FR2957265A1 - Method for implementing remote control apparatus e.g. Iphone type cellular telephone used to remotely control helicopter, involves activating control command based on analysis results - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves detecting contact of a finger in a contact point indifferent from a predefined touch zone (68) of a touch screen (18). A control icon (70) is displayed at the point, where the control icon has a mobile icon (72) whose display position on the screen follows displacement of the finger on the screen from an initial position to a shifted position. Displacement of the mobile icon is detected. Direction and/or amplitude and/or speed of displacement of the mobile icon with respect to the initial position are analyzed. A control command is activated based on analysis results. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) a remote control apparatus comprising a detecting unit for detecting a contact of a finger (2) a software comprising a set of instructions for implementing a method for implementing a remote control apparatus.

Description

The invention relates to remote control drones, including rotary wing drones such as helicopters, quadcopters and the like. A typical example of such drones is the AR.Drone of Parrot SA, Paris, France, which is a quadricopter equipped with a series of sensors (accelerometers and three-axis gyrometers, altimeter, vertical sighting camera) and a system automatic hover stabilization system whose principle is described in WO 2009/109711 (Parrot). The drone is also equipped with a front camera capturing an image of the scene towards which the drone is heading. The automatic stabilization system allows the drone to automatically obtain a balance point and, when this equilibrium point is reached, to make the necessary corrections to maintain the fixed point by trimming, that is to say ie by correction of the small variations of translation due to external effects such as air movements and sensor drift. This drone is driven by the user by means of a remote remote control device, hereinafter referred to as "device", connected to the drone by a radio link such as a Wi-Fi wireless network type link (IEEE 802.11). ) or Bluetooth (registered trademarks). Particularly advantageously, the drone can be controlled by means of a remote control device comprising a touch screen, wireless transmitter / receiver means, as well as two-axis inclination sensors forming attitude sensors of the housing of the device relative to a reference vertical linked to a terrestrial reference system. The screen of the device reproduces the image of the on-board front camera, transmitted by the wireless link, and various control and command symbols are superimposed on this image so as to enable activation of these commands by finger contact. of the user on the touch screen.

The user actually has two different modes of control, activatable at will. The first driving mode, hereinafter referred to as "autopilot mode" is the default driving mode, and it implements the autonomous and autonomous stabilization system of the drone. The displacement of the drone is defined as a shift from a stable state to another stable state, the corresponding change of the fixed point being operated by autonomous commands (the simplest autopilot mode consisting of simply serving the drone fixed point). The second driving mode, hereinafter referred to as "reactive mode", is a mode in which the piloting of the drone is operated more directly by the user, by means of a combination of: on the one hand, signals transmitted by the inclination detector of the device: for example, to advance the drone the user tilts his device according to the corresponding pitch axis, and to deport the drone to the right or left it inclines the same device by relative to the roll axis; and - on the other hand, commands available on the touch screen, in particular "up / down" (corresponding to a throttle command) and "right turn / left turn" (pivoting of the drone around an axis of 15 lace). Switching from the autopilot mode to the reactive mode is done by pressing a specific symbol displayed on the touch screen. Pressing this symbol immediately activates the reactive mode, which remains active as long as finger contact is maintained there. Pilotage is then obtained by inclining the apparatus and / or manipulating the "up / down" and "right turn / left turn" symbols displayed on the touch screen. The autopilot mode (for example implemented in the manner described in the aforementioned WO 2009/109711) is activated as soon as the user removes his finger from the corresponding symbol. This way of proceeding allows a very effective and intuitive management; however, it has several disadvantages. A first disadvantage is that, for the deactivation of the autopilot mode, and to switch to piloting in reactive mode, the user must keep the screen of the device, in order to put his finger precisely in the place where is the symbol corresponding to the command he wants to activate (activation / deactivation of the autopilot mode, up / down, right turn / left turn around a yaw axis). This obligation is generally perceived by the user as a constraint, since he must then leave the eyes of the drone - precisely when he takes the hand to pilot the drone in reactive mode, which is awkward because then the drone is piloting at sight and it is not good to leave the eyes. It is indeed much easier to control the evolutions of the drone by looking at it, rather than with the video return of the onboard camera, which does not allow to perceive certain obstacles out of the field of the camera (ceiling in a space closed, etc.). In any case, the reactive mode, if it includes intuitive controls (inclination control of the device along two axes), requires to continue to watch the screen for the up / down and rotation controls according to the yaw axis (control by pressing symbols displayed on the touch screen). A second drawback is that, for intuitive control commands by tilting the device in one direction or the other on two axes, it is necessary to hold the device flat. This way of proceeding is troublesome especially outdoors, because a reflection of the sun can prevent to see properly the screen of the device; to avoid this reflection, the user will tilt his device, but in this case it will no longer be possible to switch to reactive mode since the device will no longer be horizontal. A third disadvantage is that the reactive mode control requires the simultaneous use of two fingers, with a finger of the left hand for activation of the right / left rotation commands, and a finger of the right hand for activation of up / down commands (or vice versa). If the user wants to operate another feature, for example a virtual firing order by pressing a "firing" symbol displayed on the touch screen, it will be necessary that he leaves a command to press with his finger on it symbol. A fourth drawback is that five touch zones are only defined for piloting, and thus the simultaneous use of both fingers often masks messages or information essential for the user. A fifth disadvantage is that left-handed and right-handed people can not be used in the same way, as the controls are not symmetrical.

