Display management method, system and article of manufacture for managing icons, tags and leader lines
First Claim
1. An air traffic control display management system, comprising:
- a radar device emitting radar and receiving radar returns identifying positions of objects including positions of aircraft;
a receiver receiving transponder signals from the aircraft, the transponder signal including aircraft identification information;
an icon display driver displaying icons each of which represents a corresponding object at the display grid coordinate determined by a display grid coordinate calculator;
a tag display driver displaying a tag near each of the icons wherein the tag includes the object information associated with the corresponding icon;
a leader line displaying device displaying a leader line substantially connecting each of the corresponding tags and icons;
said radar device updating the position information;
an icon repositioner repositioning the icon on the display at an updated display grid coordinate corresponding to the updated position information;
a conflict determiner determining if a tag conflicts with the repositioned icon;
a conflicting tag relocator relocating a conflicting tag,wherein the conflicting tag is located at a display grid coordinate which conflicts with the repositioned icon.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A display managing system, method and article of manufacture displays icons, tags and leader lines based on tracking information that includes position information of a plurality of objects; determines if a tag or leader line conflicts with repositioned icons; and relocates the conflicting tag or leader line to prevent a tag or leader line from overlapping and thereby obscuring the icon. Furthermore, the tags and leader lines associated with the repositioned icons are, themselves, repositioned. If these repositioned tags and leader lines conflict with an existing icon, tag or leader line, then the conflicting tag and/or leader line are moved to unoccupied display grid coordinates or a tag location is time-shared between two conflicting tags. Leader line stretching may also be used to prevent tags from jumping around as the icon is moved. An organized data base, which may be in the form of x-y trees, is employed to encode the positions of the display elements to permit efficient searches to locate tags, leader lines and icons and to resolve conflicts therebetween. The invention may also be applied to manage the display of a fleet dispatcher or in a fleet dispatch system.
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Citations
47 Claims
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1. An air traffic control display management system, comprising:
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a radar device emitting radar and receiving radar returns identifying positions of objects including positions of aircraft; a receiver receiving transponder signals from the aircraft, the transponder signal including aircraft identification information; an icon display driver displaying icons each of which represents a corresponding object at the display grid coordinate determined by a display grid coordinate calculator; a tag display driver displaying a tag near each of the icons wherein the tag includes the object information associated with the corresponding icon; a leader line displaying device displaying a leader line substantially connecting each of the corresponding tags and icons; said radar device updating the position information; an icon repositioner repositioning the icon on the display at an updated display grid coordinate corresponding to the updated position information; a conflict determiner determining if a tag conflicts with the repositioned icon; a conflicting tag relocator relocating a conflicting tag, wherein the conflicting tag is located at a display grid coordinate which conflicts with the repositioned icon. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 30, 31, 32)
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15. A computer implemented method of managing icons, tags and leader lines on a display, comprising the steps of:
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inputting tracking information including position information and associated object information of a plurality of objects, displaying icons each of which represents a corresponding object at display grid coordinates corresponding to the position information; displaying a tag near each of the icons wherein the tag includes the object information associated with the corresponding icon; displaying a leader line substantially connecting each of the corresponding tags and icons; updating the position information; repositioning the icon on the display at an updated display grid coordinate corresponding to the updated position information; determining if a tag conflicts with the repositioned icon; and relocating the conflicting tag, wherein the conflicting tag is located at a display grid coordinate which conflicts with the repositioned icon. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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33. An article of manufacture, comprising:
a computer-usable medium including computer-readable program code means, embodied therein, for causing a computer to manage icons, tags and leader lines on a display, the computer-readable program code means comprising; computer-readable program code means for inputting tracking information including position information and associated object information of a plurality of objects; computer-readable program code means for storing the tracking information; computer-readable program code means for displaying icons each of which represents a corresponding object at display grid coordinates corresponding to the position information; computer-readable program code means for displaying a tag near each of the icons wherein the tag includes the object information associated with the corresponding icon; computer-readable program code means for displaying a leader line substantially connecting each of the corresponding tags and icons; computer-readable program code means for updating the position information; computer-readable program code means for repositioning the icon on the display at an updated display grid coordinate corresponding to the updated position information; computer-readable program code means for determining if a tag conflicts with the repositioned icon; and computer-readable program code means for relocating the conflicting tag, wherein the conflicting tag is located at a display grid coordinate which conflicts with the repositioned icon. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
Specification