Control device and program

Abstract

In the present invention, after a drone 10 reaches the sky above a building designated as a destination of the drone 10, an inspection unit 12 inspects candidate landing positions at the destination on the basis of an image of the entire site including the building as captured by a sensor 1008 (image sensor) of the drone 10, and a list of candidate landing positions at the destination. An assessment unit 13 assesses whether the drone 10 can land at each of the candidate landing positions on the basis of a result obtained when the drone 10, which has reached the sky at the destination, inspects the destination on the basis of the candidate landing position list. A presentation unit 14 presents a user with the candidate landing positions at which the assessment unit 13 has assessed that the drone can land. A landing control unit 15 controls a flight driving mechanism 1009 to cause the drone 10 to land at any candidate landing position selected by the user from among the candidate landing positions at which the assessment unit 13 has assessed that the drone can land.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for landing an aircraft. Background Art

[0002] With the popularization of unmanned aerial vehicles called drones, various schemes for using drones to deliver parcels have been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a scheme in which a landing pad is provided in a landing zone at a drone's delivery destination, and the drone is guided to the landing pad by a visual assistance device, an optical assistance device, or a wireless assistance device. Prior Art Documents Patent Documents

[0003] Patent Document 1 Japanese Patent No. 6622291 Summary of the Invention Problem to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In the scheme of Patent Document 1, a dedicated facility called a landing pad must be installed at the drone's delivery destination. For example, there are dwelling units of various sizes and shapes at the destination of the drone, and it is considered that there are constraints on uniformly providing landing pads for these units.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to land an aircraft at an appropriate position at the destination of the aircraft. Means for Solving the Problem

[0006] The present invention provides a control device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires information on a plurality of candidate landing positions for an aircraft at its destination; a determination unit that determines whether or not the aircraft can land at each of the candidate landing positions based on the results of the aircraft inspecting the destination based on the information once it has reached the airspace above the destination; and a landing control unit that causes the aircraft to land at one of the candidate landing positions selected from among the candidate landing positions that have been determined to be landable. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the present invention, it is possible to land an aircraft in an appropriate position at its destination. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram showing an example configuration of drone management system 1 related to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the drone 10 according to the same embodiment. [Figure 3] This is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the server device 50 according to the same embodiment. [Figure 4] This is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of Drone 10. [Figure 5] This figure illustrates a list of candidate landing locations according to the same embodiment. [Figure 6] This is a bird's-eye view illustrating the structure of the destination of the drone 10 according to the same embodiment. [Figure 7] This figure illustrates a screen displayed on the user terminal 30 according to the same embodiment. [Figure 8] This is a flowchart illustrating the processing procedure performed by drone 10. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] [composition] Figure 1 shows an example of the configuration of a drone management system 1 according to one embodiment of the information processing system of the present invention. The drone management system 1 comprises a drone 10 for transporting cargo to a destination, a user terminal 30 used by a user residing in the destination building, a wireless communication network 40, and a server device 50 connected to the wireless communication network 40. In Figure 1, one drone 10, one user terminal 30, one wireless communication network 40, and one server device 50 are shown, but there may be multiple instances of each.

[0010] Drone 10 is an unmanned aerial vehicle that flies through the air. Drone 10 transports cargo by carrying it, flying to its destination, and landing at that destination.

[0011] The user terminal 30 is, for example, a smartphone, tablet, or personal computer, a communication-enabled computer. In this embodiment, the user terminal 30 is a smartphone and functions as a communication terminal for the user receiving the package to access the server device 50 via the wireless communication network 40.

[0012] The server device 50 stores flight plan information for the drone 10, such as the flight date and time, flight path, and flight altitude, and remotely controls the drone according to this flight plan information. Remote control by the server device 50 is mainly performed in the section between the drone's departure and arrival point, called the base, and the drone's destination. The section between the destination and the drone's landing position is flown under the autonomous control of the drone itself. Specifically, the drone 10 detects a candidate landing location (e.g., a door, balcony, gate, parking lot, warehouse, garden, etc.) that corresponds to the destination building or the site containing that building, and determines whether it is possible to land at or near that candidate landing location before landing.

[0013] In this embodiment, as described above, the section between the drone's launch / landing site and the destination airspace relies on remote control by the server device 50, and the section between the destination airspace and the drone's landing position is achieved by autonomous flight by the drone itself, but this is not the only example. For example, the drone 10 may fly autonomously for the entire section between the launch / landing site and the destination landing position without relying on remote control by the server device 50, or it may fly according to the remote control of the server device 50 for the entire section between the launch / landing site and the destination landing position.

[0014] The wireless communication network 40 may be, for example, equipment compliant with a fourth-generation mobile communication system, or equipment compliant with a fifth-generation mobile communication system.

[0015] Figure 2 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the drone 10. Physically, the drone 10 is configured as a computer device including a processor 1001, memory 1002, storage 1003, communication device 1004, input device 1005, output device 1006, positioning device 1007, sensor 1008, flight drive mechanism 1009, and a bus connecting these. In the following description, the term "device" can be read as a circuit, device, unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the drone 10 may include one or more of the devices shown in the figure, or it may be configured without some of the devices.

