SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RESPONDING TO GROUND AND FLIGHT SYSTEM MALFUNCTIONS

• US 20080091310A1
• Filed: 10/17/2006
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Anderson, Julie J., Fussell, Ronald M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,742,854 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/3
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/005 Flight directors indicating arrangements specially adapted for rotary gyroscopes G01C19/32

Abstract

A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle has a data repository. The data repository stores data related to different systems, subsystems, and components of the vehicle. The data stored is encoded in a tree-based structure. A query engine is coupled to the data repository. The query engine provides a user and automated interface and provides contextual query to the data repository. An inference engine is coupled to the query engine. The inference engine compares current anomaly data to contextual data stored in the data repository using inference rules. The inference engine generates a potential solution to the current anomaly by referencing the data stored in the data repository.

Claims

1. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle comprising:

a data repository for storing data related to different systems, subsystems, and components of the vehicle, wherein the data is encoded in a tree-based structure;

a query engine coupled to the data repository for providing a user and automated interface to provide contextual query to the data repository; and

an inference engine coupled to the query engine for comparing current anomaly data to contextual data stored in the data repository using inference rules, the inference engine generating a potential solution to the current anomaly by referencing the data stored in the data repository.

2. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle in accordance with claim 1 further comprising a documentation unit coupled to the data repository to load data into the data repository.

3. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle in accordance with claim 2 further comprising a translation unit coupled to the documentation unit and the data repository to convert data for storage in the data repository.

4. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle in accordance with claim 3 wherein the translation unit comprises:

a natural language processing (NLP) unit coupled to the documentation unit; and

a translator coupled to the NLP unit to provide a text based way to describe and apply a tree-based structure to the data.

5. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle in accordance with claim 1 further comprising a communication device coupled to the query engine to communicate the potential solution to the current anomaly generated by the inference engine.

6. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle in accordance with claim 5 wherein the communication device is one or a display mechanism or automated control device located in an aircraft.

7. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle in accordance with claim 5 wherein the communication device is located in at least one of an aircraft, command center, or vendor.

8. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle in accordance with claim 1 wherein the inference engine comprises:

a match rules unit that located all rules that are satisfied by the current date entered into the query engine;

a select rules unit coupled to the match rules unit that applies a selection strategy to determine which rules will be executed; and

an execute rules unit coupled to the select rules unit that executes the selected rules.

9. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle in accordance with claim 1 further comprising control logic coupled the inference engine to set search parameters of the inference engine.

10. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle comprising:

a data repository for storing data related to different systems, subsystems, and components of the vehicle;

a query engine coupled to the data repository for providing a contextual query interface;

an inference engine coupled to the query engine for comparing current anomaly data to contextual data stored in the data repository, the inference engine generating a potential solution to the current anomaly by referencing the data stored in the data repository;

control logic coupled the inference engine to set search parameters of the inference engine;

documentation unit coupled to the data repository to load data into the data repository related to the different systems, subsystems, and components of the vehicle; and

a translation unit coupled to the documentation unit and the data repository to encode data from the documentation unit for storage in the data repository.

11. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle in accordance with claim 10 wherein the translation unit comprises:

a natural language processing (NLP) unit coupled to the documentation unit; and

a translator coupled to the NLP unit to provide a text based way to describe and apply a tree-based structure to the data.

12. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle in accordance with claim 10 further comprising a communication device coupled to the query engine to communicate the potential solution to the current anomaly generated by the inference engine.

13. A system for on-board anomaly resolution for a vehicle in accordance with claim 10 wherein the inference engine comprises:

a match rules unit that located all rules that are satisfied by the current data entered into the query engine;

a select rules unit coupled to the match rules unit that applies a selection strategy to determine which rules will be executed; and

an execute rules unit coupled to the select rules unit that executes the selected rules.

14. A method for semantic anomaly resolution of a vehicle system comprising:

storing data related to the vehicle into a data repository wherein the data is encoded in a tree-based structure;

entering a query regarding the vehicle; and

comparing data of the query to contextual data stored in the data repository and generating a potential solution to the query by referencing the data stored in the data repository.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein comparing the data further comprises:

locating a set of inference rules for constructing valid inferences that is satisfied by the data of the query;

determining which inference rules in the set of inference rules will be executed; and

executing the selected inference rules for constructing valid inferences to generating a potential solution to the query.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

collecting data related to the vehicle from different sources; and

translating the collected data before loading into the data repository.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising setting parameters for the location, determination and execution of the inference rules.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising communicating the potential solution generated.