Unmanned aerial vehicle scheduling system

Abstract

The invention discloses an unmanned aerial vehicle dispatching system, in the system, a plurality of take-off and landing platforms capable of being bound with unmanned aerial vehicles are arranged, the unmanned aerial vehicles are bound with the take-off and landing platforms to execute flight tasks, and after returning, the unmanned aerial vehicles land on the take-off and landing platforms bound with the unmanned aerial vehicles. In this way, the unmanned aerial vehicles can take off or land on the same take-off and landing platform, potential safety hazards caused by the fact that multiple unmanned aerial vehicles occupy the same take-off and landing platform in the take-off and landing processes can be reduced, and the task execution efficiency of the unmanned aerial vehicles is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of computer technology, and in particular to a system for dispatching unmanned aerial vehicles. Background Art

[0002] With the development of the food delivery industry, more and more people choose to order food delivery to meet their daily needs. Food delivery mainly relies on food delivery personnel, and with the development and maturity of drone technology in recent years, many businesses have begun to choose to use drones for delivery. Compared with manual delivery, drone delivery can greatly improve delivery efficiency and save human resources.

[0003] However, there are certain safety risks in the process of drone take-off and landing, which in turn affects the efficiency of drones in performing delivery tasks. Summary of the invention

[0004] This specification provides a system for dispatching drones to solve the above-mentioned problems existing in the prior art.

[0005] This manual adopts the following technical solutions:

[0006] This specification provides a system for dispatching unmanned aerial vehicles, the system comprising: an information acquisition device, an unmanned aerial vehicle, and a plurality of take-off and landing platforms;

[0007] The information acquisition device is used to obtain the flight mission of the UAV;

[0008] The drone is used to collect identification information of the take-off and landing platform where the drone is currently located, and establish a binding relationship with the take-off and landing platform based on the identification information, wherein the binding relationship is used to instruct the drone to land on the take-off and landing platform after completing the flight mission.

[0009] Optionally, the drone is used to determine whether the take-off and landing platform is bound to other drones based on the identification information; and establish the binding relationship in response to the take-off and landing platform not being bound to other drones.

[0010] Optionally, the drone is further configured to release the binding relationship after completing the flight mission and landing on the take-off and landing platform.

[0011] Optionally, the take-off and landing platform is provided with a lifting structure, which is used to lift the take-off and landing platform to a first state so that the UAV takes off or lands on the take-off and landing platform in the first state; and after the UAV takes off or lands from the take-off and landing platform, the take-off and landing platform is lowered to a second state.

[0012] Optionally, the drone is further used to send a first control instruction to the take-off and landing platform;

[0013] The lifting and lowering platform is further configured to be lifted to the first state by the lifting structure based on the received first control instruction;

[0014] The drone is further used to send a second control instruction to the take-off and landing platform;

[0015] The lifting and lowering platform is further configured to descend to the second state via the lifting structure based on the received second control instruction.

[0016] Optionally, the landing platform is provided with a detection module, and the detection module is used to establish a communication connection with a drone parked on the landing platform.

[0017] Optionally, the landing platform is also used for:

[0018] After establishing the communication connection, obtaining the status information of the drone through the detection module;

[0019] According to the status information, determining whether the status of the drone meets a preset condition;

[0020] When the state of the drone does not satisfy the preset condition, a maintenance reminder message for the drone is issued.

[0021] Optionally, the take-off and landing platform is provided with a warning light, and the warning light is used to issue the maintenance warning information.

[0022] Optionally, the flight mission is a delivery mission;

[0023] The information acquisition device is specifically used to scan the order attached to the goods in the delivery task to obtain the information of the delivery task, and the information of the delivery task includes the delivery destination of the goods;

[0024] The drone is also used to obtain the delivery destination scanned by the information acquisition device and complete the delivery task according to the delivery destination.

[0025] Optionally, the information acquisition device is further used to generate a delivery task information identifier after acquiring the information of the delivery task;

[0026] The drone is specifically used to scan the delivery task information identifier to determine the delivery destination.

