location (e.g., a specific apartment in an apartment building/complex) with respect to delivering consignments.
2. Validating customer-defined drone delivery locations with respect to apartment building/complex boundaries and identifying duplicates/overlap with another user's UAV delivery location.
System 100 of
System 100 enables user 118 (e.g., a customer) to define and/or modify delivery (via usage of eyewear based video device 114a) locations for last mile (i.e., a very specific location such as a customer location) deliveries via UAVs. Additionally, the location for delivery may be validated based on user selection. The validation process may be performed with respect to apartment building/apartment complex (e.g., apartment building 104) boundaries. Likewise, the validation process may determine if the determined delivery location comprises a duplicate and/or overlapping location with respect to another user's UAV delivery location. Additionally, the validation process may enable enforcement of legal regulations, security regulation, and privacy regulations.
Data store 128 maintains records describing customer specific UAV delivery locations. The following chart illustrates an example comprising a table for maintaining the records in data store 128.
1. Determining if the selected location comprises a duplicate location with respect to another user.
2. Determining if the selected location overlaps with a UAV delivery location associated with another user.
3. Determining if the selected location is very close to a UAV delivery location of another user.
The verification process of step 216 ensures unique UAV delivery location usage and an availability of sufficient space for UAV based deliveries. In step 218, it is determined (based on results of step 216) if the selected UAV delivery location overlaps with a UAV delivery location of another user. If in step 218, it is determined that the selected UAV delivery location overlaps with the UAV delivery location of another user then in step 220, the UAV delivery application generates a request (for the user) requesting that the user selects another UAV delivery location to avoid the overlap. The UAV delivery application may display overlapped area via the eyewear based video device and request that the user selects another UAV delivery location to avoid the overlap. If in step 218, it is determined that the selected UAV delivery location does not overlap with the UAV delivery location of another user then in step 224, the UAV delivery application determines if the selected UAV delivery location comprises a duplicate location with respect to a UAV delivery location of another user.
If in step 224, the UAV delivery application determines that the selected UAV delivery location comprises a duplicate location with respect to a UAV delivery location of another user then in step 230, the UAV delivery application notifies the current user that the UAV delivery location comprises the duplicate location and determines if the current user will generate a request to obtain concurrence from another user for usage of the existing UAV delivery location. If the current user will not generate a request to obtain concurrence then step 214 is repeated. If the current user will generate a request to obtain concurrence then step 242, the UAV delivery application notifies another (existing) user of the UAV delivery location that the current user is requesting usage of the UAV delivery location and requests an approval for usage of the UAV delivery location. If the request is not approved then step 214 is repeated. If the request is approved then step 232 is executed as described, infra.
If in step 224, the UAV delivery application determines that the selected UAV delivery location does not comprise a duplicate location with respect to a UAV delivery location of another user then in step 232, the UAV delivery application verifies the existence of the UAV delivery location for a same apartment and current user in a customer specific UAV delivery location data store. In step 234, it is determined if a UAV delivery location for the same apartment and user in the customer-specific UAV delivery location data store is located. If in step 234, it is determined that a UAV delivery location for the same apartment and user in the customer-specific UAV delivery location data store has been located, then in step 248, the UAV delivery application communicates the existence of a UAV delivery location for a same apartment and requests a confirmation from a current user to overwrite the existing UAV delivery location. If the request is confirmed (in step 250) then 238 is executed as described, infra. If the request is not confirmed (in step 250) then the process is terminated in step 240. If in step 234, it is determined that a UAV delivery location for the same apartment and user in the customer-specific UAV delivery location data store has not been located, then in step 238, the UAV delivery application writes the UAV delivery location for the apartment number entered by the current user by generating a new entry in the customer specific drone delivery location data store and generates a confirmation for the current user and the process is terminated in step 240.
Aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module,” or “system.”
The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.
The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire.
Computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing/processing apparatus receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device.
Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.
Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, device (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable program instructions.
These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing device, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing device, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable device or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable device, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
The computer system 90 illustrated in
In some embodiments, rather than being stored and accessed from a hard drive, optical disc or other writeable, rewriteable, or removable hardware memory device 95, stored computer program code 84 (e.g., including the algorithms of
Still yet, any of the components of the present invention could be created, integrated, hosted, maintained, deployed, managed, serviced, etc. by a service supplier who offers to for determine a location for package delivery. Thus, the present invention discloses a process for deploying, creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and/or integrating computing infrastructure, including integrating computer-readable code into the computer system 90, wherein the code in combination with the computer system 90 is capable of performing a method for enabling a process for determining a location for package delivery. In another embodiment, the invention provides a business method that performs the process steps of the invention on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis. That is, a service supplier, such as a Solution Integrator, could offer to enable a process for determining a location for package delivery. In this case, the service supplier can create, maintain, support, etc. a computer infrastructure that performs the process steps of the invention for one or more customers. In return, the service supplier can receive payment from the customer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or the service supplier can receive payment from the sale of advertising content to one or more third parties.
While
While embodiments of the present invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, many modifications and changes will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to encompass all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.
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