The object of the invention is to overcome these various disadvantages, by providing a touch screen remote control device of the type presented above: which does not require to look at the screen (i) or to switch from the automatic mode. 5 driven in the reactive mode and vice versa, nor (ii) to operate the symbol control commands of the reactive mode; - which leaves the user free to hold his device tilted throughout the pilot phase in reactive mode; which requires only one finger of a hand for control in reactive mode, grouping all the control commands activated via the touch screen (up / down, right turn / left turn), the another hand is thus released, in particular for the activation of special functions such as the triggering of a virtual shot; which, finally, is compatible with the use of a video eye-type remote display device 15 to enable "head-up display" type control. To this end, the invention proposes a method for implementing a remote control apparatus, this apparatus being, in known manner, constituted of a portable apparatus comprising: a touch screen; means adapted to detect at least one finger contact of a user on the surface of the screen, and to determine the position of the at least one point of contact of the finger with respect to a corresponding symbol displayed on the screen. screen; and wireless data transmission means, able to issue commands to the drone. Control commands are activated by contact and / or movement of the finger at the location of corresponding pilot symbols displayed on the screen. In a characteristic manner of the invention, the method comprises the steps of: a) detecting finger contact at any point of contact with at least one predefined area of the screen; b) display on the screen, at this point of contact, a driving icon comprising a mobile icon whose display position on the screen follows the possible movement of the point of contact of the finger on the screen since an initial position to an offset position; c) detecting this movement of the moving icon; d) motion detection, direction and / or amplitude analysis and / or speed of displacement relative to the initial position; and g) activation of a control command depending on the result of this analysis. Advantageously, the method further comprises, after analyzing the di-rection and / or the amplitude and / or the speed of movement of the finger relative to the initial position, a step e) of discrimination of the piloting control to activate in step g) among several different control commands, depending on the direction of movement. This control command to be activated in the step may notably be a command for raising or lowering the drone, when the direction of travel is mainly oriented upwards or downwards, respectively, with respect to the direction of the flight. image displayed on the touch screen, and / or a rotation command to the left or right around a yaw axis of the drone, when the direction of movement is mainly oriented to the left or to the right, respectively, relative to in the sense of the image displayed on the touch screen. The method can furthermore provide, after analyzing the direction and / or the amplitude of the displacement with respect to the initial position, a step f) of quantizing said control command to be activated in step g) as a function of the amplitude of said displacement.

