Patent Document ID: 9382797
Application ID: 13318464
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of effecting autonomous operations within a defined geographical region, the method comprising: establishing an autonomous system of a management party for the defined geographical region; establishing in the autonomous system of the management party a plurality of localized zones having operation-defined geographical boundaries within the geographical region, the autonomous system of the management party using parameters of the plurality of localized zones to create a plurality of controllers such that each one of the plurality of controllers is associated with a respective one of the localized zones, wherein each controller is configured in a hierarchy determined by the spatial location of the localized zones in the geographical region; employing autonomous entities having autonomous operating systems to perform specific autonomous operations within respective ones of the localized zones, wherein the autonomous entities comprise at least one mobile autonomous entity; combining information from a plurality of sensors to form a common operating picture of the geographic region and the autonomous entities; and integrating the autonomous system of the management party with the autonomous operating systems of the autonomous entities, wherein said integrating comprises: registering, in the autonomous system of the management party, the autonomous entities with respective corresponding controllers of the localized zones so as to associate supervisory control of the autonomous entities with the respective corresponding controllers; and the autonomous system of the management party, through the associated controllers of the respective localized zones, issuing commands to the autonomous operating systems of the registered autonomous entities in order to direct the autonomous operations of the registered autonomous entities within the respective localized zones; controlling movement of the mobile autonomous entity between localized zones by the autonomous system of the management party; registering the mobile autonomous entity with a respective corresponding controller of a different localized zone if the mobile autonomous entity moves into the different localized zone.