Method and Electronic Device for Managing, in the Form of Sequences, Messages Exchanged Between an Aircraft and a Ground Station, Related Computer Program Product

• US 20160293014A1
• Filed: 03/31/2016
• Published: 10/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Gomez, Stephane, Ory, Romain, Rey, Sebastien
• Granted Patent: US 9,666,081 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

This method for managing messages exchanged between a ground station and an aircraft is implemented by an electronic device. Each message includes an identifier, a dialogue number and data. This method comprises acquiring a message, determining the identifier of the acquired message, and comparing the determined identifier with identifiers contained in a table of current sequences. When the identifier corresponds to a sequence of said table, the method comprises associating the acquired message with said sequence, and otherwise, it comprises generating a new sequence using a list of sequences, associating the acquired message with the new generated sequence, and updating the table of current sequences with the new generated sequence. Each sequence includes one or several dialogues, each dialogue including at least two messages.

Claims

1. A method for managing messages exchanged between a ground station and an aircraft piloted by at least one pilot, each message including an identifier, a dialogue number and data,

the method being implemented by an electronic device for managing exchanged messages, and comprising:

acquiring a message;

determining the identifier of the acquired message;

comparing the identifier of the acquired message with message identifiers contained in a table of current sequences, and

when the identifier of the acquired message corresponds to a sequence from among the sequences contained in the table of current sequences;

associating the acquired message with said sequence, and

when the identifier of the acquired message does not correspond to any of the sequences contained in the table of current sequences;

generating a new sequence using a list of sequences,

associating the acquired message with the new generated sequence, and

updating the table of current sequences with the new generated sequence;

each sequence including one or several dialogues, each dialogue including at least two messages, said messages corresponding to a request and to a response to this request respectively.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises displaying at least one current sequence, each displayed sequence including the acquired message(s) associated with said sequence.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the list of sequences includes an entry point for each sequence, the entry point being the identifier of the first message of the sequence, and

wherein a new sequence is generated only if the identifier of the acquired message corresponds to the entry point of a sequence from the list of sequences.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the table of current sequences contains, for each sequence, at least one expected identifier, each expected identifier being the identifier of a next authorized message of the sequence, and

wherein the list of sequences includes, for each sequence, one or several possible series of authorized messages.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the list of sequences includes an entry point for each sequence, the entry point being the identifier of the first message of the sequence, and

wherein a new sequence is generated only if the identifier of the acquired message corresponds to the entry point of a sequence from the list of sequences;

and

wherein a new sequence is generated when no expected identifier is equal to the identifier of the acquired message, at least one expected identifier then being determined for the new sequence from the list of sequences, and the table of current sequences being updated by adding said new sequence with the determined expected identifier(s).

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein when a single expected identifier is equal to the identifier of the acquired message, the acquired message is associated with the sequence corresponding to this expected identifier, at least one new expected identifier is determined for said sequence from the list of sequences, and the table of current sequences is updated by replacing, for each sequence, the old expected identifier(s) with the new determined expected identifier(s).

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises, when several expected identifiers are equal to the identifier of the acquired message, determining the dialogue number of the acquired message, and the acquired message is associated with the sequence corresponding to the dialogue number of the acquired message, from among the sequences for which the expected identifiers are equal to the identifier of the acquired message.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the determined dialogue number is an MRN number according to the RTCA DO258A standard.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein each message is a data link message according to layer 2 of the ISO model according to the ISO 7498 standard.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including a computer program product including software instructions which when executed by a computer, implement the method according to claim 1.

11. An electronic device for managing messages exchanged between a ground station and an aircraft piloted by at least one pilot, each message including an identifier, a dialogue number and data, the device comprising:

an acquisition module configured for acquiring a message;

a determination module configured for determining the identifier of the acquired message; and

a processing module configured for comparing the identifier of the acquired message with message identifiers contained in a table of current sequences, and for;

when the identifier of the acquired message corresponds to a sequence from among the sequences contained in the table of current sequences;

associating the acquired message with said sequence, and

when the identifier of the acquired message does not correspond to any of the sequences contained in the table of current sequences;

generating a new sequence using a list of sequences,

associating the acquired message with the new generated sequence, and

updating the table of current sequences with the new generated sequence;

each sequence including one or several dialogues, each dialogue including at least two messages, said messages corresponding to a request and to a response to this request respectively.