When it comes to remotely controlling a rotary wing drone equipped with a selectively activatable autonomous stabilization system hovering in the absence of control transmitted by the device, the autonomous stabilization system is advantageously deactivated in response to the detecting the finger contact in step a), remains off after step a) for the duration of finger contact being detected, and is activated in response to detecting a loss of that contact. In an advantageous variant, it is intended to define around the point of contact detected in step a) a neutral zone such that the autonomous stabilization system remains activated as long as the position of the current contact point of the finger is located at inside this neutral zone. Preferably, the pilot icon displayed in step b) comprises, in addition to the moving icon, a fixed marker icon whose display position is maintained at the initial position of the point of contact of the finger on the screen even if consecutive displacement of this point of contact.

Very advantageously, in the case of an apparatus comprising means for detecting the inclination of the apparatus along two axes with respect to a reference neutral axis of a terrestrial reference, the detection of the contact of the finger in step a ) activates steps for recording the direction of the earth's vertical relative to the fixture mark at the time of contact detection, and for designating that vertical as a new reference axis. A steering control in rotation along a pitch axis and / or along a roll axis may in particular be activated according to the inclination of the device respectively detected according to one and / or the other of said two axes relative to to the reference axis. In an advantageous variant, it is intended to define a neutral angular field around the reference axis such that the tan-gage and roll commands are only activated for inclination of the apparatus beyond this angular range. neutral. On the other hand, it is possible to provide that the autonomic stabilization system of the drone is disabled only for tilting the device beyond this neutral angular range. The apparatus may optionally be coupled to a remote display device, in particular to video glasses, with duplication on the remote periphery of the piloting icon displayed on the screen, so as to produce a head-type display. high. The method may furthermore provide for the transmission of an alert signal when the minimum distance between the contact point detected in step a) and the edge of the predefined area of the screen is less than a predetermined distance. born. It can also provide the definition around the contact point detected in step a) of a neutral zone such that the displacement of the control icon in steps c) and d) is taken into account only if the offset position is beyond said neutral zone.

Alternatively, this neutral zone may be such that the displacement of the control icon in steps c) and d) is taken into account only if the speed of the displacement of the point of contact of the finger on the screen relative to the initial position is greater than a predetermined minimum threshold. In the case of a reverse displacement of the contact point with a speed of travel greater than another predetermined minimum threshold, then a step of resetting the initial position is provided, the new initial position being redefined by the completion point of said reverse movement. The subject of the invention is also a device for remote control of a drone comprising the means for implementing the method set out above, as well as software downloadable in such an apparatus, comprising instructions capable of implementing this method.

We will now describe an example of implementation of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which the same reference numerals de-sign from one figure to another identical or functionally similar elements. Figure 1 is an overall view showing the drone and the associated remote control apparatus for controlling it. Figure 2 is an example showing the different images and symbols displayed on the screen of the remote control device, in the case of the state of the art. Figure 3 is homologous to Figure 2, in the case of the invention.

Figures 4 and 5 illustrate how it is possible to control various piloting functions by moving a single finger on the touch screen of the apparatus. Figure 6 is the counterpart of Figure 3, in the case of a simplified variant.

Figure 7 illustrates a pair of video glasses connected to the remote control device to form a remote display type "head-up display". In Figure 1, reference numeral 10 generally denotes a drone, which is for example a quadricopter such as the AR.Drone model of Parrot SA, Paris, France. This drone comprises four coplanar rotors 12 whose engines are controlled independently by an integrated navigation system and attitude control. The drone 10 also includes a front camera 14 for obtaining an image of the scene towards which the drone is directed. The drone is equipped with an autonomous stabilization system hovering in the absence of any external command applied by a user. This system, described for example in the aforementioned WO 2009/109711, makes it possible in particular to make the necessary corrections to maintain the equilibrium of the fixed point by appropriate trimming commands, that is to say commands correction of translation variations due to external effects such as air movement and drift of sensors. The drone 10 is controlled by a remote remote control device 16, which is a device provided with a touch screen 18 displaying the image picked up by the on-board camera 14 of the drone, with in superposition a certain number of symbols allowing the activation of commands by simply touching the finger 20 of a user on the touch screen 18. The apparatus 16 is further provided with radio link means with the drone enabling the bidirectional exchange of data: from the drone 10 to the apparatus 16 in particular for the transmission of the image captured by the camera 14, and the camera 16 to the drone 10 for sending pilot commands. This radio link can be for example type Wi-Fi local network (IEEE 802.11) or Bluetooth (registered trademarks). The device 16 may be in particular a multimedia device or a personal digital assistant, for example a cellular phone of the iPhone type or a multimedia player of the iPod Touch type (trademarks of Apple Inc., USA), which are devices incorporating the various control devices necessary for the detection of control commands and the exchange of data with the drone by Wi-Fi type wireless link. The control of the drone 10 consists of changing it by: a) rotation around the a pitch axis 22, to advance or retract; and / or b) rotating around a roll axis 24, to move it to the right or to the left; and / or c) rotation about a yaw axis 26, to pivot to the right or to the left the main axis of the drone, therefore the pointing direction of the front camera and the direction of progression of the drone; and / or d) translation downwards 28 or upwards 30 by changing the speed of the gases, so as to respectively reduce or increase the altitude of the drone. When these piloting commands are applied directly by the user from the remote control device 16 (so-called "reactive mode" piloting), the commands a) and b) pivoting about the tire shafts 22 and roll 24 are obtained intuitively by inclination of the apparatus 16 respectively about the longitudinal axis 32 and the transverse axis 34: for example, to advance the drone simply tilt the device to the before around the axis 32, to deport to the right just tilt the device around the axis 34 to the right, etc. The commands c) and d), as for them, result from actions applied by contact of the user's finger 20 with corresponding specific areas of the touch screen 18.

Figure 2 illustrates the different images and symbols displayed on the screen 18 of the remote control device, in the case of the state of the art. The screen 18 reproduces the scene 36 captured by the front camera 14 of the drone, with superimposed on this image a number of symbols 38 ... 66 which are displayed to deliver information on the operation of the drone, and for enable by tactile activation the triggering and sending of corresponding pilot commands. The apparatus thus displays at 38 information concerning the state of the battery, at 40 the signal level of the link between the apparatus and the drone, and at 42 access to a menu of adjustments.

The display also displays a symbol 44 for activating the reactive mode. Simply pressing this symbol 44 causes the immediate passage of the drone in reactive mode. Its release leads to the transition to the autopilot mode with stabilization at the fixed point reached in the absence of control, the fixed point then being held motionless by the stabilization system integrated with the drone. For the control in reactive mode, the user has, in addition to the commands generated by inclinations of the device, touch controls with including arrows of rise 46 / descent 48 and left turn rotation 50 / right 52.

The user also has the display of elevation data 56 and inclination 58, as well as a collimator 60 giving the pointing direction of the camera on board, and therefore the main axis of the drone. Various additional symbols are also provided, such as automatic take-off / landing command at 62, triggering of an emergency procedure at 64 and a virtual shooting reticle at 66. In a manner characteristic of the invention, these piloting commands are modified. As illustrated in FIG. 3. With reference to FIG. 2, it will be noted in particular that the symbols 44 for activating / deactivating the reactive mode, 46 for ascending / lowering and 50, 52 for turning in yaw are deleted and replaced by the display of a single specific icon 70. When the apparatus is in the autopilot mode, this specific icon 70 does not appear.