[0016] Each function in the drone 10 is realized by loading predetermined software (programs) onto hardware such as the processor 1001 and memory 1002, which allows the processor 1001 to perform calculations, control communication by the communication device 1004, control at least one of reading and writing data to the memory 1002 and storage 1003, and control the positioning device 1007, sensor 1008, and flight drive mechanism 1009.

[0017] The processor 1001, for example, operates an operating system to control the entire computer. The processor 1001 may be configured by a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control unit, an arithmetic unit, a register, and the like. Further, for example, a baseband signal processing unit, a call processing unit, or the like may be implemented by the processor 1001.

[0018] The processor 1001 reads programs (program codes), software modules, data, and the like into the memory 1002 from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004, and executes various processes in accordance therewith. As the program, a program that causes a computer to execute at least part of the operations described below is used. The functional blocks of the drone 10 may be implemented by a control program stored in the memory 1002 and operated on the processor 1001. Various processes may be executed by one processor 1001, or may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. Note that the program may be transmitted to the drone 10 via the wireless communication network 40.

[0019] The memory 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be configured by at least one of, for example, ROM, EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), RAM, and the like. The memory 1002 may also be referred to as a register, a cache, a main memory (main storage device), or the like. The memory 1002 can store executable programs (program codes), software modules, and the like for implementing the method according to the present embodiment.

[0020] Storage 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium and may consist of at least one of the following: an optical disc such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a compact disc, a digital multipurpose disc, a Blu-ray® disc), a smart card, flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy® disk, a magnetic strip, etc. Storage 1003 may also be called an auxiliary storage device. Storage 1003 stores various programs and data sets.

[0021] The processor 1001, memory 1002, and storage 1003 described above function as an example of the control device of the present invention.

[0022] The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmitting / receiving device) for communicating between computers via the wireless communication network 40, and is also referred to as a network device, network controller, network card, communication module, etc. The communication device 1004 is configured to include high-frequency switches, duplexers, filters, frequency synthesizers, etc., in order to realize frequency division duplexing and time division duplexing. The transmitting and receiving antennas, amplifier section, transmitting and receiving section, transmission path interface, etc., may be implemented by the communication device 1004. The transmitting and receiving section may be implemented in a physically or logically separated manner, with a transmitting section and a receiving section.

[0023] The input device 1005 is an input device that receives input from an external source, and includes, for example, keys, switches, and microphones. The output device 1006 is an output device that outputs to an external source, and includes, for example, a display device such as a liquid crystal display or a speaker. The input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be configured as an integrated unit.

[0024] The positioning device 1007 is hardware that measures the position of the drone 10, and is, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) device. Based on the positioning determined by the positioning device 1007, the drone 10 flies from the launch site to the airspace above the destination.

[0025] The sensor 1008 includes a distance measuring sensor that functions as a means for measuring the altitude of the drone 10 and a means for confirming the landing position, a gyro sensor and an orientation sensor that function as a means for measuring the attitude of the drone 10, and an image sensor that functions as an imaging means.

[0026] The flight drive mechanism 1009 includes hardware such as motors and propellers for the drone 10 to fly.

[0027] Each device, such as the processor 1001 and memory 1002, is connected by a bus for communicating information. The bus may be configured using a single bus, or different buses may be configured for each device. The drone 10 may also be composed of hardware such as a microprocessor, GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), Digital Signal Processor (DSP), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), PLD (Programmable Logic Device), and FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and some or all of each functional block may be realized by this hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these hardware components.

[0028] Figure 3 shows the hardware configuration of the server device 50. The hardware configuration of the server device 50 may include one or more of the devices shown in Figure 3, or it may be configured without some of the devices. Alternatively, multiple devices with different enclosures may be connected to each other to constitute the server device 50.

[0029] The server device 50 is physically configured as a computer device including a processor 5001, memory 5002, storage 5003, communication device 5004, and a bus connecting them. Each function of the server device 50 is realized by loading predetermined software (programs) onto hardware such as the processor 5001 and memory 5002, which allows the processor 5001 to perform calculations, control communication by the communication device 5004, and control at least one of data reading and writing in the memory 5002 and storage 5003. Each of these devices operates on power supplied from a power supply (not shown). In the following description, the term "device" can be read as a circuit, device, unit, etc.

[0030] The processor 5001 controls the entire computer, for example, by running an operating system. The processor 5001 may consist of a central processing unit (CPU) that includes interfaces with peripheral devices, control units, arithmetic units, registers, etc. Alternatively, a baseband signal processing unit or a call processing unit may be implemented by the processor 5001.

[0031] The processor 5001 reads programs (program code), software modules, data, etc., from at least one of the storage 5003 and the communication device 5004 into the memory 5002 and performs various processes accordingly. The program used is one that causes the computer to perform at least a part of the operations described later. Functional blocks of the drone 10 may be stored in the memory 5002 and implemented by control programs running on the processor 5001. Various processes may be performed by one processor 5001, but may also be performed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 5001. The processor 5001 may be implemented by one or more chips.

