{
  "patent_number": "US 12735210",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Drones Land and Charge Automatically on a Smart Base Station",
  "original_title": "Landing and alignment of an unmanned aerial vehicle with a base station",
  "summary": "This patent describes a smart base station for drones that uses moving parts to guide a drone into place for charging and secure storage.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a base station designed to automatically land and charge an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The base station includes a landing platform that can change its shape, featuring 'alignment members' that move. These members can extend outwards and retract inwards, driven by a 'drive mechanism'. As the alignment members retract, they physically 'engage the UAV', guiding it precisely. This process ensures that the drone's power source lines up perfectly with the base station's 'charging hub' for recharging, and also allows for the 'proper closure of the base station' to secure the drone. For example, a delivery drone returning from a mission would approach the base station, which then uses its moving arms to gently pull the drone into the exact position for charging and safe storage.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover base stations that only use static, non-moving structures for drone alignment.",
    "Does not cover systems where the drone itself performs all final alignment without physical engagement from the base station.",
    "Does not cover base stations that facilitate charging but lack a mechanism for proper closure after the drone is docked.",
    "Does not cover charging systems that do not involve a physical alignment of a power source on the drone with a charging hub on the base station."
  ],
  "filed": "2025-03-26",
  "granted": "2026-09-15",
  "expires": null,
  "status": "active",
  "holder": null,
  "holder_url": null,
  "inventors": [],
  "times_cited": 0,
  "tags": [
    "aerospace",
    "consumer_electronics",
    "software",
    "mechanical"
  ],
  "abstract": "A base station for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a reconfigurable landing platform including alignment members, which engage the UAV and are repositionable between extended and retracted positions, and a drive mechanism, which is connected (secured) to the alignment members to facilitate extension and retraction thereof. During retraction, the alignment members engage the UAV and generally align a power source on the UAV with a charging hub of the base station, which facilitates not only charging of the UAV but proper closure of the base station.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/12735210/landing-and-alignment-of-an-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-with-a-base-station",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/12735210/landing-and-alignment-of-an-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-with-a-base-station/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US12735210",
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}