Aircraft Environment Personalization via Portable Storage

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Solution Overview

Problem

Aircrafts lack the ability to dynamically customize their user environments in real time to meet the varying preferences of pilots, flight crew, and passengers throughout different phases of a flight, due to limitations in configurability, storage, and management complexity.

Innovation Solution

A method and system that utilize portable storage devices to store user environmental preferences, which are communicated to an aircraft computer system to dynamically configure the environment based on user identity and flight phase, prioritizing settings for higher-ranking users and updating preferences as needed.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If aircraft computer systems store and manage configuration files for multiple users, then the ability to customize user environments improves, but storage availability and management complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveuser environment customizationVSAvoidconfiguration management

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts configuration files from the central aircraft computer system and stores them on individual portable storage devices carried by each user. This allows each user to have their own configuration files locally stored, eliminating the need for the aircraft computer to store and manage multiple user configurations centrally, thus reducing storage requirements and management complexity while maintaining full customization capability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent creates copies of configuration files on portable storage devices for each user. Instead of storing master configuration files on the aircraft computer, the system copies relevant configuration data to user-specific portable devices, allowing rapid loading and customization without burdening the aircraft computer's storage and management systems

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

2Adaptability or versatility

If the aircraft system configures environments for multiple users with different preferences, then user experience improves, but the time required for configuration increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveenvironmental customizationVSAvoidconfiguration time

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements preliminary action by having users prepare and store their configuration files on portable storage devices before boarding the aircraft. Configuration data is pre-organized and ready-to-load, eliminating the need for time-consuming configuration processes during flight operations. The system automatically loads the appropriate user's pre-prepared configuration when the user accesses the aircraft computer

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system enables self-service configuration by automatically identifying the user (through credentials or portable device recognition) and automatically loading their preferred configuration from their portable storage device without requiring manual intervention from flight crew or other users. This automated process eliminates configuration time while maintaining full environmental customization

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

3Adaptability or versatility

If the aircraft stores configuration files for all users, then customization capability improves, but storage availability decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveconfiguration storageVSAvoidstorage capacity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the centralized storage architecture into distributed individual storage units. Each user has their own portable storage device containing their configuration files, rather than all configurations being stored in a single centralized location on the aircraft computer. This segmentation distributes the storage burden and eliminates the need for the aircraft to provide large amounts of storage capacity for multiple users' configurations

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts configuration storage functionality from the aircraft computer system and places it on user-owned portable storage devices. This extraction removes the storage requirement from the aircraft system entirely, allowing the aircraft to maintain full customization capability without dedicating storage capacity for user configurations

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS9523985B1Real time and in-flight dynamic personalization of an aircraft

Publication Date: 2016.12.20 ROCKWELL COLLINS INC

AI summary

A method and system for dynamically personalizing an aircraft is provided. Users of an aircraft store their environmental preferences in a file on a storage device. When the users use the aircraft or ride on the aircraft, the aircraft computer system communicates with and uploads the users' files containing the users' environmental preferences. The aircraft computer system then implements the users' preferences by configuring a system of modules.