VTOL aircraft for network system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11618545-B2
Application number	US-202117467702-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 7, 2021
Priority date	Aug 2, 2017
Publication date	Apr 4, 2023
Grant date	Apr 4, 2023

Abstract

A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft provides transportation to users of a network system. The network system may include multiple aircraft or other types of vehicles to provide multi-model transportation. An aircraft may include a fuselage, a truss coupled to the fuselage, and multiple distributed electric propellers coupled to the truss. The distributed electric propellers may be positioned on at least two different planes. The fuselage may include a cabin having one or more seats for the passengers arranged in a configuration that has a compact footprint, provides legroom, provides visibility to surroundings of the aircraft, or facilitates convenient ingress or egress of passengers. The aircraft may open a port cabin door and starboard cabin door for simultaneous ingress or egress of passengers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for controlling aircraft doors, comprising:
determining, using one or more processors, that a VTOL aircraft is ready for egress of one or more passengers or goods at a vertiport, wherein the one or more passengers or goods are transported by the VTOL aircraft for a first trip segment of a multi-modal trip, wherein the VTOL aircraft comprises: a port cabin door located on a port side of the VTOL aircraft, and a starboard cabin door located on a starboard side of the VTOL aircraft;
determining, using the one or more processors, that a vehicle configured for traveling a second trip segment of the multi-modal trip is or will be located at the vertiport;
determining, using the one or more processors, that a direction of passenger traffic to the vehicle is nearest one of the port side of the VTOL aircraft or the starboard side of the VTOL aircraft; and
providing, using the one or more processors, an instruction to open one of the port cabin door or the starboard cabin door corresponding to the one of the port side of the VTOL aircraft or the starboard side of the VTOL aircraft based at least in part on the direction of passenger traffic to the vehicle.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting, using the one or more processors, data indicative of a message for the one or more passengers of the VTOL aircraft for presentation via an electronic display, the message indicating egress via one of the port cabin door or the starboard cabin door.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting, using the one or more processors, data indicative of a message for display on one or more client devices of the one or more passengers, the message indicating egress via one of the port cabin door or the starboard cabin door.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, using the one or more processors, an additional instruction to open another one of the port cabin door or the starboard cabin door for ingress of one or more additional passengers or goods at the vertiport.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the VTOL aircraft comprises a second port cabin door located on the port side of the VTOL aircraft and a second starboard cabin door located on the starboard side of the VTOL aircraft, and wherein the instruction to open comprises an instruction to open: (i) at least one of the port cabin door or the second port cabin door, or (ii) at least one of the starboard cabin door or the second starboard cabin door.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the VTOL aircraft comprises a cabin comprising a plurality of seats, the plurality of seats comprising a pilot seat for a pilot toward a nose of the VTOL aircraft and four passenger seats for the one or more passengers behind the pilot seat.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the four passenger seats comprise a first pair of passenger seats located toward the nose of the VTOL aircraft and a second pair of passenger seats positioned behind the first pair of passenger seats and located toward a tail of the VTOL aircraft.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are located on-board the VTOL aircraft.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are located off-board the VTOL aircraft.

10. A computer-implemented method for controlling aircraft doors, comprising:
determining, using one or more processors, that a vehicle configured for traveling a first trip segment of a multi-modal trip is or will be located at a vertiport;
determining, using the one or more processors, that a VTOL aircraft is ready for ingress of one or more passengers or goods at the vertiport, wherein the one or more passengers or goods are transported by the VTOL aircraft for a second trip segment of the multi-modal trip, wherein the VTOL aircraft comprises: a port cabin door located on a port side of the VTOL aircraft, and a starboard cabin door located on a starboard side of the VTOL aircraft;
determining, using the one or more processors, that a direction of passenger traffic from the vehicle is nearest one of the port side of the VTOL aircraft or the starboard side of the VTOL aircraft; and
providing, using the one or more processors, an instruction to open one of the port cabin door or the starboard cabin door corresponding to the one of the port side of the VTOL aircraft or the starboard side of the VTOL aircraft based at least in part on the direction of passenger traffic from the vehicle.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , comprising providing, using the one or more processors, an additional instruction to open another one of the port cabin door or the starboard cabin door for egress of one or more additional passengers or goods at the vertiport.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the VTOL aircraft comprises a second port cabin door located on the port side of the VTOL aircraft and a second starboard cabin door located on the starboard side of the VTOL aircraft, and wherein the instruction to open comprises an instruction to open: (i) at least one of the port cabin door or the second port cabin door, or (ii) at least one of the starboard cabin door or the second starboard cabin door.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the VTOL aircraft comprises a cabin comprising a plurality of seats, the plurality of seats comprising a pilot seat for a pilot toward a nose of the VTOL aircraft and four passenger seats for the one or more passengers behind the pilot seat.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the four seats for the one or more passengers comprise a first pair of passenger seats located toward the nose of the VTOL aircraft and a second pair of passenger seats positioned behind the first pair of passenger seats and located toward a tail of the VTOL aircraft.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are located on-board the VTOL aircraft.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are located off-board the VTOL aircraft.

17. A computing system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
determining that a VTOL aircraft is ready for egress of one or more passengers or goods at a vertiport, wherein the one or more passengers or goods are transported by the VTOL aircraft for a first trip segment of a multi-modal trip, wherein the VTOL aircraft comprises:
a port cabin door located on a port side of the VTOL aircraft, and
a starboard cabin door located on a starboard side of the VTOL aircraft;

determining that a vehicle configured for traveling a second trip segment of the multi-modal trip is or will be located at the vertiport;
determining that a direction of passenger traffic to the vehicle is nearest one of the port side of the VTOL aircraft or the starboard side of the VTOL aircraft; and
providing an instruction to open one of the port cabin door or the starboard cabin door corresponding to the one of the port side of the VTOL aircraft or the starboard side of the VTOL aircraft based at least in part on the direction of passenger traffic to the vehicle.

18. The

Assignees

• Joby Aero Inc

Inventors

• Moore Mark
• Goel Nikhil
• Badalamenti John Conway
• Petersen Jon D
• Josephson David

Classifications

• B64C1/1438 Primary

  of the sliding type · CPC title

• B64C1/1423 Primary

  Passenger doors · CPC title

• E05Y2400/446

  Vehicle state sensors, e.g. parked or inclination · CPC title

• E05Y2800/30

  inclined, angled · CPC title

• E05Y2400/44

  Sensors not directly associated with the wing movement · CPC title