Virtual Fences for Drones, Among Other Advantages

On a quest to find drone geofencing, this interesting invention appeared. Essentially, the application describes a database of property lines. The database would make it possible to assign certain permissions to users for various uses (mineral rights, etc.) of real estate. The virtual fencing would come with the real estate’s title, and would give the rights-owner legal permission to tell someone to get off their lawn.

What does this have to do with drones, you might ask? Quite a lot. First of all, it may be used as a gateway to private airspace control. If you don’t want a neighbor flying a drone over your pool, you may be able to exclude your zone from a yes-fly list on the database, presuming future drones will be sold with a mandatory periodic upload of the database boundaries.

Secondly, as the application points out, “the owner of the surface rights of real property could also have an interest in receiving deliveries from drones or drones landing for pickups of packages or mail. Permissions in these circumstances can include (1) the right to enter the boundaries of the real property and (2) the right to movement within the boundaries of the real property.”

The application discloses a secured virtual ‘key’-based permissions system.

“The at least one virtual key can be passed between the owner of the drone rights and the drone or an authorized third party controlling the drone at the time of purchase of an item or the time of request for a pickup of a package or mail. The at least one virtual key can also be passed at a time before any purchases or requests have been made. The at least one virtual key grants rights in perpetuity in one embodiment. In another embodiment, the at least one virtual key grants temporary rights within a certain time period (i.e., during a certain month, week, day, hour, or other predetermined time frame such as between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM on Nov. 12, 2015). The at least one virtual key grants the right to a predetermined path of movement within the real property in one embodiment. In another embodiment, the at least one virtual key grants the right to a predetermined landing point, regardless of movement within the real property. In yet another embodiment, the at least one virtual key grants the right for a drone to fly over the real property. In a further embodiment, the at least one virtual key grants the right to deliver a package or mail and leave. In yet another embodiment, the at least one virtual key grants the right to drop a package without landing. In another embodiment, the at least one virtual key requires that the drone stay on the real property until receiving confirmation that the package or mail has been delivered. The confirmation could be a person removing the package or mail from the drone. A code is required to remove or “unlock” the package or mail from the drone in one embodiment. The confirmation could also be a person pressing a confirmation button on the drone. The at least one virtual key includes varying instructions for delivery based on weather, time of day, temperature, and package type in another embodiment. Preferably, the rights to movement and landing within the boundaries of the real property are defined within feet. Even more preferably, the rights to movement and landing within the boundaries of the real property are defined within inches. Even more preferably, the rights to movement and landing within the boundaries of the real property are defined within millimeters. Even more preferably, the rights to movement and landing within the boundaries of the real property are defined within microns.”

That’s right, microns. So when nanobots are delivering our DNA-healing kits, this patent will still control their movements.

Claim 1 seems unpatentable, since there is no disclosed hardware. That’s not hard to rectify in prosecution, just add some computer components into the mix.

Claim 1. A system for managing real estate titles and permissions comprising: a real estate titles and permissions platform including a database, wherein the database includes at least one master key associated with at least one geographic designator and at least one title and/or at least one permission associated with the at least one master key; wherein the database is operable to display at least one of the at least one title and/or the at least one permission associated with the at least one master key upon receiving a request including the at least one geographic designator, and wherein each of the at least one title and/or the at least one permission has at least one owner.

Title: “Systems and Methods for Managing Real Estate Titles and Permissions”

US Patent Application No: 20160035054

Filed (US prov): Jun. 2, 2015

Published: February 4, 2016

Applicant: GeoFrenzy, Inc.