Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Systems and Methods for Mobile Aerial Flight Planning and Image Capturing Based on Structure Footprints”, for Approval (USPTO 20210327283): Insurance Services Office Inc.

2021 NOV 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Defense & Aerospace Daily -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventors Reed, Corey David (Cedar Hills, UT, US); Tomkinson, Troy (Saratoga Springs, UT, US), filed on April 19, 2021, was made available online on October 21, 2021.

The patent’s assignee is Insurance Services Office Inc. (Jersey City, New Jersey, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “

“Technical Field

“The present disclosure relates generally to the field of unmanned aircraft technology. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for mobile aerial flight planning and image capturing based on structure footprints.

“Related Art

“In the unmanned aircraft field, increasingly sophisticated software-based systems are being developed for flight planning and flight automation. Such systems have wide applicability, including but not limited to, navigation, videography and other fields of endeavor. In the field of aerial image processing, there is interest in the application of unmanned aircraft systems for automatically generating and executing a flight plan to capture required images to create a precise and comprehensive model of one or more desired features present in the images (e.g., generating models of buildings, other structures, portions and/or attributes of buildings/structures, property features, etc.). In particular, there is interest in developing a mobile application that can generate and execute a flight plan for calibrating and capturing images of structures and the roofs thereof based on respective footprints of the structures with minimal user involvement. Current mobile applications for unmanned aircraft have limited capabilities including the inability to mark a structure and generate a flight plan based on the marked structure, identify flight path obstacles, determine an initial height of a structure, execute calibration to determine a highest point of a structure and determine multiple image waypoints based on calibration results.

“As such, it would be highly beneficial to develop system and methods that can generate a flight plan based on a marked structure and automatically detect and avoid obstacles present in a flight path for capturing images of structures and the roofs thereof, requiring no (or, minimal) user involvement, and with a high degree of accuracy. Still further, there is a need for systems and methods which can automatically generate and execute flight plans (for capturing images) which do not include any obstacles in the flight path. Accordingly, the systems and methods of the present disclosure addresses these and other needs.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for mission planning and flight automation for unmanned aircraft. In particular, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for mobile aerial flight planning and image capturing based on structure footprints. The system includes at least one hardware processor coupled to an aerial imagery database. The hardware processor can execute flight planning system code (i.e., non-transitory computer- readable instructions) that is configured to generate and execute a flight plan, requiring no (or, minimal) user involvement. In particular, the hardware processor can execute the flight planning system code to generate and execute flight planning and image capturing based on the structure footprint.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system for flight planning for an unmanned aircraft, comprising: an unmanned aircraft; and a processor in communication with the unmanned aircraft, the processor: generating an aerial imagery map of a capture area; determining a footprint of a structure present in the capture area; determining a difference between a takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and a predetermined elevation above a center of the structure; calibrating the difference between the takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and the predetermined elevation above the center of the structure; determining, based on the calibration, a flight path elevation of the unmanned aircraft to capture images of the structure; generating a flight plan based on criteria for capturing the images of the structure; and executing the flight plan.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor receives an aerial imagery data package of the capture area from a database, the aerial image data package being a pre-existing digital terrain model, a digital surface model, or a digital elevation model.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is a personal computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart telephone, a server or a cloud-based computing platform.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor determines the difference between the takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and the predetermined elevation above the center of the structure by: monitoring at least one proximity sensor of the unmanned aircraft; and controlling, based on the monitoring, the unmanned aircraft to ascend to a predetermined obstacle avoidance elevation, navigate to the center of the structure, and descend to the predetermined elevation above the center of the structure.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor calibrates the difference between the takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and the predetermined elevation above the center of the structure by: controlling the unmanned aircraft to navigate according to a flight path of a predetermined flight plan for scanning a top of the structure; determining a highest point of the structure based on data collected by the unmanned aircraft during the predetermined flight plan; and determining a difference between the takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and the highest point of the structure.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the generated flight plan is based on one or more of a field of view of a camera attached to the unmanned aircraft, a pre-set aspect ratio of the camera, a height of the structure, or the footprint of the structure.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor controls the unmanned aircraft along a flight path of the generated flight plan to: ascend to a nadir view elevation; capture at least one nadir view image of the structure; capture overlapping images of a top of the structure; capture at least one oblique view image of the structure; navigate to a take off latitude and longitude; and descend to an automatic landing elevation.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor controls the unmanned aircraft to capture at least one nadir view image of the structure by controlling the unmanned aircraft to: navigate to and capture at first nadir view image of a first edge of the structure; navigate to and capture a second nadir view image of a middle of the structure; and navigate to and capture a third nadir view image of a second edge of the structure.