[0032] The memory 5002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may consist of at least one of the following: ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, RAM, etc. The memory 5002 may also be called a register, cache, main memory, etc. The memory 5002 can store executable programs (program code), software modules, etc., for carrying out the method according to this embodiment.

[0033] The storage 5003 is a computer-readable recording medium and may consist of at least one of the following: an optical disc such as a CD-ROM, a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a compact disc, a digital multipurpose disc, a Blu-ray® disc), a smart card, flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy® disk, a magnetic strip, etc. The storage 5003 may also be called an auxiliary storage device. The storage 5003 stores at least programs and data sets for performing various processes as described later.

[0034] The communication device 5004 is hardware (transceiver / receiver device) for communicating between computers via the wireless communication network 40, and is also called a network device, network controller, network card, communication module, etc.

[0035] Each device, such as the processor 5001 and memory 5002, is connected by a bus for communicating information. The bus may be configured using a single bus, or different buses may be used for each device.

[0036] The server device 50 may include hardware such as a microprocessor, digital signal processor, ASIC, PLD, FPGA, etc., and some or all of each functional block may be realized by such hardware. For example, the processor 5001 may be implemented using at least one of these hardware components.

[0037] Figure 4 shows an example of the functional configuration of the drone 10. Each function realized by the drone 10 is achieved by loading predetermined software (programs) onto hardware such as the processor 1001 and memory 1002, which allows the processor 1001 to perform calculations, control the communication device 1004, and control at least one of the reading and writing of data in the memory 1002 and storage 1003. Specifically, the drone 10 realizes the functions of an acquisition unit 11, an inspection unit 12, a judgment unit 13, a presentation unit 14, and a landing control unit 15.

[0038] The acquisition unit 11 acquires various data from external devices such as the server device 50. For example, in addition to various instructions and commands from the server device 50, the acquisition unit 11 acquires landing candidate position information from the server device 50 regarding multiple landing candidate positions at the drone 10's destination. A landing candidate position is a location at the destination where the drone 10 is a candidate to land. Specifically, landing candidate positions are various structures and facilities at the destination, such as entrances, doors, balconies, gates, parking lots, warehouses, gardens, rooftops, passageways, and under eaves, which are likely to be found in typical dwellings.

[0039] Here, Figure 5 is an example diagram illustrating a list of landing candidate locations corresponding to landing candidate location information. In the landing candidate location list, each landing candidate location is associated with whether or not landing permission has been granted by a user residing at the drone 10's destination, and with the priority of that location as a landing location for the drone 10. In the example in Figure 5, for example, at a destination identified by the identifier "D00125", landing permission has been granted for all landing candidate locations except the rooftop, out of the predetermined landing candidate locations including the entrance, garden, balcony, rooftop, outside the gate, inside the gate, and parking lot. The user grants landing permission in advance to landing candidate locations at their own home, which corresponds to the drone 10's destination, that they consider suitable for the drone 10 to land, and does not grant landing permission to landing candidate locations that they consider unsuitable for the drone 10 to land. The user can register arbitrary information regarding the presence or absence of such landing permission by accessing the server device 50 in advance using the user terminal 30. The priority in the landing candidate location list may be registered in advance by the user, similar to the presence or absence of landing permission, or it may be predetermined by the system operator.

[0040] This list of potential landing locations is specified by each user for each destination and registered in the server device 50, and the acquisition unit 11 acquires this list of potential landing locations from the server device 50 via the wireless communication network 40. The potential landing locations in the list are not limited to being expressed by names such as entrance, garden, veranda, rooftop, outside the gate, inside the gate, and parking lot, but may also be expressed as photographic images of the potential landing locations taken by the drone 10 or a camera owned by the user (for example, taken from about 1.5m away from the potential landing location), or as the relative position of the potential landing locations at the destination (for example, an image of the entire destination taken from above the destination showing each potential landing location). The destination identifiers exemplified in Figure 5 may be expressed as regularly assigned strings, or as location information of the destination (such as latitude and longitude).

[0041] Returning to the explanation of Figure 4, after the drone 10 reaches the airspace above the building designated as the drone 10's destination, the inspection unit 12 inspects the landing candidate locations at the destination based on the image captured by the drone 10's sensor 1008 (image sensor) of the entire site including the building, and the list of landing candidate locations at the destination. Inspection here means identifying where the landing candidate locations listed in the landing candidate location list corresponding to the destination are located and what state they are in. Specifically, each landing candidate location is extracted from the image captured by the sensor 1008 based on the image features of each landing candidate location, and furthermore, the sensor 1008 detects the horizontality, flatness, presence or absence of liquid, or presence or absence of obstacles for each landing candidate location.