[0027] At least one of the above-mentioned technical solutions adopted in this specification can achieve the following beneficial effects: It can be seen from the above-mentioned drone scheduling system that since the drone can be bound to the take-off and landing platform when performing a flight mission, the drone can be completed on the same take-off and landing platform during take-off and landing, which can reduce the safety hazards caused by multiple drones occupying the same take-off and landing platform during take-off and landing, thereby improving the drone's mission execution efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] The drawings described herein are used to provide a further understanding of this specification and constitute a part of this specification. The illustrative embodiments and descriptions of this specification are used to explain this specification and do not constitute an improper limitation on this specification. In the drawings:

[0029] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of cargo transfer area provided for this instruction manual;

[0030] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a landing platform with a lifting structure provided for this specification;

[0031] Figure 3 The process diagram of the drone provided in this manual performing a delivery task on a take-off and landing platform with lifting function;

[0032] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the landing platform provided for this manual using a warning light to remind the staff to maintain the drone;

[0033] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a drone controlling the take-off and landing platform to rise provided in this manual. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of this specification more clear, the technical solutions of this specification will be clearly and completely described below in combination with the specific embodiments of this specification and the corresponding drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of this specification, not all of them. Based on the embodiments in this specification, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this specification.

[0035] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of this specification are described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0036] Currently, merchants can use drones to deliver goods, that is, the goods ordered by users are mounted on drones, and then the drones fly to the user's residence or a designated pickup location to deliver the goods to the user.

[0037] However, in this process, multiple drones may share a take-off and landing location, which may cause safety accidents during the take-off and landing of multiple drones. For example, when one drone is taking off, another drone happens to be returning and landing after completing a flight mission. Then, since these two drones are taking off and landing at the same location, they may collide with each other, causing a safety accident.

[0038] In order to avoid the above situation, this specification provides a system for dispatching drones, in which information acquisition equipment, multiple drones and multiple take-off and landing platforms can be provided, wherein a drone can establish a binding relationship with a take-off and landing platform during the execution of a flight mission, and the drone will take off from this take-off and landing platform to perform the flight mission, and land on the take-off and landing platform during the return flight. Therefore, the drone dispatching system provided in this specification actually allows multiple drones that perform flight missions at the same time to establish binding relationships with different take-off and landing platforms respectively, so that these drones will not collide with other drones that have taken off during the return flight and landing, thereby improving the safety of drones performing flight missions.

[0039] In the above system, the flight mission to be performed by the drone can be specifically assigned by the information acquisition device, so before the drone takes off, the information acquisition device can first obtain the flight mission of the drone and send the flight mission to the drone. The information acquisition device mentioned here can be an electronic device such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), etc.

[0040] There are many ways for the information acquisition device to synchronize the flight mission to the drone. For example, the flight mission information can be sent to the drone by establishing a direct communication connection with the drone, such as Bluetooth or infrared. The flight mission can also be synchronized to the drone through the connected local area network, or the flight mission can be sent to the server first, and then the server sends the flight mission to the drone, or the mission identification information can be displayed to the drone, and the camera set on the drone can scan the mission identification information so that the drone can obtain the flight mission.

[0041] In this specification, the flight missions performed by the drone can be of various types, for example, it can perform environmental exploration tasks for a specified area, or it can perform cargo delivery tasks. For the sake of ease of description, the drone dispatching system provided in this specification is described in detail by taking the drone performing the delivery task as an example.

[0042] For delivery scenarios, multiple drones can be managed in a unified cargo transfer area, where multiple take-off and landing platforms will be set up for each drone to perform delivery tasks. Figure 1 shown.

[0043] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the cargo transfer area provided for this instruction manual.

[0044] from Figure 1 It can be seen that there are multiple take-off and landing platforms in the cargo transfer area, and each drone can occupy a take-off and landing platform to perform delivery tasks.

[0045] After a user places an order online, the merchant can deliver the goods ordered by the user to the delivery capacity. The delivery capacity can usually transport the goods to the delivery destination to deliver the goods to the user. The delivery capacity mentioned here may refer to delivery personnel, unmanned vehicles, etc.

[0046] However, due to some special conditions that may occur during the delivery process, the delivery vehicle itself may no longer be able to deliver the goods to the user in person. For example, there may be road construction on the road that the delivery vehicle takes to deliver the goods, resulting in the vehicle being unable to reach the user's delivery destination. For another example, due to traffic conditions, the delivery vehicle may not be able to deliver the goods to the user on time.

[0047] For the above situations, the delivery capacity can first transport the goods from the merchant to the goods transfer area, and then the drone in the goods transfer area will deliver the goods to the user.

[0048] Therefore, after the delivery capacity delivers the goods to the cargo transfer area, the staff in the cargo transfer area can transfer the goods to the drone. In order to ensure the safety of the drone's transportation, the goods to be transported need to meet certain weight requirements, that is, they cannot exceed the drone's load requirements. If it is determined that the goods meet the weight requirements of the drone, the goods of the delivery capacity can be transferred to the drone for transportation. If the goods to be transported do not meet the weight requirements of the drone, they can continue to be delivered by the delivery capacity.

[0049] The staff in the cargo transfer area can use the above-mentioned information acquisition device to obtain the information of the delivery tasks corresponding to the goods transported by the delivery capacity. The specific method can be: the goods to be transported are often affixed with order information (such as the order receipt posted on the takeaway packaging bag), and the information acquisition device can identify the order information to obtain the corresponding delivery task information.

[0050] There are many ways for the information acquisition device to obtain the information of the delivery task. For example, if the order information posted on the goods to be delivered contains the user's address information, optical character recognition (OCR) can be used to identify the text information in the order information, and then semantic recognition can be used to further determine the user's address information from the recognized text information as the delivery destination of the goods, and the information of the delivery destination can be used as the acquired delivery task information.

[0051] For another example, if the order information posted on the goods to be transported includes a QR code (or barcode) for the order, the information acquisition device can scan the order information and parse the QR code to obtain the information of the delivery destination corresponding to the order as the information of the acquired delivery task. If the QR code carries the information of the delivery destination of the order, the information acquisition device can directly obtain this information by scanning the QR code, and if the QR code carries the order ID of the order, the information acquisition device can send a query request to the server through the order ID to query the information of the delivery destination corresponding to the order.

[0052] After obtaining the information of the delivery task, the information acquisition device can synchronize the information to the drone. There can be multiple ways to synchronize the information. Just as the information acquisition device mentioned above synchronizes the flight mission to the drone, the information acquisition device can establish a direct connection with the drone and send the obtained delivery task information to the drone.

[0053] Of course, after acquiring the information of the delivery task, the information acquisition device can generate a delivery task information identifier, and then the drone assigned to perform the delivery task can scan the delivery task information identifier to determine the delivery destination of the goods to be transported. Among them, the delivery task information identifier can be displayed in the form of a QR code or a barcode. Then, after the information acquisition device generates the delivery task information identifier, it can display it to the drone through the screen on the information acquisition device, so that the drone scans the delivery task information identifier displayed on the screen of the information acquisition device. In addition, after the information acquisition device generates the delivery task information, it can also print out the delivery task information identifier through the connected printing device and post it on the goods. Then, the drone can scan the delivery task information identifier posted on the goods to determine the delivery destination of the goods to be transported.

[0054] For each landing platform in the cargo transfer area, the landing platform is provided with identification information, and the identification information is mainly used to identify the landing platform. The identification information can be specifically displayed in the form of a QR code or a bar code.

[0055] Then, the staff in the cargo transfer area can mount the cargo to be transported by the distribution capacity on the selected drone. At this time, the drone can be powered on and start the set camera to collect the identification information of the take-off and landing platform where the drone is currently located through the camera, and establish a binding relationship with the take-off and landing platform based on the collected identification information, and take off and land on the take-off and landing platform based on the binding relationship during the execution of the delivery task.

[0056] Among them, in the process of establishing a binding relationship between the drone and the take-off and landing platform, it is necessary to first determine whether the take-off and landing platform is bound to other drones based on the collected identification information. If it is determined that the take-off and landing platform is not bound to other drones, a binding relationship with the take-off and landing platform can be established. If it is determined that the take-off and landing platform is bound to other drones, it means that other drones are performing delivery tasks based on the take-off and landing platform. In this case, it can be determined that the binding between the drone and the take-off and landing platform has failed, and a prompt message is sent to prompt the drone to be transferred to other take-off and landing platforms to perform delivery tasks.

[0057] In this specification, there are many ways for a drone to determine whether a landing platform is bound to other drones. For example, after collecting the identification information of the landing platform, the drone can send a query request to the server based on the identification information to query through the server whether the landing platform has a binding relationship with other drones. For another example, if a data storage module is provided on the landing platform, the drone can establish a direct connection with the data storage module and obtain the binding record of the landing platform from the data storage module to determine whether the landing platform has currently established a binding relationship with other drones.

[0058] After establishing a binding relationship with the landing pad, the drone can take off to the delivery destination of the goods. After delivering the goods to the user, the drone can return and land on the landing pad. Once the drone completes the delivery mission (i.e. has landed on the landing pad), it can be unbound from the landing pad so that it or other drones can be used to perform other delivery missions.

[0059] There are also many ways to cancel the binding relationship. For example, the drone can send a cancellation request to the server so that the server cancels the binding relationship between the drone and the landing platform. For another example, the drone can send a cancellation instruction to the data storage module so that the data storage module deletes the recorded binding relationship between the drone and the landing platform or marks it as invalid based on the cancellation instruction. Other methods are not described in detail here.

[0060] In addition, the process of the drone returning based on the above-mentioned binding relationship can also be divided into multiple situations. For example, when returning, the drone can first return to the cargo transfer area and hover over the cargo transfer area. Then, based on the binding relationship, it can query the position of the take-off and landing platform bound to the drone in the cargo transfer area, and then based on the position, fly above the take-off and landing platform and land on the take-off and landing platform.

[0061] For another example, the drone can query the specific coordinates of the take-off and landing platform from the server based on the binding relationship, and then fly directly to the location of the specific coordinates during the return flight to land on the take-off and landing platform.

[0062] For another example, based on the binding relationship, the drone can send a return request to the server, and the server can control the landing platform bound to the drone to broadcast a return guidance signal carrying the specific location of the landing platform based on the return request. When the drone flies over the cargo transfer area, it can identify the return guidance signal, and then determine the specific location of the landing platform through the return guidance signal, so as to land on the landing platform.

[0063] It can be seen from the above system that since the drone can be bound to the take-off and landing platform when performing a flight mission, the drone can complete the take-off and landing process on the same take-off and landing platform, which can reduce the safety hazards caused by multiple drones occupying the same take-off and landing platform during take-off and landing, thereby improving the mission execution efficiency of the drone.

[0064] Furthermore, the take-off and landing platform provided in this specification may be provided with a lifting structure, which may enable the take-off and landing platform to present different states, and the UAV may complete take-off and landing based on the different states presented by the take-off and landing platform.

[0065] Specifically, for any landing platform, the lifting structure can be set to raise the landing platform to a first state, so that the drone can take off or land on the landing platform in the first state, and after the drone takes off or lands from the landing platform, the lifting structure can be used to lower the landing platform to a second state, such as Figure 2 shown.

[0066] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a landing platform with a lifting structure provided for this specification.

[0067] exist Figure 2 In the landing platform shown, a lifting platform is provided on the landing platform, and the UAV can take off and land on the lifting platform, and a lifting structure such as a slide rail is provided in the vertical direction for the lifting platform to rise or fall. Figure 2It can be seen that the lifting platform can be raised by the lifting structure, such as Figure 2 In the state shown by the solid line, the lifting platform can also be lowered by the lifting structure, such as Figure 2 The state shown by the dotted line.

[0068] Taking the process of a drone performing a delivery mission as an example, when the drone takes off, the landing platform can be raised to the first state through the lifting structure, and after the landing platform is raised, the drone can take off from the landing platform to fly to the delivery destination. Once the drone flies away from the landing platform, it can descend to the second state through the lifting structure.

[0069] When the drone is returning to land, the landing platform can be first raised to the first state by the lifting structure, and the drone can land on the landing platform in the first state. Once the drone lands on the landing platform, the landing platform can be lowered to the second state by the lifting structure.

[0070] The lifting and landing of the take-off and landing platform can be achieved through a variety of control methods. For example, if a communication module is provided on the take-off and landing platform, the drone can send a first control instruction to the take-off and landing platform when taking off or landing (the first control instruction can be sent to the take-off and landing platform through a server, or through a local area network, or through a direct communication connection established with the take-off and landing platform. The first control instruction is sent to the take-off and landing platform). After the take-off and landing platform receives the first control instruction through the communication module, it can be lifted to the first state through the lifting structure.

[0071] After the UAV completes takeoff or landing, it can send a second control instruction to the landing platform. After the landing platform receives the second control instruction through the communication module, it can descend to the second state through the lifting structure.

[0072] Of course, the raising or lowering of the landing platform can also be controlled by other means. For example, after the drone completes takeoff, it can report the status information of taking off to the server based on the above binding relationship. Based on the status information, the server can send a descending instruction to the landing platform bound to the drone based on the binding relationship to control the landing platform to descend to the second state. When the drone returns, it can report the status information of returning to the server based on the binding relationship, and the server can send a raising instruction to the landing platform bound to the drone based on the binding relationship to control the landing platform to rise to the first state. After the drone has landed on the landing platform, it can report the status information of landing to the server. Based on the status information, the server can send a descending instruction to the landing platform to control the landing platform to descend to the second state.

[0073] For another example, a button for controlling take-off and landing may be provided at the landing platform. When the drone takes off, the staff next to the landing platform can touch the button to raise the landing platform to the first state, and after the drone has taken off from the landing platform, the staff can touch the button to lower the landing platform to the second state. When the drone returns, it can send a return prompt message to the information acquisition device used by the staff. Based on the return prompt message, the staff goes to the landing platform bound to the drone, and after the drone has arrived at the cargo transfer area, the staff touches the button to raise the landing platform to the first state. After the drone has landed on the landing platform, the staff can touch the button to lower the landing platform to the second state.

[0074] For a landing platform that does not have a lifting function, the staff needs to keep a certain distance from the landing platform during the landing process of the drone to avoid personal safety. Only after the drone has landed can the staff get close to the landing platform to mount the cargo on the drone.

[0075] It can be seen from the above-mentioned landing platform that controlling the take-off and landing of the drone through the landing platform can not only ensure the personal safety of the staff during the take-off and landing of the drone. In addition, the take-off and landing of the drone can be completed on the landing platform raised to the first state, so that the staff does not need to be far away from the landing platform during the take-off and landing of the drone, thereby ensuring that after the drone lands on the landing platform, the staff can quickly mount the goods on the drone, thereby improving the delivery efficiency of the drone.

[0076] Furthermore, the staff does not need to be at a long distance from the take-off and landing platform with lifting function during the take-off and landing of the drone. Therefore, more take-off and landing platforms can be deployed in a limited space, which can further improve the execution efficiency of the delivery task.

[0077] In order to facilitate the description of the process of a drone performing a delivery task on a take-off and landing platform with lifting function, a specific example will be used to illustrate this process. Figure 3 shown.

[0078] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the process of a drone performing a delivery task on a take-off and landing platform with lifting function provided for this manual.

[0079] When the drone is performing a delivery task, it needs to be placed on a landing platform and powered on. Then, the drone can collect the identification information of the landing platform by calling the camera, and bind to the landing platform through the identification information. Once the binding is completed, the drone will enter the ready state, at which time the landing platform will be raised to the first state through the set lifting structure. In response to the landing platform being raised, the drone can take off to the delivery destination of the transported goods and deliver the goods to the user.

[0080] Once the drone delivers the goods to the user, it can return home and hover on the landing platform based on the previously established binding relationship and begin to descend. Once the drone completes landing on the landing platform, the landing platform can begin to descend through the set lifting structure. After the descent is completed, the entire delivery task is completed.

[0081] After completing the above delivery tasks, the drone can be maintained, such as replacing batteries, charging, status detection, etc., and then placed on the landing platform (it can be the landing platform with which the binding relationship was established before, or other landing platforms) to continue to perform other delivery tasks.

[0082] It should be noted that the drone can first establish a binding relationship with the landing platform, and then obtain the delivery task information of the goods to be transported. That is, when the drone is parked on a landing platform, it can use the camera to identify the identification information of the landing platform and establish a binding relationship. After the binding relationship is established, the drone can be in a waiting state, waiting for the staff to mount the goods on the drone and obtain the delivery task information of the goods.

[0083] The drone can also first obtain the delivery task information and then establish a binding relationship with the landing platform. That is, the staff can first mount the goods on the drone and let the drone obtain the delivery task information of the goods, and then place the drone on a landing platform. The drone can collect the identification information of the landing platform through the camera and establish a binding relationship with the landing platform based on the identification information.

