The present disclosure relates to facilitating self-driving through unmanned aerial vehicle, and more specifically to facilitating situational self-driving through unmanned aerial vehicle.
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. The flight of UAVs may be controlled either autonomously by onboard computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle. UAVs have mostly found military and special operation applications, but also are increasingly finding uses in civil applications, such as policing, surveillance, and firefighting, and nonmilitary security work, such as inspection of power or pipelines. UAVs are adept at gathering an immense amount of visual information and displaying it to human operators.
Driverless or self-driving vehicles are generally known in the art. When an obstacle is detected in the traveling path of a self-driving vehicle, the self-driving vehicle needs to adjust the maneuvering of the vehicle accordingly to avoid the obstacle detected. Conventional technologies generally involve long processing time and thus often are insufficient for dealing with changes in roads or driving conditions.
Embodiments are provided for methods for facilitating traveling or operation of one or more driving apparatuses. The methods may be implemented in one or more processors configured to execute programmed components. In some embodiments, the method may include receiving a first operating parameter of a first driving apparatus from the first driving apparatus via an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) network. The methods may also include receiving a first driving condition from the UAV network. The methods may further include generating a first instruction for adjusting the operation of the first driving apparatus based on at least one of the first operating parameter or the first driving condition. The methods may also include transmitting the first instruction to the first driving apparatus via the UAV network.
In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a second operating parameter of a second driving apparatus from the second driving apparatus via the UAV network. The method may also include receiving a second driving condition from the UAV network. The method may further include generating a second instruction for adjusting the operation of the second driving apparatus based on at least one of the second operating parameter or the second driving condition. The method may also include transmitting the second instruction to the second driving apparatus via the UAV network. In some embodiments, the first driving condition and the second driving condition may include same driving condition information.
In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a second instruction by a human operator for adjusting the operation of the first driving apparatus. The method may also include transmitting the second instruction in real time to the first driving apparatus for adjusting the operation of the first driving apparatus.
In some embodiments, the method may further include determining an area relevant to the operation of the first driving apparatus based on the first operating parameter. Receiving the first driving condition from the UAV network may include receiving the first driving condition of the area. In some embodiments, the UAV network may include a plurality of UAVs. At least one of the UAVs may be configured to collect images and/or videos indicative of the first driving condition. In some embodiments, the first driving condition may be indicative of an obstacle ahead of the first driving apparatus along a traveling route of the first driving apparatus. The first driving condition may be indicative of at least one of a distance of the obstacle from the first driving apparatus or an angle of the obstacle with respect to a traveling direction of the first driving apparatus.
In some embodiments, the first operating parameter may be indicative of at least one of a traveling route, a traveling destination, a traveling speed, or a traveling direction of the first driving apparatus. In some embodiments, the first instruction may include at least one of an adjustment to a traveling speed of the first driving apparatus or an adjustment to a traveling direction of the first driving apparatus.
Embodiments are provided for systems for facilitating traveling or operation of one or more driving apparatuses. The systems may include one or more processors configured to execute programmed components. In some embodiments, the one or more processors may be configured to perform receiving a first operating parameter of a first driving apparatus from the first driving apparatus via an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) network. The one or more processors may be also configured to perform receiving a first driving condition from the UAV network. The one or more processors may be further configured to perform generating a first instruction for adjusting the operation of the first driving apparatus based on at least one of the first operating parameter or the first driving condition. The one or more processors may be also configured to perform transmitting the first instruction to the first driving apparatus via the UAV network.
In some embodiments, the one or more processors may be configured to perform receiving a second operating parameter of a second driving apparatus from the second driving apparatus via the UAV network. The one or more processors may be also configured to perform receiving a second driving condition from the UAV network. The one or more processors may be further configured to perform generating a second instruction for adjusting the operation of the second driving apparatus based on at least one of the second operating parameter or the second driving condition. The one or more processors may be also configured to perform transmitting the second instruction to the second driving apparatus via the UAV network. In some embodiments, the first driving condition and the second driving condition may include same driving condition information.
In some embodiments, the one or more processors may be further configured to perform receiving a second instruction by a human operator for adjusting the operation of the first driving apparatus. The one or more processors may be also configured to perform transmitting the second instruction in real time to the first driving apparatus for adjusting the operation of the first driving apparatus.
