Method and device for managing and controlling electronic checklist database

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a device for managing and controlling an electronic checklist database. According to the technical scheme, when it is determined that updating of the electronic checklist has lag relative to the flight manual, the applicability of the electronic checklist database and the applicability of all the checklists are adjusted, so that individual electronic checklists are disabled or enabled, and the electronic checklists are displayed in the corresponding display areas.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an aircraft electronic checklist, and in particular to a method and device for controlling an electronic checklist database. Background Art

[0002] Currently, the mainstream advanced civil aircraft cockpits are generally equipped with the function of electronic checklists. The electronic checklist is mainly the electronic version of the aircraft Quick Reference Handbook (QRH), which facilitates the flight crew to read the checklist content in the QRH on the cockpit display screen and operate quickly, reducing the crew workload.

[0003] The electronic checklists used in modern civil aircraft are divided into software and database. The software is responsible for the operation and function implementation of the electronic checklist, and the database is responsible for controlling the definition of contents such as the procedures, closed-loop items, and inoperative items of the electronic checklist. During aircraft operation, due to reasons such as operation procedure updates, safety risks, and avoidance of potential problems, the aircraft manufacturer or operator may need to update the flight manual and the electronic checklist database. The update of the electronic checklist database usually lags behind the update of the flight manual due to processes such as development, testing, airworthiness, and installation. Therefore, airlines need to disable the electronic checklist function or certain operation procedures under specific circumstances.

[0004] The aircraft manufacturer notifies users of relevant changes by issuing an Operations Engineering Bulletin (OEB). When the flight crew prepares the cockpit before flight, they need to be aware of the content of the OEB. If the OEB affects the relevant ECAM procedures (Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitoring, hereinafter referred to as ECAM), "REFER TO OEB / QRH PROC" will be displayed under the corresponding procedure on the WD (Warning Display) page to prompt the crew and guide the crew to refer to the OEB / QRH to perform operations. This function is an optional item. Or through pilot training, the crew is made to remember the procedures that need to refer to the QRH for operation.

[0005] Both of the current two solutions impose higher requirements on the flight crew. The pilots need to be familiar with and remember the changes in the electronic checklist database in advance and always implement them during the flight. The crew workload is large, which is not conducive to flight safety.

[0006] Therefore, there is an urgent need for a method and device to further improve the existing technology for controlling the electronic checklist database. Summary of the Invention

[0007] This invention content is provided to introduce some concepts in a simplified form that will be further described in the following detailed implementation section. This invention content is not intended to identify the key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to assist in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0008] To solve the problems in the prior art, an improved method and device are needed to quickly adjust the applicability of each checklist in the electronic checklist database, and be able to remind the pilot which to refer to, the electronic checklist or the QRH (select the correct reference source) when encountering a specific scenario, reduce the crew workload, and avoid safety problems caused by the crew forgetting the OEB or inapplicable checklists.

[0009] The present invention is made exactly for this purpose. The present invention provides a method and device for controlling an electronic checklist database. In the technical solution of the present invention, when the update of the electronic checklist lags behind the flight manual, it can adjust the electronic checklist database and the applicability of each checklist in a safe manner according to a predetermined process, so that the pilot can quickly identify the applicability of the electronic checklist, timely adjust the reference source of the operation procedure, reduce the crew workload, and improve flight safety.

[0010] Specifically, in an embodiment of the present invention, a device for controlling an electronic checklist database is disclosed, and the device includes:

[0011] An electronic checklist change identification module configured to identify whether there is an electronic checklist that has been changed in the electronic checklist database;

[0012] An electronic checklist disabling module configured to disable the electronic checklist when it is determined that there is an electronic checklist that has been changed;

[0013] An electronic checklist inspection module configured to check the list of disabled electronic checklists to determine whether other changed electronic checklists need to be disabled; and

[0014] An electronic checklist display module configured to display the disabled electronic checklist and its disabled status in the abnormal checklist display area.

[0015] In an embodiment of the present invention, the electronic checklist change identification module is further configured to:

[0016] Determine whether there is an electronic checklist in the on-board version that is inconsistent with the latest version of the electronic checklist in the flight manual by comparing the latest version of the electronic checklist in the flight manual and the on-board version of the electronic checklist; and

[0017] Determine the inconsistent electronic checklist as the changed electronic checklist.

