Aircraft flat panel display system
First Claim
1. A method for imaging, on an aircraft instrumentation display system bit-mapped display formed of a multiplicity of individually-addressable pixels at locations through the display and actuatable to create images on the display, aircraft flight information based on data that is input to the display system for presentation on the display, comprising the steps of:
- (A) generating, by a rendering computer operable for graphically rendering the aircraft flight information on the display for use by flight crew of the aircraft in operating the aircraft and for receiving the input data, from the received input data anti-aliased graphical current imaging data for selectively actuating the multiplicity of display pixels with the generated anti-aliased graphical current imaging data to create on the bit-mapped display the graphically-depicted flight information comprising a dynamically-changeable graphically-depicted flight parameter, the flight parameter being graphically depicted by rendering computer generated current imaging data visibly imaged at a predetermined location on the display by selective actuation of a subject plurality of the pixels of said multiplicity of display pixels to visually form the graphical flight parameter depiction at the display location;
(B) generating, by a comparator processor operable for receiving the input data, from the received input data current comparison imaging data for comparison by the comparator processor with selected parts of the rendering computer generated current imaging data for the flight parameter to thereby validate the current imaging data that is generated by the rendering computer for graphically rendering the flight information on the display, said current comparison imaging data corresponding to the rendering computer generated current imaging data which is for use in actuating only a current predetermined subset of said subject plurality of the pixels of said multiplicity of display pixels for visibly imaging the flight parameter at the predetermined location, so that the current comparison imaging data comprises current imaging data for actuating only said current predetermined subset of the said subject plurality of pixels;
(C) comparing, by the comparator processor, said current comparison imaging data to the corresponding rendering computer generated current imaging data for actuating the current predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels for the flight parameter to thereby evaluate the graphically rendered aircraft flight information generated by the rendering computer for presentation on the display by checking, from among all of the current imaging data generated by the rendering computer, only a predetermined portion of the rendering computer generated current imaging data comprising a meaningful plurality of individual data values of the rendering computer generated current imaging data for actuating the current predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels;
(D) selecting a new predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels for the flight parameter, said new predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels being different from said current predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels; and
(E) repeating said steps (A), (B), (C) and (D) at successive predetermined time intervals to periodically refresh the graphically-presented flight information on the display with an updated presentation of the dynamically-changeable graphically-depicted flight parameter and to compare the comparison imaging data corresponding to the new predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels to the corresponding rendering computer generated current imaging data for actuating the new predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels for the updated presentation of the flight parameter on the display.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A flat panel display system for an aircraft display includes a graphics rendering computer for rendering of anti-aliased graphical imaging data derived from aircraft sensors for full-field imaging on a cockpit display screen. A comparator processor independently generates, from the same sensor data, a selected subset or “points of light” of the display screen image and compares the points of light data to the data generated by the rendering computer for the same display screen pixel locations. The minimized processing requirements and simplified design of the comparator processor enable ready FAA certification of the comparator processor, whereas the extreme complexity and processing operations required of the rendering computer make FAA certification thereof unusually time consuming and expensive. The comparator processor checks a meaningful subset of the imaging data generated by the rendering computer for each display refresh scan and thereby obviates the need for the otherwise-required level of rendering computer certification that is impractical or unavailable. The rendering computer may be implemented by commercial single-board personal computer hardware with a replaceable graphics processor to enable ease of use of improved components.
