Interactive dialog device between an operator of an aircraft and a guidance system of said aircraft

• US 9,052,198 B2
• Filed: 11/28/2012
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS NV)
• Original Assignee: Airbus Operations (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS NV)
• Inventors: Louise-Babando, Pascale, Bourret, Thierry, Ollagnon, Claire, Chauveau, Nicolas
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhou, Hong
• Application Number:
  US13/687,729
• Publication Number:
  US 20130135202A1
• Time in Patent Office: 923 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-173, 345649-650, 345660-661, 340947-980, 701 3- 14
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: G06F 3/033 Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user , e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor digitisers characterised by the transducing means G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range

Abstract

Interactive dialog device between an operator of an aircraft and a guidance system of the aircraft. The dialog device includes an interaction on a screen which represents, on the one hand, a playback element indicating the value of a guidance setpoint of the guidance system of the aircraft, and on the other hand, a control element which can be grasped and moved along a curve by an operator to modify the value of the guidance setpoint.

Claims

1. A dialog device between an operator of an aircraft and a guidance system of said aircraft, said dialog device being installed on the aircraft and comprising:

at least one visual display screen, wherein the screen is configured to visually display both a graphic element and an interactive element simultaneously, for co-locating the control and monitoring aspects of one or more guidance setpoints, wherein;

the graphic element comprises a symbol for visually representing a current value of at least one guidance setpoint; and

the interactive element comprises;

a graphic playback element for visually indicating a value of at least one guidance setpoint in conjunction with a scale of values; and

a graphic control element that is interactive and movable over a portion of the visual display screen, such that changes to the physical location of the graphic control element modify the current value of the at least one guidance setpoint;

wherein the visual display screen is a touch screen, wherein a location of the graphic control element is controlled by a direct contact with the touch screen, and wherein the graphic control element is configured to dynamically appear on the visual display screen by the direct contact with the touch screen.

2. The dialog device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the graphic control element enables visual selection of a plurality of different actions to be implemented.

3. The dialog device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the plurality of different actions to be implemented comprise:

modifying at least one guidance setpoint, called selected, which is applied by the guidance system;

modifying a preset guidance setpoint, which will be applied by the guidance system after validation;

engaging a capture or maintain mode for a selected guidance setpoint; and

engaging a capture or maintain mode for a computed guidance setpoint.

4. The dialog device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one guidance setpoint comprising an aircraft speed, mach, heading, route, altitude, speed, or gradient.

5. The dialog device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one visual display screen comprises a plurality of graphic control elements, each of which is associated with a given guidance setpoint of said guidance system.

6. The dialog device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the visual display screen is configured to control at least two different references of a guidance setpoint of said guidance system or only one reference at a time via movement of the graphic control element.

7. The dialog device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the graphic control element is moved by a lever arm effect.

8. The dialog device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said visual display screen generates a dynamic visual feedback on a predicted trajectory associated with the current guidance setpoint.

9. The dialog device as claimed in claim 8, wherein said visual display screen automatically displays at least one characteristic point of said predicted trajectory.

10. The dialog device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the graphic control element is capable of acting on said characteristic point of said predicted trajectory.

11. The dialog device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a control is electrically linked to the visual display screen for enabling an operator to control the movement of a cursor on the screen, intended to act on the graphic control element.

12. A guidance system of an aircraft, wherein the system comprises a dialog device such as that specified in claim 1, to enable a dialog between said guidance system and an operator of said aircraft.