Precision agriculture drone

This invention

This invention is an agricultural drone that pairs multispectral imaging with a precision spray nozzle to find and treat plant diseases at the individual leaf-zone level. As it flies over a field, the drone captures spectral data that reveals disease signatures the eye can't see. It then directs pesticide only to the affected zones, skipping healthy plants entirely. The idea sits in precision agriculture robotics, where UAV technology, computer vision, and targeted agrochemical application meet.

Where it fits

This invention lands in a well-developed corner of precision agriculture where several technology threads converge: Drones & UAVs (B64U), Autonomous Control (G05D), Pest Control (A01M), and Computer Vision (G06V). Filing activity in this result set rose noticeably from 2014 onward, peaking around 2016–2019. That surge reflects real interest in autonomous, sensor-guided field treatment. Pest Control (A01M) is especially concentrated here — roughly 128× the corpus average — which signals a focused, actively pursued direction. Among the most citation-prominent players in this area are BEE ROBOTICS CORPORATION, SZ DJI TECHNOLOGY CO LTD, and THE ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA. The field also touches Clean Transportation (Y02T) more lightly, hinting at adjacent energy-efficiency angles worth a look.

Closest related work

US-11440659-B2 — Precision agriculture implementation method by UAV systems and artificial intelligence image processing technologies (National Formosa University · 4 citations · 2-member family)

Filed in 2022, this recent patent describes a UAV carrying both a multispectral camera and a spray device. It divides a farming area into blocks and uses AI image processing to decide where to spray. It shows how National Formosa University approached block-level targeting: spray decisions happen per grid zone rather than per individual leaf. That difference matters next to a plant-by-plant or leaf-zone approach, and it makes this one of the closest structural matches to the invention's core concept.

US-7848865-B2 — Method and system for applying materials to crops (TSD Integrated Controls LLC · 56 citations · 21-member family)

This patent covers a sensor-equipped applicator that moves over crops, gathers crop data in real time, and delivers material precisely to individual plants. It shows how TSD Integrated Controls built the sensing-to-application pipeline — the tight coupling between a moving sensor head and a responsive nozzle controller. That's directly relevant to how precision targeting has been engineered at the mechanical level.

US-9382003-B2 — Aerial farm robot system for crop dusting, planting, fertilizing and other field jobs (BEE ROBOTICS CORPORATION · 109 citations · 5-member family)

This patent describes small, agile aerial robots that work plant by plant, performing tasks like crop dusting with far more precision than conventional large equipment. It shows how BEE ROBOTICS CORPORATION framed the case for fine-grained aerial treatment: the efficiency and precision gains of operating at the individual plant scale. That makes it a useful conceptual anchor for the design philosophy behind this class of invention.

US-12190395-B2 — Highly responsive farming systems with extraordinary in-season optimization (Climate LLC · 0 citations · 14-member family)

Filed in 2025, this very recent patent describes acquiring remotely sensed digital image data and developing variable-rate agrichemical prescriptions for autonomous vehicles making multiple passes over a field. It shows how Climate LLC approaches the image-to-prescription-to-application loop at a systems level — helpful for understanding how others close the loop between aerial sensing and on-the-ground chemical delivery.

What you can do next

• Explore & build on it. Browse the related work above — new, differentiated ideas often come from combining or improving on existing approaches (a specific spectral band combination for a particular disease, a novel nozzle geometry for leaf-level targeting, or a real-time on-board inference method others haven't pinned down).
• If you'd like to protect it. Filing a provisional application (usually with a patent attorney) is a common first step. Most inventions can be protected in some form — what matters is how broad and defensible that protection is, which is where a patent attorney adds value (a very narrow claim