Inflight weather service
First Claim
1. A weather briefing system, comprising:
- an antenna;
a receiver connected to said antenna; and
a display device,wherein pilot weather reports are communicated via said antenna, formatted into a graphical representation comprising icons and colors, and displayed on said display device over a base map in accordance with a user selection,wherein at least one data set from said pilot weather reports is based on actual weather condition data collected at an aircraft in flight and reported for a specific altitude and geographic location, andwherein information is generated about alternate routes based on the actual weather condition data to provide a selection of adverse weather avoidance altitudes.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A weather briefing system that may be used in the cockpit to provide near real-time graphic and text weather information. Weather information and pilot reports are fed to the cockpit from, e.g., a satellite in geosynchronous orbit. Once delivered to the aircraft, the system processes the data stream and formats it for delivery to an end user device. The data is collected from an extensive network of sources. The end user device may be a portable electronic flight bag (EFB), panel-mounted display (MFD), or similar device programmed to display the formatted data. The system provides timely and accurate weather information to pilots of all types of aircraft. This information may be used for pre-flight planning and in-flight decision-making.
80 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A weather briefing system, comprising:
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an antenna; a receiver connected to said antenna; and a display device, wherein pilot weather reports are communicated via said antenna, formatted into a graphical representation comprising icons and colors, and displayed on said display device over a base map in accordance with a user selection, wherein at least one data set from said pilot weather reports is based on actual weather condition data collected at an aircraft in flight and reported for a specific altitude and geographic location, and wherein information is generated about alternate routes based on the actual weather condition data to provide a selection of adverse weather avoidance altitudes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method implemented in a computing system for providing an in-flight pilot weather report, comprising:
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receiving said pilot weather report, wherein at least one data set from said pilot weather reports is based on actual weather condition data collected at an aircraft in flight and reported for a specific altitude and geographic location; processing said pilot weather report to produce graphical information comprising icons and colors; generating information about alternate routes based on the actual weather condition data to provide a selection of adverse weather avoidance altitudes; and displaying said graphical information indicative of at least one of echo tops, lightning, icing, turbulence, other pilot report information, and urgent pilot report information over a base map. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of providing in-flight pilot weather reports to aircraft aloft, comprising:
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providing said in-flight pilot weather reports to said aircraft via a satellite communication, wherein at least one data set from said in-flight pilot weather reports is based on an actual weather condition data collected at an aircraft in flight and reported for a specific altitude and geographic location; processing said in-flight pilot weather reports to provide a graphical representation of said in-flight pilot weather reports, said graphical representation comprising a base map, colors, and icons; providing a base display on which said graphical representation is displayed; and prioritizing said in-flight pilot weather reports to generate information about alternate routes based on the actual weather condition data and to superimpose said graphical representation over said base display where urgent information is displayed over other information. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification