Process and device for devising an abridged form of any term that is used in an alarm message intended to be displayed on a screen of the cockpit of an aircraft

• US 20030236668A1
• Filed: 06/20/2003
• Published: 12/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS (Airbus SE)
• Inventors: Beaujard, Florence, Gavieiro-Villatte, Elisa
• Granted Patent: US 7,584,091 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/274
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/268 Morphological analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/284 Lexical analysis, e.g. tokenisation or collocates

Abstract

Process and device for devising an abridged form of any term that is used in an alarm message intended to be displayed on a screen of the cockpit of an aircraft.

The device (1) comprises a database (2) comprising a set of predetermined construction rules, a processing means (3) able to receive terms that are used in at least one alarm message intended to be displayed on at least one screen of the cockpit of an aircraft, and subjecting every term received to said set of predetermined construction rules in such a way as to automatically form a plurality of different abbreviations of said term, a means (8) allowing at least one operator to analyze the abbreviations thus formed by subjecting each of them to at least one transparency criterion, and a means (10) selecting, as a function of this analysis, an abridged form for said term.

Claims

1. A process for devising an abridged form of any term that is used in at least one alarm message displayed on at least one screen of the cockpit of an aircraft,

wherein:

a) said term is subjected to a set of predetermined construction rules in such a way as to form a plurality of different abbreviations of said term;

b) the abbreviations thus formed are analyzed by subjecting each of them to at least one transparency criterion; and

c) on the basis of this analysis, one selects as abridged form for said term;

if just one of said abbreviations satisfies said transparency criterion, this abbreviation;

if none of said abbreviations satisfies said transparency criterion, said term in full; and

if several of said abbreviations satisfy said transparency criterion, that which satisfied said transparency criterion quickest.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1,

wherein said set of construction rules comprises at least some of the following rules:

addition of a morphological mark;

deletion of the vowels;

truncation;

retention of the syllables;

retention of the initial letter of each syllable; and

deletion of the double consonants.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1,

wherein said transparency criterion comprises two parameters:

the correctness of recognition of the term on the basis of the abbreviation; and

the duration for recognition.

4. The process as claimed in claim 1,

wherein, in step b), the analysis is implemented by at least one aircraft pilot.

5. The process as claimed in claim 1 for devising the abridged forms of a plurality of terms with which a preestablished abbreviation is already associated each time,

wherein:

said preestablished abbreviations are analyzed by subjecting each of them to at least one transparency criterion; and

on the basis of this analysis;

for the abbreviations which have satisfied said transparency criterion, they are retained as abridged forms for the corresponding terms; and

for the abbreviations which have not satisfied said transparency criterion, said steps a) to c) are implemented, for each of the terms associated with said abbreviations, so as to devise the appropriate abridged forms.

6. The process as claimed in claim 1,

wherein, in a preliminary step, an appropriate term is chosen for at least one concept relating to the aircraft, for which term said steps a) to c) are subsequently implemented by carrying out the following operations:

a predetermined initial word, that is used for said concept, is analyzed by subjecting it to a first set of decisional criteria;

on the basis of this analysis;

if said initial word satisfies all the decisional criteria of said first set, this initial word is used as appropriate term for said concept; and

if said initial word does not satisfy all these decisional criteria of said first set, at least one additional word is determined for this concept, which is different from said initial word;

then;

said initial and additional words are subjected to a second set of decisional criteria; and

that of said initial and additional words which satisfied the largest number of decisional criteria of said second set is used as appropriate term for said concept.

7. The process as claimed in claim 6,

wherein said second set of decisional criteria comprises at least some of the following criteria:

syntactic criteria;

terminological criteria; and

aeronautical criteria.

8. The process as claimed in claim 6,

wherein said first set of decisional criteria corresponds to said second set of decisional criteria.

9. A device for devising an abridged form of any term that is used in at least one alarm message displayed on at least one screen of the cockpit of an aircraft, which device comprises:

at least one first database (2) comprising a set of predetermined construction rules;

a processing means (3) which is connected to said first database (2), which is able to receive terms and which subjects every term received to said set of predetermined construction rules in such a way as to automatically form a plurality of different abbreviations of said term;

at least one computer (14) automatically receiving the abbreviations of said processing means (13) and presenting them to at least one operator in such a way as to allow him to analyze said abbreviations, by subjecting each of them to at least one transparency criterion; and

a second means (10) connected to said first means (8) and selecting, as a function of said analysis, an abridged form for said term.

10. The device as claimed in claim 9,

which furthermore comprises:

at least one second database (18) comprising, for a plurality of terms, preestablished abbreviations;

at least one third means (19) allowing at least one operator to analyze said preestablished abbreviations by subjecting each of them to at least one transparency criterion; and

a fourth means (21) connected to said third means (19) and indicating, as a function of said analysis, whether said abbreviations are or are not retained as abridged forms for the corresponding terms.

11. The device as claimed in claim 9, which furthermore comprises:

at least one third database (27) comprising initial words that are used for particular concepts relating to the aircraft;

at least one fourth database (28) comprising a first set of decisional criteria;

at least one fifth means (29) allowing at least one operator to analyze at least some of said initial words by subjecting each of them to said first set of decisional criteria;

a sixth means (32) connected to said fifth means (29) and indicating, as a function of said analysis, whether said initial words are or are not retained as appropriate terms for said concepts;

at least one fifth database (28) comprising a second set of decisional criteria;

at least one sixth database (37) comprising additional words for said concepts;

at least one seventh means (38) allowing at least one operator to analyze the initial words not retained and the corresponding additional words by subjecting them to said second set of decisional criteria; and

an eighth means (41) connected to said seventh means (38) and indicating, as a function of said analysis, which of those, from among said initial words not retained and said additional words, are used as appropriate terms for the corresponding concepts.