System and method for representation of aircraft altitude using spatial size and other natural perceptual cues

• US 20030151630A1
• Filed: 02/08/2002
• Published: 08/14/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Clausner, Timothy C., Palmer, Evan M., Kellman, Philip J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,408,552 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/838
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/91 for traffic control G01S13/93 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/06 Cathode-ray tube displays or other two dimensional or three-dimensional displays
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0082 for monitoring traffic from a ground station radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91

Abstract

A system for conveying location of an object by varying a characteristic such as size, color, or intensity of an icon located in a two dimensional display. In the illustrative embodiment, the invention represents aircraft altitude by the size of an icon. Each aircraft position and heading is plotted as location and orientation of the icon in two-dimensional space, the axes of which represent latitude and longitude. The size of the icon is selected from a limited number of discriminably different sizes to represent the aircraft altitude. Each size represents a distinct altitude range.

Claims

1. A system for conveying location of an object comprising:

first means for receiving location information regarding said object, said location information including a first coordinate x, a second coordinate y, and a third coordinate z;

second means for correlating said first and second coordinates (x,y) with a location of an icon in two-dimensional space in an electro-optical display; and

third means for correlating said third coordinate z with a size of said icon.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said third coordinate z represents altitude.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein said first and second coordinates (x,y) represent latitude and longitude.

4. The invention of claim 1 wherein said object is an aircraft.

5. The invention of claim 1 wherein said size of said icon is selected from a limited number of discriminably different sizes.

6. The invention of claim 1 wherein said third means includes a continuously variable relationship between said icon size and said third coordinate z.

7. The invention of claim 1 wherein said size of said icon is directly correlated with said third coordinate z, such that a larger value of said third coordinate z correlates with a larger size of said icon.

8. The invention of claim 1 wherein said size of said icon is inversely, non-linearly, or discontinuously, correlated with said third coordinate z:

an inverse correlation is such that a larger value of said third coordinate z correlates with a smaller size of said icon.

9. A system for conveying location of an object comprising:

first means for receiving location information regarding said object, said location information including a first coordinate x, a second coordinate y, and a third coordinate z;

second means for correlating said first and second coordinates (x,y) with a location of an icon in an electro-optical display; and

third means for correlating said third coordinate z with a color or grayscale value of said icon.

10. A system for conveying location of an object comprising:

first means for receiving location information regarding said object, said location information including a first coordinate x, a second coordinate y, and a third coordinate z;

second means for correlating said first and second coordinates (x,y) with a location of an icon in an electro-optical display; and

third means for correlating said third coordinate z with an intensity (i.e., contrast value) of said icon.

11. A system for conveying location of an object comprising:

first means for receiving location information regarding said object, said location information including a first coordinate x, a second coordinate y, and a third coordinate z;

second means for correlating said first and second coordinates (x,y) with a location of an icon in an electro-optical display; and

third means for correlating said third coordinate z with a shape of said icon.

12. A system for conveying aircraft altitude to a human observer comprising:

a receiver for receiving latitude, longitude, and altitude information;

a microprocessor;

a memory device;

a display; and

a program for converting said altitude to an icon size, and placing an icon of said icon size at coordinates corresponding to said latitude and longitude in said display.

13. A method for conveying location of an object including the steps of:

receiving location information regarding said object, said location information including a first coordinate x, a second coordinate y, and a third coordinate z;

correlating said first and second coordinates (x,y) with a location of an icon in an electro-optical display; and

correlating said third coordinate z with a size of said icon.