[0042] Here, Figure 6 is a bird's-eye view illustrating the structure of the building and its site, which is the destination of the drone 10. In other words, it illustrates an image taken by the drone 10 from above the destination (for example, 20m above ground) using its image sensor to capture the area below. Inside the site G, which corresponds to the destination, is building B. Roads R1 and R2 are adjacent to building B and site G. In addition, another building B1 and its site G1 are adjacent to building B and site G. Within site G, there are, for example, a gate g, trees W, and a parking lot roof P. The drone 10 (inspection unit 12) may also approach the building and inspect potential landing positions by lowering its altitude to a certain extent from above the destination. For example, if the drone 10 (inspection unit 12) attempts to inspect a potential landing position such as an entrance, it will lower its altitude to a position where it can recognize the entrance (door) (a position approximately horizontal to the entrance door) before attempting the inspection.

[0043] Returning to the explanation of Figure 4, the determination unit 13 determines whether the drone 10 can land at each candidate landing position based on the results of the inspection unit 12's inspection of the destination. Specifically, for each candidate landing position, the determination unit 13 determines whether the drone 10 can land based on its horizontality, flatness, presence or absence of liquid, or presence or absence of obstacles. The horizontality and flatness of the landing position are determined based on the output of the distance measuring sensor and image sensor of the sensor 1008. Furthermore, whether or not there is liquid (typically water) or obstacles at the landing site is determined based on the output of the image sensor of sensor 1008. The determination unit 13 may also determine whether or not the drone 10 can land at predetermined locations relative to the candidate landing sites. For example, the landing location for a candidate landing site called a garden may be the center of the garden, the landing location for a candidate landing site called a parking lot may be near the edge of the parking lot, and the landing location for a candidate landing site called an entrance may be in front of the entrance.

[0044] The presentation unit 14 presents the landing candidate locations determined to be safe by the determination unit 13 to the user corresponding to the destination. At this time, the presentation unit 14 presents the landing candidate locations determined to be safe by the determination unit 13 to the user in order of priority. Specifically, the presentation unit 14 notifies the server device 50 of the landing candidate locations determined to be safe by the determination unit 13, and the presentation information regarding these landing candidate locations is transmitted to the user terminal 30 via the server device 50. On the user terminal 30, this presentation information is presented to the user by means of display or other methods.

[0045] Here, Figure 7 illustrates a screen displayed on the user terminal 30 based on the presented information. In this presented information, landing candidate locations determined to be landable by the decision unit 13 are presented according to the priority order assigned to each landing candidate location. In this example, the locations are presented in order from highest to lowest priority, from top to bottom on the screen: entrance, outside the gate, inside the gate, garden, veranda, and parking lot. The user operates the user terminal 30 to select their desired landing location from the multiple landing candidate locations presented in this way. The landing candidate location selected by the user is notified to the drone 10 via the server device 50 from the user terminal 30. In the example of Figure 7, all landing candidate locations determined to be landable by the decision unit 13 are presented, but for example, only a predetermined number (e.g., 3) of landing candidate locations may be presented in order of highest priority. Furthermore, the landing candidate locations presented to the user are not limited to being expressed by names such as entrance, garden, balcony, rooftop, outside the gate, inside the gate, and parking lot. They may also be expressed as photographic images of the landing candidate locations taken by the drone 10 or a camera owned by the user (for example, taken from about 1.5m away from the landing candidate location), or as the relative positions of the landing candidate locations within the destination (for example, an overall photograph of the destination taken from above the destination showing each landing candidate location).

[0046] Returning to the explanation in Figure 4, the landing control unit 15 controls the flight drive mechanism 1009 while confirming the position and attitude of the drone 10 using the sensor 1008, and lands the drone 10 at the landing candidate location selected by the user.

[0047] [Operation] Next, the flight process of the drone 10 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in Figure 8. In Figure 8, the drone 10 begins flying from the departure point toward the destination (step S01). Thereafter, the drone 10 flies over the destination address specified when the package delivery request was made, under the control of the server device 50.

[0048] When the drone 10 reaches the airspace above the destination (step S02; YES), the inspection unit 12 inspects the candidate landing position at the destination based on the image of the destination captured by the sensor 1008 (image sensor) (step S03). At this time, as described above, the drone 10 (inspection unit 12) may inspect the candidate landing position while descending to a certain altitude from above the destination and approaching the building.

[0049] The determination unit 13 determines whether the drone 10 can land at each candidate landing location based on the inspection results from the inspection unit 12. Specifically, the determination unit 13 identifies the horizontality, flatness, presence or absence of liquid, or presence or absence of obstacles at the landing location from the output of the distance sensor and image sensor of the sensor 1008, and determines whether the drone 10 can land (step S04).

[0050] The presentation unit 14 presents the presentation information regarding the landing candidate location determined by the determination unit 13 to be suitable for landing to the user terminal 30 of the user corresponding to the destination (step S05).

[0051] When the user selects one of the landing candidate locations presented to the user (step S06; YES), the landing control unit 15 lands the drone 10 at the selected landing candidate location (step S07). If a predetermined period of time elapses without the user selecting a landing candidate location from those presented to the user, the drone 10 may perform predetermined error processing, such as notifying the user terminal 30 via the server device 50, and then proceed to the next destination or return to the base.

