Methods and systems for displaying electronic enroute maps

• US 7,756,637 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Issued: 07/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Ellerbrock, Richard William, Wipplinger, Patrick Ralf
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peche; Jorge O
• Application Number:
  US11/614,452
• Publication Number:
  US 20080154442A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• Field of Search: 701/4, 701/14, 701/16, 701/211, 701/301, 340/995.26, 340/945, 340/971, 340/972, 340/973, 340/976, 340/995, 340/963, 340/964, 340/965, 340/966, 340/967, 340/968, 340/969, 340/970, 340/977, 340/979, 340/995.1, 342/29, 342/30, 342/31, 342/32, 244/183, 244/184, 244/185, 244186-189
• US Class Current: 701/211
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching
• 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

Abstract

Methods and systems for a position indicating display system for an aircraft are provided. The system includes a map display unit configured to display a map representative of an area being traversed by the aircraft, and an overlay comprising an own ship depiction, said overlay displayed on the map for a period of time in response to an input from at least one of a user and an aircraft sensor.

Claims

1. A position indicating display system for an aircraft comprising:

a map display unit configured to display a map representative of an area being traversed by the aircraft; and

an overlay comprising an own ship depiction, said overlay displayed on the map for a temporary period of time in response to an input from at least one of a user and an aircraft sensor to provide in route positional awareness; and

said position indicating display system contained within an electronic flight bag and configured to display the own ship depiction for only a temporary period of time at least upon switching between a north-up mode and a track-up mode and between a rose view and an arc view, the temporary period of time based on at least one of a user selection, a user preference, and a regulatory directive.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said overlay is removed from the display after the period of time.

3. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said overlay is displayed when a weight-on-wheels (WOW) signal is true.

4. A system in accordance with claim 3 wherein the WOW signal comprises a true/false indication of whether or not weight on the main landing gear is above or below a predetermined weight consistent with the aircraft resting on the ground.

5. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said map display is at least one of a moving map display and a static map display.

6. A system according to claim 1 wherein the electronic flight bag includes a database of digital map data, the database communicatively coupled to said position indicating system.

7. A system in accordance with claim 1 further comprising an aircraft position receiver operable to identify an in flight position of an aircraft and provide the in flight position to said position indicating display system.

8. A system in accordance with claim 7 further comprising a database of digital map data operable for display on said map display unit, said system operable to generate the digital map on said position indicating display system from the digital map data and determine and display a position of the aircraft relative to the generated map on said position indicating display system.

9. A method of displaying a current position of an aircraft comprising:

determining a current position of the aircraft;

displaying, on a position indicating display system contained within an electronic flight bag, a map of an area of earth surface surrounding the determined current position of the aircraft; and

temporarily displaying an own ship depiction of the current position of the aircraft on the displayed map, providing in route positional awareness, in response to an input from a user, a length of the temporary display based on at least one of a period of time selectable by a user, a user preference, and a regulatory directive;

wherein said input from a user comprises at least switching between a north-up mode and a track-up mode and switching between a rose view and an arc view.

10. A method in accordance with claim 9 wherein displaying a map of an area of earth surface comprises displaying a map of an area of earth surface wherein a size of the area is selectable by a user.

11. A method in accordance with claim 9 wherein displaying an own ship depiction further comprises removing the own ship depiction from the display after the period of time.

12. A method in accordance with claim 9 wherein displaying an own ship depiction comprises displaying an own ship depiction when a weight-on-wheels (WOW) signal is true.

13. A method in accordance with claim 9 wherein displaying a map comprises displaying at least one of a moving map display and a static map display.