US 12,002,370 B2
Method for guiding an emergency vehicle using an unmanned aerial vehicle
Minkyong Kim, Yorktown Heights, NY (US); Clifford A. Pickover, Yorktown Heights, NY (US); Valentina Salapura, Yorktown Heights, NY (US); and Maja Vukovic, Yorktown Heights, NY (US)
Assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed by INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed on Jan. 23, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/750,494.
Application 16/750,494 is a division of application No. 15/266,509, filed on Sep. 15, 2016, granted, now 10,600,326.
Prior Publication US 2020/0160735 A1, May 21, 2020
Int. Cl. G08G 1/087 (2006.01); G08G 1/00 (2006.01); G08G 1/04 (2006.01); G08G 1/0965 (2006.01); G08G 1/0968 (2006.01); G08G 5/00 (2006.01)
CPC G08G 5/0069 (2013.01) [G08G 1/04 (2013.01); G08G 1/087 (2013.01); G08G 1/0965 (2013.01); G08G 1/096827 (2013.01); G08G 1/096844 (2013.01); G08G 1/205 (2013.01); G08G 5/0013 (2013.01); G08G 5/0026 (2013.01); G08G 5/0034 (2013.01); G08G 5/0056 (2013.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for guiding a vehicle to a destination, comprising:
receiving a destination location;
receiving a present location of the vehicle;
calculating a route between the present location of the vehicle and the destination;
providing navigation guidance to a driver of the vehicle based on the calculated route;
transmitting the calculated route and the present location to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in communication therewith;
automatically piloting the UAV ahead of the vehicle, along the calculated route of the vehicle, using the calculated route and the present location;
docking the UAV to a dock disposed along the calculated route; and
exchanging data between the UAV and the dock to influence traffic flow along the calculated route of the vehicle so as to reduce a navigation time of the vehicle in communication with the UAV, wherein influencing the traffic flow comprises transmitting, from the UAV, one or more traffic alerts.