In some embodiments, the one or more processors may be further configured to perform determining an area relevant to the operation of the first driving apparatus based on the first operating parameter. Receiving the first driving condition from the UAV network may include receiving the first driving condition of the area. In some embodiments, the UAV network may include a plurality of UAVs. At least one of the UAVs may be configured to collect images and/or videos indicative of the first driving condition. In some embodiments, the first driving condition may be indicative of an obstacle ahead of the first driving apparatus along a traveling route of the first driving apparatus. The first driving condition may be indicative of at least one of a distance of the obstacle from the first driving apparatus or an angle of the obstacle with respect to a traveling direction of the first driving apparatus.
In some embodiments, the first operating parameter may be indicative of at least one of a traveling route, a traveling destination, a traveling speed, or a traveling direction of the first driving apparatus. In some embodiments, the first instruction may include at least one of an adjustment to a traveling speed of the first driving apparatus or an adjustment to a traveling direction of the first driving apparatus.
The methods and systems described herein vastly increase the area, the driving conditions of which may be collected and utilized for facilitating the traveling or operation of one or more driving apparatuses. The methods and systems described herein further provide ample time for each driving apparatus to respond to and deal with any driving conditions. Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the following drawings and detailed description.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the detailed description serve to explain the principles of the invention. No attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than may be necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention and various ways in which it may be practiced.
In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have the same numerical reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a letter that distinguishes among the similar components and/or features. If only the first numerical reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components and/or features having the same first numerical reference label irrespective of the letter suffix.
Various specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings constituting a part of this specification. It should be understood that, although structural parts and components of various examples of the present disclosure are described by using terms expressing directions, e.g., “front”, “back”, “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right” and the like in the present disclosure, these terms are merely used for the purpose of convenient description and are determined on the basis of exemplary directions displayed in the accompanying drawings. Since the embodiments disclosed by the present disclosure may be set according to different directions, these terms expressing directions are merely used for describing rather than limiting. Under possible conditions, identical or similar reference numbers used in the present disclosure indicate identical components.
UAVs are well suited for applications where the payload consists of optical image sensors such as cameras with powerful lightweight sensors suited for a variety of commercial applications such as surveillance, videos conferencing, vehicle positioning, and/or any other applications. A UAV in accordance with the disclosure may collect multi-spectral imagery of any object in an area covered by the UAV. In certain embodiments, the UAV in accordance with the disclosure may fly up to 65,000 feet and may cover as much as 500 km in range. UAVs may be employed to facilitate driver-less or self-driving involving at least one driving apparatus, such as an automobile, a bus, or a train. One or more UAVs may be employed to capture images and/or videos of road or driving conditions or changes thereof that may affect the traveling or operation of the driving apparatus.
Since UAVs may be configured to move at any suitable speed, including moving at a speed consistent with the speed of a driving apparatus, images and/or videos of the driving conditions may be captured by a UAV configured to remain in the vicinity of the driving apparatus. The UAV may be equipped with wide-view or 360-degree, cameras, and may be used to capture wide-view images and/or videos of the surroundings of the driving apparatus. Alternatively, a UAV network including multiple UAVs may be utilized for monitoring driving conditions by capturing images and/or videos thereof for one or more driving apparatuses. The UAVs of the UAV network may be configured to communicate with each other and/or the driving apparatuses. The UAV network may include one or more UAVs configured to monitor the driving conditions of the vicinity of the driving apparatuses. The UAV network may also include one or more UAVs configured to monitor the driving conditions of areas further away from the driving apparatuses. Utilizing a UAV network to capture images and/or videos of the driving conditions may vastly increase the area the driving conditions of which may be monitored, which may provide ample time for each driving apparatus to respond to and deal with any driving conditions.
The one or more UAVs of the UAV network may be configured to communicate the information gathered on driving conditions to each other and to a central processing station. The central processing station may process the information gathered and generate one or more traveling or operation adjustments for each of the driving apparatuses based on the driving condition information gathered. The one or more traveling or operation adjustments may be relayed backed to each driving apparatus to adjust the traveling or operation of the driving apparatus. This way, the traveling or operation of the driving apparatuses may be facilitated.
One way of establishing a communication channel between any two given UAVs 102 is to have them autonomously establish the communication channel through the communication hardware onboard the two given UAVs 102. Any two given UAVs 102 may be configured to communicate with each other when they may be within a threshold distance. The threshold distance may be the maximum communications range of the transceivers onboard the UAVs 102. In this way, the two given UAVs 102 may send data to each other without an access point.
Another way of establishing a communication channel between any two given UAVs 102 in the UAV network 100 is to have them establish communication channel through a controller 110. As used herein, a controller 110 may be referred to as a piece of hardware and/or software configured to control communications within the UAV network 100. The controller 110 may be provided by a ground processing station, such as ground controller 110a, 110b, or 110c. For instance, the controller 110 may be implemented by a computer server housed in the controller 110. In certain implementations, the controller 110 may be provided by a UAV 102 in the UAV network 100. For instance, a given UAV 102, such as an unmanned helicopter or a balloon, in the UAV network 100 may carry payloads including one or more processors configured to implement the controller 110. In any case, the controller 110 may be configured to determine network requirements based on an application supported by the UAV network 100, and/or to perform any other operations. In implementations, control signals may be transmitted via a control link from the controller 110 to the UAVs 102 shown in
As mentioned above, an important criteria to a UAV 102 in the UAV network 100 is altitude. However, as the UAV 102 altitude increases, the signals emitted by UAV 102 may become weaker. A UAV 102 flying at an altitude of 65,000 feet may cover an area up to 100 kilometers on the ground, but the signal loss may be higher than would occur for a terrestrial network. Radio signals may typically require a large amount of power for transmission in long distance. On the other end, the payloads carried by a UAV 102 that may stay in the air for an extended period of time may be limited. Solar energy may be used to power a UAV 102. However, this may limit the weight of payloads that may be carried by a UAV 102 due to the limited rate at which solar irritation may be absorbed and converted to electricity.
Free-space optical communication (F SO) is an optical communication technology that transmits light in free space to wirelessly transmit data for telecommunications. Commercially available FSO systems may use wave length close to visible spectrum around 850 to 1550 nm. In a basis point-to-point FSO system, two FSO transceivers may be placed on both sides of transmission path that may have unobstructed line-of-sight between the two FSO transceivers. A variety of light sources may be used for the transmission of data using FSO transceivers. For example, LEDs or lasers may be used to transmit data in an FSO system. Lasers used in FSO systems may provide extremely high bandwidths and capacity, on par with terrestrial fiber optic networks, and they may also consume much less power than microwave systems.
An FSO unit may be included in the payloads of a UAV 102 for communication. The FSO unit may include an optical transceiver with a laser transmitter and a receiver to provide full duplex bi-directional capability. The FSO unit may use a high-power optical source, such as laser, and a lens to transmit the laser beam through the atmosphere to another lens receiving the information embodied in the laser beam. The receiving lens may connect to a high-sensitivity receiver via optical fiber. The FSO unit included in a UAV 102 in accordance with the disclosure may enable optical transmission at speeds up to 10 Gbps. The controllers 110 may also include an FSO unit configured to establish a communication channel through laser beams. Through the communication channel established, the UAVs 102 may be configured to communicate their respective geo-locations to one or more controllers 110. Since the ground controllers 110 may be stationary, the geo-location of the ground controllers 110 may be preconfigured into an onboard computer in the UAVs 102.
Also shown in
The vehicles 106 may be equipped with communication hardware. The communication hardware in a given vehicle 106 may include an FSO unit described above, a radio transceiver, and/or any other type of communication hardware. The communication hardware included in the vehicles 106 may be used to establish a communication channel between the vehicles 106 and the UAVs 102. For example, any vehicle 106 may be configured to communicate with any UAV 102 once the vehicle 106 and the UAV 102 may be within a threshold distance. The threshold distance may be the maximum communications range of the transceivers onboard the UAV 102 and the vehicle 106. As discussed above, communication may be established among multiple UAVs 102 autonomously or through the controllers 110. In other words, communication may be established throughout the entire UAV network 100. Thus, through the UAV network 100, communication may be established between any vehicle 106 and any UAV 102 or between any vehicle 106 and any controller 110 even when a particular vehicle 106 and a particular UAV 102 or a particular vehicle 106 and a particular controller 110 may not be within the communication range of each other. Further, communication between any vehicle 106 and other parties that may be configured to communicate with the UAV network 100 may also be established.
Through the communication channel established between the vehicles 106 and the UAVs and/or the controllers 110, information intended for the vehicles 106 may be forwarded to the vehicles 106. Additionally, because the ground controller 110 may be connected to a wired or wireless network, information intended for the driving apparatuses may be communicated through the wired or wireless network from or to another entity connected to the wired or wireless network. For example, the information intended for the vehicles 106 may be communicated to one or more of the UAVs 102 and/or the controllers 110 through laser beams, and the UAVs 102 and/or the controllers 110 may forward the information to the vehicles 106 through laser beams.
