A Ground Station for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

Abstract

The invention relates to a ground station for a UAV comprising a housing for accommodating a system on chip (SOC) circuit including a control processor for executing software to wirelessly control functions of the UAV, a first screen, and a second screen, wherein one or both screens are controlled directly by the SOC control processor. The housing may comprise a clam shell housing comprising a first housing member for accommodating the control processor and a second housing member movable relative to the first housing member between a first closed position overlaying said first housing member and a second open position. The arrangement is such that the first housing member has mounted thereon the first screen and the second housing member has mounted thereon the second screen such that both screens are viewable by a user when the second housing member is in its open position.

1 . A ground station for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:
 a housing accommodating a control processor for executing software to wirelessly control functions of a UAV;   a first screen; and   a second screen;   wherein the first screen is arranged in a portrait orientation and the second screen is arranged in a landscape orientation with respect to the housing and wherein one or both screens are controlled by the control processor.   
     
     
         2 . The ground station according to  claim 1 , wherein the first screen is positioned below the second screen with respect to the housing when viewed from a normal viewing direction. 
     
     
         3 . The ground station according to  claim 1 , wherein the first screen and the second screen comprise a ‘T’ shaped screen arrangement. 
     
     
         4 . The ground station according to  claim 1 , wherein the housing accommodates a system on chip (SOC) circuit including the control processor. 
     
     
         5 . The ground station according to  claim 4 , wherein both screens are controlled directly by the SOC control processor through a non-wireless connection which is preferably a hard wired connection between the SOC control processor and each of said first and second screens. 
     
     
         6 . The ground station according to  claim 1 , wherein the second screen is larger in size than the first screen. 
     
     
         7 . The ground station according to  claim 5 , wherein the SOC control processor is configured with the Android™ operating system (OS). 
     
     
         8 . The ground station according to  claim 1 , wherein the first screen is configured to display a flight control data and the second screen is configured to display a first person view of image data captured by a camera of the UAV. 
     
     
         9 . The ground station according to  claim 8 , wherein the flight control data comprises a flight control menu and the first screen is positioned between left and right flight control joysticks such that a user operating the joysticks with his thumbs can manually access the flight control menu with his thumbs. 
     
     
         10 . A ground station for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:
 a housing accommodating a system on chip (SOC) circuit including a control processor for executing software to wirelessly control functions of a UAV;   a first screen; and   a second screen;   wherein both screens are controlled directly by the SOC control processor configured with the Android™ operating system (OS) to display two or more applications synchronously.   
     
     
         11 . The ground station according to  claim 10 , wherein the SOC circuit is provided with a first video processing chip to process an incoming HDMI signal to a CSI signal for input to the SOC control processor configured with the Android™ operating system (OS) and a second video processing chip for processing a HDMI signal output by the SOC control processor to a DSI signal. 
     
     
         12 . A The ground station according to  claim 10 , wherein the first screen is an interactive first screen configured to display a photograph editing menu and the second screen is configured to display a photograph to be edited in response to user input received at the first screen. 
     
     
         13 . The ground station according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the control processor is configured to display alert signals simultaneously on both the first screen and the second screen.   
     
     
         14 . A ground station for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) comprising:
 a housing accommodating a control processor for executing software to wirelessly control functions of a UAV;   an interactive first screen; and   a second screen;   wherein the first screen is configured to display a map of a selected area and the second screen is configured to simultaneously display a zoomed out map of the same area but including surrounding areas and wherein, in response to user inputs received at the first screen, the selected map area can be manipulated to thereby select a map are for downloading to the ground station.   
     
     
         15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . The ground station according to  claim 10 , wherein the first screen is an interactive screen configured to display a map of a selected area and the second screen is configured to simultaneously display a zoomed out map of the same area but including surrounding areas and wherein, in response to user inputs at the first screen, the selected map area can be manipulated to thereby select a map area for downloading to the ground station.