Voice activated alerting system for aircraft crew

• US 7,113,109 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2004
• Issued: 09/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: I-Cube Design Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: I-Tex Wireless Incorporated
• Inventors: Cordina, Joseph L., Couzelis, Anthony B.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRIEU, VAN THANH
• Application Number:
  US10/874,295
• Publication Number:
  US 20040245409A1
• Time in Patent Office: 827 Days
• Field of Search: 340/945, 340/971, 340/539.1, 340/539.11, 340/573.1, 340/573.5, 340/573.7, 340/574, 340/426.17, 340/426.18, 244/121, 244/118.5, 709/203, 709/245
• US Class Current: 340/945
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/0059 by communicating emergency situations to ground control or between crew members

Abstract

A method and system for alerting an aircrew of terrorist activity in a cabin of an aircraft. When a terrorist or emergency situation is detected by a flight attendant, the flight attendant speaks an activation word, which turns the personal alert unit to an active mode. The flight attendant then says one or more specific words stored as a vocabulary within the personal alert unit. Upon recognition of a spoken word stored in the personal alert unit, the personal alert unit converts the recognized word or words into a signal sent to the cockpit via the ASU to the CDU. The CDU provides an indicator to the cockpit crew of the recognized words spoken by the flight attendant.

Claims

1. A system for alerting an aircrew of a dangerous situation occurring on an aircraft, the system comprising:

a plurality of personal alert units, each personal alert unit being carried by an authorized person located on the aircraft, the personal alert unit capable of recognizing specific words spoken by the authorized person and transmitting a signal corresponding to the recognized specific words; and

a cockpit display unit (CDU) for receiving signals sent from the transmitting personal alert unit, the CDU located within a cockpit of the aircraft;

whereby one of the authorized persons carrying the personal alert unit detects a dangerous situation and speaks one of the specific words recognizable by the personal alert unit, upon receipt of a recognized specific word, the personal alert unit sends a signal to the CDU, the CDU providing an indicator to a cockpit crew of the recognized specific word.

2. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 1 further comprising an antenna sending unit (ASU) located within a cabin of the aircraft, said ASU capable of communicating with each personal alert unit, said ASU forwarding any transmitted signals to the CDU.

3. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 1 wherein each personal alert unit is capable of transmitting a plurality of specific codes, each code correlating to a specific recognized word.

4. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 1 further comprising means for relaying the signal sent from the transmitting personal alert unit to ground-based personnel.

5. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 4 wherein said means for relaying the signal includes emitting a transponder code from a transponder installed on the aircraft.

6. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 4 wherein said means for relaying the signal includes sending an ACARS message from an ACARS unit installed on the aircraft to ground-based personnel.

7. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 1 wherein said CDU includes means for detecting an attempt to jam a frequency used by the transmitting personal alert unit to send the signal to the CDU.

8. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 1 wherein each fob includes a staging means providing multiple retransmission of the signal in a randomly timed spacing pattern.

9. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 1 wherein the each personal alert unit, upon receipt of the recognized word from the CDU, provides an alert to the authorized persons.

10. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 9 wherein the alert is a vibrating alert from a vibrating mechanism embedded within the personal alert unit.

11. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 1 wherein the personal alert unit includes a character display for displaying each recognized word as a textual representation on the character display.

12. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 1 wherein the personal alert unit includes a vibrating mechanism which vibrates upon recognition of a spoken word from the authorized person.

13. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 12 wherein all the personal alert units vibrate upon receipt of a recognized word by the CDU.

14. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 1 wherein the personal alert unit includes a pocket emergency transmitter and a microphone.

15. The system for alerting an aircrew of claim 1 wherein the personal alert unit only recognizes specific words after receipt of an alert word.

16. A method of alerting an aircrew located in an aircraft of a dangerous activity on the aircraft, said method comprising the steps of:

carrying at least one personal alert unit by a flight crew member during flight of the aircraft;

upon observing a dangerous activity on the aircraft, speaking by a flight crew member a specific word;

recognizing, by the personal alert unit, the specific word spoken by the flight crew member;

transmitting a signal corresponding to the specific word from the personal alert unit to the CDU; and

displaying an indication corresponding to the specific word on the CDU to the cockpit crew.

17. The method of alerting an aircrew of claim 16 further comprising the step of, upon receipt of the signal by the CDU, broadcasting an alert signal to all the personal alert units to indicate that a dangerous activity has occurred aboard the aircraft.

18. The method of alerting an aircrew of claim 16 wherein the step of speaking a specific word includes speaking a specific action word to activate the personal alert unit, whereby activating the personal alert unit allows recognition of specific spoken words.

19. A personal alert unit for alerting an aircrew of a dangerous situation occurring on an aircraft through a cockpit display unit located within a cockpit of the aircraft, the personal alert unit comprising:

a pocket emergency transmitter carried by an authorized person located on the aircraft; and

a microphone communicating with the pocket emergency transmitter, the microphone being carried by the authorized person;

the pocket emergency transmitter transmitting signals to the cockpit display unit upon receipt of a specific recognized word spoken by the authorized person carrying the personal alert unit, the signal providing an indication corresponding to the specific word to alert the aircrew of a dangerous situation.

20. The personal alert unit of claim 19 wherein the pocket emergency transmitter only recognizes specific words after receiving a specific action word spoken by the authorized person.