As is also shown in
The area 104 being monitored may be referred to as a monitoring area or coverage area 104. For example, as shown in
In some implementations, the coverage areas 104 may be dynamically determined and adjusted based on the reach or capabilities of the image sensors of the UAVs 102, as well as the availability of the UAVs 102. For example, the controllers 110 may be configured to track the geo-locations of the UAVs 102. Given the sensor capabilities or reach of each UAV 102 and their respective geo-locations, an overall coverage area 104 that may be monitored by the UAV network 100 may be determined. To limit or prevent any gap area, i.e., an area that is not being monitored by any UAVs 102, the controllers 110 may be configured to instruct one or more UAVs 102 to move to and monitor a different area. Such adjustment or instructed movement of the one or more UAVs 102 may occur when the controllers 110 may determine that a gap area may come into existence due to movement of the UAVs 102 for any reason. Such adjustment or instructed movement of the one or more UAVs 102 may also occur when the controllers 110 may determine that the availability or density of UAVs 102 in a particular region may be low even when there may be no gap area.
The driving conditions that the UAVs 102 may monitor may include both conditions or situations within a vicinity of the vehicles 106 and conditions or situations further away from the vehicles 106. The monitored driving conditions may include obstacles that the vehicles 106 may need to go around or avoid immediately, such as other vehicles, persons, bicycles, animals, or any objects obstructing the passage of the vehicle 106. The monitored driving conditions may further include obstacles or situations that may not require immediate handling by the vehicles 106 but appropriate actions taken in advance may improve the overall riding experience of the passengers. Such driving conditions may include road construction, accidents, traffic jams, and so on. Such driving conditions may also include weather conditions, such as snow, rain, fog, and so on along the route the vehicles 106 may take. The monitored driving conditions may further include instructions that the vehicles 106 may need to follow, such as traffic signs, including but not limited to, stop signs, yield signs, turning signs, speed limit, and so on. The monitored driving conditions may further include information that the vehicles 106 may utilize, such as charging station locations, rest stop locations, and so on. The monitored driving conditions listed herein are intended to be illustrative and not intended to be limiting. Therefore, the driving conditions that the UAVs 102 may monitor may include any conditions or situations that may trigger, result in, or lead to an adjustment to the operation of the vehicles 106.
With the UAV network 100 having been generally described, attention is now directed to
With further reference to
Once the communication between the vehicle 106f and the central processing station 202 may be established, operating parameters or vehicle parameters about the vehicle 106f may be transmitted from the vehicle 106f to the central processing station 202. The vehicle parameters about the vehicle 106f may include traveling parameters of the vehicle 106f, such as traveling speed, traveling direction, traveling destinations, traveling route, and so on. The vehicle parameters about the vehicle 106f may also include status parameters of the vehicle 106f, such as fuel level or charge level, engine conditions, tire pressure, and so on. Upon receiving the vehicle parameters, the central processing station 202 may utilize such information to facilitate the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f (discussed below). The traveling parameters and status parameters are described herein as examples and are not intended to be limiting. Any information that may be utilized to facilitate the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f may be transmitted from the vehicle 106f to the central processing station 202. Although only one vehicle 106f is shown in
To facilitate the traveling or operation of one or more vehicles 106, the central processing station 202 may be configured to process information about the vehicle parameters of one or more vehicles 106 and to process information about the driving conditions of one or more coverage areas 104 received from the UAV network 100. Continuing with the example of the vehicle 106f, upon receipt of the vehicle parameters of the vehicle 106f, the central processing station 202 may determine the coverage areas 104 that may be relevant to the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f. For example, based on the traveling parameters, such as traveling destination or traveling route of the vehicle 106f, the central processing station 202 may determine the coverage areas 104 along and/or near the traveling route and/or the traveling destination to be relevant to the vehicle 106f. As another example, based on the status parameters, such as fuel or charge level and/or tire pressure of the vehicle 106f, the central processing station 202 may determine the coverage areas 104 that may include fuel or charging stations, rest stops, auto service shops, and so on to be relevant. Accordingly, the central processing station 202 may determine the coverage area 104g shown in
In some implementations, the central processing station 202 may first process or analyze the driving conditions received so as to determine whether the traveling or operation condition of the vehicle 106f may be adjusted. The processing or analysis may include comparing the driving conditions obtained at any given time with the driving conditions obtained at an earlier time, such the driving conditions obtained 5 minutes earlier, 1 minutes earlier, 30 seconds earlier, 10 seconds earlier, 5 seconds earlier, 3 seconds earlier, 1 seconds earlier, less than 1 second earlier, and so on. The time intervals between the driving conditions being compared may be determined based on the distance of the relevant coverage areas 104 from the vehicle 106f. For example, if the coverage areas 104 may be with the vicinity of the vehicle 106f, then the time interval may be less than a few seconds. As the distances of the relevant coverage areas 104 from the vehicle 106f increase, the time interval may be increased from a few seconds, to a few minutes, to a few hours, and so on. Based on the comparison between the driving conditions separated by appropriate time intervals, the central processing station 202 may determine whether the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f may be adjusted.
