Patent: Canon Getting Into the Drone Market?

[Canon Rumors]

A patent showing drone technology has appeared. It looks like this patent is more about the movement and location of a drone camera, as it measures GPS locations, has an altimeter and can control the horizontal & vertical position of the camera.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if Canon is working on a drone, a drone camera or just random technology pertaining to drones.</p>
<p>Patent Publication No. 2015-106840 (Google Translated)</p>
<ul>
<li>Published 2015.6.8</li>
<li>Filing date 2013.11.29</li>
</ul>
<p>Canon patents</p>
<ul>
<li>And control the angle of the vertical and horizontal direction of the camera</li>
<li>The analysis of the position coordinates from the GPS satellite</li>
<li>The stored the coordinates of the object</li>
<li>Altimeter</li>
</ul>

 

[pedro]

just a suggestion: what about getting their DSLR sensor architecture improved first? :

 

[siegsAR]

Actual DRONES! ;D ;D

 

[Orangutan]

just a suggestion: what about getting their DSLR sensor architecture improved first? :

Canon is not just a camera company, they're a large, diverse tech company. They'll pursue profits wherever the prospects seem good.

 

[pedro]

just a suggestion: what about getting their DSLR sensor architecture improved first? :

Canon is not just a camera company, they're a large, diverse tech company. They'll pursue profits wherever the prospects seem good.

as sure as the sun will rise next morning, I just thought, too much diversity also could distract from real goals. canon for sure are not The Salvation Army, but even we, being an officer (pastor) have to stay with main branches and do the most good within these marks... ;D

 

[Orangutan]

just a suggestion: what about getting their DSLR sensor architecture improved first? :

Canon is not just a camera company, they're a large, diverse tech company. They'll pursue profits wherever the prospects seem good.

as sure as the sun will rise next morning, I just thought, too much diversity also could distract from real goals. canon for sure are not The Salvation Army, but even we, being an officer (pastor) have to stay with main branches and do the most good within these marks... ;D

Fair enough. I guess I just see the "real goals" of a corporation as making profit. Doing well by doing good would be better, but that's not the business climate at the moment.

Remember that drone cameras now qualify as one of the "main branches" of Canon business since they bought that maker of surveillance cameras -- this is just a new application of that tech.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

It sounds like a application for fairly accurate surveying or location.

One application that came to mind, and there are likely a zillion, is for inspecting oil pipelines, and pinpointing the exact location of problems. The ability to locate a object to a close accuracy seems valuable.


Another might be standing off of a military target, out of the range of hearing or defensive sytems, and precisely determining the location of a target. (I'd think they could already do this)

Same for law enforcement work, as was mentioned, surveillance from a distance, yet being able to precisely pinpoint the coordinates.

 

[dhachey77]

I don't see anything new or unique here to merit a patent. This technology has been around for 30 years and is already in commercial products. Looks like a failure of the patent examination system to weed out existing and/or obvious applications. Let's move on folks, noting to see here.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I don't see anything new or unique here to merit a patent. This technology has been around for 30 years and is already in commercial products. Looks like a failure of the patent examination system to weed out existing and/or obvious applications. Let's move on folks, noting to see here.

At least you could point to a product that uses this patent for 30 years!

 

[cannondale1974]

Will be interesting for sure. There are several capable "drones" on the market right now, with DJI leading the way with their Phantom series. (I have the original Phantom and it's VERY good) The patent to control the horizontal, vertical and yaw orientation of the camera is already being implemented with 3 axis gimbals that are widely available. (very cheaply I might add also)