Aircraft having gesture-based control for an onboard passenger service unit

An apparatus for control of one or more cabin systems onboard an aircraft with a fuselage including a cabin with a plurality of seats, and for a seat of the plurality of seats, a passenger service unit including a reading light, an attendant call button, and an air vent for a passenger seated in the seat, the apparatus comprising:

• a processor and a memory storing one or more software or firmware programs that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
• receive an image of the passenger from a camera;
• receive dominant hand data specifying a dominant hand of the passenger to monitor for a non-tactile hand signal or a non-tactile hand gesture, the dominant hand of the passenger being chosen by the passenger;
• correlate the image of the passenger to the dominant hand of the passenger specified by the dominant hand data;
• generate non-tactile gesture data in accordance with and indicative of the non-tactile hand signal or the non-tactile gesture made by the passenger, the non-tactile gesture data being generated based on the image of the passenger correlated to the dominant hand of the passenger specified by the dominant hand data;
• and
• control one or more cabin systems including in at least one instance the reading light, attendant call button or air vent of the passenger service unit based on the non-tactile gesture data.

A method for control of one or more cabin systems onboard an aircraft with a fuselage including a cabin with a plurality of seats, and for a seat of the plurality of seats, a passenger service unit including a reading light, an attendant call button, and an air vent for a passenger seated in the seat, the method comprising:

• acquiring an image of the passenger;
• receiving dominant hand data specifying a dominant hand of the passenger to monitor for a non-tactile hand signal or a non-tactile hand gesture, the dominant hand of the passenger being chosen by the passenger;
• correlating the image of the passenger to the dominant hand of the passenger specified by the dominant hand data;
• generating non-tactile gesture data in accordance with and indicative of the non-tactile hand signal or the non-tactile gesture made by the passenger, the non-tactile gesture data being generated based on the image of the passenger correlated to the dominant hand of the passenger specified by the dominant hand data;
• and
• controlling one or more cabin systems including in at least one instance the reading light, attendant call button or air vent of the passenger service unit based on the non-tactile gesture data.