Methods and systems for displaying procedure information

• US 7,876,238 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2006
• Issued: 01/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Schiefele, Jens, Howland, David Duncan, Vandenbergh, Thatcher L., Maris, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg; George A
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCNALLY, KERRI L
• Application Number:
  US11/566,927
• Publication Number:
  US 20070168120A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,512 Days
• Field of Search: 340/988, 340/945, 340973-983, 701 14- 18
• US Class Current: 340/971
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 23/005 Flight directors indicating arrangements specially adapted for rotary gyroscopes G01C19/32

Abstract

A navigation procedure display is described. The navigational procedure display includes a dynamic information area, positioned within the flight procedure display, for displaying a current procedure instruction and at least one successive procedure instruction. The navigational procedure display also includes a moving map area, positioned within the procedure display, for displaying a current position indication in at least three dimensions and situational awareness symbols.

Claims

1. A display for airport approach and departure flight procedures, said display comprising:

a dynamic information area, said dynamic information area including at least one instruction of a user selected flight procedure, the at least one instruction based on a current position of an aircraft associated with said display, a portion of said dynamic information area including airport dependent and aircraft dependent flight procedure information; and

a moving map area, said moving map area including a plan view of the user selected flight procedure and an indication of current position with respect to the user selected flight procedure, said moving map area configured to display only symbols related to the user selected procedure, rather than the symbols for all defined approach procedures or the symbols for all defined departure procedures relevant to the current status and position of the aircraft, said dynamic information area allowing for decluttering of said moving map area.

2. The display according to claim 1 wherein the flight procedure display is configured to be updated based on at least one input.

3. The display according to claim 2 wherein the at least one user selected flight procedure comprises a plurality of flight procedure instructions, and the at least one input comprises at least one of:

a user input indicating completion of one instruction of the plurality of flight procedure instructions within a user selected flight procedure;

a user input to advance said dynamic information area of said display to at least one successive instruction of the plurality of flight procedure instructions;

a user input to revert said dynamic information area of said display to at least one previous instruction of the plurality of flight procedure instructions; and

an automatic input provided to said display upon completion of one instruction of the plurality of flight procedure instructions.

4. The display according to claim 3 wherein the automatic input comprises an input from at least one of an altimeter, an air speed indicator, and a global positioning system.

5. The display according to claim 1 wherein said moving map area is configured to display a rotating map such that the map remains in a predetermined orientation regardless of a direction of travel.

6. The display according to claim 1 wherein said display is configured to be tailored according to at least one condition.

7. The display according to claim 6 wherein the at least one condition comprises at least one of a specific type of aircraft or vehicle, a category of aircrafts or vehicles, installed equipment, a performance characteristic, and a flight plan restriction.

8. The display according to claim 6 wherein the at least one condition is provided to said display by at least one of an automatic input and a user input.

9. The display according to claim 1 wherein the at least one flight procedure instruction comprises a current flight procedure instruction based on at least one of a user input and an automatic input from a sensing device.

10. The display according to claim 1 wherein the at least one instruction of a user selected flight procedure further comprises at least one of a fix name, a leg distance, heading information, altitude information, and procedure notes.

11. The display according to claim 1 wherein the current position indication is comprised of an abstract symbol.

12. The display according to claim 1 wherein said moving map area comprises a situational awareness symbol corresponding to the user selected flight procedure, the situational awareness symbol having an associated alphanumeric description.

13. The display according to claim 1 wherein said moving map area is further configured to display a plurality of situational awareness symbols that are symmetrically shaped such that as the map moves, conflicting symbols continue to conflict with the same number of other symbols.

14. The display according to claim 1 wherein said moving map area is further configured to display a plurality of situational awareness symbols, and the current aircraft position indication and the situation awareness symbols are ranked in order of a predetermined significance, wherein a more significant symbol is positioned in a foreground of the flight procedure display as compared to a less significant symbol.