The display of this icon 70 is obtained as soon as the user puts his finger on any point of an area 68 of the screen, for example a large area consisting of the right half of the screen 18 except symbols corresponding to touch commands already reserved (symbols 62 and 64 in particular). The icon 70 appears under the finger of the user when the user places his finger, for example his right thumb, on any point of this zone 68. This touch of the finger on any point of the zone 68 when the device is in autopilot mode will, more precisely, produce following actions: - reading the data of the inclination sensors of the device, to determine the inclination thereof (position along the two axes tan-gage 32 and roll 34 relative to the absolute vertical in a terrestrial reference) at the moment of contact with the finger, and definition of this position as the new neutral position for the subsequent application of inclined controls ; deactivation of the autopilot and activation of the reactive mode (subject to the definition of a "neutral zone" around the point of contact, as will be explained below); - display of the icon 70 under the finger of the user - which confirms the good performance of the previous actions; providing under the finger of the user of up / down commands and left rotation / right rotation, as will be described below. This state lasts as long as the finger remains pressed on the zone 68, stationary or in motion. As soon as the touch of the finger is released, the reverse actions of the previous ones will be executed, with reactivation of the autopilot and disappearance of the icon 70. The icon 70 is in fact made up of two icons initially superimposed, namely a moving icon. 72 and a fixed landmark icon 74. The landline icon 74 will remain displayed at the initial point of contact of the finger with the screen, while the mobile icon 72 will follow the movements of the finger on the same screen around the point of contact. the finger remaining in contact with the surface of the touch screen, by sliding on it.

In a variant, we can add a horizontal axis on the graph of the icon, which will go up and down depending on the pitch pitch achieved, and will look according to the pitch roll realized. The icon will be similar to the representation of the horizon, so that the user will have a visual feedback of the tilt control performed. This variant is particularly advantageous with a "head-up" vision system such as that described below with reference to FIG. 7. FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate various relative positions of the moving icon 72 with respect to FIG. fixed icon 74. The apparatus detects the current position of the moving icon 72 relative to the fixed icon 74 and determines which quadrant is the center of the moving icon 72 relative to the center of the fixed icon. 74 on the surface of the screen: north, south, east, west ("north quadrant" means the quadrant corresponding to a direction of ± 45 ° relative to the relative vertical direction of the screen, and similarly the other quadrants, mutatis mutandis). The apparatus also evaluates the distance between the moving icon and the center of the fixed icon 74. If the moving icon 72 is: - in the south quadrant, as shown in Figure 4 (a), this is interpreted as an order "descent" (equivalent to pressing symbol 48 in the case of Figure 2), and a corresponding command is sent to the drone; in the north quadrant, as shown in Figure 4 (b), this is interpreted as a "climb" command (equivalent to pressing the symbol 46 in the case of Figure 2), and a corresponding command is sent to the drone; in the western quadrant, as shown in Figure 5 (a), this is interpreted as a "left turn" command (equivalent to a press on the symbol 50 in the case of Figure 2), and a corresponding command is sent to the drone; in the east quadrant, as shown in Figure 5 (b), this is interpreted as a "right yaw turn" command (equivalent to a press on symbol 52 in the case of Figure 2), and a corresponding command is sent to the drone.

Advantageously, the command is not an "all or nothing" command, but a command whose amplitude is modulated according to the difference measured between the moving icon and the fixed icon: the command is then proportional to this distance, or modulated according to another law, for example logarithmic.

Note that all commands are accessible simultaneously and can be combined with each other. For example, the user places the finger, then tilts the device to the left: the drone goes to the left ... He shifts his finger to the left: the drone leans and turns in a yaw at the same time as his left turn ... He moves his finger upwards: the drone goes up in concentric circles, and so on. It is also very easy to have proportional controls (that is to say, not operating simply "all or nothing"): the further the aircraft is leaning forward, the faster the drone moves forward ... more the finger is moved upwards, the higher the climbing speed ... the more the finger is moved to the left, the more the yaw control is accentuated, etc. It is thus possible to control the drone on the three axes of a single finger, while also controlling the engine speed by the up / down command. These simple commands are transformed by the autopilot of the drone into complex commands which, in addition to the piloting instructions, control the stability of the drone at all the attitudes. Various particular methods of implementation can be envisaged.

