Patents Assigned to Parrot
  • Patent number: 10326939
    Abstract: The drone comprises a camera, an inertial unit measuring the drone angles, and an extractor module delivering data of an image area (ZI) of reduced size defined inside a capture area (ZC) of the sensor. A feedback-control module dynamically modifies the position and the orientation of the image area inside the capture area, in a direction opposite to that of the angle variations measured by the inertial unit. The sensor may operate according to a plurality of different configurations able to be dynamically selected, with a base configuration using a base capture area (ZCB) for low values of roll angle (?), and at least one degraded mode configuration using an extended capture area (ZCE) of greater size than the base capture area (ZCB), for high values of roll angle (?).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventor: Pierre Eline
  • Patent number: 9563200
    Abstract: The drone (10) comprises an onboard video camera (14) picking up a sequence of images to be transmitted to a remote control. The user selects an exposure mode such as forward or sideways, panoramic or boom plane, tracking, defining a trajectory to be transmitted to the drone. Corresponding setpoint values are generated and applied to a processing subsystem controlling the motors of the drone. Once the drone is stabilized on the prescribed trajectory (38), the exposure by the video camera (14) is activated and the trajectory is stabilized by an open loop control avoiding the oscillations inherent in a servocontrol with feedback loop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventors: Michael Rischmuller, Francois Callou
  • Patent number: 9555897
    Abstract: The drone (10) comprises a camera with a hemispherical-field lens of the fisheye type pointing to a fixed direction (?) with respect to the drone body. A capture area (36) of reduced size is extracted from the image formed by this lens (42), the position of this area being function of the signals delivered by an inertial unit measuring the Euler angles characterizing the attitude of the drone with respect to an absolute terrestrial reference system. The position of this area is dynamically modified in a direction (44) opposite to that of the changes of attitude (38) of the drone detected by the inertial unit. The raw pixel data are then processed to compensate for the geometric distortions introduced by the fisheye lens in the image acquired in the region of the capture area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventors: Pierre Eline, Adrien Fontvielle
  • Patent number: 9488978
    Abstract: The attitude and speed of the drone are controlled by angular commands applied to a control loop (120) for controlling the engines of the drone according to the pitch and roll axes. A dynamic model of the drone, including, in particular, a Kalman predictive filter, represents the horizontal speed components of the drone on the basis of the drone mass and drag coefficients, the Euler angles of the drone relative to an absolute terrestrial reference, and the rotation of same about a vertical axis. The acceleration of the drone along the three axes and the relative speed of same in relation to the ground are measured and applied to the model as to estimate (128) the horizontal speed components of the cross wind. This estimation can be used to generate corrective commands (126) that are combined with the angular commands applied to the control loop of the drone in terms of pitch and roll.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventors: Francois Callou, Gilles Foinet
  • Patent number: 9485562
    Abstract: This headset comprises two earphones (10), each comprising a generally ring-shaped, flexible circumaural or supra-aural pad (16), mounted on a shell (14) receiving a transducer (30). The headset comprises an electronic circuitry powered by a battery, and a battery recharging circuit connected to at least one inductive-coupling recharging coil (20). The coil is housed in a pad (16), and it is housed in a region of the pad (16) that is close to an outer limit plane, on the wearer side, of the envelope (16a, 16b) of the pad, for example near a seam (C) between two portions (16a, 16b) of an envelope of the pad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventors: Jerome Mathieu, David Tea
  • Patent number: 9485564
    Abstract: The system comprises audio headsets able to apply audio processing operations in response to presets that are common to all the headsets, smart terminals provided with audio flow generation means, and communication means to transmit to the headsets an audio flow and presets to be applied to this flow. A preset server memorises the presets associated with works. Certain terminals can generate presets and transmit them to the server, whereas other terminals collect these presets to apply them to the corresponding works at the time of reproducing these latter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventors: Jerome Mathieu, Frederic L'Huilery
  • Patent number: 9466281
    Abstract: The headset includes an active noise control, with an internal ANC microphone (28) placed inside the acoustic cavity (22) and delivering a signal including an acoustic noise component. A digital signal processor DSP (50) comprises a feedback ANC branch (54) applying a filtering transfer function (54, HFB2) to the signal delivered by the ANC microphone, and a mixer (60) for mixing the signal of the feedback branch with an audio signal to be reproduced (M). The headset comprises a movement sensor (64) mounted on one of the earphones. The DSP comprises an anti-saturation module (68) for analyzing concurrently i) the signal delivered by the internal microphone (28) and ii) the signal delivered by the movement sensor (64), and verifying whether current characteristics of these signals fulfill or not a set of predetermined criteria. Upstream from the feedback ANC filter (54), an anti-saturation filter (70, HFB1) is selectively switched as a function of the result of this verification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventors: Vu Hoang Co Thuy, Benoit Pochon, Phong Hua, Pierre Guiu
