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The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Patent No.:

US 12258152 B1

PDFFull Text
Date of Patent:
Mar. 25, 2025

Filed:

Nov. 22, 2021

Drone delivery system hub for facilitating parcel delivery by unmanned aerial vehicles

Applicant:

United Parcel Service of America, Inc., Atlanta, GA (US);

Inventors:

Julio Gil, Veldhoven, NL;

Thomas Ramsager, Atlanta, GA (US);

Jeff Walp, Atlanta, GA (US);

Assignee:

United Parcel Service of America, Inc., Atlanta, GA (US);

Attorney:

Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.

Primary Examiner:

Joshua J Michener

Assistant Examiner:

Arfan Y Sinaki

Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B64U 70/70 (2023.01); B64F 1/32 (2006.01); B64U 10/14 (2023.01); B64U 80/10 (2023.01); B64U 80/25 (2023.01); B64U 80/40 (2023.01); B64U 101/64 (2023.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
B64U 70/70 (2023.01); B64F 1/32 (2013.01); B64U 80/10 (2023.01); B64U 80/25 (2023.01); B64U 80/40 (2023.01); B64U 10/14 (2023.01); B64U 2101/64 (2023.01);
Abstract

A drone delivery system hub and method for sending for take-off and receiving for landing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The drone delivery system hub includes a center shaft frame, a parcel-conveying system supported by the center shaft frame, structural arms coupled to and extending outward from the center shaft frame in a spoke-like configuration, drone-conveying systems each supported by one of the structural arms, and a linking conveyor span. The drone-conveying system conveys the UAVs along a length of a correspond one of the structural arms toward and away from the center shaft frame. The linking conveyor span selectably rotates to different orientations between different pairs of the structural arms, selectively conveying a UAV thereon between any two of the structural arms. The linking conveyor span is located above the parcel-conveying system such for the UAV thereon to deposit and retrieve parcels from the parcel-conveying system.

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