Aircraft lavatory systems
AssigneeB/E Aerospace, Inc.
InventorTimothy Vermeulen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A queue system for a lavatory of an aircraft can include an infotainment system configured to receive a user input and to output a request to use the lavatory associated with a seat or occupant, and a queue module operatively connected to the infotainment system. The queue module can be configured to receive the request from the infotainment system and to create and/or modify a virtual lavatory queue based on a request hierarchy of the request to position the request in the virtual lavatory queue, and output a vacancy indicator signal to the infotainment system when the request is at a front of the virtual lavatory queue. The infotainment system can be configured to receive the vacancy indicator signal and display an indication to indicate to a user of the infotainment system that it is the user's turn in the queue.
Claims13
A queue system for a lavatory of an aircraft, comprising:
- an infotainment system configured to receive a user input and to output a request to use the lavatory associated with a seat or occupant;
- and
- a queue module operatively connected to the infotainment system and configured to:
- receive the request from the infotainment system and to create and/or modify a virtual lavatory queue based on a request hierarchy of the request to position the request in the virtual lavatory queue;
- and
- output a vacancy indicator signal to the infotainment system when the request is at a front of the virtual lavatory queue,
- wherein the infotainment system is configured to receive the vacancy indicator signal and display an indication to indicate to a user of the infotainment system that it is the user's turn in the queue, wherein the infotainment system includes a graphical user interface (GUI) with one or more digital buttons to be selected by a user to either output the request to use the lavatory to the queue module or to navigate to a lavatory pane to allow outputting of the request from the lavatory pane, wherein the GUI is configured to generate a pop-up alarm pane upon receiving the vacancy indicator signal indicating that the user is first in line in the virtual lavatory queue, wherein the queue system is configured to output lavatory specific instructions to the infotainment system, wherein the infotainment system is configured to provide the lavatory specific instructions in the pop-up alarm pane to instruct the user which lavatory to use and/or provide directions to the lavatory to be used, wherein the queue system is configured to determine which lavatory of a plurality of lavatories the seat or occupant is authorized to use based on one or more assignment criteria, wherein the assignment criteria are based on a defined proximity to an occupant suspected of having a transmissible disease, or a common lavatory used by an occupant suspected of having a transmissible disease such that a requesting user who has already used a lavatory that was also used by an occupant suspected of having a transmissible disease will be assigned the same lavatory for the duration of the flight.
A queue system for a lavatory of an aircraft, comprising:
- an infotainment system configured to receive a user input and to output a request to use the lavatory associated with a seat or occupant;
- and
- a queue module operatively connected to the infotainment system and configured to:
- receive the request from the infotainment system and to create and/or modify a virtual lavatory queue based on a request hierarchy of the request to position the request in the virtual lavatory queue;
- and
- output a vacancy indicator signal to the infotainment system when the request is at a front of the virtual lavatory queue,
- wherein the infotainment system is configured to receive the vacancy indicator signal and display an indication to indicate to a user of the infotainment system that it is the user's turn in the queue, wherein the infotainment system includes a graphical user interface (GUI) with one or more digital buttons to be selected by a user to either output the request to use the lavatory to the queue module or to navigate to a lavatory pane to allow outputting of the request from the lavatory pane, wherein the GUI is configured to generate a pop-up alarm pane upon receiving the vacancy indicator signal indicating that the user is first in line in the virtual lavatory queue, wherein the queue system is configured to output lavatory specific instructions to the infotainment system, wherein the infotainment system is configured to provide the lavatory specific instructions in the pop-up alarm pane to instruct the user which lavatory to use and/or provide directions to the lavatory to be used, wherein the queue system is configured to determine which lavatory of a plurality of lavatories the seat or occupant is authorized to use based on one or more assignment criteria, wherein the assignment criteria includes an aisle congestion due to crew and/or crew carts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.