System and method for supporting movable object application development

Abstract

Systems and methods can support application development in a movable object environment. A movable object manager can establish a connection with a movable object, and receives one or more data packets from the movable object. Then, the movable object manager can provide information in said one or more data packets to an application on a user terminal.

1 .- 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . A system for authenticating applications requesting control of a movable object, comprising:
 one or more processors; and   an application development environment, running on the one or more processors, wherein the application development environment operates to:
 assign an application key to an application; 
 transmit the application key to a user terminal on which the application is deployed; 
 receive, from the application deployed on the user terminal, an activation request including a request for at least one privilege to control the movable object by the user terminal and the application key associated with the application; and 
 determine, based on the application key, whether the at least one privilege should be granted to the application. 
   
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the application development environment further operates to:
 generate, responsive to determining the requested control of the movable object should be granted, a response including a grant of the at least one privilege to the application; and   send, to the application deployed on the user terminal, the response including the grant of the at least one privilege.   
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the application development environment further operates to:
 generate, responsive to determining the requested control of the movable object should not be granted, a response including a denial of the at least one privilege to the application; and   send, to the application deployed on the user terminal, the response including the denial of the at least one privilege.   
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the movable object is an unmanned aircraft, an unmanned vehicle, or a robot. 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein controlling the movable object comprises transmitting, from the user terminal, control signals to the movable object to control at least one hardware module associated with the movable object. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein:
 the activation request includes a request to control the at least one hardware module associated with the movable object.   
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 36 , wherein:
 the request to control the at least one hardware module associated with the movable object comprises a request to receive information corresponding to the at least one hardware module associated with the movable object.   
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein:
 the at least one hardware module includes at least one of a camera component, a gimbal component, a communication component, or a flight controller component.   
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein:
 controlling the movable object comprises using an interface for accessing the movable object.   
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein:
 the interface is a ground station component associated with a flight controller component of the movable object; and   the activation request includes a request to perform one or more flight control operations using the ground station component.   
     
     
         41 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the application development environment further operates to determine whether the at least one privilege should be granted to the application based on one or more policies, the one or more policies including a maximum installation number. 
     
     
         42 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein the application development environment further operates to:
 deny the at least one privilege when a count of applications requesting control of the movable object exceeds or equals to the maximum installation number.   
     
     
         43 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein the application development environment further operates to:
 grant the at least one privilege when a count of applications requesting control of the movable object is less than the maximum installation number.   
     
     
         44 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the application development environment further operates to:
 receive an application identifier associated with the application;   assign the application key to the application based on the application identifier, wherein the application key binds uniquely with the application identifier associated with the application.   
     
     
         45 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the application development environment further operates to:
 associate the application key with a set of privileges; and   determine whether the at least one privilege requested by the application is within the set of privileges associated with the application key assigned to the application.   
     
     
         46 . The system of  claim 45 , wherein the application development environment further operates to:
 responsive to determining that the at least one privilege requested by the application is within the set of privileges, grant the at least one privilege to the application.   
     
     
         47 . The system of  claim 45 , wherein the application development environment further operates to:
 responsive to determining that the at least one privilege requested by the application is not within the set of privileges, deny the at least one privilege requested by the application.   
     
     
         48 . A method for authenticating applications requesting control of a movable object, comprising:
 assigning, by an authentication server, an application key to an application;   transmitting, by the authentication server, the application key to a user terminal on which the application is deployed;   receiving, by the authentication server, from the application deployed on the user terminal, an activation request including a request for at least one privilege to control the movable object by the user terminal and the application key associated with the application; and   determining, by the authentication server, whether the at least one privilege should be granted to the application based on the application key.   
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 48 , further comprising:
 generating, responsive to determining the requested control of the movable object should be granted, a response including a grant of the at least one privilege to the application; and   sending, to the application deployed on the user terminal, the response including the grant of the at least one privilege.   
     
     
         50 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium with instructions stored thereon, that when executed by a processor, cause an authentication server to perform the steps comprising:
 assigning an application key to an application;   transmitting the application key to a user terminal on which the application is deployed;   receiving, from the application deployed on the user terminal, an activation request including a request for at least one privilege to control the movable object by the user terminal and the application key associated with the application; and   determining, based on the application key, whether the at least one privilege should be granted to the application.