2 pages essay (Single Spaced)

In order to avoid intellectual property infringement, inventors must be aware of existing patents related to the project they want to develop. This section is critical to understanding similar projects done in the past and the techniques, designs, and methodologies that were utilized to develop those projects. Not only does the information gathered in this section help the design team in staying away from infringing a patent, but it also provides them with different ideas that could be useful for developing improved or more efficient versions of a project done in the past, or even completely novel designs that may eventually be more convenient. Being aware of and understanding the patents that are closely related to a project being developed, shields the design team from getting involved in legal issues that could result from patent infringement. Moreover, it is important to note that intellectual property protection is an excellent way to incentivize creativity by safeguarding the ideas of inventors.

In this section, three different patents that share similar ideas with our project are examined. To find these patents, Google Patents database was utilized as it is a convenient tool that performs searches based on keywords entered by the user. The patents analyzed were all filed in the United States and are: Solar Power Tethered Drone, Method for Monitoring a Parking Facility for Motor Vehicles and Drone, and Solar Powered Drone.

This patent [11] was filed in the United States on January 17th, 2018, and it was granted to its inventor, Sidney William Boyk, on March 26th, 2019.

This patent consists of a mobile, solar-powered system that utilizes a drone for monitoring applications such as providing security for high value outdoor agricultural crops. The system is comprised of an array of solar panels, a battery bank connected to the solar panels, a landing and connection platform connected to the battery bank, a cable connected to the landing and connection platform, and a drone which is electrically and mechanically connected to the cable and carries at least one camera and a transmitter used to send images to a base station. Fig. 16 provides a layout of the complete system.

The patent contains nineteen claims, out of which only the following are relevant to our project:

A mobile, powered monitoring system comprising: an array of solar panels; a battery bank of a least one battery electrically connected to the array of solar panels; a landing and connection platform electrically connected to the battery bank; a cable electrically connected to the landing and connection platform; a drone electrically and mechanically connected to the cable, the drone having at least one camera; and a transmitter to allow images captured by the camera to be sent to a base station.

The drone further comprises at least one sensor, including a minimum of: a light sensor, a moisture sensor, a thermometer, and a microphone.

The similarity between our project and this patent’s claims is the utilization of solar panels, a battery bank, a drone, cameras, a transmitter, and sensors. However, our project does not infringe on this patent as there are significant differences in the way in which those components are implemented. Whereas in this patent, the solar panels and the battery bank are placed on the ground, our design mounts these components on the drone, eliminating the need for a ground station. In addition, some of the sensors that our design utilizes include a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a range finder, which are sensors that are not mentioned in this patent. Furthermore, even though both designs contain a camera and a transmitter on the drone itself, our design performs image processing on the photos of the car plates during flight by using a Raspberry Pi and then communicates with an online database via the transmitter to check if the plate numbers are on the system. This process is very different from the process described in the patent where they send part of the information via a cable to the ground station and the other part via the transmitter to a base station. Lastly, the biggest difference between our design and the patent is that our design does not contain a mechanical cable that connects the drone to a station or a landing platform. From this analysis, our team has concluded that our project does not infringe on the presented patent.

This patent [12] was filed in the United States on February 3rd, 2017, and it was granted to its inventors, Gerrit Quast, Rolf Nicodemus, and Stefan Nordbruch, on December 25th, 2018.

Claims Summary

The patent contains eighteen claims, out of which only the following are relevant to our project:

A method for monitoring a parking facility for motor vehicles by utilizing a flying drone.

The monitoring drone encompasses at least one of: a radar sensor, a video sensor, a laser sensor, a lidar sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a magnetic sensor, and an infrared sensor.

The only similarities between our project and this patent are the utilization of a drone to monitor parking facilities and the use of different sensors that are mounted on the drone. However, whereas in this patent the drone monitors a parking lot for security reasons and sends the information back to the parking management facility for further evaluation, our design monitors a parking facility with the purpose of determining if cars are legally or illegally parked. It does so by taking a photo of the car plate, using image processing to determine the plate number, and then wirelessly checking with an online database to see if the plate is in the system. In addition, although this patent utilizes several sensors mounted on the drone (stated in claim 15) in order to gather information, our design only shares the video sensor with this patent and differs on the rest of the sensors that it uses to gather data. From this analysis, our team has concluded that our project does not infringe on the presented patent.

This patent [13] was filed in the United States on July 28th, 2017, under the name of the inventor Simon Gojcaj. It was published on February 1st, 2018 and it is currently in pending status.

This patent consists of a solar power system for a drone. It is designed with the objective of extending the drone’s flight time. The system includes a shell that is adapted for placement on the exterior surface of a drone and is capable of carrying at least one solar cell. The solar power system is connected to a controller in charge of distributing the collected solar energy to various systems of the drone including the batteries and the motors that power the propellers. Fig. 18 illustrates the solar system installed on a drone while Fig. 19 provides a block diagram of how the whole system is connected.

The patent contains fourteen claims, out of which only the following are relevant to our project:

A shell adapted for placement on a drone, the shell comprising: a solar power system including at least one solar cell, the solar cell capable of converting light energy to electricity; and a controller in communication with the solar system and capable of distributing electricity to a power source of the drone.

The solar power system utilizes a photovoltaic cell.

Even though our project shares similar objectives with this patent, our design differs from the one explained in the patent. In the patent, inventors describe a removable shell or cover assembly which can be adapted to a drone in order to extend its flight time. On the other hand, our design consists of a custom drone that already incorporates a fixed solar system which is specifically sized and constructed for our drone with the objective of fully powering the drone by solar power and extending the flight time as much as possible. Our design is not in any way a shell or cover that can be incorporated into other drones. In addition, one of the patent’s claims is the utilization of a photovoltaic cell; however, this is a vague statement as there are several types of photovoltaic cells available in the market. Nevertheless, our team decided to use a different type of photovoltaic cell and will ensure that our project is implemented differently to avoid any type of intellectual property infringement.

In this section, three different patents that share similar ideas with our project have been reviewed with the objective of becoming aware of their designs and avoiding intellectual property infringement. After analyzing each document and meticulously examining their claims, it was demonstrated that our design does not infringe on any of the three patents. Even though our design shares similar components with the first patent, it was shown that our project does not infringe on the patent as there are significant differences in the way in which those components are implemented. In addition, although both our design and the second patent utilize a drone and sensors to perform the required tasks, our applications differ, and the sensors mounted on the drone are completely different. Lastly, despite the fact that both our project and the third patent share the objective of extending a drone’s flight time, our design is completely custom while the patent’s design is an add-on cover that can be mounted on other drones. Due to the significant differences in implementation, objectives, and component selection between our design and the evaluated patents, it can be concluded that the team will not get involved in legal issues with existing patents.