Electronic air traffic control system for use in airport towers
US5659475A · kind A · utility
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 10, 1995 |
| Grant date | Aug 19, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 10, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG08G5/55
- WIPO fieldControl
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A computer-based system is disclosed for monitoring and controlling the takeoff and landing of aircraft from an airport that is large enough to require the services that are routinely associated with operations at a control tower. Individual air traffic controllers continue to have the responsibility for monitoring aircraft that are within the operations zone of their tower. But when responsibility for a given aircraft is to be transferred from one controller to another, an icon in each of two separate arrays on a computer screen is sequentially selected by the transferring controller. The first selected icon represents the aircraft; the second selected icon represents the new controller. Other icons give certain control functions (e.g., turning on or turning off certain runway lights) to an air traffic controller, as well as providing additional data to that controller, including information about an aircraft that is not continuously displayed on the controllers screen but is in memory, ready for immediate recall. The computer-based system replaces the manual handling of flight progress strips that are routinely handed from one controller to another--to effect transfer of responsi…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.