Windowsill Chills Beer or Warms Drone-delivered Pizza

And it has solar panels, and it repels pests so they don’t build nests, and it can be used to advertise, and it can make fart noises. OK, maybe not the last one, but this windowsill does nifty stuff that we’ll need once drones start home delivery. It’s going to happen any day now, but there are inherent city problems such as theft and public safety, as there would be mounds of boxes in the street, and more boxes on their way.

As the present application says, today “a doorman for a building [will] accept packages for the building’s tenants. However, this current setup will not work with drones, as drones are incapable of opening doors or ringing bells.”

Here’s how the invention works: a tenant installs this windowsill just outside a window that presumably opens, and orders something from Amazon PrimeAir. The sill has a unique ID that is transmitted to the drone to say “you’re at the right house, let me help you land” (like an NDB for air traffic).

Here’s where the application gets a bit fuzzy, since we have not really created a standard for drone payload delivery yet. In broad strokes, the windowsill has a trapdoor that opens to receive the package, either before or after the drone lands. The storage compartment can have climate control to keep the pizza warm or medication (or beer) cold, and can be accessed only by a pass code, biometric scanning, or a mechanical lock.

The windowsill will have solar panels to supply it with enough juice to send out its signal and operate the trap door, so no wiring will be necessary. However, if wired, it can recharge the drone through induction or other means. It can also be a standalone platform for a field, or if many are attached to an apartment complex, they can be adorned with LED lighting to become a display useful for advertising or such.

Claim 1 is ridiculously broad, an we’ll watch how it is narrowed during prosecution:

A landing pad comprising:

• (a) a landing platform;
• and (b) a storage compartment, wherein said landing platform comprises a trapdoor in a normally closed position which when open exposes the interior of said storage compartment.

Title: “LANDING PAD FOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE DELIVERY”

US Patent Application Publication No: 20150183528

Filed (USA): January 2, 2014

Published: July 2, 2015