US 12,221,214 B1
Drone-based payload management
Patrick Soon-Shiong, Los Angeles, CA (US); John Wiacek, Culver City, CA (US); and Nicholas J. Witchey, Laguna Hills, CA (US)
Assigned to Nant Holdings IP, LLC, Culver City, CA (US)
Filed by Nant Holdings IP, LLC, Culver City, CA (US)
Filed on Sep. 12, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/465,874.
Int. Cl. B64D 1/16 (2006.01); B64U 10/16 (2023.01); B64U 20/70 (2023.01); B64U 101/45 (2023.01)
CPC B64D 1/16 (2013.01) [B64U 10/16 (2023.01); B64U 20/70 (2023.01); B64U 2101/45 (2023.01); B64U 2201/10 (2023.01)] 32 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A drone-based payload management system comprising:
at least one drone, the at least one drone having a first payload bay and a second payload bay, wherein the first payload bay is configured to store a first payload and the second payload bay is configured to store a second payload; and
a drone controller coupled with the first and second payload bays and comprising at least one processor and at least one computer readable memory, the at least one computer readable memory storing software instructions executable by the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
obtaining a location of the at least one drone while the at least one drone is deployed;
determining a ground attribute value of a ground surface associated with the location;
deriving, based on the ground attribute value, a payload ratio of a first amount of the first payload relative to a second amount of the second payload;
causing the first and second payload bays to release the first amount of the first payload and the second amount of the second payload respectively according to the payload ratio; and,
after the first and second payload bays have released at least a portion of the first and second amounts, determining a dispersion of one or both of the first and second payloads on the ground surface, the dispersion being an area of actual payload delivery on the ground surface where the one or both of the first and second payloads has been delivered, the dispersion being determined using one or more cameras.