[0018] In the above embodiments of the present invention, the electronic checklist inspection module is further configured to:

[0019] Inspect the list to determine whether the list includes all inconsistent electronic checklists; and

[0020] Inspect the list to determine whether all the disabled electronic checklists in the list are the inconsistent electronic checklists.

[0021] In the above embodiments of the present invention, the electronic checklist disabling module is further configured to disable the electronic checklist by the name of the changed electronic checklist, and further disable the remaining inconsistent electronic checklists in the case where it is determined that the list does not include all inconsistent electronic checklists.

[0022] In the above embodiments of the present invention, the device further includes an electronic checklist enabling module, which is configured to re-enable the electronic checklists that are consistent with the latest version of the electronic checklist in the case where it is determined that not all the disabled electronic checklists in the list are the inconsistent electronic checklists.

[0023] In the above embodiments of the present invention, the electronic checklist enabling module is further configured to enable all the electronic checklists in the electronic checklist database.

[0024] In an embodiment of the present invention, the device further includes an electronic checklist database permission management module, which is configured to:

[0025] Verify the password of the electronic checklist database; and

[0026] Receive the input of the name of the changed electronic checklist after the verification passes.

[0027] In an embodiment of the present invention, the electronic checklist disabling module is further configured to disable all the electronic checklists in the electronic checklist database.

[0028] In an embodiment of the present invention, the disabled state includes color and text.

[0029] In another embodiment of the present invention, a method for controlling an electronic checklist database is disclosed, the method including:

[0030] Identify whether there is a changed electronic checklist in the electronic checklist database;

[0031] Disable the electronic checklist in the case where it is determined that there is the changed electronic checklist;

[0032] Check the list of disabled electronic checklists to determine if any other changed electronic checklists need to be disabled; and

[0033] Display the disabled electronic checklist and its disabled status in the abnormal checklist display area.

[0034] In an embodiment of the present invention, identifying whether there are changed electronic checklists in the electronic checklist database further includes:[[]]

[0035] Determine whether there are electronic checklists in the on-board version that are inconsistent with the latest version of the electronic checklist in the flight manual by comparing the latest version of the electronic checklist in the flight manual and the on-board version of the electronic checklist; and

[0036] Identify the inconsistent electronic checklist as the changed electronic checklist.

[0037] In the above embodiment of the present invention, checking the list of disabled electronic checklists to determine if any other changed electronic checklists need to be disabled further includes:[[]]

[0038] Check the list to determine if it includes all inconsistent electronic checklists; and

[0039] Check the list to determine if all the disabled electronic checklists in the list are the inconsistent electronic checklists.

[0040] In the above embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes:[[]]

[0041] Disable the electronic checklist by the name of the changed electronic checklist, and further disable the remaining inconsistent electronic checklists if it is determined that the list does not include all inconsistent electronic checklists; and

[0042] Re-enable the electronic checklists that are consistent with the latest version of the electronic checklist if it is determined that not all of the disabled electronic checklists in the list are the inconsistent electronic checklists.

[0043] In an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes:[[]]

[0044] Verify the password of the electronic checklist database; and

[0045] Receive an input of the name of the changed electronic checklist after the verification passes.

[0046] In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a computer-readable storage medium having instructions is disclosed, the instructions including:[[]]

[0047] Instructions for identifying whether there is an electronically changed inspection form in the electronic inspection form database;

[0048] Instructions for disabling the electronically changed inspection form in case it is determined that such an electronically changed inspection form exists;

[0049] Instructions for checking the list of disabled electronically changed inspection forms to determine whether other electronically changed inspection forms need to be disabled; and

[0050] Instructions for displaying the disabled electronically changed inspection form and its disabled status in a non-normal inspection form display area.

[0051] After reading the following description of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, other aspects, features, and embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Although the features of the present invention may be discussed below with respect to certain embodiments and drawings, all embodiments of the present invention may include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, although one or more embodiments may be discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more of such features may also be used in accordance with the various embodiments of the present invention discussed herein. In a similar manner, although the exemplary embodiments may be discussed below as device, apparatus, or method embodiments, it should be appreciated that such exemplary embodiments may be implemented in various devices, apparatuses, and methods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0052] In order to understand in detail the manner in which the above-described features of the present disclosure are used, the above-briefly summarized content may be described in more detail with reference to the various aspects, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It should be noted, however, that the drawings only illustrate certain typical aspects of the present disclosure and should not be considered as limiting its scope, since the description may admit of other equally effective aspects.

[0053] Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for controlling an electronic inspection form database according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0054] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary operation interface of an apparatus for controlling an electronic inspection form database according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0055] Figure 3 is a flowchart of a method for controlling an electronic inspection form database according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0056] The following will describe each embodiment in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings that form a part of the present invention and illustrate specific exemplary embodiments. However, each embodiment can be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as limiting the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and the scope of these embodiments will be fully conveyed to those of ordinary skill in the art. Each embodiment can be implemented as a method, apparatus, or device. Therefore, these embodiments can take the form of a hardware implementation, a full software implementation, or an implementation combining software and hardware aspects. Therefore, the following detailed description is not limiting.

[0057] The steps in each flowchart can be executed by hardware (e.g., a processor, an engine, a memory, a circuit), software (e.g., an operating system, an application, a driver, machine / processor executable instructions), or a combination thereof. As those of ordinary skill in the art will understand, the methods involved in each embodiment may include more or fewer steps than those shown.

[0058] In view of the problems in the prior art, the present invention proposes a method and apparatus for controlling an electronic checklist database. When it is determined that the update of the electronic checklist lags behind the flight manual, the applicability of the electronic checklist database and each checklist is adjusted to disable or enable individual electronic checklists and display these electronic checklists in the corresponding display area.

[0059] The following will describe aspects of the present invention in detail.

[0060] Figure 1 FIG. is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 100 for controlling an electronic checklist database according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0061] In an embodiment of the present invention, as Figure 1 shown, the apparatus 100 for controlling an electronic checklist database may include an electronic checklist change identification module 102, an electronic checklist disabling module 104, an electronic checklist inspection module 106, and an electronic checklist display module 108. In other embodiments of the present invention, the apparatus 100 for controlling an electronic checklist database may further optionally include an electronic checklist enabling module 106 and an electronic checklist database permission management module 112 (both shown in dashed boxes). These modules will be described in detail below.

[0062] In one embodiment of the present invention, the electronic checklist change identification module 102 may be configured to identify whether there is an electronic checklist that has been changed in the electronic checklist database. In this embodiment, the electronic checklist change identification module 102 may be further configured to determine whether there is an electronic checklist in the on-board electronic checklists that is inconsistent with the latest version of the electronic checklist in the flight manual by comparing the latest version of the electronic checklist in the flight manual and the on-board electronic checklists, and determine the inconsistent electronic checklist as the electronic checklist that has been changed. When there is an electronic checklist in the on-board electronic checklists that is inconsistent with the latest version of the electronic checklist in the flight manual, it means that there is a situation where the update of the electronic checklist lags behind the flight manual. In this case, it is necessary to adjust the electronic checklist database and the applicability of each checklist.

[0063] Subsequently, in one embodiment of the present invention, in the case of determining that there is an electronic checklist that has been changed, the electronic checklist disabling module 104 may be configured to disable the electronic checklist.

[0064] In another embodiment of the present invention, the device 100 for controlling the electronic checklist database further optionally includes an electronic checklist database permission management module 112, which may be configured to verify the password of the electronic checklist database, and after the verification passes, receive the input of the name of the electronic checklist that has been changed, so that the electronic checklist disabling module 104 disables the electronic checklist based on the input name of the electronic checklist that has been changed. Thus, the control of the electronic checklist database can be enhanced.

[0065] In one embodiment of the present invention, the electronic checklist inspection module 108 may be configured to inspect the list of disabled electronic checklists to determine whether there are other electronic checklists that have been changed and still need to be disabled. In various embodiments, the electronic checklist inspection module 108 may be further configured to: inspect the list to determine whether the list includes all inconsistent electronic checklists, and inspect the list to determine whether all the disabled electronic checklists in the list are inconsistent with the latest version of the electronic checklist in the flight manual.

[0066] In the above embodiments of the present invention, the electronic checklist disabling module 104 may be further configured to disable the electronic checklist by the name of the changed electronic checklist, and further disable the remaining inconsistent electronic checklists in the case where it is determined that the list does not include all inconsistent electronic checklists. And in the above embodiments of the present invention, the device 100 optionally further includes an electronic checklist enabling module 106, which may be configured to re-enable the electronic checklists that are consistent with the latest version of the electronic checklist in the case where it is determined that not all of the disabled electronic checklists in the list are inconsistent electronic checklists. Thus, the device 100 reduces the minimum applicable unit of the electronic checklist to each individual checklist, avoiding the problem of the overall unavailability of the electronic checklist due to the long software update cycle, and expanding the usage scenarios of the electronic checklist.

[0067] In another embodiment of the present invention, the electronic checklist enabling module 106 may be further configured to enable all the electronic checklists in the electronic checklist database, and the electronic checklist disabling module 104 may be further configured to disable all the electronic checklists in the electronic checklist database.

[0068] In an embodiment of the present invention, the electronic checklist display module 110 may be configured to display the disabled electronic checklist and its disabled status in a non-normal checklist display area. In an embodiment of the present invention, the disabled status may include color and text, such as displaying the disabled electronic checklist in gray or any other suitable color, and displaying the status text "DISABLE (disabled)" or any other suitable status text. Thus, the device 100 can remind the pilot whether to refer to the electronic checklist or the QRH (select the correct reference source) in case of a specific scenario, preventing the operation of an inapplicable checklist due to memory errors. The device 100 improves the credibility of the electronic checklist and avoids safety problems caused by the crew forgetting the OEB or inapplicable checklists.

[0069] The operation interface of the device 100 according to an exemplary but non-limiting embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

[0070] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary operation interface of a device for controlling an electronic checklist database according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In Figure 2 the embodiment, the device may be implemented as electronic checklist software. When it is recognized that there is a change in an electronic checklist (program), such checklists can be disabled through the device 100 for controlling the electronic checklist database. The device 100 can implement and check the disabling of individual electronic checklists through the CHG TOOL page. This tool page needs to be entered by clicking the CHG TOOL button in the electronic checklist software.

[0071] The CHG TOOL page is as follows Figure 2 shown. It may also be necessary to input a password for operation according to the permission management requirements for changing the electronic checklist database, so as to enhance the control of the electronic checklist database. Through the input line in the upper right corner, the name of the checklist to be disabled can be input and DISABLE can be clicked to disable the checklist. Through the disabled list below, the disabled checklists can be viewed or a certain disabled checklist can be selected to cancel the restriction on this checklist (re-enable the electronic checklist). In addition, this page is also designed with DISABLE ALL and ENABLE ALL functions to facilitate disabling or enabling all checklists with one click.

[0072] The checklists disabled through this page are still normally displayed in the corresponding area in the electronic checklist along with the corresponding flight phase or alert (for example, abnormal checklists will be displayed in the abnormal checklist area together with the associated alert status), but their color is displayed in gray (by way of example and not limitation), and the status becomes DISABLE (by way of example and not limitation), so as to distinguish them from the checklists that can be used normally, which is convenient for pilots to identify the reference source of the operation procedure.

[0073] Figure 3 It is a flowchart of a method 300 for controlling an electronic checklist database according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0074] As follows Figure 3 shown, the method 300 starts at step 302 to identify whether there is an electronic checklist that has been changed in the electronic checklist database. In an embodiment of the present invention, this step may further include: determining whether there is an electronic checklist in the on-board version of the electronic checklist that is inconsistent with the latest version of the electronic checklist in the flight manual by comparing the latest version of the electronic checklist in the flight manual and the on-board version of the electronic checklist; and determining the inconsistent electronic checklist as the changed electronic checklist.

[0075] Next, the method 300 proceeds to step 304 to disable the electronic checklist in the case where it is determined that there is a changed electronic checklist. In an embodiment of the present invention, this step may further include: disabling the electronic checklist by the name of the changed electronic checklist. In another embodiment of the present invention, before this step, the method may further include: verifying the password of the electronic checklist database; and receiving the input of the name of the changed electronic checklist after the verification passes.

[0076] Then, method 300 proceeds to step 306 to check the list of disabled electronic checklists to determine if any other changed electronic checklists need to be disabled. In one embodiment of the present invention, this step may further include: checking the list to determine if the list includes all inconsistent electronic checklists; and checking the list to determine if all the disabled electronic checklists in the list are the inconsistent electronic checklists. In this embodiment, method 300 may further include disabling the remaining inconsistent electronic checklists if it is determined that the list does not include all inconsistent electronic checklists. In another embodiment of the present invention, the method may further include re-enabling the electronic checklists that are consistent with the latest version of the electronic checklist if it is determined that not all of the disabled electronic checklists in the list are the inconsistent electronic checklists.

[0077] Finally, method 300 proceeds to step 308 to display the disabled electronic checklist and its disabled status in the abnormal checklist display area.

[0078] Method 300 ends after step 308.

[0079] In summary, the technical solution proposed by the present invention can adjust the applicability of each checklist before the update of the electronic checklist database, and provides an operation interaction interface for disabling, enabling, and viewing relevant checklists. At the same time, since device 100 reduces the minimum unit of the applicability of the electronic checklist to each checklist, it avoids the problem of the overall unavailability of the electronic checklist caused by the long software update cycle, and expands the usage scenarios of the electronic checklist.

[0080] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the block diagrams and / or operational descriptions of methods and devices according to the embodiments of the present invention. The functions / actions noted in the blocks may occur in a different order than any flowchart shown. For example, two consecutive blocks shown may actually be executed substantially simultaneously depending on the functions / actions involved, or these blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order.

[0081] The above is only a preferred specific embodiment of the present invention, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily thought of by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention should be covered by the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A device for controlling an electronic inspection list database, the device comprising: An electronic inspection list change identification module configured to identify whether there is an electronically changed inspection list in the electronic inspection list database; An electronic inspection list disabling module configured to disable the electronic inspection list when it is determined that there is an electronically changed inspection list; An electronic inspection list checking module configured to check a list of the disabled electronic inspection lists to determine whether other electronically changed inspection lists need to be disabled; and An electronic inspection list display module configured to display the disabled electronic inspection lists and their disabled status in an abnormal inspection list display area.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic inspection list change identification module is further configured to: Determine whether there is an electronic inspection list in the on-board version of the electronic inspection list that is inconsistent with the latest version of the electronic inspection list in the flight manual by comparing the latest version of the electronic inspection list in the flight manual and the on-board version of the electronic inspection list; and Identify the inconsistent electronic inspection list as the electronically changed inspection list.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the electronic inspection list checking module is further configured to: Check the list to determine whether the list includes all inconsistent electronic inspection lists; and Check the list to determine whether all the disabled electronic inspection lists in the list are the inconsistent electronic inspection lists.

4. The device according to claim 3, wherein the electronic inspection list disabling module is further configured to disable the electronic inspection list by the name of the electronically changed inspection list, and further disable the remaining inconsistent electronic inspection lists when it is determined that the list does not include all inconsistent electronic inspection lists.

5. The device according to claim 3, wherein the device further comprises an electronic inspection list enabling module configured to re-enable the electronic inspection lists that are consistent with the latest version of the electronic inspection list when it is determined that not all of the disabled electronic inspection lists in the list are the inconsistent electronic inspection lists.

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein the electronic inspection list enabling module is further configured to enable all electronic inspection lists in the electronic inspection list database.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device further comprises an electronic inspection list database permission management module configured to: Verify the password of the electronic inspection list database; and Receive an input of the name of the electronically changed inspection list after the verification is passed.

8. A method for controlling an electronic inspection list database, the method comprising: Identifying whether there is an electronically changed inspection list in the electronic inspection list database; Disabling the electronic inspection list when it is determined that there is the electronically changed inspection list; Checking a list of the disabled electronic inspection lists to determine whether other electronically changed inspection lists need to be disabled; and Displaying the disabled electronic inspection lists and their disabled status in an abnormal inspection list display area.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein identifying whether there is an electronically changed checklist in the electronic checklist database further comprises: determining whether there is a checklist in the on-board checklist that is inconsistent with the latest version of the checklist in the flight manual by comparing the latest version of the electronic checklist in the flight manual and the on-board checklist; and determining the inconsistent checklist as the electronically changed checklist.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein checking the list of disabled electronically changed checklists to determine whether other electronically changed checklists need to be disabled further comprises: checking the list to determine whether the list includes all inconsistent checklists; and checking the list to determine whether all the disabled checklists in the list are the inconsistent checklists.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the method further comprises: disabling the checklist by the name of the electronically changed checklist, and further disabling the remaining inconsistent checklists when it is determined that the list does not include all inconsistent checklists; and re-enabling the checklists that are consistent with the latest version of the checklist when it is determined that not all the disabled checklists in the list are the inconsistent checklists.

12. The method according to claim 8, wherein the method further comprises: verifying the password of the electronic checklist database; and receiving an input of the name of the electronically changed checklist after the verification passes.

13. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 8-12.

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