In some implementations, instead of or in addition to comparing driving conditions at different times, the central processing station 202 may be configured to recognize driving conditions that may trigger an adjustment to the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f based on the real-time driving conditions received. For example, the central processing station 202 may include processing or analysis component that may be configured to recognize accidents, traffic jams, road blocks, or other obstacles based on the images and/or videos collected by the UAVs 102. Optionally and additionally, one or more human operators at the central processing station 202 may review or monitor the driving conditions and may make determinations as to whether the driving or operating of the vehicle 106f may be adjusted.
Once the central processing station 202 may determine that an adjustment to the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f may be made to facilitate the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f, the central processing station 202 may generate one or more such adjustments and transmit the generated adjustments to the vehicle 106f through the network 204 and the UAV network 100. The generated traveling or operation adjustments may include adjustments to the traveling speed, traveling direction, traveling route, even traveling destination when appropriate, or any other suitable traveling or operation adjustments. In some implementations, the traveling or operation adjustments may be generated by the central processing station 202 automatically through one or more of computing devices. The generated traveling or operation adjustments may include traveling or operation instructions that the vehicle 106f may execute through one or more control components the vehicle 106f may be equipped with. In some implementations, one or more human operators at the central processing station 202 may take over the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f and may operate or control the vehicle 106f remotely.
Continuing with the example of the coverage area 104g, the UAV 102h may capture images and/or videos of an accident in the coverage area 104g and transmit the images and/or videos captured to the central processing station 202. Based on the images and/or videos of the accident, the central processing station 202 may determine that the vehicle 106f may be rerouted to its traveling destination so as to avoid any delay the accident may cause. Such rerouting may be completed by generating one or more traveling or operation adjustments by the central processing station 202 to be transmitted to the vehicle 106f for the vehicle 106f to adjust its traveling or operation. Alternatively, such rerouting may be performed by one or more of the human operators at the central processing station 202 taking over control of the vehicle 106f.
Adjusting the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f as described herein may provide the advantage of offering ample time for the vehicle 106f to respond to and deal with any driving conditions because the UAV network 100 may monitor driving conditions of coverage areas 104 that may be tens, hundreds, or even thousands of miles away from the current position of the vehicle 106f. In other words, even though the driving conditions that may affect the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f may be at a location far beyond the detection capability of the vehicle 106f or any driver or passengers onboard the vehicle 106f, the UAV network 100 may transmit those driving conditions to the central processing station 202 in real time and the central processing station 202 may adjust the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f immediately upon detection of such driving conditions. Without the UAV network 100, the vehicle 106f may not obtain any information about the driving conditions that may affect the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106 until the vehicle 106f approaches such driving condition, such as the accident discussed above with reference to
Although an accident is discussed herein as an example, other driving conditions, such as traffic jams, road constructions, weather conditions, or any other conditions that may adversely affect the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f may be transmitted to the central processing station 202 via the UAV network 100 and utilized by the central processing station 202 to generate one or more traveling or operation adjustments to facilitate the traveling or operation of the vehicle 106f. Other conditions, such as nearby fuel or charging stations, rest stops, auto service shops, and so on, that may facilitate the operation or traveling of the vehicle 106f or passengers onboard may also be transmitted to and utilized by the central processing station 202 to generate one or more traveling or operation adjustments for the vehicle 106f.