[0084] In addition, the above-mentioned landing platform may also be provided with a detection module, which is mainly used to establish a communication connection with the UAV parked on the landing platform, and detect the status of the UAV through the communication connection.

[0085] Therefore, after the landing platform establishes a communication connection with the drone parked on the landing platform, the detection module can obtain the status information of the drone, and then determine whether the status of the drone meets the preset conditions based on the status information. If it is determined that the status of the drone does not meet the preset conditions, a maintenance reminder message for the drone is issued.

[0086] Among them, the specific forms of the preset conditions mentioned above can be various. For example, if it is determined that the battery level of the drone is lower than the preset battery level, it can be determined that the state of the drone does not meet the preset conditions. Or after sending a self-test command to the drone through the detection model, if it is determined that there is an abnormality in the working state of the drone, such as the camera, propeller, etc., it can be determined that the state of the drone does not meet the preset conditions.

[0087] When it is determined that the state of the drone does not meet the preset conditions, a maintenance reminder message for the drone can be issued in a variety of ways. For example, the landing platform can send the maintenance reminder message to the server, and the server forwards the maintenance reminder message to the information acquisition device used by the staff in the cargo transfer area, so that the staff can go to the landing platform to maintain the drone parked on the landing platform. For another example, the landing platform can send a maintenance reminder message to the information acquisition device used by the staff in the cargo transfer area through the local area network set up in the cargo transfer area.

[0088] Of course, the landing platform may also be provided with a warning light, through which the landing platform may send the above maintenance reminder message, that is, after determining that the state of the UAV parked on the landing platform does not meet the preset conditions, the warning light may be controlled to light up to remind the staff to perform maintenance on the UAV, such as Figure 4 shown.

[0089] Figure 4 The schematic diagram provided for this manual shows the landing platform using the warning lights to remind the staff to maintain the drone.

[0090] from Figure 4 It can be seen that each landing platform set up in the cargo transfer area is provided with a warning light, and for landing platform B, the landing platform detects through the above-mentioned detection module that the status of the drone parked on landing platform B does not meet the preset conditions, and the warning light of landing platform B can be triggered to light up. In order to facilitate prompting staff to perform quick maintenance, a broadcasting device can also be set up in the cargo transfer area. When the landing platform in the cargo transfer area detects that the status of the parked drone does not meet the preset conditions, a broadcast message can be sent to the landing platform, and the warning light set on the landing platform can be turned on. At this time, the broadcasting device can send an alarm voice, and the staff can learn from the alarm voice that there is a drone that needs maintenance, and then locate the specific drone that needs maintenance through the warning light on the landing platform.

[0091] For the situation where the drone controls the lifting of the take-off and landing platform, it is necessary to set up some communication mechanisms to ensure that the drone can control the lifting of the take-off and landing platform within the specified time, so as to prevent the drone from waiting for the take-off and landing platform to rise for too long and thus reduce the delivery efficiency. Figure 5 shown.

[0092] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a drone controlling the take-off and landing platform to rise provided in this manual.

[0093] There is a wifi local area network in the cargo transfer area. After the drone is placed on a landing platform, it can be powered on and connected to the wifi. After confirming that the cargo has been mounted on the drone and the drone has been bound to the landing platform, the server can send accurate take-off instructions to the server.

[0094] After receiving the prepare-to-take-off command, the drone can self-check whether it has been normally connected to the wifi. If so, the drone can send an ascending command (i.e., the first control command mentioned above) to the take-off and landing platform through the local area network.

[0095] After sending the command to ascend to the landing platform, the UAV needs to constantly check whether the command has been successfully delivered. This can be achieved through active inquiry or active feedback from the landing platform. That is, the UAV can send an inquiry message to the landing platform to inquire whether the landing platform has received the command. If the landing platform has successfully received the command, it will return a feedback message to the UAV indicating that it has been successfully received.

[0096] If the drone determines that the command has been issued successfully, it can wait for the take-off and landing platform to rise and fall, and after monitoring that the take-off and landing platform has been successfully raised, it will take off from the take-off and landing platform to fly to the delivery destination to perform the delivery mission.

[0097] Among them, the drone can also determine whether the landing platform has been successfully raised by actively asking or actively providing feedback from the landing platform. That is, the drone can send an inquiry message to the landing platform to inquire whether the landing platform has been successfully raised, or after the landing platform has been successfully raised, it can send a feedback message to the drone that it has been successfully raised.

[0098] During this process, if the drone detects that it cannot access the wifi, it will not be able to send instructions to the landing platform through the communication connection with the landing platform in the subsequent process, which can prompt the staff that the take-off failed so that the staff can perform maintenance on it.

[0099] If the drone detects that the take-off and landing platform has not received the command normally, it can determine whether the time elapsed after sending the command has timed out. If it is determined that it has timed out, the staff can be prompted that the take-off has failed so that the staff can maintain the drone or the take-off and landing platform. If it is determined that it has not timed out, the command can be resent.

[0100] Furthermore, if the drone detects that the landing platform has not been successfully raised after the set time has passed, it can prompt the staff to maintain the landing platform, or prompt the staff to place the drone on other landing platforms to continue the delivery mission.

[0101] In the 1990s, improvements to a technology could be clearly distinguished as hardware improvements (for example, improvements to the circuit structure of diodes, transistors, switches, etc.) or software improvements (improvements to the method flow). However, with the development of technology, many improvements to the method flow today can be regarded as direct improvements to the hardware circuit structure. Designers almost always obtain the corresponding hardware circuit structure by programming the improved method flow into the hardware circuit. Therefore, it cannot be said that an improvement in a method flow cannot be implemented using a hardware entity module. For example, a programmable logic device (PLD) (such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA)) is such an integrated circuit whose logical function is determined by the user's programming of the device. Designers can "integrate" a digital system on a PLD by programming it themselves, without having to ask a chip manufacturer to design and produce a dedicated integrated circuit chip. Moreover, nowadays, instead of manually making integrated circuit chips, this kind of programming is mostly implemented by "logic compiler" software, which is similar to the software compiler used when developing and writing programs, and the original code before compilation must also be written in a specific programming language, which is called hardware description language (HDL). There is not only one HDL, but many kinds, such as ABEL (Advanced Boolean Expression Language), AHDL (Altera Hardware Description Language), Confluence, CUPL (Cornell University Programming Language), HDCal, JHDL (Java Hardware Description Language), Lava, Lola, MyHDL, PALASM, RHDL (Ruby Hardware Description Language), etc. The most commonly used ones are VHDL (Very-High-Speed ​​Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language) and Verilog. Those skilled in the art should also know that it is only necessary to program the method flow slightly in the above-mentioned hardware description languages ​​and program it into the integrated circuit, and then it is easy to obtain the hardware circuit that implements the logic method flow.

[0102] The controller can be implemented in any appropriate manner, for example, the controller can take the form of a microprocessor or processor and a computer-readable medium storing a computer-readable program code (such as software or firmware) that can be executed by the (micro)processor, a logic gate, a switch, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic controller, and an embedded microcontroller. Examples of controllers include, but are not limited to, the following microcontrollers: ARC 625D, Atmel AT91SAM, Microchip PIC18F26K20, and Silicone Labs C8051F320. The memory controller can also be implemented as part of the control logic of the memory. Those skilled in the art also know that in addition to implementing the controller in a purely computer-readable program code manner, the controller can be implemented in the form of a logic gate, a switch, an application-specific integrated circuit, a programmable logic controller, and an embedded microcontroller by logically programming the method steps. Therefore, this controller can be considered as a hardware component, and the devices included therein for implementing various functions can also be regarded as structures within the hardware component. Or even, the devices for implementing various functions can be regarded as both software modules for implementing the method and structures within the hardware component.

[0103] The systems, devices, modules or units described in the above embodiments may be implemented by computer chips or entities, or by products with certain functions. A typical implementation device is a computer. Specifically, the computer may be, for example, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a cellular phone, a camera phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a media player, a navigation device, an email device, a game console, a tablet computer, a wearable device, or a combination of any of these devices.

[0104] For the convenience of description, the above device is described in various units according to their functions. Of course, when implementing this specification, the functions of each unit can be implemented in the same or multiple software and / or hardware.

