Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Aeronautical vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-06
2003-09-09
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Aeronautical vehicle
C701S004000, C244S00100R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06618652
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a device for reviewing the flight plan of an aircraft, in particular of a transport plane.
It is known that the dialog between a pilot of an aircraft and systems of said aircraft, in particular the flight management system FMS, can be carried out by way of a data display and input console MCDU (“Multipurpose Control and Display Unit”).
This MCDU console is used in particular to carry out a review of the flight plan of the aircraft. For this purpose, this MCDU console includes, in particular at least:
display means capable of depicting, on at least one presentation screen, a flight plan page comprising a flight plan which includes at least waypoints which the aircraft must overfly, information (altitude, speed, etc.) relating to these waypoints, as well as information pertaining to segments between the waypoints; and
actuatable means of review making it possible to carry out a review of the flight plan and comprising at least:
first means of control making it possible to access review pages, from which reviews can be carried out; and
second means of control for carrying out these reviews from said review pages.
Usually, the reviewing of a flight plan can consist in deleting or adding waypoints, in modifying the position of waypoints or of characteristics (time, speed, altitude) pertaining to these waypoints or to said segments.
Generally, such an MCDU console is based, as far as the interaction with an operator is concerned, on the known so-called “line keys” technology. One is aware that with such technology, the number of possible actions starting from a page which is depicted on the presentation screen is limited to the number of line keys. Starting from a page, the commands, the data entries and the accesses to other pages, which are available by depressing a line key, are indicated on the line corresponding to the key. Access to information or to additional commands therefore makes it necessary to open a new page, replacing the previous one. Consequently, a page containing a great many commands contains little information and a page containing a great deal of information can offer only a few commands. The depicting of the information of a page is constrained by this mechanization. The number of pages is therefore very considerable and navigation between the pages demands a complex tree.
As far as the reviewing of the flight plan is concerned, with such an MCDU console, the modifications are made starting from a waypoint. The possible modifications starting from a waypoint are performed in review pages specific to each review. These review pages are accessible from two intermediate pages, one depicting the lateral reviews, the other depicting the vertical reviews.
Consequently, it is necessary to go via an intermediate page in order to access the review pages. Moreover, this is the one and only possible access to said review pages. Furthermore, said intermediate page differs depending on whether one wishes to carry out a lateral review or a vertical review.
In addition, alterations of the dialog between a pilot of an aircraft and systems of said aircraft, carried out by way of an MCDU data display and input console, are not convenient, since the introduction of new information and/or of new commands makes it very often necessary to create new pages and to change the tree of the pages.
The document FR-2 677 149 discloses a method and a device making it possible to remedy certain drawbacks of such an MCDU console, essentially as regards the reviewing of the flight plan, and more especially the following drawbacks of the MCDU console:
the necessity to have to input characters on an alphanumeric keypad so as to modify the flight plan; and
the fact of having to monitor two screens, namely the screen of the MCDU console which is of “head down” type and that of “head up” type of the ND display (“Navigation Display”) of the flight management system, on which is represented the plot of the course of the aircraft which is formulated in a horizontal plane from waypoints which the pilot has selected during the flight preparation.
To do this, this known document FR-2 677 149 effects a coupling between the two aforesaid items of equipment, which makes it possible to obtain on a single presentation screen (the screen of the ND display), in addition to the geographical representation of the flight plan initially selected by the pilot (that is to say of the aforesaid plot of the course of the aircraft):
a responsive zone associated with each point of the screen;
function regions relating to four different modes of review, namely:
a mode for inserting a new point into the flight plan;
a mode for defining a point toward which the aircraft must be directed starting from its current position;
a mode for erasing a point; and
a mode for deleting a discontinuity; and
a luminous index, whose displacements on the screen are controlled by an action of the pilot on a designating device, in such a way as to be able to bring the index onto a responsive region or a zone, the activation of the function corresponding to this region or the selection of a point of said zone being obtained by an action of the pilot on an enabling facility.
The activation of a function region makes it possible to access the review mode relating to this function region, while the activation of a responsive zone of a point of the screen makes it possible to take this point into account in the plot of the course. Thus, it is no longer necessary to input alphanumeric data to designate a waypoint and introduce it into said plot.
However, by coupling the two items of equipment ND and MCDU, it is the course plot initially presented on the display ND which is taken into account, not the flight plan of the MCDU console, to implement one of the aforesaid modes of review.
Moreover, this known device does not make it possible to access review pages. Specifically, only the four aforesaid modes of review are accessible from the first page and, moreover, access to these various modes always keeps the plot of the course on the screen so that the modes displayed do not correspond to the aforesaid usual review pages (such as they exist on the MCDU console).
The object of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks. It relates to a device for reviewing the flight plan of an aircraft, exhibiting improved access (easier and more varied) to the review pages.
To this end, according to the invention, the device for reviewing the flight plan of an aircraft, in particular of a transport plane, said device comprising at least:
display means capable of depicting, on at least one presentation screen, a flight plan page comprising a flight plan which includes at least waypoints which the aircraft must overfly, as well as information relating to these waypoints; and
actuatable means of review making it possible to carry out a review of said flight plan and comprising at least:
first means of control making it possible to access review pages, from which reviews can be carried out; and
second means of control for carrying out these reviews from said review pages,
is noteworthy in that said presentation screen includes at least one interactive window, comprising responsive objects, wherein said first means of control are formed in such a way as to be able to designate a responsive object and enable it, and wherein said display means are formed in such a way that the flight plan page which is capable of being depicted on said presentation screen furthermore includes:
at least one characteristic sign indicating a review menu;
first responsive objects which correspond to responsive objects relating to a drop-down (review) menu and which are provided at the level of said waypoints and of said characteristic sign, the designating and the enabling of one of said first responsive objects automatically controlling the dropping down, over the flight plan page, of said drop-down (review) menu; and
second responsive objects which correspond to responsive objects associated respectively with particular review pages and which are pr
Ferro Daniel
Lafon Jean-François
Airbus France
Cuchlinski, Jr. William A
Hernandez Olga
Stevens Davis Miller & Mosher LLP
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