Patent Issued for Unmanned vehicle security guard (USPTO 11392145): United Services Automobile Association

2022 AUG 04 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Flachsbart, Matthew (Grapevine, TX, US), Graham, Richard Daniel (Plano, TX, US), Scott, Kade (Dallas, TX, US), filed on November 7, 2019, was published online on July 19, 2022, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11392145 is assigned to United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Unmanned vehicles (e.g., unmanned aerial vehicles) are known for their use in combat zones. In combat zones, they are often used to surveille an area, damage a structures, or lethally wound a potential enemy combatant. The use of unmanned vehicles can go far beyond the aforementioned examples, especially outside of a combat zone and in a commercial setting. Businesses of all sorts are now developing innovative ways to use unmanned vehicles to benefit their business.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Unmanned vehicles can be terrestrial, aerial, nautical, or multi-mode. Unmanned vehicles may be used to surveille a property in response to or in anticipation of a threat. For example, an unmanned vehicle may analyze information about the property and based on the information deter theft of items on the property.

“This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not constrained to limitations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. An unmanned vehicle comprising: a sensor; a processor; and a memory coupled with the processor, the memory having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising: receiving data collected by the sensor, wherein the data is associated with a surveilled environment; analyzing the data collected by the sensor; determining, based on the analyzed data, a threat level associated with the surveilled environment; and securing, based on the determined threat level, the surveilled environment.

“2. The unmanned vehicle of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving external data from a device external to the unmanned vehicle; analyzing the external data; and determining, based on the analyzed external data, the threat level.

“3. The unmanned vehicle of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise patrolling an area of the surveilled environment.

“4. The unmanned vehicle of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a camera; and wherein the operations further comprise controlling a zoom level and a direction of aim of the camera.

“5. The unmanned vehicle of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises at least one of a particle inspection device, a gas sensor, a humidity sensor, a temperature sensor, and a hyperspectral sensor.

“6. The unmanned vehicle of claim 1, wherein the securing the surveilled environment comprises transmitting an alert indicative of the threat level to one or more devices external to the unmanned vehicle.

“7. A system comprising: a sensor; and an unmanned vehicle in communication with the sensor, wherein the unmanned vehicle is configured to: receive data from the sensor, wherein the data is associated with a surveilled environment, analyze the data received from the sensor, determine, based on the analyzed data, a threat level associated with the surveilled environment, and secure, based on the determined threat level, the surveilled environment.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the unmanned vehicle comprises an unmanned aerial vehicle.

“9. The system of claim 7, wherein the unmanned vehicle comprises: a first unmanned vehicle; and a second unmanned vehicle configured to: house the first unmanned vehicle; deploy the first unmanned vehicle; and guide the first unmanned vehicle.

“10. The system of claim 7, wherein unmanned vehicle is configured to secure the surveilled environment by: tagging, with paint or an electronic beacon, a person or an object in the surveilled environment; and transmitting a notification indicative of the tagging to one or more devices associated with the surveilled environment.

“11. The system of claim 7, wherein the sensor is configured to scan an identification barcode and identify a person based on the scanning the identification barcode.

“12. A method comprising: receiving, by an unmanned vehicle and from a sensor, data associated with a surveilled environment; analyzing, by the unmanned vehicle, the data received from the sensor; determining, by the unmanned vehicle and based on the analyzed data, a threat level associated with the surveilled environment; and securing, by the unmanned vehicle and based on the determined threat level, the surveilled environment.

“13. The method of claim 12, wherein the data received from the sensor comprises a heart rate of an individual associated with the surveilled environment; and wherein the analyzing the data comprises comparing the heart rate of the individual to a baseline heart rate of the individual.

“14. The method of claim 12, wherein the data from the sensor comprises an image of a person, an object, or an animal associated with the surveilled environment; and wherein the analyzing the data comprises comparing, by the unmanned vehicle, the image to stored information, and identifying, by the unmanned vehicle and based on the comparing the image to the stored information, the person, the object or the animal.

“15. The method of claim 12, further comprising: navigating, by the unmanned vehicle, a planned path; and modifying, by the unmanned vehicle and based on the data from the sensor, the planned path.

“16. The method of claim 15, wherein the modifying the planned path is based on a travel path of a pursued person or a pursued object in the surveilled environment.

“17. The method of claim 12, wherein the securing the surveilled environment comprises causing, by the unmanned vehicle, at least one device associated with the surveilled environment to turn on or to turn off.

“18. The method of claim 12, wherein the securing the surveilled environment comprises causing, by the unmanned vehicle, one or more structures in the surveilled environment to lock.

“19. The method of claim 12, further comprising accessing, by the unmanned vehicle and based on the data received from the sensor, stored information associated with the surveilled environment; and wherein the determining the threat level is further based on the accessed information.

“20. The method of claim 12, wherein the security the surveilled environment comprises transmitting, by the unmanned vehicle and to another unmanned vehicle, a request for the another unmanned vehicle to travel to a position at the surveilled environment.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Flachsbart, Matthew. Unmanned vehicle security guard. U.S. Patent Number 11392145, filed November 7, 2019, and published online on July 19, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11392145.PN.&OS=PN/11392145RS=PN/11392145

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