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US 6,112,141 AGranted
Apparatus and method for graphically oriented aircraft display and control
AssigneeDassault Aviation
InventorsMichel Briffe, Guy Mitaux-Maurouard
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aircraft display and control system includes a computer, a trackball and selection device, an aeronautical information database, a geographic database, and a plurality of flat panel display devices. The aircraft crew can perform flightplan entry and modification by manipulating graphical information on the display devices using cursor control.
Claims21
An aircraft display and control system, comprising:
- a plurality of flat-panel color display devices disposed on an aircraft flight deck control panel and comprising a common work area;
- at least two cursor control devices for receiving pilot-entered cursor movement commands;
- a display computer coupled to the display devices and the cursor control devices for generating a plurality of movable cursors upon the display devices, each cursor being controlled by one of the cursor control devices to move independent of all other cursors across all display devices of the entire work area;
- and
- a flight computer for executing control operations in response to movement of the cursors.
2 more elements
An aircraft flight management system, comprising:
- a memory for storing a geographical map database, an aeronautical information database, and a flight plan;
- a flat-panel color display device;
- a cursor control device;
- a selection device;
- and
- a flight computer for:
- simultaneously displaying on the display device selected portions of the map database as a visible map display and portions of the aeronautical information database as aeronautical information indicators such that the geographic locations of aeronautical information indicators are correlated on the display device with the corresponding geographic locations of the map display;
- generating a movable cursor on the display device, the position of the cursor controlled by the cursor control device;
- and
- responding to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight navigation aid indicators at the current cursor location and to store portions of the aeronautical information database corresponding to the highlighted navigation aid indicators in the memory;
- whereby sequential operation of the cursor control device and selection device is operative to store a horizontal and vertical flight plan and speed/time parameters in the memory.
8 more elements
A method for aircraft information display and control, comprising the steps of:
- storing in a memory a geographical map database and an aeronautical information database;
- simultaneously displaying on a flat-panel display device selected portions of the map database as a visible map display and portions of the aeronautical information database as aeronautical information indicators such that the geographic locations of aeronautical information indicators are correlated on the display device with the corresponding geographic locations of the map display;
- generating a movable cursor on the display device, the position of the cursor controlled by a cursor control device and the engagement of the cursor control device controlled by a selection device;
- and
- responding to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight navigation aid indicators at the current cursor location and to store portions of the aeronautical information database corresponding to the highlighted navigation aid indicators in the memory;
- whereby sequential operation of the cursor control device and selection device is operative to store a horizontal and vertical flight plan and speed/time parameters in the memory.
3 more elements
A display and control system for an aircraft including a plurality of navigation and communication devices, comprising:
- a memory for storing a geographic map database and an aeronautical information database, including geographic location and frequency parameters of navigation aids;
- a flat-panel color display device;
- a cursor control device;
- a selection device;
- and
- a flight computer for:
- simultaneously displaying on the display device selected portions of the map database as a visible map display and portions of the aeronautical information database as navigation aid indicators such that the geographic locations of navigation aid indicators are correlated on the display device with the corresponding geographic locations of the map display, and for designating portions of the display device as a control active region;
- generating a movable cursor on the display device, the position of the cursor controlled by the cursor control device;
- and
- responding to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight navigation aid indicators at the current curser location and to retrieve and display database parameters of the highlighted navigation aid indicators from the aeronautical information database,
- wherein the flight computer is responsive to further operation of the cursor control device and selection device to transfer frequency parameters of the highlighted navigation aid to associated navigation or communication devices.
8 more elements
A display and control system for an aircraft including a plurality of navigation and communication devices, comprising:
- a memory for storing a geographic map database and an aeronautical information database, including geographic location and frequency parameters of navigation aids;
- a flat-panel color display device;
- a cursor control device;
- a selection device;
- and
- a flight computer for:
- simultaneously displaying on the display device selected portions of the map database as a visible map display and portions of the aeronautical information database as navigation aid indicators such that the geographic locations of navigation aid indicators are correlated on the display device with the corresponding geographic locations of the map display, and for designating portions of the display device as a control active region;
- generating a movable cursor on the display device, the position of the cursor controlled by the cursor control device;
- and
- responding to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight navigation aid indicators at the current cursor location and to retrieve and display database parameters of the highlighted navigation aid indicators from the aeronautical information database;
- wherein:
- the system comprises a scale control device for specifying a desired discrete map scale for display on the display device;
- the data items of the map and aeronautical information databases are each classified as one of a plurality of priority levels each corresponding to a different map scale;
- and
- the flight computer responds to operation of the scale control device to display the map and aeronautical information databases at the desired scale and performs a de-clutter function to display only those data items corresponding to the desired scale.
12 more elements
A navigation and control system for an aircraft having apparatus for determining current aircraft geographic position, comprising:
- a first memory for storing a plurality of navigation waypoints;
- a second memory for storing a geographic database including terrain altitude information;
- a color flat panel display device having a movable cursor;
- a cursor control device;
- a selection device;
- and
- a flight computer for displaying graphical indications on the display device of geographic locations of waypoints and the current geographic position of the aircraft with respect to the waypoints, the flight computer responding to operation of the cursor control device and selection device to highlight a waypoint and to implement a "direct go-to" operation by providing a graphical indication of the aircraft trajectory required to proceed direct to the selected waypoint;
- wherein the flight computer responds to selection of a "direct go-to" operation by displaying the terrain profile between the current aircraft position and the selected waypoint.
5 more elements
A system for modifying a flight plan which includes horizontal position data, vertical position data, and time data, comprising:
- a memory for storing data representing a plurality of legs of a flight plan,
- each leg including a plurality of navigation and aircraft performance parameters;
- a color flat panel display device;
- a cursor control device;
- a selection device;
- a keyboard;
- a flight computer coupled to the memory and display device, the flight computer responding to:
- a first operation of the cursor control and selection devices to display in a first type style on the display device a navigation log containing a plurality of entries each corresponding to one leg of the stored flight plan and including computed parameters for each leg,
- a second operation of the cursor control and selection devices to highlight a selected entry,
- operation of the keyboard to modify the selected entry, recompute the computed parameters of the entry, and display the modified and
- recomputed entry in a second type style, and any one of a third operation of the cursor control and selection devices to change the modified portion of the navigation log to the first type style and to store in the memory modified parameters corresponding to the modified navigation log, and
- a fourth operation of the cursor control and selection devices to restore the modified navigation log to the original configuration and maintain the stored flight plan in the original condition.
9 more elements
A navigation system for an aircraft having apparatus for displaying potential and current aircraft geographic position, comprising:
- a memory for storing a geographic map database containing geographic map information at a plurality of scales, and a waypoint database;
- a color flat panel display device;
- a dedicated selection device;
- a flight computer for displaying graphical indications on the display device of geographic locations of waypoints and the current geographic position of the aircraft with respect to the waypoints, the flight computer responding to:
- operation of the selection device by displaying a potential aircraft position, and
- entry of information identifying a waypoint stored in the memory by determining a map scale that will permit simultaneous display of the identified potential position and the current aircraft position and by displaying a geographic map display containing:
- the identified potential position,
- the current aircraft position, and
- an identification of the scale of the displayed map.
6 more elements
A flight management system for an aircraft having an autopilot for receiving a selected altitude and desired slope, and apparatus for determining current location and flight path, the system comprising:
- a memory for storing a geographic map database including terrain elevation information, an aeronautical information database, and a flight plan;
- a flat-panel color display device;
- and
- a flight computer for:
- displaying on the display device:
- a vertical profile of the stored flight plan, the vertical profile display having vertical and horizontal scales,
- an indicator representing the current aircraft position, altitude, and predicted trajectory using the stored flight plan and status of the autopilot,
- selected portions of the map database to provide an indication of altitude of obstacles along the predicted flight trajectory,
- portions of the flight plan data from the memory to indicate waypoints of the flight plan and desired aircraft altitude at the flight plan waypoints, and
- an indication of autopilot selected altitude and desired slope;
- and
- selecting the vertical scale so as to accommodate the highest altitude of a displayed item.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.