[0105] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of this specification may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, this specification may take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Moreover, this specification may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that contain computer-usable program code.

[0106] This specification is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the embodiments of this specification. It should be understood that each process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the processes and / or boxes in the flowchart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the processes in the flowchart and / or block diagram. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0107] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture comprising an instruction device, which implements the process Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A function specified in one or more boxes.

[0108] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions for implementing the process. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The steps for the functions specified in one or more boxes.

[0109] In a typical configuration, a computing device includes one or more processors (CPU), input / output interfaces, network interfaces, and memory.

[0110] The memory may include non-permanent storage in a computer-readable medium, random access memory (RAM) and / or non-volatile memory in the form of read-only memory (ROM) or flash RAM. The memory is an example of a computer-readable medium.

[0111] Computer readable media include permanent and non-permanent, removable and non-removable media that can be implemented by any method or technology to store information. Information can be computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Examples of computer storage media include, but are not limited to, phase change memory (PRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), other types of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or any other non-transmission media that can be used to store information that can be accessed by a computing device. As defined herein, computer readable media does not include temporary computer readable media (transitory media), such as modulated data signals and carrier waves.

[0112] It should also be noted that the terms "include", "comprises" or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, commodity or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, commodity or device. In the absence of more restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprises a ..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, commodity or device including the elements.

[0113] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of this specification may be provided as methods, systems or computer program products. Therefore, this specification may take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Moreover, this specification may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0114] This specification may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions executed by a computer, such as program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. This specification may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices connected through a communication network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in local and remote computer storage media, including storage devices.

[0115] Each embodiment in this specification is described in a progressive manner, and the same or similar parts between the embodiments can be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the system embodiment, since it is basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the partial description of the method embodiment.

[0116] The above description is only an embodiment of the present specification and is not intended to limit the present specification. For those skilled in the art, the present specification may have various changes and variations. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present specification shall be included in the scope of the claims of the present specification.

Claims

1. A drone dispatching system, characterized in that: The system includes: an information acquisition device, a drone, and a plurality of take-off and landing platforms; The information acquisition device is used to obtain the flight mission of the UAV; The drone is used to collect identification information of the take-off and landing platform where the drone is currently located, and establish a binding relationship with the take-off and landing platform based on the identification information, wherein the binding relationship is used to instruct the drone to land on the take-off and landing platform after completing the flight mission.

2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The drone is used to determine whether the landing platform is bound to other drones according to the identification information; and establish the binding relationship in response to the landing platform not being bound to other drones.

3. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The drone is also used to release the binding relationship after completing the flight mission and landing on the landing platform.

4. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The landing platform is provided with a lifting structure, which is used to lift the landing platform to a first state so that the UAV takes off or lands on the landing platform in the first state; and after the UAV takes off or lands from the landing platform, the landing platform is lowered to a second state.

5. The system according to claim 4, characterized in that The drone is further configured to send a first control instruction to the take-off and landing platform; The lifting and lowering platform is further configured to be lifted to the first state by the lifting structure based on the received first control instruction; The drone is further used to send a second control instruction to the take-off and landing platform; The lifting and lowering platform is further configured to descend to the second state via the lifting structure based on the received second control instruction.

6. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The landing platform is provided with a detection module, and the detection module is used to establish a communication connection with the drone parked on the landing platform.

7. The system according to claim 6, characterized in that The landing platform is also used for: After establishing the communication connection, obtaining the status information of the drone through the detection module; According to the status information, determining whether the status of the drone meets a preset condition; When the state of the drone does not satisfy the preset condition, a maintenance reminder message for the drone is issued.

8. The system according to claim 7, characterized in that The landing platform is provided with a warning light, and the warning light is used to issue the maintenance warning information.

9. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The flight mission is a delivery mission; The information acquisition device is specifically used to scan the order attached to the goods in the delivery task to obtain the information of the delivery task, and the information of the delivery task includes the delivery destination of the goods; The drone is also used to obtain the delivery destination scanned by the information acquisition device and complete the delivery task according to the delivery destination.

10. The system according to claim 9, characterized in that The information acquisition device is further used to generate a delivery task information identifier after acquiring the information of the delivery task; The drone is specifically used to scan the delivery task information identifier to determine the delivery destination.

Images