Displaying obstacles in perspective view

• US 7,375,678 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2005
• Issued: 05/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Feyereisen, Thea L., He, Gang, Wilson, Blake W., Suddreth, John G., Wyatt, Ivan S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chen, Shelley
• Application Number:
  US11/169,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20070018887A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,056 Days
• Field of Search: 342/176, 342/179, 342/180, 345419-420, 345/427, 340945-980, 463 32- 33
• US Class Current: 342/180
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/00 Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/20 Stereoscopic displays; Three-dimensional displays; Pseudo-three-dimensional displays
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/22 Producing cursor lines and indicia by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0078 for monitoring traffic from the aircraft radar or analogous systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91

Abstract

A system and method for displaying obstacles in a conformal perspective view. The system comprises a display screen for graphical display of data, at least one obstacle data source, one or more graphics processors for receiving obstacle data from the at least one obstacle data source, and for providing input to the display screen. The display screen displays obstacles in a 3-dimensional graphical representation of real space. The display size of the obstacles varies based on the distance to the obstacles. Obstacles located beyond a selected distance are displayed as semi-transparent line objects and obstacles located within the selected distance are displayed as semi-transparent polygons.

Claims

1. A method for displaying obstacles in perspective-view, the method comprising:

searching for obstacles around a specified location,

determining if obstacles are within a selected distance around said specified location,

rendering each obstacle located within a first range of distances as a single semi-transparent line, and

rendering obstacles located within a second range of distances as semi-transparent polygons.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining a display size to substantially conform to a real-world view of forward looking space.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein searching for obstacles further comprises one or more of

searching an obstacle database for obstacles around a specified location, and

receiving obstacle data from sensors for obstacles around a specified location.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, actively rotating polygons such that a front face of the polygons is substantially facing a viewing point at the center of a display screen.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising,

rendering initial polygon color substantially blended with background terrain color,

receiving data on obstacle threat, and

changing polygon color and highlighting polygon to match threat data.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising,

determining if obstacle data contains data regarding obstacle structure, and

rendering polygons as representative of obstacle structure if obstacle data contains data regarding structure.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, assigning obstacles located within the second range of distances a fixed-width.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, rendering the semi-transparent line objects and polygons using a transparency level which allows substantial blending with background terrain color.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, displaying obstacle height information by combining one or more segments, wherein each segment represents a fixed-height.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising, rendering the one or more segments as polygons. with alternating transparency levels.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising, alternating the transparency levels of the one or more segments.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising, alternating the colors of the one or more segments.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising, rendering the one or more segments with texture.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising, rendering the one or more segments as substantially spherical shapes.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising, rendering a top segment as substantially spherical, and increasing a horizontal radius for each subsequent segment.

16. A display system comprising:

a display screen for graphical display of data,

at least one obstacle data source,

one or more graphics processors for receiving obstacle data from the at least one obstacle data source, and for providing input to the display screen,

the display screen displaying obstacles in a 3-dimensional graphical representation of real space, the display of the obstacles varying based on the distance to the obstacles, and

wherein each obstacle located beyond a selected distance is displayed as a single semi-transparent line object and obstacles located within the selected distance are displayed as semi-transparent polygons, wherein the display size of the obstacles is further varied based on the distance to the obstacles.

17. The display system of claim 16 wherein, the obstacles located within the selected distance are actively rotated such that a front face of the polygons is substantially facing a viewer of the display screen.

18. The display system of claim 16 wherein, the selected distance is 3 miles.

19. The display system of claim 16 wherein, the semi-transparent line object and polygons have a transparency level which allows substantial blending with background terrain color.

20. The display system of claim 16 wherein, the obstacles represented by polygons are assigned a fixed-width for display in the graphical display.

21. The display system of claim 16 wherein, the semi-transparent polygons initially have a color substantially blended with the display'"'"'s background terrain color, and the semi-transparent polygons change color and are highlighted to match standard audio awareness and warning alerts as threat status is computed and changed in real-time.

22. The display system of claim 16 wherein the at least one obstacle data source further comprises, one or more obstacle databases of known objects, and one or more real time sensors.

23. The display system of claim 16 wherein, the one or more processors are adapted to receive a user input to select between an egocentric and an exocentric view of the 3-dimensional graphical representation of real space.

24. The display system of claim 16 wherein, the display system is a flight deck display system on board an aircraft.

25. The display system of claim 16 wherein, obstacle height information is displayed on the display screen by combining one or more segments, each segment representing a fixed-height.

26. The display system of claim 25 wherein, the one or more segments are each substantially spherical.

27. The display system of claim 25 wherein, the one or more segments are polygons.

28. The display system of claim 25 wherein, the one or more segments alternate transparency levels.

29. The display system of claim 25 wherein, the one or more segments alternate colors.

30. The display system of claim 25 wherein, the one or more segments are rendered with texture.

31. The display system of claim 30 wherein, the texture is based on photographs.

32. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

receiving obstacle data from an obstacle data source,

determining if obstacles are within a selected distance,

determining which obstacles within said selected distance are within a first range of distances and which obstacles are within a second range of distances,

calculating display size of obstacles based on distance to the second range obstacles, and

sending instructions to a display to render each obstacle in said first range of distances as a single semi-transparent line object and to display obstacles in said second range of distances as semi-transparent polygons with display size information based on distance to the obstacles.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 32 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising:

blending initial line object and polygon color with background terrain color,

receiving data on obstacle threat in real-time, and

changing the polygon color and highlighting the polygon to match the threat data.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 32 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising:

determining if obstacle data contains data regarding the structure of each obstacle, and

sending instructions to the display to render polygons as representative of obstacle structure for those obstacles with structure data.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 32 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising, assigning obstacles in said second range of distances a fixed width.

36. The computer readable medium of claim 32 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising, rendering the semi-transparent line objects and polygons using a transparency level which allows substantial blending with background terrain color.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 32 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising, displaying obstacle height information by combining one or more segments, wherein each segment represents a fixed-height.

38. The computer readable medium of claim 37 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising, rendering the one or more segments as substantially circular shapes.

39. The computer readable medium of claim 38 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising,

rendering a top segment as substantially circular, and

increasing a horizontal radius for each subsequent segment.

40. The computer readable medium of claim 37 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising, rendering the one or more segments as polygons. with alternating transparency levels.

41. The computer readable medium of claim 37 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising, alternating the transparency levels of the one or more segments.

42. The computer readable medium of claim 37 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising, rendering the one or more segments with alternating colors.

43. The computer readable medium of claim 37 having computer-executable instructions for performing a method further comprising, rendering the one or more segments with texture.