Method and system for the entry of flight data for an aircraft, transmitted between a crew on board the aircraft and ground staff

• US 8,280,741 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2008
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS (Airbus SE)
• Inventors: Colin, Michel, Ferro, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Godbold, Douglas
• Application Number:
  US12/039,549
• Publication Number:
  US 20080221886A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,678 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/275, 340/945
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station

Abstract

A system of assistance in the entry of flight data for an aircraft transmitted between a crew on board the aircraft and a ground staff including, a radiofrequency communications link to transmit flight data between the crew and the ground staff. At least one means of sending and one means of receiving data on board the aircraft, wherein the system includes a voice recognition means capable of detecting a piece of data of a predefined type emitted, during the communications call, by the crew or the ground staff and a means of analysis and transcription of this piece of data in digital or alphanumeric form.

Claims

1. A system of assistance in the entry of flight data for an aircraft transmitted between a crew on board the aircraft and a ground staff comprising:

a radiofrequency communications link configured to transmit spoken flight data from the ground staff to the crew,

a receiver configured for receiving the transmission of spoken flight data on board the aircraft,

a voice recognition means capable of detecting a piece of spoken VHF or HF frequency data within the received spoken flight data or repeated by the crew as part of receiving the transmission, and recognizing this piece of spoken frequency data by comparison with models learnt and recorded in a database created and/or complemented by learning, this voice recognition means including a pilot identification function,

a means of control of voice recognition, and

a means of analysis and transcription of this piece of data to a standard format for display in digital or alphanumeric form; and

at least one display unit that is capable of displaying flight data, the at least one display unit comprising a standby window in which the detected data is provisionally displayed and an active window in which the data is displayed for as long as it is applied.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the display unit comprises a selector that transfers the piece of data from the standby window to the active window during the validation by the crew.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the voice recognition means is capable of making a detection, from among the sound signals and data, of a piece of data in the form of a radiofrequency.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the voice recognition means is activated by an activation means controlling the activation of said at least one data sending means.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the voice recognition means comprises a database obtained by learning.

12. An aircraft comprising the system according to claim 1.

6. A method of assistance in the entry of flight data for an aircraft transmitted between a crew on board the aircraft and a ground staff:

providing to the crew a piece of spoken data sent by the ground staff by means of a radiofrequency link, the piece of spoken data comprising a spoken VHF or HF frequency data within a transmission of spoken flight data,

receiving confirmation by the crew of said piece of spoken data

receiving from the crew said piece of spoken data into application for the pursuit of the flight, and

at the reception of the transmission of spoken flight data including this piece of spoken frequency data or at its confirmation by the crew on board the aircraft as part of receiving the transmission, detecting the piece of spoken frequency data within the spoken flight data using a voice recognition device by taking into account a pilot identification and by comparison with models learnt and recorded in a database created and/or complemented by learning,

analyzing and transcribing the piece of spoken data to a standard format,

recording the piece of spoken data in a window of a display unit of the aircraft, wherein the display unit comprises both a standby window and an active window, and

provisionally displaying the piece of spoken data in the standby window and displaying the piece of spoken data in the active window for as long as it is applied.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the piece of data is a radiofrequency detected from among a plurality of sound signals and data transmitted on the radiofrequency link.

8. A method according to claim 6, wherein the piece of data is detected when it is confirmed by the crew.

9. A method according to claim 6 wherein, when the piece of data is validated by the crew, it is transferred from the standby window of the display unit to the active window of the display unit.

10. A method according to claim 8 wherein, when the piece of data is invalidated by the crew, it is reconfirmed by said crew and then detected and analyzed again.

11. A method according to claim 6 wherein, when the detected piece of data is recognized partially, its value is complemented by learnt and/or predefined data elements.

13. Aircraft comprising a communication system further comprising an audio management unit and a voice recognition device configured to implement the method according to claim 6.