  • Patent number: 9387927
    Abstract: The drone comprises: a vertical-view camera (132) pointing downward to pick up images of a scene of the ground overflown by the drone; gyrometer, magnetometer and accelerometer sensors (176); and an altimeter (174). Navigation means determine position coordinates (X, Y, Z) of the drone in an absolute coordinate system linked to the ground. These means are autonomous, operating without reception of external signals. They include image analysis means, adapted to derive a position signal from an analysis of known predetermined patterns (210), present in the scene picked up by the camera, and they implement a predictive-filter estimator (172) incorporating a representation of a dynamic model of the drone, with as an input the position signal, a horizontal speed signal, linear and rotational acceleration signals, and an altitude signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: Parrot
    Inventors: Michael Rischmuller, Laure Chevalley, Francois Callou, Etienne Caldichoury
  • Patent number: 9381442
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a toy comprising at least two parallel wheels each comprising a hub (14), a rim (16) provided with a tread (18), and a plurality of spokes (20) made of an elastically deformable material. The unit formed by the hub and the spokes is mounted into the rim under compressive stress on the spokes, so as to produce, by buckling effect, a bending of the spokes curving these latter and offsetting axially the plane of the hub with respect to that of the rim. The unit can hence take two stable positions in the direction of bending of the spokes, i.e. an extended position with an enlarged track and a retracted position with a reduced track. It is just needed to apply an external mechanical effort on the rim, in one direction or the other, to reverse the direction of bending of the spokes, and thus to switch from the extended position to the retracted position, or vice versa.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2016
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventor: Thomas Barse
  • Patent number: 9381443
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a toy including a carriage (12), a pair of wheels (14), a sliding part (16) mobile along the carriage between extended and retracted positions, a spring stressed between the carriage and the sliding part, and means adapted to i) to progressively store a mechanical energy in the spring by displacement of the sliding part towards the retracted position, and ii) to release the thus-stored energy. The sliding part includes an end (32) supporting a jaw (34) and a pad (36). The carriage includes a protruding part (24) supporting another jaw (28) and another pad (30). The carriage may be oriented relative to the ground between several functionally distinct stable positions, with a default position where the toy rests in stable equilibrium on the two wheels and the pad (36), and a pulling/grasping position where the toy rests in stable equilibrium on the two wheels and the other pad (30) and where the second jaws is movable parallel to the ground, further or closer to the first jaw.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2016
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventor: Thomas Barse
  • Patent number: 9359070
    Abstract: Each propulsion unit of the drone comprises a propeller (20) and a rotary-cage synchronous electric motor whose stator is connected to the drone body. The propulsion unit in of the gearless type, the rotor of the motor being rotationally integral with the propeller hub (24). The rotor is integral with an upper flange (56) extending in a radial plane with respect to the axis of rotation. Reversible means are provided for the fast coupling of the propeller to the rotor, implementing studs (62) with an enlarged head (66) formed on the flange, which cooperate with homologous curvilinear buttonholes (32) formed on the hub. The switching from the decoupled position to the locked position is operated by relative rotation of the propeller hub with respect to the flange by a fraction of a turn, in an opposite direction with respect to the direction of rotation of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2016
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventor: Christine Caubel
  • Patent number: 9338547
    Abstract: This method comprises steps of: a) partitioning (10, 16) the spectrum of the noisy signal into a HF part and a LF part; b) operating denoising processes in a differentiated manner for each of the two parts of the spectrum with, for the HF part, a denoising by prediction of the useful signal from one sensor to the other between sensors of a first sub-array (R1), by means of a first adaptive algorithm estimator (14), and, for the LF part, a denoising by prediction of the noise from one sensor to the other between sensors of a second sub-array (R2), by means of a second adaptive algorithm estimator (18); c) reconstructing the spectrum by combining together (22) the signals delivered after denoising of the two parts of the spectrum, respectively; and d) selectively reducing the noise (24) by an Optimized Modified Log-Spectral Amplitude gain, OM-LSA, process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventors: Charles Fox, Guillaume Vitte, Maurice Charbit, Jacques Prado
  • Patent number: 9251418
