Method and apparatus for automatically pre-positioning a passenger bridge

An apparatus for being attached to a moveable passenger bridge having a bridge actuating mechanism, the apparatus for moving an end of the moveable passenger bridge to a pre-position proximate an expected stop position of a door on an aircraft, comprising:

• an imager for being disposed on the moveable passenger bridge, for capturing a plurality of images of the aircraft and for providing a plurality of respective signals;
• a processor in operative communication with the imager for receiving the plurality of respective signals, for providing a determination of a type of the aircraft for each signal of the plurality of respective signals in dependence upon a database of known types of aircraft, and for providing a control signal related to a pre-position of the end of the moveable bridge for each signal in dependence upon the determination of the type of the aircraft;
• a memory in operative communication with the processor for retrievably storing the database of known types of aircraft, the database including information relating to the pre-position of the end of the moveable passenger bridge for each known type of aircraft;
• and,
• a transmitter in operative communication with the processor for receiving the control signal and for providing the plurality of control signals to the bridge actuating mechanism in a form recognizable thereby,
• wherein, in use, the bridge actuating mechanism moves the end of the moveable passenger bridge along a first path determined in dependence upon a first control signal and along a second other path determined in dependence upon a second other control signal;
• and,
• wherein an end-point of the second other path is the pre-position proximate the expected stop position of the door on the aircraft.

A method of pre-positioning one end of a moveable bridge in relation to an expected stopping position of an aircraft comprising the steps of:

• a) determining a type of the aircraft;
• b) determining a bridge trajectory for moving the one end of the moveable bridge toward a pre-position in dependence upon the determined type of the aircraft;
• c) automatically moving the one end of the moveable bridge along the determined bridge trajectory toward the pre-position;
• d) re-determining a type of the same aircraft;
• and,
• e) altering the bridge trajectory in dependence upon the re-determined type of the same aircraft.

A method of pre-positioning one end of a moveable bridge in relation to an expected stopping position of a door on an aircraft comprising the steps of:

• a) using an imager, capturing an image of the aircraft;
• b) characterizing the captured image to extract at least a feature indicative of a type of the aircraft;
• c) comparing the extracted at least a feature to template data stored in a memory so as to identify a model of the aircraft in dependence upon a result of the comparison and absent additional information being provided during use from an external source;
• d) iterating the steps a) through c) until a result of the comparison is indicative of a unique model of the aircraft to within a predetermined confidence limit;
• e) retrieving other data stored in the memory, the other data relating to a pre-position for the one end of the moveable bridge relating to an expected stopping position of the door of the unique model of the aircraft;
• and,
• f) automatically moving the one end of the moveable bridge along a path in a direction toward the pre-position in dependence upon the retrieved other data.