15. The display according to claim 1 wherein said dynamic information area comprises:

a flight procedure identification description;

a plurality of rows, each row associated with a leg of the user selected flight procedure and containing an instruction of the user selected flight procedure; and

a procedure notes area including at least one of airport dependent information and aircraft dependent information.

16. A flight procedure display system comprising:

an electronic display screen configured to display a moving map and a dynamic information area, the dynamic information area including at least one flight procedure instruction of a user selected flight procedure and at least one of an airport and an aircraft dependent approach or departure procedure, the moving map including a plan view of the user selected flight procedure and an indication of current position with respect to the user selected flight procedure, the dynamic information area and the map area configured to display only information related to the user selected flight procedure, rather than the symbols for all defined approach procedures or the symbols for all defined departure procedures relevant to the current status and position of the aircraft; and

at least one input device in communication with the electronic display screen, the at least one input device configured to facilitate user selection of a flight procedure from a plurality of stored flight procedures and facilitate user selection of specific flight procedure instructions of the selected flight procedure for display on the electronic display screen.

17. The flight procedure display system according to claim 16 further comprising at least one of a computing device and a computing system in communication with the electronic display screen and the at least one input device.

18. The flight procedure display system according to claim 16 wherein the moving map comprises a map configured to rotate such that the map remains in a predetermined orientation regardless of a direction of travel.

19. The flight procedure display system according to claim 16 wherein the at least one flight procedure instruction within the dynamic information area comprises at least one of a current flight procedure instruction and a successive flight procedure instruction.

20. The flight procedure display system according to claim 16 wherein the flight procedure instruction further comprises at least one of a fix name, a leg distance, heading information, altitude information, and procedure notes.

21. The flight procedure display system according to claim 16 wherein the moving map and the dynamic information area are positioned within separate portions of the electronic display screen.

22. The flight procedure display system according to claim 16 wherein the at least one input device comprises at least one of a line select key, a mouse, a pointing device, a touch screen, and a rotary dial.

23. The flight procedure display system according to claim 16 wherein the at least one input device is configured to provide at least one of a user input indicating a desired flight procedure, a user input indicating completion of a flight procedure instruction, a user input advancing the flight procedure instruction to a successive flight procedure instruction, a user input reverting the flight procedure instruction to a previous flight procedure instruction, an automatic input indicating completion of a flight procedure instruction, and an input indicating a current position.

24. A method of displaying navigation information on an electronic display, the method comprising:

selecting, from a plurality of electronically stored flight procedures relating to at least one of an airport departure and a runway approach, a flight procedure that includes a plurality of flight procedure instructions arranged in an order to be completed and made up of data elements grouped as procedures and accessed as separate entities in a data store; and

displaying a movable map having a plan view of the selected flight procedure and a dynamic information area including at least one of a current flight procedure instruction and a subsequent flight procedure instruction of the selected flight procedure, the dynamic information area and the moving map configured to display only information related to the selected flight procedure, rather than the symbols for all defined approach procedures or the symbols for all defined departure procedures relevant to the current status and position of an aircraft associated with the electronic display.

25. The method according to claim 24 further comprising conforming the movable map and the dynamic information area to at least one of a user input and an automatic input.

26. The method according to claim 25 wherein conforming the movable map and the dynamic information area to at least one of a user input and an automatic input comprises changing the movable map and the dynamic information area in response to at least one of a user input indicating a desired procedure, a user input indicating completion of a procedure instruction, a user input advancing the procedure instruction to a successive procedure instruction, a user input reverting the procedure instruction to a previous procedure instruction, an automatic input indicating completion of a procedure instruction, and an input comprising a current position indication.

27. The method according to claim 24 wherein displaying a movable map further comprises displaying at least one symbol, the at least one symbol comprising at least one of a current position indication and situational awareness identifiers.

28. The method according to claim 27 wherein displaying at least one symbol further comprises displaying situational awareness identifiers that correspond to the at least one procedure instruction of the dynamic information area.

29. The method according to claim 27 wherein displaying at least one symbol further comprises displaying situational awareness identifiers, the situational awareness identifiers comprising elevation indicators, restricted airspace indicators, and other navigational symbols.