In particular, when the initial contact of the finger on the screen is too close to the edge of the touch zone 68, some commands may be impossible to achieve, or only with too little travel. If such a situation is detected, the device briefly activates an alarm, for example a vibrator, to signal to the user that his finger is not properly placed.

The control software is however activated, to respond to commands in the appropriate manner despite the limitations resulting from the position of the finger. Moreover, a triggering threshold for the piloting commands can be provided, these being generated only beyond a minimum distance between the moving icon and the fixed icon, which amounts to to define a neutral zone around the fixed icon 74. Or, and preferably, the triggering threshold of the commands such as the control command is taken into account only if the speed of the displacement of the finger on the screen is greater than a predetermined minimum. This avoids the latency due to the fact that, in the previous case, it was necessary to wait for the finger to have passed the neutral zone to generate the command, adding an additional inconvenient delay to control the drone. The corollary of this other way of proceeding is that one does not return exactly to the initial point of contact. It is therefore necessary to pre-see a floating neutral point, redefined at the point where the finger stops at the end of the return movement (end of the activation of the command). In other words, during the reverse displacement of the contact point (with a speed of displacement greater than another predetermined minimum threshold), there will be a registration of the initial position, the new initial position being redefined by the point of contact. completion of this reverse movement. For example, as soon as the user moves his finger at a certain speed upwards, this is interpreted as a climb order. And as soon as he moves his finger down, this means that he wants to interrupt the climb 35 (it is not necessary to move the finger to the initial neutral point, just slide your finger down at a certain speed to inter-break the command). It is possible, however, that the finger has been moved less downwards than upwards, and the device must take into account restore the neutral point where the finger will have stopped.

In another variant, the activation of the reactive mode can be controlled by switching the apparatus according to any axis, beyond a predefined minimum threshold threshold value. In another variant, it may be interesting to separate the commands to simplify the piloting of the drone by novi-10 users. This variant is illustrated in FIG. 6, which is homologous to FIG. 3 in this simplified variant. Some of the controls are available to the right hand and the other part is available in the left hand. In the example, a finger of the right hand 15 is used for yaw control and up / down control, the left hand being used for pitch and roll rotation commands. The screen is divided for this purpose into two zones 76, 78 for each of the commands, and in each zone a respective icon 80, 82 appears when the user places his finger there. The icon 82 is identical to the driving icon of the embodiment of Figures 3 to 5, while the icon 80 merely indicates that the finger is on the screen. The new steering mode just described has, in general, multiple advantages. First, the fundamental principle is preserved, which is to "take control" by simply pointing at a point on the screen, and order a fixed point (switch to the autopilot mode) by the simple fact of " let go of the orders ". In this way an inexperienced user can take control of the drone very easily 30 But in the case of the invention, to "take orders", that is to say go into reactive mode, it is no longer necessary to press on a specific fixed area; just put your finger on a fairly wide area of the screen, concretely on any point of the right half in the example shown. This can be done intuitively without looking at the screen.

