Method and representations for exporting tactical data link information as a web service

• US 8,140,611 B1
• Filed: 06/07/2006
• Issued: 03/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Miller, Frank W., Waldschmidt, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): England, David E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): John, Clarence
• Application Number:
  US11/448,645
• Time in Patent Office: 2,113 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/203, 370/252, 715/738
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A scalable method and apparatus for performing a mashup of military Situation Awareness (SA) data in a tactical data link (TDL) with data residing in several databases, using a web server-web browser architecture over an IP-based network. In a preferred embodiment the invention employs a TDL gateway to collect and correlate SA data from a TDL and stores the data in a track database, which is interfaced by a web server to the IP-based network. A SA web browser interfaces with the TDL gateway web server, a maps server and a symbology server to mash data from a plurality of sources into an integrated whole, allowing a more complete graphical representation of the SA data. The invention is capable of operating in reverse, to inject user defined data from the SA web browser into the TDL.

Claims

1. A client-server system for Tactical Data Link (TDL) Situational Awareness (SA) data mashups over an IP network comprising:

a TDL Gateway receiving TDL data, said TDL Gateway having a TDL Gateway web server receiving processed TDL data from said TDL Gateway and interfacing said TDL Gateway to communicate over the IP network;

an SA Browser having an SA Browser web client communicating with said TDL Gateway web server over the IP network;

a Symbology Server; and

a Maps Server, wherein;

said SA Browser connects to said Maps and Symbology servers via said SA Browser web client communicating with said web servers of said Symbology Server and said Maps Server; and

said SA Browser performs a mashup with graphical map data from said Maps Server, vector graphic symbol data from said Symbology Server, and said processed TDL data from said TDL Gateway.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said at least one other server is a server selected from the group consisting of a Maps Server and a Symbology Server.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a Track database, accessible by said TDL Gateway, to store data, wherein;

said TDL Gateway comprises a TDL Message Handling block to correlate said message data and store said correlated message data in said Track database; and

said data in said Track database is accessed by said SA Browser web client acting through said TDL Gateway web server.

4. The invention of claim 3, further comprising:

a Track database, accessible by said TDL Gateway, to store data, wherein;

said TDL Gateway comprises a TDL Message Handling block to correlate said message data and store said correlated message data in said Track database;

said data in said Track database is accessed by said SA Browser web client running filtered queries and acting through said TDL Gateway web server.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said Symbology Server is embedded within the SA Browser.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a Track database, accessible by said TDL Gateway, to store data, wherein;

said TDL Gateway comprises a TDL Message Handling block to correlate said message data and store said correlated message data in said Track database;

said data in said Track database is accessed by said SA Browser web client acting through said TDL Gateway web server;

said SA Browser is capable of injecting user-defined data into said Track database; and

, said TDL Gateway is capable of introducing said user-defined data into the TDL.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

a third server comprising a Maps Server, said Maps Server is embedded within the SA Browser, wherein;

said at least one other server is a Symbology Server, said Maps and Symbology servers forming virtual servers; and

, said SA Browser performs a mashup with data from said Maps Server, data from said Symbology Server, and said processed TDL data from said TDL Gateway, via said TDL Gateway web server.

8. A method comprising:

receiving Tactical Data Link (TDL) data from one or more TDL nodes in a TDL network with a TDL Gateway having a TDL Gateway web server;

serving processed TDL data to a Situational Awareness (SA) browser having an SA browser web client over an IP network with the TDL Gateway web server;

receiving the processed TDL data with the SA browser web client;

connecting the SA Browser to a maps server and a symbology server via the SA browser web client communicating with web servers of the symbology server and the maps server; and

performing a mashup of the processed TDL data, vector graphic symbol data associated with the TDL data from the symbology server and the graphical map data associated with the TDL data from the maps server with the SA browser.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

adapting the TDL data for transport across an IP network.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

requesting symbology data associated with the TDL data from a symbology server; and

requesting map data associated with the TDL data from a map server.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the TDL data comprises:

one or more global positioning system (GPS) coordinates associated with one or more tactical targets; and

one or more identifiers associated with the one or more tactical targets.