    Abstract: A camera (10) produces a sequence of images (12) processed by a point of interest search algorithm (14) that is parameterizable with a detection threshold (?) such that the number (N) of points of interest detected in the image varies as a function of the threshold level. The characteristic giving the number (N) of detected points of interest as a function of the threshold (?) is modelled by a square root decreasing exponential function, which is dynamically parameterizable with values linked to the image to be analyzed. The method comprises the steps of: a) determining (18) values of parameterization of the decreasing exponential function for the current image; b) predicting (18), for this current image, an optimum value of the threshold by using the modelled characteristic, parameterized with the values determined at step a); and c) applying (14), for at least one later image, the point of interest search algorithm with the optimum threshold value (?) computed at step b).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: Parrot
    Inventor: Gaspard Florentz
  • Patent number: 9232311
    Abstract: The method comprises the determination of an observation vector that comprises only electrical measurements of the voltage (Umes) at the loudspeaker terminals and of the current (i) passing through the loudspeaker, and a state vector (X) whose components comprise: values of linear parameters of the loudspeaker response such as the electrical (Re) and mechanical (Req) resistance, and polynomial coefficients of nonlinear parameters such as the force factor (BI), the equivalent stiffness (Keq) and the electrical inductance (Le). The voltage and current measurements are applied to an estimator with a predictive filter of the extended Kalman filter incorporating a representation of a dynamic model of the loudspeaker. This filter operates a prediction of the state vector (X) and readjusts this prediction by calculation of an estimate (Uest) of the voltage based on the state vector and on the measured current and comparison of this estimate with the measurement (Umes) of the voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: Parrot
    Inventor: Vu Hoang Co Thuy
  • Patent number: 9164272
    Abstract: An electrowetting optical device is provided comprising a conductive liquid and a non-conductive liquid, the liquids being non miscible, having different refractive indices and forming an interface, wherein the conductive liquid comprises from 5% by weight of a fluorinated salt, based the total weight of the conductive liquid. An apparatus comprising said electrowetting optical device is described as well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventors: Mathieu Maillard, Geraldine Malet, Matthias Stefan Ober, Daniel L. Dermody
  • Patent number: 9139145
    Abstract: A remote control unit carries control keys and possesses in its back face a battery housing with central and peripheral power supply contacts, and also with signal transmission contacts. An active support carries a portion in relief suitable for penetrating into the housing of the unit to take the place of the power supply battery. Two power supply terminals are connected to a power supply line and arranged so as to bear against the respective power supply contacts of the unit when the portion in relief is inserted and locked in the housing of the unit, with the same applying for signal transmission terminals that are arranged on the portion in relief in positions that correspond to the transmission contacts of the unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventors: Hocine Belkhoudja, Flavien Morra, Jean-Francois Vuillet
  • Publication number: 20150216411
    Abstract: A method for interactive adjustment of a parameter of a continuously variable optical lens involving having a subject view an eye chart through a variable lens frame comprising at least one continuously variable optical lens, applying a modulation to a selected parameter of said continuously variable optical lens around an average value, and tuning said average value by minimizing the flickering visible to the subject and due to the modulation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2015
    Publication date: August 6, 2015
    Applicant: PARROT
    Inventors: Hilario Gaton, Eric Simon, Bruno Berge
  • Patent number: 9048799
    Abstract: The method comprises the steps of: a) converting the digital audio signal (PCM) into a voltage signal (VE); b) first lowshelf filtering of fixed gain (G2); c) calculating a value of excursion (x) of the loudspeaker; d) comparing the excursion with a maximum value and calculating a first gain of possible attenuation (G3); e) second lowshelf filtering of gain (G4+G3) taking into account the first gain of possible attenuation; g) comparing with the maximum saturation or clipping voltage (vMAX) and calculating a second gain of possible attenuation (G5); h) third lowshelf filtering gain (G6+G3+G5) taking into account the first and/or second gains of possible attenuation; i) comparing with the maximum saturation or clipping voltage (vMAX) and applying a gain of possible overall attenuation (G7); j) optionally compensating for the nonlinearities of the loudspeaker response; and k) reversely converting the signal (Vs) into a digital audio signal (S) without dimension, for later amplification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventors: Vu Hoang Co Thuy, Benoit Pochon
  • Patent number: 8996247
    Abstract: The equipment comprises a digital processor implementing an operating system requiring a previous boot before the equipment is in an operational state. A start module is operable, when the device is initially in a power-off state, for: producing a triggering signal upon detection (32) of a vibration by a sensor incorporated in the equipment, and activating (34) the processing means so as to initiate the boot of the operating system, but without activating the lighting means of a front display of the equipment, and finally activating these lighting means upon reception (36) of a vehicle start signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Parrot
    Inventor: Guillaume Pinto
  • Patent number: D750178
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: PARROT
    Inventors: Henri Seydoux, Edouard Simoens, Arsène Ferrand