Second, once the finger is placed (and maintained) on this area, the contact point becomes the center of the command, and it becomes possible to control the drone with one finger: by moving the finger to the right l the user controls the yaw control to the right and he rotates the drone turns clockwise, and n moving his finger to the left, he controls the yaw control to the left. turn the drone turns in the opposite direction; by moving his finger upward, he makes the drone rise; by moving it downward, it makes it descend. The other commands are given by the inclination of the drone around the two main axes of the aircraft: - by tilting the aircraft forward, the drone leans forward and advances, by tilting the aircraft towards the back, the drone leans back and back; - by turning the aircraft to the left, the drone leans to the left and goes to the left, by tilting the aircraft to the right, the drone leans to the right and moves to the right. These four commands may possibly be accompanied by a neutral zone, for example by providing a minimum angle to be given to the apparatus when it is tilted to execute roll or pitch control, or by moving a certain minimum distance the finger beyond the contact point for yaw control and altitude control. It should be noted that the use of a single finger makes it less possible to hide the messages or information essential for the user. In addition, left-handed and right-handed users can be used in the same way, since the tactile zone for the contact point covers both the left and right sides of the screen. In addition, the activation of the firing can be done with a finger of the hand opposite to that passing the control commands, on a defined area in the opposite part of the screen. finally, in the case of the simplified variant described above with reference to Figure 6, the orders are not grouped under the same finger, which makes the coordination of orders simpler for a novice user. Thirdly, another important development is that it is no longer necessary to keep the unit flat.

Previously, to control the inclination of the drone on two axes by tilting the device, it was necessary in the reactive steering mode to put your finger on a specific point of the screen with the device held flat. In the case of the invention, when the user places his finger on the screen to switch to reactive mode, the direction of the vertical (orientation in a terrestrial absolute reference) is recorded, and this direction is used as a new direction of rotation. reference, that is to say as the neutral point of the orders. It is therefore possible to activate the reactive mode even on an inclined device, which makes the device much more convenient to use and in particular avoids the reflection of the sun on the surface of the screen when the drone is controlled outdoors. Fourthly, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the piloting mode just indicated is particularly suitable for the use of a video-eye-type remote display 84 in combination with the apparatus 16. These glasses are consisting of two LCD displays assembled to an eyeglass frame and connected to the video output of the device 16. These glasses allow a greater immersion in the world of augmented reality of the game The improvement of the invention, which allows to put your finger on a large area of the device to activate the reactive mode and apply control commands is a particularly interesting advantage when using these glasses, which do not allow the user to see his hands and therefore to watch where he can put his finger on the screen of the device. To comfort the user who does not see his hands, the position of his finger relative to the control surface is displayed on the screen of the glasses, which improves the feedback of the device and the user will know exactly the the state of its controls (display of the mobile and fixed icons, in the same way as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5), thus with a printing type "piloting with head-up display".

Claims (10)

