Methods and systems for route-based display of meteorological forecast information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9719785-B2
Application number	US-201514601560-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 21, 2015
Priority date	Jan 21, 2015
Publication date	Aug 1, 2017
Grant date	Aug 1, 2017

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for presenting forecast information pertaining to a planned route of travel, such as a flight plan. One exemplary method involves obtaining a plurality of forecast data sets associated with a plurality of different forecast time periods and subdividing a route into a plurality of forecast regions encompassing respective portions of the route based on the times associated with the navigational reference points defining the route. Each forecast region of the plurality of forecast regions is associated with a respective forecast time period. For each forecast region, a graphical representation of a subset of the forecast data set associated with that forecast region's associated forecast time period that corresponds to the geographic area of that forecast region is displayed on a display device concurrently to displaying a graphical representation of the route.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of presenting forecast information pertaining to a flight plan on a display device associated with an aircraft, the method comprising:
obtaining, by a processing system, a plurality of reference times, each respective reference time of the plurality being associated with a respective reference point of a plurality of reference points associated with the flight plan, the plurality of reference points defining a flight path for the flight plan;
displaying, by the processing system, a graphical representation of the flight path on a map on the display device;
determining, by the processing system, a plurality of forecast regions encompassing respective portions of the flight path based on the plurality of reference times, each forecast region of the plurality of forecast regions being associated with a respective time period different from respective time periods associated with remaining forecast regions of the plurality of forecast regions; and
for each forecast region of the plurality of forecast regions:
obtaining, by the processing system, a subset of forecast data associated with the respective time period associated with the forecast region for a geographic area corresponding to the forecast region;
determining, for the respective forecast region of the plurality of forecast regions, a respective image resolution for the respective forecast region based on the respective time period associated with the forecast region; and
rendering, by the processing system, a graphical representation of the subset of forecast data for the respective forecast region on the map with the respective image resolution, resulting in a plurality of graphical representations of the subsets of forecast data associated with the plurality of forecast regions being concurrently displayed with a plurality of different image resolutions.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining, by the processing system, a plurality of forecast data sets corresponding to a plurality of different forecast time periods, each forecast data set being associated with a respective forecast time period different from respective forecast time periods associated with remaining forecast data sets, wherein:
determining the plurality of forecast regions comprises subdividing the flight path into the plurality of forecast regions based on the plurality of different forecast time periods and the plurality of reference times, each forecast region being associated with a respective forecast time period of the plurality of different forecast time periods.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein obtaining the subset of forecast data associated with the respective forecast time period associated with the forecast region comprises obtaining forecast data for the geographic area corresponding to the forecast region from the forecast data set of the plurality of forecast data sets associated with that respective forecast time period of the plurality of different forecast time periods.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
determining the plurality of forecast regions comprises, for each respective reference point of the plurality of reference points, determining a respective geographic area encompassing the respective reference point; and
obtaining the subset of forecast data comprises obtaining the subset of forecast data associated with the respective time period associated with the forecast region for the respective geographic area encompassing the respective reference point.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein obtaining the subset of forecast data comprises determining the subset of forecast data associated with the respective reference time associated with the respective reference point encompassed by the respective forecast region of the plurality of forecast regions based on one or more forecast data sets associated with one or more forecast time periods different from the respective reference time.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of forecast regions further comprises determining, for each forecast region of the plurality of forecast regions, a respective width of the geographic area corresponding to the forecast region based on the respective time period associated with the forecast region.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein respective image resolution for the respective forecast region corresponds to a time difference between the respective time period associated with the forecast region and a current time.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining, for each forecast region of the plurality of forecast regions, a respective width of the geographic area corresponding to the forecast region based on a difference between the respective time period associated with the forecast region and the current time, wherein:
the respective image resolutions for the respective forecast regions progressively decrease along the flight path; and
the respective widths for the geographic areas of the respective forecast regions progressively increase along the flight path.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, for each forecast region of the plurality of forecast regions, a respective width of the geographic area corresponding to the forecast region by:
calculating an initial width for the respective forecast region based on a first time difference between a current time and a beginning forecast time corresponding to when the aircraft is expected to enter the respective forecast region; and
calculating a final width for the respective forecast region based on a second time difference between the current time and an ending forecast time corresponding to when the aircraft is expected to exit the respective forecast region, resulting in the geographic areas corresponding to the plurality of forecast regions progressively increasing along the flight path.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions or data stored thereon executable by the processing system to perform the method of claim 1 .

11. A system onboard an aircraft, the system comprising:
a display device;
a flight management system to maintain a flight plan comprising a sequence of reference points defining a flight path, each reference point having a reference time associated therewith, resulting in a plurality of reference times corresponding to the sequence of reference points;
a communications system coupled to a communications network; and
a processing system coupled to the communications system, the display device, and the flight management system to:
display a graphical representation of the flight path on a map on the display device;
determine a plurality of forecast regions encompassing respective portions of the flight path based on the plurality of reference times, each forecast region of the plurality of forecast regions corresponding to a different time period; and
for each forecast region of the plurality of forecast regions:
obtain, via the communications system, a subset of forecast data associated with the respective time period associated with the forecast region for a geographic area corresponding to the forecast region;
determine, for the respective forecast region of the plurality of forecast regions, a respective image resolution for the respective forecast region based on the respective time period associated with the forecast region; and
display a graphical representation of the subset of forecast data on the map with the respective image resolution, resulting in a plurality of graphical representations of the subsets of forecast data associated with the plurality of forecast regions being concurrently displayed with a plurality of

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Sarl
• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Vasek Jiri
• Eichler Zdenek
• Tieftrunk Petr
• Bajger David

Classifications

• G01C23/00

  Combined instruments indicating more than one navigational value, e.g. for aircraft; Combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement, e.g. distance, speed or acceleration · CPC title

• G08G5/0013

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/0091

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/0021

  Physics · mapped topic

• G08G5/0052

  Physics · mapped topic