Amazon files India patent for drone tech

As part of its efforts to use drones, or autonomous ly controlled aerial vehicles, to handle some of its operations, online marketplace giant Amazon Inc has filed a patent application in India for exclusive rights on multi-scale fiducials, which are marks on any object to help aerial vehicles to identify them from different distances.

While filing a patent application does not mean that the company may get the patent or whether it would use it commercially in India, it is an indication that the company is interested in bringing the technology to India. According to the specifications it has filed with the Indian Patent Office, the multi-scale fiducials would have three or more scales to facilitate identification and tracking at varying distances.

Fiducials are optically recognisable features used in computer vision applications. Common fiducials include grids of black and white blocks of a fixed size and it could be used in various applications, including tracking and detecting orientation of objects including robotics and augmented reality among others.

Earlier, Amazon had filed a patent application in India for a technology to ensure the propellers of a drone to respond if it detects an object like a human or animal on its way.

A video on Amazon website on the Amazon Prime Air — a delivery system to get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less — shows a drone delivering a package at a specific landing, marked with grids of black and white blocks, fixed at the customer premises.