System and method for taxi route entry parsing

• US 8,180,562 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2008
• Issued: 05/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Clark, Samuel T., Bowe, Roglenda R., Jones, Wayne R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Champagne, Luna
• Application Number:
  US12/133,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20090306887A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,441 Days
• Field of Search: 701/202, 701/7, 701/23, 342/76, 342/34
• US Class Current: 701/202
• 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: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/065 Navigation or guidance aids, e.g. for taxiing or rolling

Abstract

A method and apparatus for building, creating, or otherwise specifying an airport ground taxi navigation route for an aircraft from an input of the route is disclosed. The apparatus includes a keypad, voice recognition device, or other entry device, a processor, a display screen, and a navigation map database. A crewmember on the aircraft uses the entry device to enter all or part of the ground navigation taxi route. The entry device converts the received route information into an input text string, either with or without delimiters. The system parses the input text string by extracting characters or substrings from the input text string. A database lookup component searches the map database to find a route component that matches the character or substring. If the system finds a matching route component, it determines if the matching route component is continuous with the taxi route. The system adds the matching route component to the taxi route and displays any discontinuity. The system then repeats the process with subsequent substrings of the input text string until the entire input string has been processed. The system may automatically or manually handle input errors or ambiguities.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computing system for receiving, determining, and displaying an airport taxi route for a vehicle navigating within an airport, the computing system having a processor and memory, comprising:

receiving an input text string representing at least a portion of the airport taxi route from a text input component on board the vehicle, the input text string having multiple text characters;

parsing, by the computing system, a first substring and a second substring from the input text string, the first substring and the second substring each having at least one text character;

determining, by the computing system, a first matching route component corresponding to the first substring;

determining, by the computing system, a second matching route component corresponding to the second substring;

adding the first matching route component and the second matching route component to the airport taxi route; and

displaying the airport taxi route on a display device on board the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the text input device includes a microphone and wherein receiving an input text string further comprises:

receiving a voice input representing at least a portion of the airport taxi route from the text input device; and

generating the input text string from the voice input.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the first matching route component intersects with the airport taxi route,

wherein the first matching route component and the airport taxi route comprise a plurality of junction points and wherein the first matching route component is determined to intersect the airport taxi route when the matching route component and the airport taxi route have a common junction point.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the first matching route component intersects with the airport taxi route; and

adding the first matching route component to the airport taxi route when the first matching route component is determined to intersect the airport taxi route.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when no matching route component corresponding to the first substring is determined, determining whether a route component partially matches the first substring;

updating the first substring by concatenating the first substring with a third substring parsed from the input text string; and

repeating determining a first matching route component corresponding to the first substring.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating parsing a first substring, determining a first matching route component, and adding the first matching route component until all substrings of the input text string have been processed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the airport taxi route comprises displaying an airport map and highlighting the airport taxi route on the airport map.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the input text string includes a delimiter character.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the input text string on an alphanumeric display; and

automatically inserting at least one of a character, space, or symbol delimiter into the alphanumeric display of the input text string after the first substring when the first matching route component is determined.

10. An apparatus for receiving, determining, and displaying an airport taxi route for an aircraft, comprising:

a text input entry device;

a database;

an input component configured to receive an input text string from the input entry device, the input text string representing at least a portion of the airport taxi route and having multiple text characters;

a text parsing component configured to parse the input text string to generate a first substring and a second substring from the input text string, the first substring and the second substring each having at least one text character;

a database lookup component configured to find in the database a first matching route component corresponding to the first substring and a second matching route component corresponding to the second substring;

a route builder component configured to add the first matching route component and the second matching route component to the airport taxi route;

a display device; and

an output component configured to cause the display device to display the airport taxi route.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a continuity check component configured to determine whether the first matching route component intersects with the airport taxi route,

wherein the first matching route component and the airport taxi route comprise a plurality of junction points and wherein the first matching route component is determined to intersect the airport taxi route when the matching route component and the airport taxi route have a common junction point.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a continuity check component configured to determine whether the first matching route component intersects with the airport taxi route,

wherein the route builder component is configured to add the first matching route component when the matching route component is determined to intersect.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a continuity check component configured to determine whether the first matching route component intersects with the airport taxi route,

wherein the route builder component is configured to add the first matching route component and an indication of discontinuity when the matching route component and the airport taxi route do not intersect.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the display device is an alphanumeric display and the output component is configured to cause the display device to display a text listing of the airport taxi route.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the output component is configured to cause the display device to display an airport map and to display the airport taxi route on the airport map.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein

the text parsing component is configured to generate a plurality of substrings from the input text string,

the database lookup component is configured to find a matching route component corresponding to each of the plurality of substrings, and

the route builder component is configured to add each of the matching route components to the airport taxi route.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising an ownship data component configured to provide position and navigation information about the aircraft, wherein the route builder component is configured to use the position and navigation information to determine a starting point, an intermediate point, or an ending point for the airport taxi route.

18. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to receive, determine, and display an airport taxi route for a vehicle, by a method comprising:

receiving an input text string representing at least a portion of the airport taxi route from a text input component on board the vehicle, the input text string having multiple text characters;

parsing a first substring and a second substring from the input text string, the first substring and the second substring each having at least one text character;

determining a first matching route component corresponding to the first substring;

determining a second matching route component corresponding to the second substring;

adding the first matching route component and the second matching route component to the airport taxi route; and

displaying the airport taxi route on a display device on board the vehicle.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, the method further comprising:

determining whether the first matching route component intersects with the airport taxi route,

wherein the first matching route component and the airport taxi route comprise a plurality of junction points and wherein the matching route component is determined to intersect the airport taxi route when the first matching route component and the airport taxi route have a common junction point.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, the method further comprising:

determining whether the first matching route component intersects with the airport taxi route; and

adding the first matching route component when the matching route component is determined to intersect the airport taxi route.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein determining a matching route component comprises:

receiving a plurality of matching routes corresponding to the first substring; and

selecting the first matching route component from the plurality of matching route components based on a third substring of the input text string, air traffic control data, or crewmember input.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, the method further comprising:

when no matching route component corresponding to the first substring is determined, determining whether a route component partially matches the first substring;

updating the first substring by concatenating the first substring with a third substring parsed from the input text string; and

repeating determining a first matching route component corresponding to the first substring.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, the method further comprising repeating parsing a first substring, determining a matching route component, and adding the matching route component until all substrings of the input text string have been processed.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein displaying the airport taxi route comprises displaying an airport map and graphically displaying the airport taxi route on the airport map.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, the method further comprising determining at least one of a starting point, an intermediate point, or an ending point for the airport taxi route using aircraft position, navigation information, system information, or ATC clearance information.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, the method further comprising notifying a crewmember of an error when a first matching route component is not determined.