Let me admit that I’m not sure what to make of Apple’s new patent filing (number 20210259045) for “authorization revocation for unmanned aerial vehicles.” I THINK it involves the ability to keep drones from flying over your property and/or accessing your Wi-Fi or cellular network. Read on and see what you think.
Background of the patent filing
According to techniques described in the patent filing, an unmanned aerial system traffic controller deployed in a cellular network may receive an request from a third party. That requests may be to revoke authorization for a currently registered and authorized wireless device that’s part of an unmanned aerial system connected with the cellular network.
Based on the request, the cellular network may revoke authorization for the wireless device. The wireless device in the unmanned aerial system could be an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) or an unmanned aerial controller. In the case of an unmanned aerial vehicle, the wireless device may be aerial or may be grounded when its authorization is revoked.
If the wireless device is aerial, or possibly even if grounded, the unmanned aerial system traffic management function may navigate the wireless device to a desired location. This command could also include landing the wireless device. This may be accomplished by providing command and control messages from the unmanned aerial system traffic management function to the wireless device.
Summary of the patent filing
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “Apparatuses, systems, and methods for performing authorization revocation for unmanned aerial vehicles. A cellular network element of a cellular network may receive a request to revoke authorization of a wireless device that is an element in an unmanned aerial system. The cellular network element may provide an indication to the wireless device to disconnect from any other elements of the unmanned aerial system based at least in part on the request to revoke authorization.”
