Intel develops a system to use personal drones as messenger pigeons

Drones are no longer restricted to being operated by military or government personnel. Increasingly, the drones are being operated by individuals or commercial entities. Further, they are become cheaper as well.

Intel wants to use drones to provide wireless connectivity to people.

People often deal with a bad or missing connection. In such scenarios, a person may utilize a personal drone — one associated with a user’s phone — to transmit messages and receive data at another geographic location where a connection is stronger. Therefore, the technical problem of a bad or missing network connection is solved by using a personal drone. The drones will kind of act like messenger pigeons.

Similarly, the drones can help a user watching an online video. If the phone detects a loss of connectivity, a drone associated with the user device is dispatched to retrieve the media. The drone navigates to the location with stronger connection and connects to a network to retrieve the video. Then the drone returns back to the location of the user and syncs the loaded video over a network.

Intel has heavily invested in drones. Last year, Intel showcased the world’s first public drone performance as part of Vivid Sydney. 100 illuminated drones performed a spectacular choreographed routine over Sydney Harbor.

Intel is working with AT&T to use drones to provide network connectivity.

Patent Information
Publication number: US 20160204978
Patent Title: PERSONAL COMMUNICATION DRONE
Publication date: Jul 14, 2016
Filing date: Jan 8, 2015
Inventors: Glen J. Anderson; Kathy Yuen; Jamie Sherman; Lenitra M. Durham; Richard Beckwith;
Original Assignee: Intel Corporati

US20160204978