[0052] According to the embodiment described above, it is possible to determine whether or not a drone can land at each of the pre-prepared landing candidate locations, and furthermore, to land the drone 10 at a landing candidate location desired by the user from among the available landing candidate locations. In other words, it is possible to land the drone 10 at an appropriate location relative to the destination.

[0053] [Modifications] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. The embodiments described above may be modified as follows. Furthermore, two or more of the following modifications may be combined and implemented. [Modification 1] In the above embodiment, if a predetermined period of time elapses without the user selecting a landing candidate location presented to the user, the drone 10 performs a predetermined error processing, such as notifying the user terminal 30 via the server device 50, and then proceeds to the next destination or returns to the base. In this way, if the user does not select a landing candidate location, another user acting on behalf of that user may be asked to select a landing candidate location. In this case, the drone 10 or the server device 50 stores the communication addresses of the user terminals 30 of the first user (for example, the head of the household residing at the destination) and the second user (for example, a family member residing at the same destination), associated with the destination identifier. If the first user corresponding to the destination does not select a landing candidate location, the presentation unit 14 presents the second user corresponding to the destination with a landing candidate location that the determination unit 13 has determined to be landable. In other words, the presentation unit 14 notifies the server device 50 of the landing candidate locations that the determination unit 13 has determined to be suitable for landing, and the presentation information regarding these landing candidate locations is transmitted to the second user's user terminal 30 via the server device 50. On the second user's user terminal 30, this presentation information is presented to the user by display or other means. The second user operates their user terminal 30 to select their desired landing location from the multiple presented landing candidate locations. The landing candidate location selected by the second user is notified to the drone 10 via the server device 50 from the user terminal 30. The landing control unit 15 of the drone 10 lands the drone 10 at the landing candidate location selected by the second user. In this way, the drone 10 has more opportunities to land at its destination, and the cargo being transported by the drone 10 can be delivered more quickly.

[0054] [Modification 2] In the above embodiment, the presentation unit 14 presented the user with landing candidate locations determined by the determination unit 13 to be suitable for landing, in order of priority, and the user selected a desired location from among the landing candidate locations. Instead of this operation, the landing control unit 15 may select one of the landing candidate locations from among those determined by the determination unit 13 to be suitable for landing, in order of priority, and land the drone 10 at the selected landing candidate location. Here, selecting a landing candidate location in order of priority includes not only selecting the first priority landing candidate location, but also selecting from among the landing candidate locations extracted in order of priority, such as selecting the widest landing candidate location from among the landing candidate locations corresponding to a predetermined number of priorities from the highest priority, according to conditions other than priority. In this way, the system can automatically land the drone 10 without user selection.

[0055] [Modification 3] The priority order of the above embodiment and modification may change dynamically depending on various conditions. For example, the priority order may differ depending on the weather when the drone 10 lands or before and after, the time of day when the drone 10 lands, the attributes of the cargo transported by the drone 10, or the environment of the drone 10's destination.

[0056] Examples of different priorities depending on the weather when the drone 10 lands or before / after include, for example, if the weather forecast information acquired by the drone 10 from a designated weather forecast information provider indicates that rainfall will occur after a predetermined period (e.g., 1 hour later), or if the humidity detected by the humidity sensor mounted on the drone 10 is above a threshold, the priority of landing candidate locations with roofs may be increased, while the priority of landing candidate locations without roofs may be decreased. Another example is if, for example, the wind volume and wind direction can be predicted to be above a threshold based on the weather forecast information acquired by the drone 10 from a designated weather forecast information provider, the priority of landing candidate locations with obstacles such as walls upwind may be increased (however, the priority will not be changed if the weight of the cargo is above a threshold).

[0057] Examples of different priorities depending on the time of day when the drone 10 is to land include, for example, lowering the priority of landing locations such as parking lots or entrances that are easily visible from roads adjacent to the destination when landing close to sunset (e.g., after 6 PM) for safety reasons, and raising the priority of landing locations such as entrances that are easily noticed by users going out when landing in the early morning (e.g., 5-6 AM).

[0058] Examples of different priorities depending on the attributes of the cargo being transported by the drone 10 include, for example, if the cargo is expensive or important, the priority of landing locations such as parking lots or entrances that are easily visible from the road leading to the destination may be lowered from a safety perspective. Alternatively, if the exterior color of the cargo and the color of the landing location are similar, the priority of that landing location may be lowered from the perspective of making the cargo less conspicuous.

[0059] Examples of different prioritization based on the environment of the drone's destination include, for instance, referring to a crime map of the vicinity of the destination and determining if the crime risk is above a certain level, or if there are large facilities such as schools nearby. In such cases, from a safety perspective, the priority of landing candidate locations such as parking lots or entrances that are easily visible from the road adjacent to the destination might be lowered. Also, if there are animals such as dogs or cats at the destination, the priority of landing candidate locations that are high up and out of reach of the animals (such as balconies) or locations far from the area where the animals are might be increased. Furthermore, the priority of landing candidate locations with bollards or barriers might be lowered.