Attention is now directed to
For example, as illustrated in
Based on the moving direction, moving speed, and/or the position of each of the moving objects, the central processing station 202 may generate one or more traveling or operation adjustments automatically using one or more its computing systems or devices. The one or more computing systems or devices at the central processing station 202 may include much higher computing capabilities than the control systems onboard the vehicle 106g such that although the control systems onboard the vehicle 106g may not be able to handle the driving conditions detected, the computing systems at the central processing station 202 may assist the vehicle 106g in navigating through various driving conditions detected, such as the moving objects shown in
In the examples discussed above, the central processing station 202 may generate one or more traveling or operation adjustments based on the driving conditions received via the UAV network 100 concerning the relevant coverage areas 104. In some implementations, the central processing station 202 may be configured to receive driving conditions from other sources (see
With reference to
The processor 402 may also include a vehicle parameter processing component 406. The vehicle parameter processing component 406 may be configured to determine, based on the vehicle parameters received from one or more vehicles 106, one or more relevant coverage areas 104 to be monitored by the UAVs 102 of the UAV network 100 for facilitating the traveling or operation of the vehicles 106. For example, based on the vehicle parameters received, the vehicle parameter processing component 406 may determine areas near or along the traveling route of the vehicles 106, areas that include points of interest to the vehicles 1106 or the passengers onboard, or other areas to be relevant as discussed above.
The processor 402 may further include a driving condition processing component 408. The driving condition processing component 408 may be configured to process the images and/or videos taken by one or more of the UAVs 102. The driving condition processing component 408 may employ any suitable image or visual data processing techniques to process the images and/or videos taken by the UAVs 102. The driving condition processing component 408 may employ other processing techniques to analyze additional driving conditions from other sources, such as traffic or road maps or other forms of driving condition data. The driving condition processing component 408 may be further configured to determine whether the traveling or operation of the vehicles 106 may be affected by the driving conditions received and to determine whether any adjustment to the traveling or operation of one or more of the vehicles 106 may be made so as to avoid any undesirable consequences that may be caused by these driving conditions. For example, the driving condition processing component 408 may be configured to recognize the accident detected in the coverage area 104g, the moving objects in the coverage area 104h, and so on. The driving condition processing component 408 may be further configured to determine that adjustments may be made to traveling or operation of the vehicle 106 so as to avoid any delay that may be caused by the accident in the coverage area 104g, or to avoid hitting the moving vehicle 302 or the running child 304 in the coverage area 104h, and so on.
The processor 402 may further include a driving instruction generating component 410. The driving instruction generating component 410 may be configured to generate one or more traveling or operation adjustments discussed above based on the vehicle parameters and the driving conditions received. The driving instruction generating component 410 may include computing systems or devices that may be configured to execute preprogrammed components for generating the one or more traveling or operation adjustments automatically. In some implementations, the driving instruction generating components 410 may be configured to take inputs from one or more human operators at the central processing station 202 in generating one or more traveling or operation adjustments. In some implementations, the driving instruction generating components 410 may be configured to overwrite any automatically generated traveling or operation adjustments with one or more adjustments entered by the human operators. In other words, the driving instruction generating components 410 may function as a control component for the human operators to control the traveling or operation of the vehicles 106. The one or more traveling or operation adjustments generated either automatically by the driving instruction generating component 410 or entered by the human operators at the central processing station 202 may then be transmitted by the communication component 404 back to the vehicles 106 for facilitating the traveling or operation of the vehicles 106.
Attention is now directed to
The onboard control system 510 may also include a vehicle parameter component 514 operably coupled with the communication component 512 and configured to gather vehicle parameters of the vehicle 106 for transmitting to the central processing station 202 via the communication component 512. As discussed above, the vehicle parameters of the vehicle 106 may include traveling parameters of the vehicle 106, such as traveling speed, traveling direction, traveling destinations, traveling route, and so on, may also include status parameters of the vehicle 106, such as fuel level or charge level, engine conditions, tire pressure, and so on, and may further include any other vehicle parameters of the vehicle 106.
The onboard control system 510 may further include one or more control components 516, such as an engine control component 516a, a steering wheel control component 516b, a break control component 516c, each of which may be operatively coupled with the communication component 512 for receiving one or more traveling or operation adjustments from the central processing station 202. Although
Attention is now directed to
At 602, a central processing station, such as the central processing station 202, may receive requests from one or more driving apparatuses, such as a vehicle or the vehicles 106 described above, for assistance or facilitation of the traveling or operation of each of the vehicles. In some implementations, the requesting vehicles may transmit their respective requests to the central processing station via a UAV network, such as the UAV network 100. The UAV network may be configured to communicate with the central processing station via a wired or wireless network, such as the network 204 described above. In some implementations, one or more of the requesting vehicles may transmit their respective requests to the central processing station directly via the wired or wireless network, bypassing the UAV network.
