DISPLAY GENERATION SYSTEM

• US 20080252489A1
• Filed: 05/23/2008
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hubert Naimer, John Russell Jorgensen, Patrick Gerald Krohn, Patrick Kemp Glaze
• Original Assignee: Hubert Naimer, John Russell Jorgensen, Patrick Gerald Krohn, Patrick Kemp Glaze
• Inventors: Krohn, Patrick Gerald, Jorgensen, John Russell, Glaze, Patrick Kemp, Naimer, Hubert
• Granted Patent: US 8,514,250 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/971
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/005 Flight directors indicating arrangements specially adapted for rotary gyroscopes G01C19/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/12 Test circuits or failure detection circuits included in a display system, as permanent part thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/10 Mixing of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of an operation, e.g. adding, on the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/12 Avionics applications

Abstract

A display generation system that is able to generate display signals for an underlay image with at least one embedded safety pattern and display images for an overlay image. The display generation system and method are able to determine whether there are any anomalies or graphical errors when an overlay display generated by the system or generated by some other system is displayed simultaneously with the underlay image with the embedded safety pattern. The display generation system uses the embedded safety pattern to detect the occurrence of anomalies in the simultaneous display and uses information from its own generated overlay image to detect graphical errors in the simultaneous display. Flight display systems for aircraft can use the display generation system and method of the present invention to display an underlay image depicting geographical scenery in the vicinity of the aircraft while on the ground, during takeoff or in flight. The underlay image is displayed simultaneously with an overlay image depicting standard graphics of a flight display system.

Claims

1. A display generation system for connection to an aircraft display, the display generation system comprising:

a processing engine configured to generate display signals for at least one first image, to one of generate and receive display signals for at least one second image, and to provide display signals for at least the at least one first image to the aircraft display; and

an error detection system configured to perform error detection processing to detect whether at least one of the display signals for the at least one first image and the display signals for the at least one second image includes a graphical error and to generate at least one processing result indicating whether the error detection system detected a graphical error;

wherein the processing engine is further configured to receive the processing result and discontinue the generation of at least the display signals for the at least one first image when the at least one processing result indicates the occurrence of a graphical error.

2. The display generation system of claim 1, wherein the display signals for the at least one first image includes at least one embedded pattern and the error detection system is configured to determine whether simultaneous display of the at least one first image and the at least one second image causes at least one of image anomalies and graphical errors, the error detection system further configured to generate a first processing result indicating whether at least one of an image anomaly and a graphical error occurred because of the simultaneous display.

3. The display generation system of claim 2, wherein the error detection system further comprises:

an image processor configured to format and process the display signals for the at least one first image and display signals for the at least one second image to at least one of a format and a protocol compatible with the aircraft display; and

an integrity module configured to receive the processed display signals from the image processor, to receive the at least one embedded pattern from the processing engine, and to produce the first processing result based on whether the simultaneous display of the at least one first image and the at least one second image contains an image anomaly;

wherein the display monitoring module is configured to receive the processed display signals from the image processor, receive data from a plurality of data sources, and produce a second processing result based on whether the simultaneous display of the at least one first image and the at least one second image contains a graphical error.

4. The display generation system of claim 2, wherein the at least one embedded pattern is configured to cause graphical errors and/or image anomalies when the at least one first image and the at least one second image interfere adversely with each other when displayed simultaneously.

5. The display generation system of claim 2, wherein the embedded safety pattern comprises a train of pixels.

6. The display generation system of claim 2, wherein the embedded safety pattern is generated using a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) technique.

7. The display generation system of claim 1, wherein the error detection system comprises a display monitoring module configured to receive data from a plurality of data sources and to produce a first processing result.

8. The display generation system of claim 7, wherein the processing engine is coupled to at least one image database within which at least one at least one first image is stored and at least one second image includes the data from the plurality of data sources.

9. The display generation system of claim 8, wherein the display signals for the at least one first image includes at least one embedded pattern and the error detection system is configured to determine whether simultaneous display of the at least one first image and the at least one second image causes at least one of image anomalies and graphical errors, the error detection system further configured to generate a second processing result indicating whether at least one of an image anomaly and a graphical error occurred because of the simultaneous display.

10. A method for displaying images on an aircraft display comprising steps of:

generating display signals for at least one first image;

one of generating and receiving display signals for at least one second image;

providing display signals for the at least one first image to the aircraft display;

generating at least one processing result indicating whether a graphical error occurred; and

discontinuing the generation of at least the display signals for the at least one first image when the at least one processing result indicates that a graphical error occurred.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the display signals for the at least one first image include at least one embedded pattern that is configured to cause graphical errors and/or image anomalies when the at least one first image and the at least one second image interfere adversely with each other when displayed simultaneously.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the embedded safety pattern comprises a train of pixels.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of generating the embedded safety pattern using a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) technique.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of generating at least one processing result indicating whether at least one of an image anomaly and a graphical error occurred comprises:

formatting and processing the display signals of the at least one first image and the display signals of the at least one second image to at least one of a format and a protocol compatible with the aircraft display;

receiving the processed display signals from the image processor, receiving the at least one embedded pattern from the processing engine, and producing a first processing result based on whether the simultaneous display of the at least one first image and the at least one second image contains an image anomaly; and

receiving the processed display signals from the image processor, receiving data from a plurality of data sources, and producing a second processing result based on whether the simultaneous display of the at least one first image and the at least one second image contains a graphical error.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of generating at least one processing result indicating whether at least one of an image anomaly and a graphical error occurred comprises:

formatting and processing the display signals of the at least one first image and the display signals of the at least one second image to at least one of a format and a protocol compatible with the aircraft display;

receiving the processed display signals from the image processor, receiving the at least one embedded pattern from the processing engine, and producing a first processing result based on whether the simultaneous display of the at least one first image and the at least one second image contains an image anomaly; and

receiving the processed display signals from the image processor, receiving data from a plurality of data sources, and producing a second processing result based on whether the simultaneous display of the at least one first image and the at least one second image contains a graphical error.