Apparatus and method for determining whether a vehicle is located in a spot beam
First Claim
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1. A method for determining the inclusion of a predetermined position within a polygon, comprising the steps of:
- generating a reference line from the predetermined position to some position known to be outside of the polygon;
making an intersection determination if one of a plurality of line segments, forming a boundary of the polygon, has an endpoint which is along the reference line;
moving the predetermined position to a displaced location, in response to said intersection determination; and
, repeating a predetermined process for determination of inclusion of the displaced location in the polygon.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining the inclusion or exclusion of a current position of an aircraft within a satellite communication spot beam, which uses a technique of slightly moving the position being checked for inclusion, when it is determined that a ray drawn from the current position is coextensive with an endpoint of any line segment making up a boundary of the spot beam.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for determining the inclusion of a predetermined position within a polygon, comprising the steps of:
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generating a reference line from the predetermined position to some position known to be outside of the polygon;
making an intersection determination if one of a plurality of line segments, forming a boundary of the polygon, has an endpoint which is along the reference line;
moving the predetermined position to a displaced location, in response to said intersection determination; and
,repeating a predetermined process for determination of inclusion of the displaced location in the polygon. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of determining inclusion of a position of an aircraft within a satellite communication spot beam, comprising the steps of:
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defining the spot beam as a plurality of adjacent line segments forming a polygon, where each line segment has two vertices;
determining, for each line segment, whether such segment has both of said vertices on a single side of a reference ray drawn from the position to a known position outside of the spot beam;
for those segments not having both vertices on a single side of said reference ray, determining if any of said vertices are on said reference ray;
if any segment has a vertex on the reference ray, then the position is moved to a displaced location, and then returning to said step of determining, if no segment has a vertex on the reference ray then, a point of intersection is calculated for each segment through which the ray is drawn;
generating a total number representative of a number of said points of intersection; and
,determining whether said total number is even. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus for satellite communication by an aircraft in a spot beam, the apparatus comprising;
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means for determining a current position of an aircraft during flight;
means for executing computer code;
executable computer code means which performs a function of determining an inclusion characteristic of said current position with respect to a spot beam, where said computer code means is responsive to a determination of whether a ray drawn from the current position to a known point outside of the spot beam is coextensive with a vertex of a line segment defining a polygon boundary which is representative of a boundary characteristic of the spot beam, and the limitation—
and where said executable code means is responsive to a displacement of said current position to a displaced location.- View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification