Perspective view primary flight display with terrain-tracing lines and method

• US 20070002078A1
• Filed: 06/29/2005
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: He, Gang, Feyereisen, Thea, Wyatt, Ivan
• Granted Patent: US 7,212,216 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/633
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/00 Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration

Abstract

A display system and method are provided for a vehicle that includes a processor and a display. The processor is adapted to receive terrain data and navigation data operable, in response thereto, to supply one or more image rendering display commands. The display device is coupled to receive the image rendering display commands and operable, in response thereto, to simultaneously render (i) a perspective view image representative of the terrain data and the navigation data and (ii) one or more terrain-tracing lines.

Claims

1. A display system for a vehicle, comprising:

a processor adapted to receive terrain data and navigation data operable, in response thereto, to supply one or more image rendering display commands; and

a display device coupled to receive the image rendering display commands and operable, in response thereto, to simultaneously render (i) a perspective view image representative of the terrain data and the navigation data and (ii) one or more terrain-tracing lines,

wherein the perspective view image includes terrain having a profile that is determined by elevations of the terrain,

wherein each terrain-tracing line (i) extends at least partially across the terrain, (ii) represents at least one of a ground-referenced range to a fixed location on the terrain and a vehicle-referenced range from the vehicle to a fixed range away from the vehicle, and (iii) conforms with the terrain profile, and

wherein the processor is configured to selectively display at least one of the ground-referenced range and the vehicle-referenced range.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the ground-referenced range and the vehicle-referenced range is an estimated time of arrival at a point on the terrain.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the ground-referenced range and the vehicle-referenced range is an amount of time needed to travel from the vehicle to a point on the terrain.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the terrain-tracing lines appear on the image upon an occurrence of an event.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the terrain-tracing lines appear on the image upon an arrival at a user-selected point of interest.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein each terrain-tracing line has a line configuration, wherein the line configuration is selected from the group consisting of at least solid, dashed, opaque, semi-transparent, thick, thin, shaded, and colored.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein each terrain-tracing line comprises a first segment and a second segment.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first segment has a first line configuration and the second segment has a second line configuration.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more terrain-tracing lines includes a first terrain-tracing line and a second terrain-tracing line, and the first terrain-tracing line has a first line configuration and the second terrain-tracing line has a second line configuration.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first and second terrain-tracing lines each represent sequential, different fixed ranges.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the navigation data includes vehicle and heading data and the image further includes range lines representative of the vehicle attitude and heading data.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the each terrain-tracing line is displayed flush with the terrain.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the each terrain-tracing line is displayed at a predetermined height above the terrain.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is implemented into a vehicle selected from the group of vehicles comprising at least an aircraft, underwater craft, and a spacecraft.

15. A display system for a vehicle, comprising:

a processor adapted to receive terrain data and navigation data operable, in response thereto, to supply one or more image rendering display commands; and

a display device coupled to receive the image rendering display commands and operable, in response thereto, to simultaneously render (i) a perspective view image representative of the terrain data and the navigation data and (ii) one or more terrain-tracing lines,

wherein the perspective view image includes terrain having a profile that is determined by elevations of the terrain,

wherein each terrain-tracing line (i) extends at least partially across the terrain, (ii) represents a range from the vehicle to a location on the terrain, (iii) conforms with the terrain profile, (iv) has a line configuration, wherein the line configuration is selected from the group consisting of at least solid, dashed, opaque, semitransparent, thick, thin, shaded, and colored, and (v) comprises a first segment and a second segment, and

wherein the first segment has a first line configuration and the second segment has a second line configuration.

16. A method of displaying terrain on an aircraft flight deck display system, the method comprising the steps of:

processing terrain data and navigation data; and

simultaneously displaying (i) a three-dimensional perspective view image representative of the terrain data and navigation data and (ii) one or more terrain-tracing lines,

wherein the perspective view image includes the image terrain having a profile determined by elevations of the terrain,

wherein each terrain-tracing line (i) extends at least partially across the terrain, (ii) represents at least one of a ground-referenced range to a fixed location on the terrain and a vehicle-referenced range from the vehicle to a fixed range away from the vehicle, and (iii) conforms with the terrain profile, and

selectively displaying at least one of the ground-referenced range and the vehicle-referenced range.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

using the processed terrain data to dynamically generate each terrain-tracing line.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein each terrain-tracing line has a line configuration and the line configuration is selected from the group consisting of at least solid, dashed, opaque, transparent, thick, thin, shaded and colored.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more terrain-tracing lines includes a first terrain-tracing line and a second terrain-tracing line, wherein the first terrain-tracing line has a first line configuration and the second terrain-tracing line has a second line configuration.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first and second line configurations are different and each represents sequential, different fixed ranges.