Method and device for centralized management of tasks to be carried out by a crew of an aircraft during flight

• US 8,700,232 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2010
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Caillaud, Christophe, Coulmeau, Franois, Francois, Gilles Jacques Yves
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaawat, Mussa A
• Application Number:
  US12/980,465
• Publication Number:
  US 20110160937A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,203 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0052 for cruising combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value G01C23/00

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a device for centralized management of tasks to be carried out by a crew in the course of an aircraft flight. The method uses onboard navigation aid systems, such as a flight management system, a system for managing in-flight alerts for the implementation of the following steps: creation of a task by the flight management system; scheduling of the tasks by a system for managing alerts; and task execution by the system for managing alerts.

Claims

1. A method for managing tasks carried out by a crew in the course of a flight of an aircraft, the aircraft comprising a system for flight management and a system for managing in-flight alerts,

the system for flight management being configured for determining a geometry of a flight plan profile followed by the aircraft and for transmitting guidance setpoints so as to follow a computed profile,

the system for managing in-flights alerts being configured for centralizing management of alerts and for managing a list of alarms,

said systems being distinct and configured to cooperate in order to perform a centralized managing of tasks, said method comprising:

creating a task, the creating carried out by said flight management system;

transmitting the task to the system for managing in-flight alerts,

scheduling tasks, said scheduling tasks carried out by the system for managing in-flight alerts, said step of scheduling tasks comprising a step of inserting the task created into an ordered tasks list; and

executing tasks, comprising extracting a task from said ordered tasks list when a condition for executing the task is fulfilled, the executing carried out by the system for managing in-flight alerts.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the task creation step uses digital instructions originating from systems external to the flight management system to create a task.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the task creation step uses instructions entered by an operator on a first man-machine interface to create a task.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second step of scheduling of tasks is carried out by a function for scheduling alerts of the system for managing in-flight alerts.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a created task comprises:

a time;

an execution condition; and

an instruction to be executed.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the task is created with a time corresponding to a predicted time of realization of the execution condition, said predicted time being computed by the flight management system.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising a step of updating the predicted time of the tasks by the flight management system.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of updating the predicted time of the tasks is carried out cyclically by the flight management system.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of transmitting a task to be executed to the flight management system by the system for managing in-flight alerts.

10. A device for centralized management of tasks carried out by a crew in the course of a flight of an aircraft, said aircraft comprising a flight management system and a system for managing in-flight alerts,

the flight management system being configured for determining a geometry of a flight plan profile followed by the aircraft and for transmitting guidance setpoints so as to follow a computed profile,

the system for managing in-flights alerts being configured for centralizing management of alerts and for managing a list of alarms,

said systems being distinct and configured to cooperate in order to perform a centralized the managing of tasks, said device comprising:

a first part for task creation carried out by the flight management system, wherein the task is transmitted to the system for managing in-flight alerts;

a second part for scheduling tasks carried out by the system for managing in-flight alerts, said task scheduling function inserting the task created by the function for creating tasks into a tasks list managed by the function for scheduling tasks; and

a third part for executing tasks carried out by the system for managing in-flight alerts, said third part comprising extracting a task from said ordered tasks list when a condition for executing the task is fulfilled.

11. The device according to claim 10, wherein the task creation part uses digital instructions originating from systems external to the flight management system to create a task, said external systems being connected to the flight management system by way of a unit for managing the communications of the aircraft.

12. The device according to claim 10, wherein the task creation part uses instructions entered by an operator on a first man-machine interface to create a task, said first man-machine interface transferring the instructions entered to the task creation part.

13. The device according to claim 10, further comprising an integrated man-machine interface to perform a display of the list of tasks, and to recover instructions entered by the crew to create a task.