National marine electronics association protocol converter
First Claim
1. A protocol converter for use on board aircraft comprising:
- a housing having a front panel;
a computer board positioned in a stack within said housing;
an interface board positioned in said stack within said housing, said interface board being connected to said computer board;
a power board positioned in said stack within said housing, said power board being connected to said interface board and said interface board to provide electrical power to said interface board and said computer board;
said interface board having a pair of data inputs, one of said pair of data inputs receiving ARINC-429 navigation data from a source within said aircraft, said interface board storing said ARINC-429 navigation data therein;
said computer board including a computer software program for operating said computer board, said computer board, responsive to said computer software program, reading said ARINC-429 navigation data from said interface board and then converting said ARINC-429 navigation data to NMEA-0183 navigation data;
said computer board providing a request to send signal to a moving map display located on board said aircraft to effect a transfer of said NMEA-0183 navigation data to said moving map display;
said computer board, responsive to a clear to send signal from said moving map display transferring said NMEA-0183 navigation data to said moving map display.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A protocol converter for use on board an aircraft with space limitations which converts navigation data from one format to another format for use by the aircraft'"'"'s moving map display. The navigation data is supplied by an aircraft inertial navigation unit to the protocol converter in the ARINC-429 protocol which converts the data to the NMEA-0183 protocol. The converted data is then supplied to a moving map display on board the aircraft. An interface board receives ARINC navigational data from the aircraft navigation unit and stores the data prior to its transfer to a digital computer. The computer reads the data stored in the interface board including a status word which indicates the validity of the data. A computer software program within the computer converts the ARINC-429 navigational data to NMEA-0183 protocol data. The NMEA-0183 protocol data is transmitted through an RS-232 serial port to the moving map display.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A protocol converter for use on board aircraft comprising:
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a housing having a front panel;
a computer board positioned in a stack within said housing;
an interface board positioned in said stack within said housing, said interface board being connected to said computer board;
a power board positioned in said stack within said housing, said power board being connected to said interface board and said interface board to provide electrical power to said interface board and said computer board;
said interface board having a pair of data inputs, one of said pair of data inputs receiving ARINC-429 navigation data from a source within said aircraft, said interface board storing said ARINC-429 navigation data therein;
said computer board including a computer software program for operating said computer board, said computer board, responsive to said computer software program, reading said ARINC-429 navigation data from said interface board and then converting said ARINC-429 navigation data to NMEA-0183 navigation data;
said computer board providing a request to send signal to a moving map display located on board said aircraft to effect a transfer of said NMEA-0183 navigation data to said moving map display;
said computer board, responsive to a clear to send signal from said moving map display transferring said NMEA-0183 navigation data to said moving map display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20)
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12. A protocol converter for use on board aircraft comprising:
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a housing having a front panel;
a computer board positioned in a stack within said housing;
an interface board positioned in said stack within said housing, said interface board being connected to said computer board;
a power board positioned in said stack within said housing, said power board being connected to said interface board and said interface board to provide electrical power to said interface board and said computer board;
said interface board having a pair of data inputs, one of said pair of data inputs receiving ARINC-429 navigation data from an inertial navigation unit located within said aircraft, said interface board storing said ARINC-429 navigation data therein;
said computer board including a computer software program for operating said computer board, said computer board, responsive to said computer software program, reading said ARINC-429 navigation data from said interface board and then converting said ARINC-429 navigation data to NMEA-0183 navigation data;
said computer board, responsive to said computer software program, reading a pair of parity bits within each of a plurality of data words within said ARINC-429 navigation data to determine when said data words contain valid navigation data;
said computer board providing a request to send signal to a moving map display located on board said aircraft to effect a transfer of said NMEA-0183 navigation data to said moving map display;
said computer board, responsive to a clear to send signal from said moving map display transferring said NMEA-0183 navigation data to said moving map display.
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19. A protocol converter for use on board aircraft comprising:
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a housing having a front panel;
a computer board positioned in a stack within said housing;
an interface board positioned in said stack within said housing, said interface board being connected to said computer board;
a power board positioned in said stack within said housing, said power board being connected to said interface board and said interface board to provide electrical power to said interface board and said computer board;
said interface board having a pair of data inputs, one of said pair of data inputs receiving ARINC-429 navigation data from an inertial navigation unit located within said aircraft, said interface board storing said ARINC-429 navigation data therein;
said computer board including a computer software program for operating said computer board, said computer board, responsive to said computer software program, reading said ARINC-429 navigation data from said interface board and then converting said ARINC-429 navigation data to NMEA-0183 navigation data;
said computer board, responsive to said computer software program, reading a pair of parity bits within each of a plurality of data words within said ARINC-429 navigation data to determine when said data words contain valid navigation data, said valid navigation data occurring whenever said pair of parity bits are a binary three;
said computer board providing a request to send signal to a moving map display located on board said aircraft to effect a transfer of said NMEA-0183 navigation data to said moving map display;
said computer board, responsive to a clear to send signal from said moving map display transferring said NMEA-0183 navigation data to said moving map display;
first, second, third and fourth indicator lights located on the front panel of said housing, said first, second, third and fourth indicator lights being connected to said interface board;
said first and second indicator lights when activated indicating which one of said pair of data inputs on said interface board is receiving ARINC-429 navigation data from a source;
said third and fourth indicator lights when activated indicating which of a pair of serial outputs on said computer board is transferring said NMEA-0183 navigation data to said moving map display.
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Specification