[0060] As described above, the likelihood of landing the drone 10 at an appropriate landing candidate location is increased, depending on the weather conditions at or before / after the drone 10 lands, the time of day the drone 10 lands, the attributes of the cargo the drone 10 is transporting, or the environment of the drone 10's destination. In this invention, the expression "lowering priority" includes the meaning of excluding a location from the list of landing candidate locations.

[0061] [Modification 4] The priority order in the above embodiment and modification may also vary depending on whether the user is at home at the destination. In this case, the drone 10 includes a first determination unit that determines whether the user corresponding to the destination is at the destination, and the priority order is a priority order according to whether the user corresponding to the destination is at the destination. If the user corresponding to the destination is at the destination, for example, the priority of landing candidate locations that are easily accessible to the user, such as in front of the entrance or window, may be increased. If the user is not at the destination, from a safety standpoint, the priority of landing candidate locations such as a garden that is not easily visible from the road adjacent to the destination or a balcony that is difficult for others to access may be increased.

[0062] To determine whether a user corresponding to a destination is located at that destination, for example, when the drone 10 approaches the vicinity of the destination, the drone 10 notifies the user terminal 30 via the server device 50, the user selects whether they are at home or not in response to the notification, and the user terminal 30 notifies the drone 10 of the result of that selection via the server device 50. Alternatively, when the drone 10 approaches the vicinity of the destination, it could call the destination's landline telephone from the drone 10 or via the server device 50, and if the landline telephone answers, it could be determined that the user is at home, or the user could respond by operating the landline telephone to indicate whether they are able to receive a package. In the latter method of having the user respond, a smartphone or mobile phone such as the user terminal 30 could be used instead of a landline telephone. Another possible method is for the user to allow the application on the user terminal 30 to acquire location information, and when the drone 10 approaches the vicinity of the destination, the drone 10 notifies the user terminal 30 via the server device 50, and if the location information of the user terminal 30 is within approximately the same range as the location of the destination, it could be determined that the user is located at that destination. Alternatively, the user may manually input their entry and exit status into the application on the user terminal 30 each time they enter or exit a building corresponding to the destination, and this status may be acquired from the user terminal 30 via the server device 50 when the drone 10 approaches the vicinity of the destination. Furthermore, when the drone 10 approaches the vicinity of the destination, it may monitor the power usage status at that destination using smart meter technology or the like to estimate whether the user is located at the destination. For example, if the amount of power used within a certain period exceeds a threshold, or if there has been a large fluctuation in power usage exceeding a threshold within a certain period, it may be determined that the user is located at the destination. Another possible method is for the drone 10 to use an image sensor to capture images of the inside of the building corresponding to the destination from balconies or windows when it approaches the vicinity of the destination, and then use image recognition to determine whether lights are on or if there are people present.Another possible method is for the drone 10 to emit a sound in front of the entrance or other location when it approaches the destination, then take images using its image sensor, and if the entrance door or window is opened or closed or a person is seen within a certain period thereafter, it can be determined that the user is at the destination. Another possible method is for the drone 10 to fly around the area of ​​the destination building when it approaches the destination, take images using its image sensor, and if there is an open window, it can be determined that the user is at the destination. Yet another possible method is to equip the drone 10 with a light and shine the light towards the windows of the building corresponding to the destination, take images using the image sensor, and if there is a reaction from the user, it can be determined that the user is at the destination. Yet another possible method is for the drone 10 to communicate with (or press the button on) the intercom of the building corresponding to the destination, ring the intercom, take images using the image sensor, and if there is a reaction from the user, it can be determined that the user is at the destination. In this way, the drone 10 can be landed at an appropriate landing candidate location depending on whether the user is at the destination or not.

[0063] [Modification 5] The priority may vary depending on the level of pedestrian traffic near the destination. In this case, the drone 10 is equipped with a second determination unit that makes a determination regarding the number or density of people in a predetermined area including the destination, and the priority is determined according to the determination result made by the second determination unit. Possible methods for determining the number or density of people in a predetermined area including the destination include, for example, the drone 10 using image recognition to determine whether the pedestrian traffic near the destination is above a threshold, using statistical information such as Mobile Spatial Statistics (registered trademark) provided by NTT DOCOMO, Inc., or using traffic congestion information provided by a traffic congestion information provider. If the number or density of people in a predetermined area including the destination is above a threshold, from a safety standpoint, for example, the priority of landing candidate locations such as parking lots or entrances that are easily visible from roads adjacent to the destination may be lowered.

[0064] Furthermore, in the above-described variations 3 to 5, at least two of the conditions used to change the priority may be combined. For example, the priority could be changed depending on whether the landing time is after 6 PM and the user is not at the destination, whether the landing time is before 6 PM and the user is not at the destination, whether the landing time is after 6 PM and the user is at the destination, and whether the landing time is before 6 PM and the user is at the destination. Of course, this is merely an example, and many different combinations of two or more conditions are possible.

[0065] [Modification 6] Landing control of the drone 10 may be realized by so-called edge computing (control by the drone), cloud computing (control by a server device), or a combination of both (control by the drone and a server device), as described in the embodiment. Therefore, the control device of the present invention may be provided in the server device 50.