28 Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method for imaging, on an aircraft instrumentation display system bit-mapped display formed of a multiplicity of individually-addressable pixels at locations through the display and actuatable to create images on the display, aircraft flight information based on data that is input to the display system for presentation on the display, comprising the steps of:
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(A) generating, by a rendering computer operable for graphically rendering the aircraft flight information on the display for use by flight crew of the aircraft in operating the aircraft and for receiving the input data, from the received input data anti-aliased graphical current imaging data for selectively actuating the multiplicity of display pixels with the generated anti-aliased graphical current imaging data to create on the bit-mapped display the graphically-depicted flight information comprising a dynamically-changeable graphically-depicted flight parameter, the flight parameter being graphically depicted by rendering computer generated current imaging data visibly imaged at a predetermined location on the display by selective actuation of a subject plurality of the pixels of said multiplicity of display pixels to visually form the graphical flight parameter depiction at the display location; (B) generating, by a comparator processor operable for receiving the input data, from the received input data current comparison imaging data for comparison by the comparator processor with selected parts of the rendering computer generated current imaging data for the flight parameter to thereby validate the current imaging data that is generated by the rendering computer for graphically rendering the flight information on the display, said current comparison imaging data corresponding to the rendering computer generated current imaging data which is for use in actuating only a current predetermined subset of said subject plurality of the pixels of said multiplicity of display pixels for visibly imaging the flight parameter at the predetermined location, so that the current comparison imaging data comprises current imaging data for actuating only said current predetermined subset of the said subject plurality of pixels; (C) comparing, by the comparator processor, said current comparison imaging data to the corresponding rendering computer generated current imaging data for actuating the current predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels for the flight parameter to thereby evaluate the graphically rendered aircraft flight information generated by the rendering computer for presentation on the display by checking, from among all of the current imaging data generated by the rendering computer, only a predetermined portion of the rendering computer generated current imaging data comprising a meaningful plurality of individual data values of the rendering computer generated current imaging data for actuating the current predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels; (D) selecting a new predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels for the flight parameter, said new predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels being different from said current predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels; and (E) repeating said steps (A), (B), (C) and (D) at successive predetermined time intervals to periodically refresh the graphically-presented flight information on the display with an updated presentation of the dynamically-changeable graphically-depicted flight parameter and to compare the comparison imaging data corresponding to the new predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels to the corresponding rendering computer generated current imaging data for actuating the new predetermined subset of said subject plurality of pixels for the updated presentation of the flight parameter on the display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An aircraft instrumentation display system for imaging, repeatedly at predetermined image-updating refresh intervals, on a bit-mapped display formed of a multiplicity of individually-addressable pixels at locations throughout the display and actuatable to create images on the display, aircraft flight information based on dynamically-changeable data that is input to the display system, comprising:
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a rendering computer operable for graphically rendering the aircraft flight information on the display for use by flight crew of the aircraft in operating the aircraft and for receiving the dynamically-changeable input data and generating from the received input data, at each of said refresh intervals, anti-aliased graphical imaging data for selectively actuating the multiplicity of display pixels with the generated anti-aliased graphical imaging data to create on the bit-mapped display the graphically-depicted flight information comprising a dynamically-changeable graphically-depicted flight parameter, said flight parameter being graphically depicted at each said refresh interval by rendering computer generated imaging data visibly imaged at a predetermined location on the display by selective actuation of a subject plurality of the pixels of said multiplicity of display pixels to visually form the graphical flight parameter depiction at the display location; and a comparator processor for receiving the dynamically-changeable input data and generating from the received input data, at each of said refresh intervals, comparison imaging data for comparison by said comparator processor with selected parts of the rendering computer generated imaging data for the flight parameter at said each refresh interval to thereby validate the imaging data that is generated by the rendering computer at said each refresh interval for graphically rendering the flight information on the display, said comparison imaging data at said each refresh interval corresponding to the rendering computer generated imaging data at said each refresh interval which is for use in actuating at said each refresh interval only a predetermined subset of said subject plurality of the pixels of said multiplicity of display pixels for visibly imaging at said each refresh interval the flight parameter at the predetermined location, so that the comparison imaging data at said each refresh interval comprises imaging data for actuating only said predetermined subset at said each refresh interval of the said subject plurality of pixels and said predetermined subset of the subject plurality of pixels being different for each successive refresh interval relative to the predetermined subset of the subject plurality of pixels for each immediately preceding refresh interval, and said comparator processor being further operable for comparing at each said refresh interval said comparison imaging data at said each refresh interval to the corresponding rendering computer generated imaging data at said each refresh interval for actuating the predetermined subset at the said each refresh interval of said subject plurality of pixels for the flight parameter to thereby evaluate at each said refresh interval the graphically rendered aircraft flight information generated by the rendering computer at said each refresh interval for presentation on the display by checking, from among all of the imaging data generated by the rendering computer at said each refresh interval, only a predetermined portion of the rendering computer generated imaging data comprising a meaningful plurality of individual data values of the rendering computer generated imaging data for actuating at said each refresh interval the predetermined subset at said each refresh interval of said subject plurality of pixels. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification