초록 ▼

A system and method for displaying a three-dimensional image of airspace includes a series of translucent, horizontal "pavers" that lie like stepping stones marking the selected flight path. In addition, the display includes a series of vertical rectangles--called "wickets"--which bracket the select

A system and method for displaying a three-dimensional image of airspace includes a series of translucent, horizontal "pavers" that lie like stepping stones marking the selected flight path. In addition, the display includes a series of vertical rectangles--called "wickets"--which bracket the selected flight path. One or more of the wickets may include a graphical representation of the direction of the aircraft should be flying through the wicket. The system accommodates changes in course by generating a new flight path when instructed to do so. The new flight path is created in a way that assures continuous guidance for the pilot and sufficient time for the pilot to adjust to the new course. The display can include a compass rose which indicates the aircraft's present heading and direction of flight. The compass rose is generated from data representing a traditional two-dimensional view of a compass rose that is rotated using a graphics processor to show a three dimensional view of the compass rose in a plane that appears nearly horizontal in the three dimensional airspace image. In addition various landmarks such as airports and navigation beacons, as well as geopolitical boundaries may be included in the display.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A method of presenting flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, said method comprising the steps of receiving flight plan data; receiving aircraft performance data; processing the data to form a selected flight path, the selected flight

What is claimed is: 1. A method of presenting flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, said method comprising the steps of receiving flight plan data; receiving aircraft performance data; processing the data to form a selected flight path, the selected flight path including a starting point, at least one waypoint, and a destination; generating first and second symbols along a current portion of the selected flight path that includes the at least one waypoint in response to the selected flight path, the first symbols showing boundaries around the current portion of the selected flight path, the second symbols following the current portion of the selected flight path without change made to flight controls, and displaying the first and second symbols in a three dimensional airspace display. 2. The method of claim 1 further including the step of receiving data describing the present position of the aircraft, and the step of displaying the symbols includes the step of updating and displaying the symbols from the point of view of the present position of the aircraft. 3. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the first and second symbols are parallelograms. 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first symbols define a series of targets through which the aircraft should fly in order to follow the flight plan. 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the first and second symbols appear spaced apart uniformly in the three-dimensional airspace display. 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first and second symbols appear uniformly spaced apart a distance in the three-dimensional airspace display that is dependent on the ground speed of the aircraft. 7. The method of claim 1 further including the step of receiving data describing the present position of the aircraft, and the step of displaying the symbols includes the step of displaying the symbols from the point of view of the present position of the aircraft, wherein the first symbols define a series of targets through which the aircraft should fly in order to follow the flight plan. 8. The method of claim 1 further including the step of displaying a compass rose in the three dimensional air space display, the compass rose being displayed so as to appear to lie approximately in a horizontal plane below the present position of the aircraft. 9. The method of claim 2 further including the step of displaying a compass rose in the three dimensional air space display, the compass rose being displayed so as to appear to lie approximately in a horizontal plane below the present position of the aircraft. 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving flight plan data includes including receiving data corresponding to an initial flight plan, processing the data to form first flight path data, and thereafter receiving data corresponding to a second flight plan and to the aircraft's current position, processing the second flight plan data to form a second flight path which begins at the aircraft's current position, the second flight path including an initial segment that is an unaltered continuation of the initial flight plan. 11. The method of claim 3 wherein the second symbols are a parallelopipeds, and the step of displaying the first and second symbols includes the step of displaying the second symbols as a series of parallelopipeds lying in a plane parallel to the plane of the selected flight path in the three dimensional air space display. 12. The method of claim 1 wherein the second symbols appear to lie in the plane of the selected flight path. 13. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of displaying the first and second symbols produces first symbols which appear to lie in a plane perpendicular to the selected flight path. 14. The method of claim 1 further including updating the first and second symbols by enlarging said first and second symbols. 15. A method of presenting flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, said method comprising the steps of receiving flight plan data, receiving aircraft performance data, processing the data to form selected flight path data, generating first and second symbols in response to the selected flight path data, the first symbols showing boundaries around the selected flight path, the second symbols following the selected flight path, and displaying the first and second symbols in a three dimensional airspace display, further including the step of receiving data describing the present position of the aircraft, and the step of displaying the symbols includes the step of displaying the symbols from the point of view of the present position of the aircraft, wherein the first symbols define a series of targets through which the aircraft should fly in order to follow the flight plan, wherein the first symbol is a parallelogram, and the step of displaying the symbols from the point of view of present position of the aircraft includes varying the length of the sides of the parallelogram and the angles included between the sides of the parallelograms. 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the first and second symbols are uniformly spaced apart a distance in the apparent three-dimensional airspace display that is dependent on the ground speed of the aircraft. 17. The method of claim 16 further including the step of displaying a compass rose in the three dimensional air space display, the compass rose being displayed so as to appear to lie approximately in a horizontal plane below the present position of the aircraft. 18. A program stored on a computer readable medium for presenting selected flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, including code that defines data categories for flight plan data, code that defines data categories for aircraft performance data, code that processes the data to form selected flight path data, code that generates for display first and second symbols in response to the selected flight path data, the first symbols showing boundaries around the selected flight path, and the second symbols following the selected flight path without change made to flight controls. 19. The program of claim 18 including code that updates and displays the first and second symbols from the point of view of the present position of the aircraft. 20. The program of claim 19 including code that displays the first and second symbols at uniformly spaced apart distances in the three dimensional airspace display. 21. The program of claim 20 including code that displays a compass rose in nearly a horizontal plane of the three dimensional airspace display. 22. A system for presenting flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, said system including a computer, said computer adapted to receive flight plan data and aircraft performance data, said computer adapted to process the data to form a selected flight path, the selected flight path including a starting point, at least one waypoint, and a destination, said computer adapted to generate first and second symbols along a current portion of the selected flight path that includes the at least one waypoint in response to the selected flight path, the first symbols showing boundaries around the current portion of the selected flight path, the second symbols following the current portion of the selected flight path without change made to flight controls, and a display unit, said display unit adapted to display the first and second symbols in a three dimensional airspace display. 23. The system of claim 22 wherein said computer is adapted to receive data describing the present position of the aircraft, and wherein said display unit displaying the symbols from the point of view of the present position of the aircraft. 24. The system of claim 22 wherein one of the first and second symbols are parallelograms. 25. The system of claim 22 wherein the first symbols define a series of targets through which the aircraft should fly in order to follow the flight plan. 26. The system of claim 25 wherein the first and second symbols appear spaced apart uniformly in the three-dimensional airspace display. 27. The system of claim 26 wherein the first and second symbols appear uniformly spaced apart a distance in the three-dimensional airspace display that is dependent on the ground speed of the aircraft. 28. The method of claim 22 wherein said computer is adapted to receive data describing the present position of the aircraft, and wherein said display displaying the symbols from the point of view of the present position of the aircraft. 29. A method of presenting flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, said method comprising the steps of receiving flight plan data, receiving aircraft performance data, processing the data to form selected flight path data, generating symbols in response to the selected flight path data, and displaying the symbols in a three dimensional airspace display, wherein the step of receiving flight plan data includes receiving data corresponding to an initial flight plan, processing the data to form first flight path data, and thereafter receiving data corresponding to a second flight plan, processing the second flight plan data to form second flight path data which begins at the aircraft's current position, generating symbols in response to the second flight path data, and displaying the symbols in a three dimensional airspace display. 30. A method as set forth in claim 29 wherein the second flight path data includes an initial segment that is an unaltered continuation of the initial flight plan. 31. A method of presenting flight path information for an aircraft on a display illustrating a three-dimensional airspace view, said method comprising the steps of receiving flight plan data, receiving aircraft performance data, processing the data to form selected flight path data, generating symbols in response to the selected flight path data, the symbols showing boundaries around the selected flight path and at least one of the symbols having associated therewith an indicator of the direction through which the aircraft should pass through the boundary depicted by the at least one of the symbols, and displaying the symbols on said display in a three dimensional airspace view. 32. A method of presenting flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, said method comprising the steps of: receiving flight plan data; receiving aircraft performance data; processing the data to form a selected flight path, the selected flight path including a starting point, at least one waypoint, and a destination; generating first and second symbols along a portion of the selected flight path that includes the at least one waypoint in response to the selected flight path, the first symbols showing boundaries around the current portion of the selected flight path, the second symbols following the current portion of the selected flight paths; generating a third symbol in response to aircraft movement, the third symbol showing future aircraft position assuming no change made to flight controls; and displaying the first, second and third symbols in a three dimensional airspace display. 33. The method of claim 32 including maneuvering the aircraft so that the third symbol moves toward the first and second symbols. 34. A program stored on a computer readable medium for presenting selected flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, including code that defines data categories for flight plan data, code that defines data categories for aircraft performance data, code that processes the data to form a selected flight path, the selected flight path including a starting point, at least one waypoint, and a destination, code that generates for display along a current portion of the selected flight path that includes the at least one waypoint first and second symbols in response to the selected flight path, the first symbols showing boundaries around the current portion of the selected flight path, and the second symbols following the current portion of the selected flight path, and code that generates a third symbol in response to aircraft movement, the third symbol showing future aircraft position assuming no change made to flight controls. 35. A system for presenting flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, said system including a computer, said computer adapted to receive flight plan data and aircraft performance data, said computer adapted to process the data to form a selected flight path, the selected flight path including a starting point, at least one waypoint, and a destination, said computer adapted to generate first and second symbols on the display along a current portion of the selected flight path that includes the at least one waypoint in response to the selected flight path data, the first symbols showing boundaries around the current portion of the selected flight path, the second symbols following the current portion of the selected flight path, said computer adapted to generate a third symbol on the display in response to aircraft movement, the third symbol showing future aircraft position assuming no change made to flight controls and a display unit, said display unit adapted to display the first and second symbols in a three dimensional airspace display. 36. A system for presenting flight path information in an aircraft, said system comprising: a computer adapted to receive flight plan data and process the data to form a selected flight path and to generate a series of polygons in response to the selected flight path, the polygons showing boundaries around the selected flight path at a pilot-selectable range from the selected flight path; and a display unit adapted to display the series of polygons in a three dimensional airspace display at the selected range, said display unit positioning said series of polygons in said three-dimensional airspace display such that the selected flight path passes through an interior of the polygons. 37. The system of claim 36 wherein said display unit is further adapted to display a compass rose on said display unit simultaneous with the display of said polygons. 38. The system of claim 37 wherein said display unit is further adapted to synthetically display images of terrain below the aircraft in three dimensions. 39. The system of claim 38 wherein said display unit is further adapted to display a predictor indicating a prediction of where the aircraft will be at a future moment in time. 40. The system of claim 38 wherein said pilot-selected range includes at least one of a vertical and a horizontal range. 41. A method of presenting flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, said method comprising: receiving flight path data selected by a pilot, said flight path data including a range for a selected flight path; and displaying on an aircraft cockpit display a three-dimensional airspace display that includes a series of polygons showing boundaries around the selected flight path at said range, said polygons positioned in said three-dimensional airspace display such that the selected flight path passes through an interior of the polygons. 42. The method of claim 41 further including displaying on the aircraft cockpit display a predictor indicating a prediction of where the aircraft will be at a future moment in time. 43. The method of claim 42 further including displaying on the aircraft cockpit display a three-dimensional synthetic display of the terrain below the aircraft. 44. The method of claim 43 further including displaying on the aircraft cockpit display a compass rose simultaneous with the display of said polygons. 45. The method of claim 44 wherein said range includes both a vertical range and a horizontal range. 46. A method of presenting flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, said method comprising: receiving flight path data selected by a pilot, said flight path data defining a selected flight path; displaying on an aircraft cockpit display a three-dimensional airspace display that includes a series of open parallelograms showing boundaries around the selected flight path, said open parallelograms positioned in the three-dimensional airspace display such that the selected flight path passes through an interior of the open parallelograms; displaying on the aircraft cockpit display a predictor indicating a prediction of where the aircraft will be at a future moment in time; displaying on the aircraft cockpit display a three-dimensional synthetic display of the terrain below the aircraft; and displaying on the aircraft cockpit display a compass rose. 47. The method of claim 46 further including positioning said series of parallelograms about said selected flight path at a pilot-selectable range. 48. The method of claim 47 wherein said pilot-selectable range includes both a vertical component and a horizontal component. 49. A method of presenting flight path information for an aircraft in a three-dimensional airspace display, said method comprising: receiving flight path data selected by a pilot, said flight path data defining a selected flight path; displaying on an aircraft cockpit display a three-dimensional airspace display that includes a series of open parallelograms showing boundaries around the selected flight path, said open parallelograms positioned in the three-dimensional airspace display such that the selected flight path passes through an interior of the open parallelograms; displaying on the aircraft cockpit display a predictor indicating a prediction of where the aircraft will be at a future moment in time; and changing a shape of said parallelograms to indicate a desired degree of roll for the aircraft when passing through said parallelograms. 50. The method of claim 49 wherein said changing of a shape of said parallelograms includes changing angles at corners of said parallelograms. 51. The method of claim 50 further including: displaying on the aircraft cockpit display a three-dimensional synthetic display of the terrain below the aircraft; and displaying on the aircraft cockpit display a compass rose.