[0066] [Variation 7] The unmanned aerial vehicle is not limited to what is called a drone; it can be any structure or form of an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of transporting cargo. Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to manned aerial vehicles in which a person is on board but the vehicle itself is autonomously operated.

[0067] [Modification 8] The above-described embodiment was explained using the example of a cargo transporting aircraft (drone 10) landing at a destination. However, the present invention can also be applied to the landing of an aircraft in a scenario where, for example, the aircraft lands at a destination without carrying cargo, receives and holds the cargo at the landing site, and then takes off for the next destination. Furthermore, the purpose or use of the aircraft's flight is not limited to cargo transport as exemplified in the embodiment, but may be anything, such as measuring or photographing some object. In other words, the present invention can be applied to the landing of an aircraft regardless of its purpose or use of flight.

[0068] [Modification 9] In the above embodiment, an image sensor provided as an imaging means in the sensor 1008 of the drone 10 was used for inspecting the destination. The destination inspection method is not limited to the example of the embodiment, but can use any method that can sense the position, shape, or size of an object, such as a technology called LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) or a technology called SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping). That is, the sensor 1008 is equipped with a sensor capable of inspecting candidate landing positions at the destination, and the determination unit 13 can determine whether the drone 10 can land at each candidate landing position based on the inspection results.

[0069] [Modification 10] In the above embodiment, the determination unit 13 determined whether the aircraft could land based on the horizontality, flatness, presence or absence of liquid, or presence or absence of obstacles at the landing site. However, the determination may also be made based on conditions other than these. Specifically, for example, the material, temperature, or presence or absence of snow at the landing site can be considered. The material and presence or absence of snow at the landing site can be determined, for example, based on the output of the image sensor of sensor 1008. The temperature at the landing site can be determined based on the output of the non-contact temperature sensor provided by sensor 1008. Thus, the determination unit 13 only needs to determine whether the aircraft can land based on at least one of several types of conditions at the landing site, such as the horizontality, flatness, material, temperature, or presence or absence of liquid or snow at the landing site.

[0070] [Other Modifications] The block diagram used in the description of the above embodiment shows functional units. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of hardware and / or software. Furthermore, the means of realizing each functional block are not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized by one device that is physically and / or logically coupled, or by two or more physically and / or logically separated devices that are directly and / or indirectly connected (for example, wired and / or wirelessly) and realized by these multiple devices. For example, the functions of the user terminals 30 to 32 exemplified in the embodiment may be provided by a single computer. In short, each function exemplified in Figure 5 can be provided by any of the devices that constitute the drone management system 1 as an information processing system. For example, if the server device 50 can directly control the drone 10, the server device 50 may have a function equivalent to the processing unit 313 and directly restrict the flight of the drone 10.

[0071] Each aspect / embodiment described herein may be applied to systems utilizing LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advanced), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G, 5G, FRA (Future Radio Access), W-CDMA®, GSM®, CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, UWB (Ultra-WideBand), Bluetooth®, and other appropriate systems, and / or next-generation systems extended based thereon.

[0072] The processing procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc., of each aspect / embodiment described herein may be reordered, provided they are consistent. For example, the methods described herein present various step elements in an exemplary order and are not limited to that specific order. Each aspect / embodiment described herein may be used individually, in combination, or switched between during execution. Furthermore, notification of predetermined information (e.g., notification that "X is") is not limited to explicit notification, but may also be implicit (e.g., by not notifying the predetermined information).

[0073] The information or parameters described herein may be expressed as absolute values, relative values ​​from a given value, or as corresponding other information.

[0074] As used herein, the terms “determining” and “determining” may encompass a wide variety of actions. “Determining” may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, database or other data structure), and ascertaining. “Determining” may also include, for example, receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, and accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory). Furthermore, "judgment" and "decision" can include considering something as having been "judged" or "decided" after resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include considering something as having been "judged" or "decided" after some action.

[0075] The present invention may be provided as an information processing method or as a program. Such a program can be provided in the form of being recorded on a recording medium such as an optical disc, or it can be provided in the form of being downloaded to a computer via a network such as the Internet, installed, and made available for use.

[0076] Software, instructions, etc., may be transmitted or received via a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using wired technologies such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, and digital subscriber lines (DSL) and / or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, these wired and / or wireless technologies are included in the definition of a transmission medium.

[0077] The information, signals, etc. described herein may be represented using any of the various different techniques. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc., which may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

[0078] Any reference to elements using designations such as “first,” “second,” etc., as used herein, does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used herein as a convenient way to distinguish between two or more elements. Thus, references to first and second elements do not imply that only two elements may be employed therein, or that the first element must precede the second element in any way.

[0079] In the configuration of each of the above devices, "means" may be replaced with "part," "circuit," "device," etc.

[0080] To the extent that “including,” “comprising,” and their variations are used herein or in the claims, these terms are intended to be inclusive, just as the term “equipped with.” Furthermore, the term “or” as used herein or in the claims is not intended to be exclusive OR.

