Amazon Inc. has filed a number of really fascinating patents in recent months, this the new patent introduced by the Amazon Inc.
Background
The general public uses electronic mobile devices such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, or for numerous performances of daily tasks. This can be quite inconvenient for a user when none of these devices is out of battery power. This is especially true if the user does not have an available charging adapter for the device. Users can ask themselves, or even strangers, to borrow the charging adapter. I n some cases, there cannot be any charging port, or electric outlets in immediate vicinity, charging equipment can be even more cumbersome. Even in cases where charging stations, ports or outlets are available, a user may have to be close to the device.
Patent no. – US9711985bB1
A method, apparatus, and or system for providing an action with respect to a mobile device using a robotic device that tracks the user. In accordance with at least one embodiment, a request to perform an action with respect to an electronic device is received. Information may be sent to one or more robotic devices within proximity of the electronic device. A robotic device of the one or more robotic devices may be selected to perform the action. An indication may be received from the robotic device that indicates that the user has interacted with the robotic device. Instructions may be sent to the robotic device to perform the action with respect to the electronic device. A location of the user may be tracked while charging is performed by the robotic device. The robotic device may be instructed to follow the user at a threshold distance from the user.
Features of the Patent
• Techniques described herein are directed to a charging management system that interacts with a robotic device to provide charging capabilities to a mobile device.
• While at, for instance, an airport, the user’s mobile phone may drop under a threshold of remaining battery power (e.g., 10%). The user may not have a charging cable with him or her, and/or there may not be an electrical outlet nearby.
• Using a charging application on his or her mobile electronic device, e.g., a smartphone, the user may request that a robotic device (hereinafter referred to as a “robot”) come charge his or her phone.
• In the following disclosure, a “robot” is meant to include an autonomous, or semi-autonomous, electro-mechanical device that is guided by a computer program and/or electronic circuitry.
• The request may include at least one of a location of the mobile electronic device, a type of the mobile electronic device, a charge level of the mobile electronic device, or a request time.
• The request may be received wirelessly by a charging management system that manages mobile device charging via robots.
• In response to the request, the charging management system may select a robot from a number of robots and communicate instructions to the robot to cause the robot to travel to the location of the user.
• Upon arriving at the user’s location, the robot may be instructed by the charging management system to present the user with a number of user activities via a user interface.
• “User activities,” as used herein, is meant to refer to actions conducted by the user via the robot including, but is not limited to, viewing an advertisement, participating in a survey, participating in a crowd-sourcing activity that uses human intelligence to perform a task that a computer is incapable of performing, browsing for an item and/or conducting a purchase of the item from an electronic marketplace, using the robot to charge the electronic device using an interface provided by the robot to pay a fee for charging the user’s mobile electronic device, or the like.
• The user may select a user activity option corresponding to the user activity via the user interface and proceed with conducting various user interactions with the robot related to the selected user activity. In some cases, the user may select more than one user activity option.
• The user may participate in the selected user activity in exchange for charging his or her mobile electronic device and/or for entertainment purposes.
• As used herein, “charge” or “charging” refers to charging of an electronic device by a charging robot, “charge” or “charging” is not intended to refer to a payment of a fee, unless specified otherwise. As an overview, an “item” may be a product, a sellable unit, a good, or a service. As used herein, an “electronic marketplace” includes a computer-facilitated market for participants to conduct transactions including commercial and/or financial transactions. A user may have an account with the charging management system and/or the electronic marketplace, and may provide credentials that permit the user to utilize the charging features of the robot.