At 604, the central processing station may receive vehicle parameters about each vehicle requesting assistance or facilitation of the traveling or operation of the vehicle. The vehicle parameters may include the vehicle parameters discussed above with reference to the vehicle parameters of the vehicle 106. Accordingly, the vehicle parameters may include traveling parameters of the vehicles, such as traveling speed, traveling direction, traveling destinations, traveling route, and so on, status parameters of the vehicles, such as fuel level or charge level, engine conditions, tire pressure, and so on, and other parameters of the vehicles. One or more of the vehicles may transmit their respective vehicle parameters to the central processing station via the UAV network and/or via the wired or wireless network directly.
At 606, based on the vehicle parameters received, the central processing station may determine areas the driving conditions of which may be relevant to or may affect the traveling or operation of the vehicles, such as areas along the traveling route of the vehicles, areas that include points of interest to the vehicles or the passengers onboard, or other areas. The areas determined to be relevant may include the coverage areas 104 discussed above the driving conditions of which may be monitored by one or more UAVs 102 of the UAV network 100. The areas determined to be relevant may also include areas the driving conditions of which may be monitored by other parties, or may include areas the driving conditions of which may be preprogrammed to one or more of the computing systems or devices of the central processing station.
At 608, the central processing station may obtain the driving conditions of the relevant areas. The central processing station may obtain the driving conditions from the UAV network. More specifically, the central processing station may obtain images and/or videos reflecting the driving conditions collected by one or more of the UAVs of the UAV network, similar to the images and/or videos captured by the UAVs 102 of the UAV network 100 discussed above. The central processing station may also obtain driving conditions from other sources in other formats, such as traffic data, road maps, weather information, and so on.
At 610, based on driving conditions received, the central processing station may determine whether the driving conditions may affect the traveling or operation of one or more of the vehicles. If so, the central processing station may generate one or more adjustments to the traveling or operation of the affected vehicles, similar to the one or more traveling or operation adjustments generated by the central processing station 202 for the vehicles 106 as discussed above. Accordingly, the traveling or operation adjustments may include rerouting the vehicles to avoid delays that may be caused by certain driving conditions, such as accidents, traffic jam, and so on, or to arrive at a point of interest, such as charge stations, rest stops, and so on. The traveling or operation adjustments may also include adjustments to the traveling speed and/or traveling direction of the vehicles so as to avoid any obstacles or moving objects that may move near or into the traveling path of the vehicles.
In some implementations, the central processing station may be configured to take inputs from one or more human operators at the central processing station in generating the one or more traveling or operation adjustments, similar to how the central processing station 202 may be configured to take inputs from one or more human operators as discussed above. Accordingly, the central processing station may be further configured to overwrite any automatically generated traveling or operation adjustments with one or more adjustments entered by the human operators. The central processing station may be further configured to allow the one or more human operators to take complete control over the traveling or operation of one or more of the vehicles.
At 612, the one or more traveling or operation adjustments generated either automatically by the central processing station or entered by the human operators at the central processing station may be transmitted to the vehicles for adjusting the traveling or operation of the vehicles, thereby facilitating the traveling or operation of the vehicles. The transmission of the traveling or operation adjustments from the central processing station to one or more of the vehicles may be facilitated via the UAV network similar to how the transmission of the traveling or operation adjustments from the central processing station 202 to the vehicles 106 may be performed as discussed above. In some implementations, the transmission of the traveling or operation adjustments from the central processing station to one or more of the vehicles may be performed through the wired or wireless internet, bypassing the UAV network. Upon receipt of the traveling or operation adjustments, the respective vehicles may adjust its traveling or operation accordingly.
The computer system 700 is shown including hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via a bus 705, or may otherwise be in communication, as appropriate. The hardware elements may include one or more processors 710, including without limitation one or more general-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors such as digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration processors, and/or the like; one or more input devices 715, which may include without limitation a mouse, a keyboard, a camera, and/or the like; and one or more output devices 720, which may include without limitation a display device, a printer, and/or the like.
The computer system 700 may further include and/or be in communication with one or more non-transitory storage devices 725, which may include, without limitation, local and/or network accessible storage, and/or may include, without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an optical storage device, a solid-state storage device, such as a random access memory (“RAM”), and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which may be programmable, flash-updateable, and/or the like. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any appropriate data storage, including without limitation, various file systems, database structures, and/or the like.
