Dynamic primary flight display annunciations

• US 9,500,498 B1
• Filed: 06/05/2012
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Leedom, David L., Cline, Thomas W., Esno, David M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jelani
• Application Number:
  US13/488,529
• Time in Patent Office: 1,631 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/11, 701/110, 701/120, 701/14, 701/15, 701/16, 701/3, 701/5, 701/506, 701/528, 701/99, 715/771, 340/971, 340/973, 340/974, 340/975
• 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

Abstract

A system for providing dynamic primary flight display flags includes a display device, a user interface device, and a processor configured to: receive at least one instrumentation parameter, display one or more primary flight display annunciations in the primary flight display area of the display device in response to the received at least one instrumentation parameter, receive one or more signals from the user interface device indicative of a user selection of the displayed one or more primary flight display annunciations, retrieve one or more checklists corresponding to the one or more primary flight display annunciations, and display the one or more checklists corresponding to the one or more primary flight display annunciations in response to the received signal indicative of a user selection of the one or more primary flight display annunciations.

Claims

1. A system for providing dynamic user-selectable primary flight display (PFD) flags, comprising:

a user interface device including a touchscreen display device, wherein the touchscreen display device includes a primary flight display area;

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to;

receive at least one instrumentation parameter;

display two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations in the primary flight display area of the touchscreen display device in response to the received at least one instrumentation parameter, the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations including two or more soft keys configured to display two or more visual identifiers for indicating available checklist data associated with the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations;

receive one or more signals from the touchscreen display device indicative of a user selection of at least two of the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations, wherein a user selection includes pressing one or more soft keys displaying one or more visual identifiers associated with one or more selected dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations; and

responsive to the user selection of the at least two selected dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations, retrieve at least two checklists corresponding to the at least two selected dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations and simultaneously display the at least two retrieved checklists corresponding to the at least two selected dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one instrumentation parameter received by the one or more processors comprises:

a sensor parameter received by the one or more processors.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one sensor parameter received by the one or more processors comprises:

a sensor failure indication from at least one sensor system of the aircraft.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one sensor parameter received by the one or more processors comprises:

an input/output failure indication from at least one sensor system of the aircraft.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one sensor parameter received by the one or more processors comprises:

a miscompare indication from at least one comparator module of the aircraft.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one instrumentation parameter received by the one or more processors comprises:

at least one processing parameter received by the one or more processors.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one processing parameter received by the one or more processors comprises:

a processing failure indication from at least one processor of the aircraft.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to retrieve the at least two checklists from a memory.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the touchscreen display device comprises at least one of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device, a light emitting diode (LED) display device, a plasma display device, or a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to display the at least two checklists in the primary flight display area of the touchscreen display device.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the touchscreen display device includes a first pane having a primary flight display area and at least one additional pane.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are configured to display the at least one checklists in the at least one additional pane.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an additional display device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least two checklists are displayed on the additional display device.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the additional display device comprises at least one of a multi-function display (MFD), a heads up display, an additional primary flight display (PFD), or a display device of a portable computing device.

16. A system for providing dynamic user-selectable primary flight display (PFD) flags, comprising:

a touchscreen display device, wherein the touchscreen display device includes a primary flight display area;

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to;

receive at least one instrumentation parameter;

display two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations in the primary flight display area of the touchscreen display device in response to the received at least one instrumentation parameter, the two one or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations including two or more soft keys configured to display two or more visual identifiers for indicating available checklist data associated with the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations;

detect one or more user selection gestures on the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations indicative of a user selection of at least one of the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations, wherein a user selection includes pressing one or more soft keys displaying one or more visual identifiers associated with one or more selected dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations;

responsive to a user selection of the one or more selected dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations, retrieve one or more checklists corresponding to the one or more selected dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations and display the one or more retrieved checklists corresponding to the one or more selected dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations, wherein one or more checklist steps of the one or more displayed checklists comprise one or more user-selectable fields, wherein the one or more user-selectable fields include one or more soft keys configured to display one or more visual identifiers for indicating additional information associated with the one or more user-selectable fields;

detect one or more user selection gestures on the one or more user-selectable fields indicative of a user selection of at least one of the one or more user-selectable fields, wherein a user selection of the at least one of the one or more user-selectable fields includes pressing one or more soft keys displaying one or more visual identifiers associated with the at least one of the one or more user-selectable fields; and

responsive to the user selection of the at least one selected user-selectable field, display the additional information associated with the at least one selected user-selectable field simultaneously with the one or more displayed checklists.

17. A system for providing dynamic user-selectable primary flight display (PFD) flags, comprising:

a display device, wherein the display device includes a primary flight display area configured to display two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations, the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations including two or more soft keys configured to display two or more visual identifiers for indicating available checklist data associated with the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations; and

a user interface device configured to transmit one or more signals indicative of a user selection of at least two of the displayed two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations to the display device, a user selection including pressing one or more soft keys displaying one or more visual identifiers associated with the two or more selected dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations, the display device further configured to simultaneously display at least two checklists in response to the one or more signals from the user interface device indicative of a user selection of at least two of the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations.

18. A method for providing dynamic user-selectable primary flight display (PFD) flags, comprising:

providing a touchscreen display device including a primary flight display area;

receiving at least one instrumentation parameter;

displaying two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations in the primary flight display area of the touchscreen display device in response to the at least one received instrumentation parameter, the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations including two or more soft keys configured to display two or more visual identifiers for indicating available checklist data associated with the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations;

receiving a user selection of at least one of the two or more dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations via a touchscreen of the touchscreen display device, wherein a user selection includes pressing one or more soft keys displaying one or more visual identifiers associated with one or more selected dynamic user-selectable primary flight display annunciations;

retrieving one or more checklists corresponding to the one or more selected primary flight display annunciations from a memory;

displaying the retrieved one or more checklists corresponding to the at least one selected primary flight display annunciation, wherein one or more checklist steps of the one or more displayed checklists comprise one or more user-selectable fields, wherein the one or more user-selectable fields include one or more soft keys configured to display one or more visual identifiers for indicating additional information associated with the one or more user-selectable fields;

receiving a user selection of at least one of the one or more user-selectable fields, wherein a user selection of the at least one of the one or more user-selectable fields includes pressing one or more soft keys displaying one or more visual identifiers associated with the at least one of the one or more user-selectable fields; and

displaying the additional information associated with the at least one selected user-selectable field simultaneously with the one or more displayed checklists.