Method for collecting operational data of an aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10504308-B2
Application number	US-201716462169-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 17, 2017
Priority date	Nov 17, 2016
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

A method for collecting operational data from an aircraft having a display screen for operational data. The method includes using a mobile terminal equipped with at least one optical sensor, images of the display screen are acquired in such a way that at least some of the acquired images represent operational data displayed on the display screen; using an optical character recognition (OCR) module associated with said mobile terminal, character strings each representative of one piece of said operational data displayed on the display screen are identified in the acquired images; and using a report generation module and said identified character strings, an electronic report is generated containing at least some of said operational data of the aircraft.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for collecting operational data from an aircraft, the aircraft comprising at least one display screen for operational data of the aircraft, the method comprising:
using a mobile terminal equipped with at least one optical sensor, images of said at least one display screen are acquired in such a way that at least some of the acquired images represent operational data displayed on the display screen;
using an optical character recognition (OCR) module associated with said mobile terminal, character strings each representative of one piece of said operational data displayed on the display screen are identified in the acquired images;
using a report generation module and said identified character strings, an electronic report is generated containing at least some of said operational data of the aircraft;
the mobile terminal being functionally linked to a database containing several predetermined electronic report templates, each predetermined report template corresponding to a given aircraft type itself identifiable via the identification information of that aircraft, the report generation module being arranged so that upon receipt of the identification information (ID) of the aircraft of which data is to be collected, it obtains from the database a given electronic report template corresponding to that aircraft, the electronic report generated by the report generation module being generated from the report template obtained from the database.

2. The method for collecting data according to claim 1 , wherein said mobile terminal includes a device for acquiring at least one aircraft identification information (ID) carried by the aircraft, the report generation module being arranged so that the electronic report generated by it associates at least one aircraft identification information (ID) with the aircraft's operational data contained in the report.

3. The method for collecting data according to claim 2 , in which the acquisition of operational data delivered via said screen and of at least one aircraft identification information are successively carried out using said acquisition device, said identification information being aircraft identifying information, as well as one or more aircraft configuration information, and these operational data and identification information successively acquired are stored in the same electronic report.

4. The method for collecting data according to claim 3 , in which, after said acquisition of said operational data and said at least one aircraft identification information, an image of the operator is acquired using the mobile terminal, this image being stored in said electronic report.

5. The method for collecting data according to claim 2 , wherein the aircraft identification information (ID) is written on an information medium carried by the aircraft, this medium being selected from an identification mark or visual cryptogram or a tag with near-field communication means or an optical cryptogram displayed on a screen.

6. The method for collecting data according to claim 1 , wherein said mobile terminal includes a display screen arranged to display the images acquired by the optical sensor during this acquisition and to display the electronic report to an operator (OP), the mobile terminal also including signature means to allow the operator viewing the electronic report to sign it he/she is satisfied with the report, said signed electronic report containing an electronic signature specific to the operator (OP).

7. The method for collecting data according to claim 6 , in which the signature means are associated with a biometric authentication device of the operator, the signature of the electronic report by the operator being authorized only if said operator has been previously identified by the biometric authentication device.

8. The method for collecting data according to claim 1 , wherein the aircraft has means for selecting, from a predetermined set of displayable pages, the page to be displayed on said at least one display screen of the aircraft, each given displayed page containing an aircraft operational data set, the mobile terminal being linked to a database (DB 2 ) of data collection scenarios, each given collection scenario in this database corresponding to a given aircraft type itself identifiable via the identification information (ID) of this aircraft, the report generation module being arranged so that upon receipt of the identification information (ID) of the aircraft from which data are to be collected, it obtains from the database a data collection scenario corresponding to that aircraft and, in response to that collection scenario, it issues instructions to the operator (OP) to select the page to be displayed on the at least one aircraft display screen and to acquire an image of that page displayed on the screen.

9. The method for collecting data according to claim 8 , wherein the aircraft has a plurality of display screens for displaying said aircraft operational data, the data collection scenario corresponding to that aircraft when executed by the report generation module issuing image acquisition instructions for each of these screens one after the other.

10. The method for collecting data according to claim 8 , wherein the optical character recognition (OCR) module is arranged to detect in the acquired image the current page displayed on said at least one aircraft display screen and to issue an instruction to the operator once an image of a page expected in accordance with the scenario has been acquired.

Assignees

• Safran Electronics & Defense
• Safran Helicopter Engines

Inventors

• Couturier Emmanuel
• Fanton Nicolas
• Lipari Nicolas
• Lamazere Fabien
• Thermy François
• Gaschignard Emmanuel

Classifications

• G06V20/635

  Overlay text, e.g. embedded captions in a TV programme · CPC title

• G06V30/142

  using hand-held instruments; Constructional details of the instruments · CPC title

• G06V20/59

  inside of a vehicle, e.g. relating to seat occupancy, driver state or inner lighting conditions · CPC title

• G06V30/412 Primary

  Layout analysis of documents structured with printed lines or input boxes, e.g. business forms or tables · CPC title

• G07C5/0825 Primary

  using optical means · CPC title