Apparatus for synchronizing flight management computers where only the computer chosen to be the master received pilot inputs and transfers the inputs to the spare
First Claim
1. A method of choosing which flight management computer (FMC) of a pair of FMCs will function as a master FMC and which will function as a spare FMC and maintaining data commonalty and synchronization between the master FMC and the spare FMC comprising:
- determining if either flight management computer (FMC) of a pair of FMCs has failed;
if one FMC has failed, choosing the other FMC to function as a master FMC and the failed FMC to function as a spare FMC;
if neither FMC has failed, choosing one FMC to function as a master FMC and the other to function as a spare FMC in accordance with a predetermined protocol;
supplying data to the FMC chosen to function as the master FMC;
forwarding data received by the FMC chosen to be the master FMC to the FMC chosen to be the spare FMC; and
synchronizing the FMC chosen to be the spare FMC to the FMC chosen to be the master FMC.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for choosing which flight management computer (FMC) of two FMCs will function as a master FMC (11) and which will function as a spare FMC (13) in maintaining data commonalty and synchronization between the master FMC (11) and the spare FMC (13) is disclosed. The status of a control switch (15) having FMC select and auto positions is scanned to determine the state of the switch. If the switch (15) is in an FMC select position, the related FMC is chosen to be the master FMC and the other FMC is chosen to be the spare FMC. If the switch is in the auto position, the failure status of the FMCs is evaluated. If one of the FMCs has failed, the other is chosen to be the master FMC. If the FMCs are both operating, the health of the FMCs is evaluated. If both FMCs are healthy, one is chosen to be the master FMC and the other is chosen to be the spare FMC, in accordance with a predetermined protocol. If the health of one of the FMCs has degraded, the other FMC is chosen to be the master FMC. Only the master FMC receives pilot data, which is forwarded to the spare FMC. The master FMC maintains object managers and sends changed data to the spare FMC when a data change occurs. The spare FMC stores the changed data within its own object managers.
71 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of choosing which flight management computer (FMC) of a pair of FMCs will function as a master FMC and which will function as a spare FMC and maintaining data commonalty and synchronization between the master FMC and the spare FMC comprising:
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determining if either flight management computer (FMC) of a pair of FMCs has failed; if one FMC has failed, choosing the other FMC to function as a master FMC and the failed FMC to function as a spare FMC; if neither FMC has failed, choosing one FMC to function as a master FMC and the other to function as a spare FMC in accordance with a predetermined protocol; supplying data to the FMC chosen to function as the master FMC; forwarding data received by the FMC chosen to be the master FMC to the FMC chosen to be the spare FMC; and synchronizing the FMC chosen to be the spare FMC to the FMC chosen to be the master FMC. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. In a pair of flight management computers, the improvement comprising apparatus for choosing which flight management computer (FMC) of a pair of FMCs will function as a master FMC and which will function as a spare FMC, and for maintaining data commonalty and synchronization between the master FMC and the spare FMC, said improvement including:
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each of said FMCs including a master/spare determination subroutine for determining if either of said flight management computers has failed and, if one FMC has failed, choosing the failed FMC to function as a spare FMC and choosing the other of said FMCs to function as a master FMC; and a sync protocol for controlling the transfer of data received by the FMC chosen to function as the master FMC from the pilot inputs to the FMC chosen to function as the spare FMC while inhibiting the FMC chosen to be the spare FMC from processing received data from said pilot inputs, and for synchronizing the FMC chosen to be the spare FMC to the FMC chosen to be the master FMC. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification