This week in patents: Hover engines, drones and no more delivery drivers

This week, the US patent office issued 5,373 patents. Each patent adds a little something new to the human knowledge base. As we cannot list all five thousand, the PatentYogi team has selected the six most interesting patents.

Google just killed the need for delivery men

Patent Number – US 9,256,852

The patent reveals that these trucks would be fitted with a series of lockers that can be unlocked with a PIN code sent to the person waiting for the delivery before the truck arrives at their location.

A cool holograph display

Patent Number – US 20160042572

Disney has patented a cool holographic style display for handheld devices. The patented display renders an anamorphic projection of 3D scene geometry on a handled device using asymmetric perspective geometry projection. Once the pose of the handheld device is determined, a relative eye position is inferred when the device is tilted away from an initial or default pose, based on data supplied by accelerometers. The invention results in a holographic style display without the need for glasses or external sensing attachments.

Always tip your waiter

Patent Number – US2016004233

Feel confused while tipping? Ebay has patented an intelligent tilling technique that provides statistics (such as average tip, standard tip, etc.) regarding how much consumers usually tip at a particular service provider place based on similar demographics, similar spending patterns, similar number of visits to the merchant, etc.

The service provider can also indicate that the gratuity or portion of the gratuity will be donated to charity.

Indoor GPS

Patent Number – US 9,258,681

Google patents technology to generate models of the indoor spaces like homes and office buildings. The technology can provide turn-by-turn directions to indoor locations, for example, a conference room or exit.

Hover engines

Patent Number – US 9,254,759

Arx Pax patented improved propulsion and control technique for hover engines for its hyperloop transport technology. The technology can also be used in elevators. The hover engines use magnetic fields to induce eddy currents and generate lift and specific magnet configurations are used to generate thrust.

Disney’s drone program

Patent Number – US 20160039541

Disney is going ahead with its drone program. This week they patented robust and autonomous docking and recharging of Quadcopters.

Earlier patents from Disney disclosed Disney’s plans to provide light shows using drones at Disneyland. Watch a video showing how the technology works.

This post is part of our contributor series. The views expressed are the author's own and not necessarily shared by TNW.

Insights