Flight object communications system

• US 9,530,320 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Issued: 12/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Bailey, Louis J., Hale, Ryan D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Figueroa, Jaime
• Application Number:
  US14/502,942
• Publication Number:
  US 20160093219A1
• Time in Patent Office: 819 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/3, 701/120
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0013 with a ground station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0021 located in the aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0039 Modification of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0091 for monitoring atmospheric conditions radar or analogous systems specially adapted for meteorological use G01S13/95; meteorology G01W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Systems and methods for processing aircraft flight information and flight plan information are described. Specific techniques are described for managing flight data in real time, sharing flight data between a plurality of systems, dynamically managing flight information, generating flight plan information, providing flight plan information to a user, and closing flight plan discontinuities.

Claims

1. A method of dynamically changing, communicating and synchronizing flight information between a plurality of systems, the method comprising:

receiving, on a computing device, flight information indicative of one or more flight objects, the computing device configured with an efficiency and operational flight object system;

extracting flight information from the one or more flight objects and rendering the flight information for viewing and editing along with real time flight information;

receiving modifications to the flight information and generating updates to the one or more flight objects;

tracking flight information changes applicable to one or more subscriber systems;

storing user notes associated with the flight information changes;

generating flight information messages representative of the updated flight information and user notes that are compatible with one or more subscriber systems; and

communicating the generated flight information messages to the one or more subscriber systems across the one or more networks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more flight information messages are uploaded from the mobile computing device to a flight management computer via at least one server associated with a flight object service provider.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the efficiency and operational flight object system includes the functionality of at least one server associated with the flight object service provider.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising rendering the one or more flight objects on a user interface of the computing device and receiving, via at least one input mechanism of the computing device, flight information indicative of a modification to the one or more flight objects.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving, via at least one input mechanism of the computing device, flight information indicative one or more user notes to the one or more flight objects.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one input mechanism comprises one or more of a soft key mechanism, a hard key mechanism, an audio input mechanism, and an image capture mechanism.

7. A computing device for managing flight information in real time, the device comprising at least a processor and memory, the memory having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to at least:

store, on a computing device, flight information indicative of one or more flight objects, the computing device configured with an efficiency and operational flight object system;

extract flight information from the one or more flight objects and rendering the flight information for viewing and editing on a display coupled to the computing device along with real time flight information;

receive modifications to the flight information via an input device coupled to the computing device;

tracking flight information changes applicable to one or more subscriber systems;

storing user notes associated with the flight information changes; and

communicate the modifications via the one or more networks to a system configured to;

generate updates to the one or more flight objects based on the modifications;

generate flight information messages representative of the updated flight objects that are compatible with the one or more subscriber systems; and

communicate the generated flight information messages to the one or more subscriber systems.

8. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the one or more flight objects are communicated from the computing device to the flight management computer via at least one server associated with a flight object service provider.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the flight object modification and distribution function includes the functionality of the at least one server associated with the flight object service provider.

10. The computing device of claim 8, further comprising rendering the one or more flight objects on a user interface of the computing device and receiving, via at least one input mechanism of the computing device, flight information indicative of a modification to the one or more flight objects.

11. The computing device of claim 10, further comprising receiving, via at least one input mechanism of the computing device, data indicative one or more user notes to the one or more flight objects.

12. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the at least one input mechanism comprises one or more of a soft key mechanism, a hard key mechanism, an audio input mechanism, and an image capture mechanism.

13. A system comprising at least a processor and memory, the memory having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:

store, on a computing device, flight information indicative of one or more flight objects, the computing device configured with an efficiency and operational flight object system;

extract flight information from the one or more flight objects and rendering the flight information for viewing and editing on a display coupled to the computing device along with real time flight information;

receive modifications to the flight information via an input device coupled to the computing device;

tracking flight information changes applicable to one or more subscriber systems;

storing user notes associated with the flight information changes; and

communicate the modifications via the one or more networks to a system configured to;

generate updates to the one or more flight objects based on the modifications;

generate messages representative of the updated flight objects that are compatible with the one or more subscriber systems; and

communicate the generated messages to the one or more subscriber systems.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more flight objects are communicated from the mobile computing device to the flight management computer via at least one server associated with a flight object service provider.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the mobile flight planning/processing function includes the functionality of the at least one server associated with a flight object service provider.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising rendering the one or more flight objects on a user interface of the mobile computing device and receiving, via at least one input mechanism of the mobile computing device, data indicative of a modification to the one or more flight objects.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising receiving, via at least one input mechanism of the mobile computing device, data indicative one or more annotations to the one or more flight objects.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one input mechanism comprises one or more of a soft key mechanism, a hard key mechanism, an audio input mechanism, and an image capture mechanism.