Aircraft crew user interface for an aircraft entertainment system

• US 8,984,421 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2009
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales Avionics Incorporated (Thales SA)
• Original Assignee: Thales Avionics Incorporated (Thales SA)
• Inventors: Canal, Eric, Arnold, Carla Ree, Walley, Pennie
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOWDHURY, RAYEEZ R
• Application Number:
  US12/496,128
• Publication Number:
  US 20110004832A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,085 Days
• Field of Search: 715/792, 715/771, 715/800, 715/815, 715/793
• US Class Current: 715/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Provided is a system and method for displaying a graphic on a crew user interface. The system comprises a crew user interface comprising an input and an output, a server accessed by the crew user interface comprising a display application program that retrieves screen configuration data stored in a non-volatile memory of a database connected to the server and an aircraft entertainment system connected to the crew user interface. The output comprises the graphic that is produced during run-time by the application program interpreting the screen configuration data.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a graphic on a display of a flight crew user interface positioned in an aircraft, the method comprising:

accessing, by the flight crew user interface, a server to retrieve screen configuration data associated with status information related to a plurality of services and/or systems of the aircraft, the screen configuration data being stored in a non-volatile memory of a database connected to the server; and

displaying the graphic on the display of the flight crew user interface as a layout of passenger accommodations (LOPA) graphical element based on the retrieved screen configuration data without requiring recompilation of source code, the graphic being controlled by the screen configuration data and providing the status information related to the plurality of services and/or systems of the aircraft relative to one of specific seats of the aircraft and at least one cabin of the aircraft,

wherein the LOPA graphic includes at least a section of the aircraft, provides status information on a seat level and enables a flight crew member to zoom in on a particular seat such that the particular seat appears visually distinct on the display to obtain detailed information with respect to the status information associated with the particular seat; and

wherein the detailed information includes at least information related to one of a public announcement, a video announcement, music and video and is conveyed to the user by one or more icons on the LOPA graphic associated with the particular seat.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the graphic with a frame and a function area.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

displaying a plurality of graphical elements in the frame and the function area.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing, as a part of the screen configuration data, data specifying the location in which each graphical element is displayed.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing, as a part of the screen configuration data, information specifying at least one of the size, shape and color of each graphical element.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying at least one of the graphical elements in the function area that is a stored multimedia file.

7. The method of claim 3 further comprising the steps of:

receiving changes to the screen configuration data; and

displaying the graphic according to the modified screen configuration data.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing, for the screen configuration data, a menu structure for the flight crew user interface and the services available on each menu.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

displaying at least one graphical element in the function area that represents a section of a layout of an aircraft.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

displaying a plurality of graphical elements in the function area that represent seats in the section.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of services and/or systems of the aircraft comprises at least one of flight information, entertainment services, cabin services PAX services, payment systems, crew services, system information, login information and security information.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the status information related to the plurality of services and/or systems of the aircraft relative to one of specific seats of the aircraft and at least one cabin of the aircraft comprises providing status information related to relevant services and/or systems associated with each seat of the aircraft.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the icons indicate one or more of a game status of a passenger associated with the particular seat, an entertainment status of the passenger associated with the particular seat, and an intranet status of the passenger associated with the particular seat.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the detailed information further includes elapsed time related to particular services associated with the passenger.

11. A system for displaying a graphic on a flight crew user interface on a display device positioned in an aircraft, the system comprising:

a flight crew user interface comprising an input and an output;

a server, accessed by the flight, crew user interface comprising a display application program that is configured to retrieve screen configuration data associated with status information related to a plurality of services and/or systems of the aircraft, the screen configuration data being stored in a non-volatile memory of a database connected to the server,

wherein the output of the flight crew user interface includes the graphic that is produced during run-time by the application program interpreting the screen configuration data without requiring recompilation of source code; and

wherein the graphic provides the status information related to the plurality of services and/or systems of the aircraft relative to one of specific seats of the aircraft and at least one cabin of the aircraft as a layout of passenger accommodations (LOPA) graphical element on the display device; and

an aircraft entertainment system connected to the flight crew user interface,

wherein the LOPA graphic on the display device includes at least a section of the aircraft, provides status information on a seat level and enables a flight crew member to zoom in on a particular seat such that the particular seat appears visually distinct on the display to obtain detailed information with respect to the status information associated with the particular seat; and

wherein the detailed information includes at least information related to one of a public announcement, a video announcement, music and video and is conveyed to the user by one or more icons on the LOPA graphic associated with the particular seat.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the graphic comprises a menu in a menu hierarchy and the screen configuration data comprises data specifying the menu hierarchy and a format of the menu.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the graphic comprises a plurality of seats and at least one status indicator for at least one of the plurality of seats.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the output of the crew user interface displays chat room messages.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the graphic comprises a frame and a function area.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the function area comprises passenger orders received by the aircraft entertainment system that are displayed.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein both the frame and the function area comprise a plurality of graphical elements that are displayed and at least one graphical element that is selectively activated through the input of the flight crew user interface to cause a service to be delivered by the aircraft entertainment system to an entity selected from the group consisting of a seat, a section, and an entire aircraft.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the screen configuration data comprises data specifying a size, shape and placement of each graphical element in the frame and the function area.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the service is playing a video or playing an audio message.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the frame and function area comprise a plurality of graphical elements that are displayed, and at least one graphical element that is selectively activated through the input of the crew user interface to cause a cause a service to be restricted from being delivered.

23. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of services and/or systems of the aircraft comprises at least one of flight information, entertainment services, cabin services PAX services, payment systems, crew services, system information, login information and security information.

24. The system of claim 11, wherein the graphic provides the status information related to the plurality of services and/or systems of the aircraft relative to one of specific seats of the aircraft and at least one cabin of the aircraft by providing status information related to relevant services and/or systems associated with each seat of the aircraft.

27. The system of claim 12, wherein the icons indicate one or more of a game status of a passenger associated with the particular seat, an entertainment status of the passenger associated with the particular seat, and an intranet status of the passenger associated with the particular seat.

28. The system of claim 11, wherein the detailed information further includes elapsed time related to particular services associated with the passenger.