Utilization of a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles for delivery of goods
US11854109B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignees
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 16, 2021 |
| Grant date | Dec 26, 2023 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 24, 2041 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB64U2201/20
- WIPO fieldIT methods for management
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A scheduling device performs a method of scheduling transports by a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, to enable improved utilization of the fleet. The method includes computing, for the fleet, aggregated cost data, ACM, that associates utilization cost with distributed sub-regions within a geographic region, the utilization cost of a respective sub-region representing an estimated cost for directing at least one of the UAVs to the respective sub-region. The method further includes receiving a query indicative of one or more potential locations for pick-up or delivery of a payload, determining, based on the ACM, a transportation price for at least one potential location, and presenting the transportation price for the at least one potential location. The scheduling device thereby provides an interactive ordering system that enables utilization of the fleet to be automatically optimized by swarm intelligence.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.