Patent ID: 9616993
Date: 2017-04-11
CPC Classifications: B64C,B64D,G01C,G05D,G06F,G08G

Claim:
1. A system, comprising: an auto-flight system configured to control a plurality of primary flight modes including a primary airspeed flight mode, a primary lateral flight mode, and a primary vertical flight mode, the primary airspeed flight mode including a plurality of airspeed sub-modes including an airspeed automatic sub-mode and an airspeed hold sub-mode, the primary lateral flight mode including a plurality of lateral sub-modes including a lateral automatic sub-mode and a lateral hold sub-mode, the primary vertical flight mode including a plurality of vertical sub-modes including a vertical automatic sub-mode and vertical hold sub-mode; and a touchscreen flight mode control panel communicatively coupled to the auto-flight system, wherein the touchscreen flight mode control panel is configured at least to: receive primary flight mode data from the auto-flight system; graphically present the primary airspeed flight mode, the primary lateral flight mode, and the primary vertical flight mode to a user, wherein the touchscreen flight mode control panel is contextually driven such that particular sub-modes are presented if determined to be relevant to at least one flight condition; detect touch gestures and direct executions of the user configured to: activate a user-selected airspeed sub-mode of the plurality of airspeed sub-modes, activate a user-selected lateral sub-mode of the plurality of lateral sub-modes, and activate a user-selected vertical sub-mode of the plurality of vertical sub-modes; and output touch gesture data and direct execution data to the auto-flight system such that the auto-flight system controls the plurality of primary flight modes based at least on the detected touch gestures and direct executions of the user.