System and method for an anticipatory passenger cabin

A method of anticipating the needs of at least one passenger onboard a mobile platform comprising:

• providing a passenger seating area for receipt of the at least one passenger, the passenger seating area including a passenger seat that has a light source disposed for illumination of at least a portion of the passenger seating area;
• acquiring by a camera an image of the at least one passenger in the passenger seating area so as to obtain an acquired image;
• generating in a gesture control module current activity data that includes at least one current activity that the at least one passenger is performing as recognized in the image of the at least one passenger acquired by the camera, the gesture control module including a chronological history of activities performed by the at least one passenger;
• determining through a processor from the acquired image in the current activity data if the at least one passenger is at least reading or resting;
• and
• performing one or more of moving the seat back, positioning the tray table, activating the light source, and deactivating the light source, based on activity data and the chronological history of activities performed by the at least one passenger.

An aircraft comprising:

• a fuselage that includes at least one passenger seating area for receipt of at least one passenger, with the at least one passenger seating area including a seat back that is movable into a reclined position, with the movement of the seat back controlled by a smart cabin control system including:
• a camera that acquires an image of the at least one passenger in the passenger seating area;
• a gesture control module that generates current activity data that includes at least one current activity that the at least one passenger is performing as recognized in the image of the at least one passenger acquired by the camera, the gesture control module including a chronological history of activities performed by the user;
• and
• a smart cabin control module that moves the seat back into the reclined position if, based on the acquired image, the at least one passenger is resting, the smart cabin control module configured to compare the image of the passenger with a chronological history of activities performed by the passenger acquired by the camera so as to determine whether the passenger is resting.

A system for anticipating the needs of at least one passenger onboard an aircraft that includes a passenger seating area for receipt of the at least one passenger comprising:

• a source of user preference data and user identification data;
• a passenger seat that has a seat back that is moveable into a reclined position;
• a tray table that is operable to be positioned to provide a surface for use by the at least one passenger;
• a light source disposed for illumination of at least a portion of the passenger seating area;
• a camera that acquires an image of the at least one passenger in the passenger seating area;
• a gesture control module that generates current activity data that includes at least one current activity that the at least one passenger is performing as recognized in the image of the at least one passenger acquired by the camera;
• and
• a user profile control module that generates user profile data based on the user identification data, the user profile data including at least a chronological history of activities performed by the user;
• a user control module that generates expected activity data based on the current activity data and the user profile data, the expected activity data comprising at least one next activity that the system expects the passenger to perform based on the user profile data, chronological history and the current activity data;
• and
• a smart control module that performs one or more of moving the seat back, positioning the tray table, activating the light source, and deactivating the light source, based on the expected activity data.

A method of anticipating the needs of at least one passenger onboard an aircraft comprising:

• providing a passenger seating area for receipt of the at least one passenger, the passenger seating area including a passenger seat that has a light source disposed for illumination of at least a portion of the passenger seating area, a seat back that is moveable into a reclined position, a footrest adjacent to the passenger seating area and a tray table that is positionable to provide a surface for use by the at least one passenger;
• providing a vibration device coupled to at least one of the passenger seat and the footrest adjacent to the passenger seat;
• receiving a user input regarding a status of the aircraft;
• acquiring an image of the at least one passenger in the passenger seating area by a camera;
• generating in a gesture control module current activity data that includes at least one current activity that the at least one passenger is performing as recognized in the image of the at least one passenger acquired by the camera, the gesture control module including a chronological history of activities performed by the at least one passenger;
• determining from the acquired image if the at least one passenger is at least resting;
• and
• notifying the at least one passenger by activating the vibration device if the aircraft is nearing the end of travel based on the status of the aircraft provided in the user input.