REVENDICATIONS1. A method of operating a remote control unit (16) of a drone, especially a rotary wing drone (10), the apparatus (16) being a portable apparatus comprising: a touch screen (18) ; means adapted to detect at least one finger contact (20) of a user on the surface of the screen, and to determine the position of the at least one point of contact of the finger with respect to a corresponding symbol displayed on the screen ; and wireless data transmission means, able to issue commands to the drone; this method comprising the activation of control commands of the drone by contact and / or movement of the finger at the location of corresponding piloting symbols displayed on the screen, characterized by the following steps: a) detecting the contact of the finger in any point of contact of at least one predefined area (68) of the screen; b) display on the screen, at said point of contact, a driving icon (70) having a moving icon (72) whose display position on the screen follows the possible movement of the point of contact of the finger on the screen from an initial position to a staggered position; C) detecting said movement of the moving icon; d) on detecting said displacement, analyzing the direction and / or amplitude and / or speed of said displacement relative to the initial position; and g) activating a control command according to the result of said analysis. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after analyzing the direction and / or amplitude and / or speed of said displacement from the initial position, a step of: e) discriminating said control command to be activated in step g) among several different control commands, depending on the direction of said movement. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said control command to be activated in step g) is a raising or lowering command of the drone, when the direction of said movement is mainly directed upwards or downwards, respectively, relative to the direction of the image displayed on the touch screen. 4. The method of claim 2, wherein said control command to be activated in step g) is a left or right rotation control about a yaw axis (26) of the drone, when the direction of said Displacement is mainly oriented to the left or right, respectively, relative to the direction of the image displayed on the touch screen. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after analyzing the direction and / or magnitude of said displacement relative to the initial position, a step of: f) quantizing said control command to be activated in step g) as a function of the amplitude of said displacement. 6. The method of claim 1, for the remote control of a rotary wing drone provided with a selectively activatable autonomous stabilization system hovering in the absence of control transmitted by the aircraft, wherein the stabilization system autonomous is disabled in response to the detection of said finger contact in step a). The method of claim 6, wherein the autonomous stabilization system remains disabled after step a) for the duration of said finger contact being detected, and is activated in response to detecting a loss of that finger contact. contact. 8. The method of claim 6, comprising defining around the contact point detected in step a) of a neutral zone such that the autonomous stabilization system remains active as long as the position of the current contact point of the finger is located inside said neutral zone. 35 The method of claim 1, wherein the driving icon (70) displayed in step b) comprises, in addition to the moving icon (72), a fixed landmark icon (74) whose display position is maintained at the initial position of the point of contact of the finger on the screen even in case of consecutive displacement of this point of contact. 10. The method of claim 1, for the implementation of an apparatus (16) comprising means for detecting the inclination of the apparatus along two axes (32, 34) with respect to a neutral reference axis d. a terrestrial marker, in which the detection of said finger contact in step a) activates steps of: recording of the direction of the terrestrial vertical relative to the reference of the apparatus at the time of the detection of the contact, and - designation of this vertical as a new reference axis. The method of claim 10, further comprising activating a steering control in rotation along a pitch axis (22) and / or along a roll axis (24), depending on the inclination of the apparatus respectively detected according to one and / or the other of said two axes (32, 34) with respect to the reference axis. 14. The method of claim 11, including defining a neutral angular range around the reference axis such as pitch and roll commands, is enabled only for tilting of the apparatus further. beyond this neutral angular domain. 15. The method of claim 12 for remote control of a rotary wing drone having a selectively activatable self-stabilizing hovering system in the absence of control transmitted by the aircraft, wherein Autonomous stabilization is disabled only for inclination of the apparatus beyond said neutral angular range. 14. The method of claim 1 for implementing an apparatus (16) coupled to a remote display device, particularly to video glasses (84), including duplicating on the remote device of said icon. control (70) displayed on the screen (16) so as to provide a head-up type display. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting an alert signal when the minimum distance between the contact point detected in step a) and the edge of said predefined area of the screen is less than a predetermined distance. 16. The method of claim 1, comprising defining around the point of contact detected in step a) of a neutral zone such that the displacement of the piloting icon in steps c) and d) is taken into account. only if said staggered position is beyond said neutral zone. 17. The method of claim 1, comprising defining around the contact point detected in step a) of a neutral zone such that the displacement of the driving icon in steps c) and d) is taken into account. only if the speed of movement of the finger contact point on the screen relative to the initial position is greater than a predetermined minimum threshold. 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising, in the event of an inverse displacement of the contact point with a displacement speed greater than another predetermined minimum threshold, a step of resetting said initial position, the new initial position. being redefined by the completion point of said reverse movement. 19. An apparatus (16) for remote control of a drone, in particular a rotary wing drone (10), characterized in that this apparatus is a portable apparatus comprising: - a touch screen (18); means for detecting the contact of a finger (20) of a user on the surface of the screen and determining the position of the contact point of that finger with respect to a corresponding symbol displayed on the screen; wireless data transmission means, able to issue commands to the drone; and means for implementing a method according to one of claims 1 to 18. 20. Software, downloadable in a portable device (16) comprising: - a touch screen (18); - Means adapted to detect the contact of a finger (20) of a user on the surface of the screen and to determine the position of the point of contact of the finger with respect to a corresponding symbol displayed on the screen; and wireless data transmission means capable of transmitting commands intended for the drone, this software comprising instructions able to implement a method according to one of claims 1 to 18 for the remote control of a drone, in particular of a rotary wing drone (10).