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US 6,606,563 B2Granted
Incursion alerting system
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorJames J. Corcoran, III
Life of this patent
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AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorJames J. Corcoran, III
Estimating the term…
A system for alerting the occupant of a vehicle that the vehicle is in or approaching a zone of awareness. For instance, the system may be used to alert the pilot or flight crew of an aircraft that the aircraft is on or approaching a runway, and may identify the specific runway. Thus, the invention also provides a method of reducing unintentional incursions of taxiing aircraft onto runways. The system generally includes a storage device or memory, a positioning system such as a GPS that typically repeatedly determines the location of the vehicle, an alerting device such as an alarm or display, and a processor, all of which are typically located on the vehicle. The processor typically compares the location of the vehicle with stored location information for various zones of awareness and initiates an alert when appropriate. The processor may take into consideration the velocity and direction of travel of the vehicle. Zones of awareness may be defined by coordinates, such as the end points of line segments. Audible alarms may include a voice warning, and may be able to be silenced until the vehicle leaves the zone of awareness. On aircraft, the system may reference the centerline of the runway, for example, alerting when the aircraft is within 150 feet of the centerline. The system may be disabled when the aircraft is in flight.
An alerting system for alerting an occupant of an aircraft on the ground that the aircraft is in or approaching a zone of awareness, the alerting system comprising:
An alerting system for alerting a pilot or flight crew of an aircraft that the aircraft is in or approaching a zone of awareness, the alerting system comprising:
An alerting system for alerting a pilot or flight crew of an aircraft that the aircraft is in or approaching a zone of awareness, the alerting system comprising:
An alerting system for alerting a pilot or flight crew of an aircraft that the aircraft is in or approaching a zone of awareness, the alerting system comprising;
An alerting system for alerting a pilot or flight crew of an aircraft if the aircraft is in or approaching a zone of awareness, the alerting system comprising:
A method of reducing unintentional incursions of vehicles into zones of awareness, the aircraft having human occupants, said method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Navigation or guidance aids: for control when on the ground, e.g. taxiing or rolling
Specially adapted for specific applications: emergency applications
Traffic control systems for aircraft: anti-collision systems
Determining position: relative positioning
Term ended 6 Mar 2021 (estimated)
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to systems for alerting an occupant of a vehicle that the vehicle is in or approaching a particular area.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:
FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an airport with a zone of awareness depicted surrounding a runway, illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating conceptually assorted components of various embodiments of the present invention; and
The present invention provides a system and method for alerting the occupant of a vehicle that the vehicle is in or approaching a zone of awareness. For instance, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the system may be used to alert the pilot or flight crew of aircraft 101 that aircraft 101 is on or approaching runway 111, and may identify the specific runway 111. Thus, an exemplary embodiment of which is illustrated in FIG. 3, the invention also provides a method of reducing unintentional incursions of aircraft (e.g. taxiing aircraft such as aircraft 101 and 102 shown in FIG. 1) onto runways. As conceptually illustrated in FIG. 2, the system generally includes a storage device or memory, for example storage database 202, a positioning system 205 that may be a GPS or similar system, an alerting device such as an alarm 217 or display 220, and a processor 211, all of which are typically located on the vehicle (e.g. on aircraft 101 of FIG. 1).
As an overview, positioning system 205 typically repeatedly determines the location of the vehicle. The processor 211 typically compares the location of the vehicle (e.g. aircraft 101 on FIG. 1) with stored location information for various zones of awareness (e.g. zone of awareness 121 on FIG. 1) and initiates an alert when appropriate. The processor 211 may take into consideration the velocity and direction of travel of the vehicle (e.g. of aircraft 101 on FIG. 1). Referring to FIG. 1, zones of awareness (e.g. 121) may be defined by coordinates, such as the end points of line segments (e.g. points 141 and 142 defining the endpoints of centerline 131 of runway 111). Audible alarms (e.g. 217 on FIG. 2) may include a voice warning, and may be able to be silenced until the vehicle (e.g. aircraft 101 on FIG. 1) leaves the zone of awareness (e.g. zone of awareness 121 on FIG. 1). On aircraft (e.g. aircraft 101 on FIG. 1), the system may reference a positional line of awareness such as the centerline of the runway, for example on FIG. 1, alerting when aircraft 101 is within 150 feet of centerline 131. The system may be disabled when the aircraft is in flight.
An alerting system according to the present invention may be a system installed on a vehicle, or may include the vehicle itself. In either case, the present invention may require additional hardware, or may be constructed, all or in part, using hardware already installed on the vehicle, e.g. for other purposes. In some embodiments, such as illustrated in FIG. 1, the vehicle is an aircraft (e.g. 101), and the occupants are the pilot or flight crew of the aircraft. However, the vehicle may be another type of vehicle such as a luggage vehicle, a fuel vehicle, a maintenance vehicle, a moveable stairway, an emergency vehicle, or any other vehicle found at an airport (e.g. airport 100). In addition, in other embodiments the vehicle may be found at another location, and may be an automobile, a surface ship or boat, a submarine, a train or locomotive, a spacecraft, a golf cart, a construction vehicle, a snow mobile, a man lift, or generally any other vehicle configured to carry at least one person.