The computer system 700 might also include a communications subsystem 730, which may include without limitation a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and/or a chipset such as a Bluetooth™ device, an 802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, cellular communication facilities, etc., and/or the like. The communications subsystem 730 may include one or more input and/or output communication interfaces to permit data to be exchanged with a network such as the network described below to name one example, other computer systems, television, and/or any other devices described herein. Depending on the desired functionality and/or other implementation concerns, a portable electronic device or similar device may communicate image and/or other information via the communications subsystem 730. In other embodiments, a portable electronic device, e.g. the first electronic device, may be incorporated into the computer system 700, e.g., an electronic device as an input device 715. In some embodiments, the computer system 700 will further include a working memory 735, which may include a RAM or ROM device, as described above.
The computer system 700 also may include software elements, shown as being currently located within the working memory 735, including an operating system 740, device drivers, executable libraries, and/or other code, such as one or more application programs 745, which may include computer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or may be designed to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided by other embodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, one or more procedures described with respect to the methods discussed above, such as those described in relation to
A set of these instructions and/or code may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as the storage device(s) 725 described above. In some cases, the storage medium might be incorporated within a computer system, such as computer system 700. In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separate from a computer system e.g., a removable medium, such as a compact disc, and/or provided in an installation package, such that the storage medium may be used to program, configure, and/or adapt a general purpose computer with the instructions/code stored thereon. These instructions might take the form of executable code, which is executable by the computer system 700 and/or might take the form of source and/or installable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation on the computer system 700 e.g., using any of a variety of generally available compilers, installation programs, compression/decompression utilities, etc., then takes the form of executable code.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantial variations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. For example, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software including portable software, such as applets, etc., or both. Further, connection to other computing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.
As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ a computer system such as the computer system 700 to perform methods in accordance with various embodiments of the technology. According to a set of embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods are performed by the computer system 700 in response to processor 710 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions, which might be incorporated into the operating system 740 and/or other code, such as an application program 745, contained in the working memory 735. Such instructions may be read into the working memory 735 from another computer-readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s) 725. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the working memory 735 might cause the processor(s) 710 to perform one or more procedures of the methods described herein. Additionally or alternatively, portions of the methods described herein may be executed through specialized hardware.
The terms “machine-readable medium” and “computer-readable medium,” as used herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodiment implemented using the computer system 700, various computer-readable media might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s) 710 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry such instructions/code. In many implementations, a computer-readable medium is a physical and/or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take the form of a non-volatile media or volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical and/or magnetic disks, such as the storage device(s) 725. Volatile media include, without limitation, dynamic memory, such as the working memory 735.
Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer may read instructions and/or code.
Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 710 for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer. A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to be received and/or executed by the computer system 700.
The communications subsystem 730 and/or components thereof generally will receive signals, and the bus 705 then might carry the signals and/or the data, instructions, etc., carried by the signals to the working memory 735, from which the processor(s) 710 retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by the working memory 735 may optionally be stored on a non-transitory storage device 725 either before or after execution by the processor(s) 710.
The methods, systems, and devices discussed above are examples. Various configurations may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, in alternative configurations, the methods may be performed in an order different from that described, and/or various stages may be added, omitted, and/or combined. Also, features described with respect to certain configurations may be combined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of the configurations may be combined in a similar manner. Also, technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples and do not limit the scope of the disclosure or claims.
Specific details are given in the description to provide a thorough understanding of exemplary configurations including implementations. However, configurations may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the configurations. This description provides example configurations only, and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configurations of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of the configurations will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing described techniques. Various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure.
Also, configurations may be described as a process which is depicted as a schematic flowchart or block diagram. Although each may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. A process may have additional steps not included in the figure. Furthermore, examples of the methods may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as a storage medium. Processors may perform the described tasks.
Having described several example configurations, various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, wherein other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the technology. Also, a number of steps may be undertaken before, during, or after the above elements are considered. Accordingly, the above description does not bind the scope of the claims.
As used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a user” includes a plurality of such users, and reference to “the processor” includes reference to one or more processors and equivalents thereof known to those skilled in the art, and so forth.
Also, the words “comprise”, “comprising”, “contains”, “containing”, “include”, “including”, and “includes”, when used in this specification and in the following claims, are intended to specify the presence of stated features, integers, components, or steps, but they do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, components, steps, acts, or groups.