The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 12, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 06, 2001
James J. Corcoran, III, Scottsdale, AZ (US);
Honeywell International Inc., Morristown, NJ (US);
Abstract
A system for alerting the occupant of a vehicle that the vehicle is in or approaching a zone of awareness. For instance, the system may be used to alert the pilot or flight crew of an aircraft that the aircraft is on or approaching a runway, and may identify the specific runway. Thus, the invention also provides a method of reducing unintentional incursions of taxiing aircraft onto runways. The system generally includes a storage device or memory, a positioning system such as a GPS that typically repeatedly determines the location of the vehicle, an alerting device such as an alarm or display, and a processor, all of which are typically located on the vehicle. The processor typically compares the location of the vehicle with stored location information for various zones of awareness and initiates an alert when appropriate. The processor may take into consideration the velocity and direction of travel of the vehicle. Zones of awareness may be defined by coordinates, such as the end points of line segments. Audible alarms may include a voice warning, and may be able to be silenced until the vehicle leaves the zone of awareness. On aircraft, the system may reference the centerline of the runway, for example, alerting when the aircraft is within 150 feet of the centerline. The system may be disabled when the aircraft is in flight.