US 11,733,716 B2
Anticipatory dispatch of UAVs to pre-staging locations
Jesse Blake, Palo Alto, CA (US); James Schmalzried, San Jose, CA (US); Scott Velez, Redwood City, CA (US); Andre Prager, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Eric Teller, Palo Alto, CA (US); and Matthew Nubbe, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to Wing Aviation LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Wing Aviation LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Jan. 12, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/647,808.
Application 17/647,808 is a continuation of application No. 15/930,054, filed on May 12, 2020.
Application 15/930,054 is a continuation of application No. 15/851,693, filed on Dec. 21, 2017, granted, now 10,691,142, issued on Jun. 23, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0137646 A1, May 5, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G05D 1/10 (2006.01); B64C 39/02 (2023.01); G05D 1/00 (2006.01); G06Q 50/30 (2012.01); G06Q 10/0631 (2023.01); G06Q 10/083 (2023.01); B64U 101/60 (2023.01)
CPC G05D 1/104 (2013.01) [B64C 39/024 (2013.01); G05D 1/0094 (2013.01); G06Q 10/06315 (2013.01); G06Q 10/083 (2013.01); G06Q 50/30 (2013.01); B64U 2101/60 (2023.01); B64U 2201/10 (2023.01); B64U 2201/20 (2023.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
determining, by a control system and for a geographic area, an expected demand level corresponding to a demand, by item recipients in the geographic area, for transport tasks for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), wherein an aerial transport service provider (ATSP) operates the UAVs, and wherein the ATSP houses the UAVs at a particular location;
determining, by the control system and based on the expected demand level, one or more pre-staging locations within the geographic area at which one or more UAVs of the UAVs can land prior to receiving one or more requests for one or more of the transport tasks; and
before a time corresponding to the expected demand level, causing, by the control system, the one or more UAVs to (i) dispatch from the particular location to the one or more pre-staging locations and (ii) obtain, prior to arriving at the one or more pre-staging locations, one or more payload items associated with the transport tasks.