Methods and systems for displaying procedure information on an aircraft display

• US 9,146,133 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2011
• Issued: 09/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Pepitone, Dave, Burgin, Roger W., Hughes, Keith, Hart, Allan R., Srivastav, Amit
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cuong H
• Application Number:
  US13/154,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20120310524A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,576 Days
• Field of Search: 701/431, 701/532, 701/409, 701/8, 701/14, 701/411, 701/4, 718/100, 725/76, 348/14.03, 342/357.36, 345/418
• 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: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/025 Navigation or guidance aids radar or analogous systems specially adapted for landing purposes G01S13/913

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for presenting information on a display device associated with an aircraft. An exemplary method involves displaying a navigational map on the display device, obtaining status information for the aircraft, determining an amount of procedure information to be displayed based at least in part on the status information, and displaying the determined amount of aircraft procedure information on the display device overlying the navigational map. The procedure information prescribes operation of the aircraft during execution of an aircraft procedure.

Claims

1. A method for presenting information on a display device associated with an aircraft, the method comprising:

displaying, on the display device, a navigational map;

displaying, on the display device overlying the navigational map, a graphic element of an aircraft procedure, the graphic element illustrating an aspect of an aircraft action and having textual information associated therewith, the textual information describing operating parameters or instructions for executing the aircraft action;

obtaining status information for the aircraft;

determining an amount of the textual information to be displayed based at least in part on the status information; and

displaying, on the display device overlying the navigational map, the determined amount of the textual information proximate the graphic element.

2. The method of claim 1, the status information including a current location of the aircraft, wherein the method further comprises:

increasing the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device when a distance between the current location of the aircraft and a location associated with the graphic element is less than a threshold value; and

decreasing the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device when the distance between the current location of the aircraft and the location associated with the graphic element is greater than the threshold value.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising increasing the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device when a distance between a location of the aircraft and a location associated with the graphic element is less than a threshold value.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising increasing a size of the textual information displayed on the display device when a distance between a location of the aircraft and a location associated with the graphic element is less than a threshold value.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising decreasing the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device when a distance between a location of the aircraft and a location associated with the graphic element is greater than a threshold value.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device in response to a change in the status information.

7. The method of claim 1, the aircraft procedure having an associated flight phase, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying a current flight phase of the aircraft based on the status information; and

increasing the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device when the current flight phase corresponds to the associated flight phase.

8. The method of claim 7, the aircraft procedure comprising an approach procedure associated with an approach phase, wherein the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device is increased when the current flight phase corresponds to the approach phase.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of the textual information to be displayed on the display device is determined based on a display setting for the navigational map and the status information.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising adjusting the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device in response to a change in the display setting.

11. The method of claim 10, the display setting comprising a range setting, wherein adjusting the amount of the textual information displayed comprises:

increasing the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device in response to a decrease in the range setting; and

decreasing the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device in response to an increase in the range setting.

12. The method of claim 9, the display setting comprising a range setting, wherein the method further comprises graphically indicating an association between the textual information and the graphic element in response to an increase in the range setting.

13. The method of claim 12, the graphic element comprising a navigational segment, the textual information being initially displayed along the navigational segment, wherein graphically indicating the association comprises:

displaying the textual information offset from the navigational segment in response to the increase in the range setting; and

displaying a line segment between the navigational segment and the textual information.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the navigational map in response to a change in a heading of the aircraft; and

radially repositioning the textual information with respect to the graphic element in a manner that is influenced by the change in the heading of the aircraft.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined amount of the textual information and the graphic element are displayed as an inset within the navigational map.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically increasing or decreasing the amount of the textual aircraft procedure information displayed on the navigational map.

17. The method of claim 1, the graphic element corresponding to a navigational reference point, wherein the method further comprises displaying a graphical indicia proximate the graphic element when a geographic location of the navigational reference point is outside a geographic area of the navigational map.

23. The method of claim 16, the status information including a current location of the aircraft, wherein dynamically increasing or decreasing the amount of the textual aircraft procedure information displayed on the navigational map comprises:

increasing the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device when a distance between the current location of the aircraft and a location associated with the graphic element is less than a threshold value; and

decreasing the amount of the textual information displayed on the display device when the distance between the current location of the aircraft and the location associated with the graphic element is greater than the threshold value.

18. A method for presenting an aircraft procedure prescribing operation of an aircraft on a display device associated with the aircraft, the method comprising:

displaying, on the display device, a navigational map associated with a current location of the aircraft;

displaying, on the display device, a graphic element of the aircraft procedure overlying the navigational map, the graphic element having textual information associated therewith;

obtaining a display setting for the navigational map;

obtaining status information for the aircraft;

determining a subset of the textual information to be displayed based on the status information and the display setting; and

displaying, on the display device, the subset of the textual information.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

decreasing an amount of textual information displayed in response to a change in the display setting; and

after decreasing the amount of textual information, increasing the amount of textual information in response to a change in the status information.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

increasing an amount of textual information displayed in response to a change in the display setting; and

after increasing the amount of textual information, decreasing the amount of textual information in response to a change in the status information.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein determining the subset of the textual information comprises:

identifying a first category of the textual information for display based on a first priority criterion associated with the first category; and

excluding a second category of the textual information from the subset based on a second priority criterion associated with the second category, the second priority criterion being lower than the first priority criterion.

22. A system comprising:

a display device onboard an aircraft, the display device having a navigational map pertaining to operation of the aircraft displayed thereon;

a data storage element configured to maintain procedure information for an aircraft procedure, the procedure information including a graphic element illustrating an aspect of an aircraft action and textual information associated with the graphic element, the textual information describing operating parameters or instructions for executing the aircraft action; and

a processing system coupled to the display device and the data storage element, wherein the processing system is configured to;

display, on the display device, the graphic element overlying the navigational map;

obtain status information for the aircraft;

determine an amount of the textual information to be displayed based at least in part on the status information; and

display, on the display device, the determined amount of textual information overlying the navigational map proximate the graphic element.