[0081] Throughout this disclosure, where articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, these articles shall be plural unless it is clearly indicated otherwise by the context.

[0082] Although the present invention has been described in detail above, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The present invention can be implemented in modified and altered forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Therefore, the description herein is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to be restrictive in any way to the present invention. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0083] 1: Drone management system, 10: Drone, 11: Acquisition unit, 12: Inspection unit, 13: Decision unit, 14: Presentation unit, 15: Landing control unit, 30: User terminal, 40: Wireless communication network, 50: Server device, 1001: Processor, 1002: Memory, 1003: Storage, 1004: Communication device, 1005: Input device, 1006: Output device, 1007: Positioning device, 1008: Sensor, 1009: Flight drive mechanism, 50: Server device, 5001: Processor, 5002: Memory, 5003: Storage, 5004: Communication device.

Claims

1. An acquisition unit that acquires information on multiple candidate landing positions at the aircraft's destination, A determination unit that determines whether the aircraft, having reached the airspace above the destination, can land at each of the candidate landing positions based on the results of inspecting the destination based on the information, A presentation unit presents the landing candidate location determined by the determination unit to be suitable for landing to a first user corresponding to the destination, A landing control unit that causes the aircraft to land at one of the landing candidate positions selected from the presented landing candidate positions, Equipped with, If the first user corresponding to the destination does not select the landing candidate position, the display unit presents the landing candidate position that the determination unit has determined to be suitable for landing to the second user corresponding to the destination. The landing control unit will land the aircraft at the landing candidate position selected by the second user. A control device characterized by the following features.

2. An acquisition unit that acquires information on multiple landing candidate positions at the destination of an aircraft, A determination unit that determines whether the aircraft, having reached the airspace above the destination, can land at each of the candidate landing positions based on the results of inspecting the destination based on the information, A landing control unit selects one of the landing candidate locations from among those determined by the determination unit to be suitable for landing, in order of priority, and lands the aircraft at the selected landing candidate location. Equipped with, The aforementioned priority order is determined by whether or not the user corresponding to the destination is located at that destination. A control device characterized by the following features.

3. An acquisition unit that acquires information on multiple landing candidate positions at the destination of an aircraft, A determination unit that determines whether the aircraft, having reached the airspace above the destination, can land at each of the candidate landing positions based on the results of inspecting the destination based on the information, A landing control unit selects one of the landing candidate locations from among those determined by the determination unit to be suitable for landing, in order of priority, and lands the aircraft at the selected landing candidate location. Equipped with, The aforementioned priority order is a priority order based on the determination result regarding the number or density of people within a predetermined area including the destination. A control device characterized by the following features.

4. The determination unit determines whether the aircraft can land based on the horizontality, flatness, material, temperature, or whether there is liquid or snow at the candidate landing site. The control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. The presentation unit presents the landing candidate locations determined by the determination unit to be suitable for landing to the first user in order of priority. The control device according to feature 1.

6. The priority order is different depending on the weather conditions when the aircraft lands or the weather conditions before and after the aircraft lands, the time of day when the aircraft lands, the attributes of the cargo being transported by the aircraft, or the environment of the destination. The control device according to any one of claims 2, 3, or 5.

7. A computer, The steps include obtaining information on multiple potential landing positions at the aircraft's destination, The steps include: determining whether the aircraft, having reached the airspace above the destination, can land at each of the candidate landing positions based on the results of inspecting the destination based on the information; The steps include presenting the landing candidate location determined to be suitable for landing in the aforementioned determination step to a first user corresponding to the destination, The steps include: landing the aircraft at one of the landing candidate locations selected from the presented landing candidate locations; A program to execute, In the aforementioned step, if the first user corresponding to the destination does not select the landing candidate position, the second user corresponding to the destination is presented with the landing candidate position that has been determined to be landable in the aforementioned determination step. In the landing step, the aircraft is landed at a candidate landing position selected by the second user. A program characterized by the following features.

8. A computer, The steps include obtaining information on multiple potential landing positions at the aircraft's destination, The steps include: determining whether the aircraft, having reached the airspace above the destination, can land at each of the candidate landing positions based on the results of inspecting the destination based on the information; The steps include selecting one of the landing candidate locations from among those determined to be suitable for landing in the aforementioned determination step, in order of priority, and landing the aircraft at the selected landing candidate location. A program to execute, The aforementioned priority order is determined by whether or not the user corresponding to the destination is located at that destination. A program characterized by the following features.

9. A computer, The steps include obtaining information on multiple potential landing positions at the aircraft's destination, The steps include: determining whether the aircraft, having reached the airspace above the destination, can land at each of the candidate landing positions based on the results of inspecting the destination based on the information; The steps include selecting one of the landing candidate locations from among those determined to be suitable for landing in the aforementioned determination step, in order of priority, and landing the aircraft at the selected landing candidate location. A program to execute, The aforementioned priority order is a priority order based on the determination result regarding the number or density of people within a predetermined area including the destination. A program characterized by the following features.

Images