“9. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor controls the unmanned aircraft to capture overlapping images of the top of the structure by controlling the unmanned aircraft to: descend to a predetermined elevation; and capture the overlapping images of the top of the structure according to a predetermined flight path having a plurality of waypoints, each waypoint of the predetermined flight path corresponding to a different portion of the top of the structure.

“10. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor determines an amount of oblique view images of the structure to be captured to provide coverage of the structure; and controls the unmanned aircraft to capture the determined amount of oblique view images of the structure by navigating the unmanned aircraft to oblique view capture waypoints corresponding to the determined amount of oblique view images.

“11. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor determines the unmanned aircraft encounters an unexpected obstacle along a flight path of the generated flight plan; and controls the unmanned aircraft to evade the unexpected obstacle by modifying the generated flight plan and executing the modified flight plan.

“12. A method for flight planning for an unmanned aircraft comprising the steps of: generating an aerial imagery map of a capture area; determining a footprint of a structure present in the capture area; determining a difference between a takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and a predetermined elevation above a center of the structure; calibrating the difference between the takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and the predetermined elevation above the center of the structure; determining, based on the calibration, a flight path elevation of the unmanned aircraft to capture images of the structure; generating a flight plan based on criteria for capturing the images of the structure; and executing the flight plan.

“13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of receiving an aerial imagery data package of the capture area from a database, the aerial image data package being a pre-existing digital terrain model, a digital surface model, or a digital elevation model.

“14. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the difference between the takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and the predetermined elevation above the center of the structure comprises the steps of: monitoring at least one proximity sensor of the unmanned aircraft; and controlling, based on the monitoring, the unmanned aircraft to ascend to a predetermined obstacle avoidance elevation, navigate to the center of the structure, and descend to the predetermined elevation above the center of the structure.

“15. The method of claim 12, wherein calibrating the difference between the takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and the predetermined elevation above the center of the structure comprises the steps of: controlling the unmanned aircraft to navigate according to a flight path of a predetermined flight plan for scanning a top of the structure; determining a highest point of the structure based on data collected by the unmanned aircraft during the predetermined flight plan; and determining a difference between the takeoff elevation of the unmanned aircraft and the highest point of the structure.

“16. The method of claim 12, wherein the generated flight plan is based on one or more of a field of view of a camera attached to the unmanned aircraft, a pre-set aspect ratio of the camera, a height of the structure, or the footprint of the structure.

“17. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of controlling the unmanned aircraft along a flight path of the generated flight plan to: ascend to a nadir view elevation; capture at least one nadir view image of the structure; capture overlapping images of a top of the structure; capture at least one oblique view image of the structure; navigate to a take off latitude and longitude; and descend to an automatic landing elevation.

“18. The method of claim 17, wherein capturing the at least one nadir view image of the structure comprises the steps of: navigating to and capturing at first nadir view image of a first edge of the structure; navigating to and capturing a second nadir view image of a middle of the structure; and navigating to and capturing a third nadir view image of a second edge of the structure.

“19. The method of claim 17, wherein capturing the overlapping images of the top of the structure comprises the steps of: descending to a predetermined elevation; and capturing the overlapping images of the top of the structure according to a predetermined flight path having a plurality of waypoints, each waypoint of the predetermined flight path corresponding to a different portion of the top of the structure.

“20. The method of claim 17, wherein capturing the at least one oblique view image of the structure comprises the steps of: determining an amount of oblique view images of the structure to be captured to provide coverage of the structure; and controlling the unmanned aircraft to capture the determined amount of oblique view images of the structure by navigating the unmanned aircraft to oblique view capture waypoints corresponding to the determined amount of oblique view images.

“21. The method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of: determining the unmanned aircraft encounters an unexpected obstacle along a flight path of the generated flight plan; and controlling the unmanned aircraft to evade the unexpected obstacle by modifying the generated flight plan and executing the modified flight plan.”

For additional information on this patent application, see: Reed, Corey David; Tomkinson, Troy. Systems and Methods for Mobile Aerial Flight Planning and Image Capturing Based on Structure Footprints. Filed April 19, 2021 and posted October 21, 2021. Patent URL: https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220210327283%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20210327283&RS=DN/20210327283

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