Abstract:
A system and method for receiving information relating to an aircraft, correlating the information to owner/operator information of the aircraft and outputting the owner/operator information to a user. Also, a system having a database storing owner/operator information for a plurality of aircraft and a processor receiving flight tracking information for a first aircraft of the plurality of aircraft, the processor retrieving the owner/operator information for the first aircraft from the database based on the flight tracking information and outputting the flight tracking information and the owner/operator information for the first aircraft.

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM/INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/855,673, filed on Oct. 31, 2006, and entitled “System and Method for Providing Aircraft Owner and Operator Information,” which is expressly incorporated herein, in its entirety, by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for obtaining owner and operator information for aircraft and providing that information to a user. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    There are numerous existing hardware and/or software systems that allow users to track aircraft in various manners. Such systems may display aircraft information including graphical display of flight tracks and/or corresponding text displays. Such systems may obtain data in a variety of manners; in one example, the system collects or receives passive radar data and creates flight tracks for each aircraft that is within the current tracking range. 
         [0004]    However, existing systems fail to allow a user to obtain and view owner/operator information about aircraft that are being tracked while the flight track or textual data about the aircraft are being displayed in real time. Aircraft owner/operator information may be useful to users of a live aircraft tracking system for a variety of purposes. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    A system and method for receiving information relating to an aircraft, correlating the information to owner/operator information of the aircraft and outputting the owner/operator information to a user. 
         [0006]    Also, a system having a database storing owner/operator information for a plurality of aircraft and a processor receiving flight tracking information for a first aircraft of the plurality of aircraft, the processor retrieving the owner/operator information for the first aircraft from the database based on the flight tracking information and outputting the flight tracking information and the owner/operator information for the first aircraft. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  shows a exemplary system for providing aircraft owner/operator data according to the present invention. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  shows an exemplary method for obtaining aircraft owner/operator data and providing it to a user of a live aircraft tracking system according to the present invention. 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  shows a first exemplary screen showing owner/operator information for tracked aircraft that may be displayed to a user of the system of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  shows a second exemplary screen showing owner/operator information for tracked aircraft that may be displayed to a user of the system of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0011]    The exemplary embodiments of the present invention may be further understood with reference to the following description and the appended drawings, wherein like elements are referred to with the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention describe systems and methods to improve the usefulness of systems for tracking aircraft. Using the exemplary embodiments, owner/operator data for aircraft that are being tracked may be retrieved and provided to a user. 
         [0012]    As used in this disclosure, an “aircraft” may be any vehicle capable of air travel. For example, an aircraft may be a fixed wing aircraft (e.g., large or small passenger aircraft, recreational aircraft, etc.), a rotorcraft, an unpowered aircraft (e.g., a sailplane), a dirigible, etc. 
         [0013]    Aircraft tracking systems may provide a wide variety of information to users. In addition to positional data (which may be expressed graphically or textually, and may include, for example, latitude and longitude information, altitude, heading, airspeed, etc.), tracking systems may provide information about the manufacturer and model of the aircraft, which may be useful for determining the speed and maneuverability capabilities of the aircraft. Information provided may also include fuel usage rate and fuel remaining, which may help determine priority order for landing aircraft. Further, information provided may include flight plan data for aircraft that are being tracked, which may help determine proper routing of multiple aircraft. 
         [0014]    One type of useful information that is not provided to users of existing systems is owner/operator data for aircraft that are being tracked. A user of a live aircraft tracking system may wish to be able to obtain owner/operator data in order to establish communications with a ground representative of an airline, properly route an arriving aircraft to a gate, hangar or fueling location, determine priority for landing, or for various other reasons. 
         [0015]      FIG. 1  shows an exemplary embodiment of a system  100  according to the present invention. The system  100  may include one or more user terminals  120 ,  121 ,  122  by which a user may access the system  100 . The user terminals  120 ,  121 ,  122  may be, for example, computer network workstations. The user terminals  120 ,  121 ,  122  may typically include at least a display  130 ,  131 ,  132 . For the sake of clarity, the exemplary embodiments will be described specifically with reference to the user terminal  120  and its corresponding display  130 ; however, those of skill in the art will understand that the other user terminals and displays may operate in the same manner. 
         [0016]    The user terminal  120  may be connected to a data network  110 , which may be, for example, a local area network, a wide area network, etc. Via the data network  110 , the user terminal  120  may communicate with a web server  140 . The web server  140  may receive requests for content from the user terminal  120  and transmit resulting data back to the user terminal  120  in a format that is viewable by a user on the display  130 . The web server  140  may also be in communication with a data processing unit  150 , which may typically be a network data server. The data processing unit  150  may communicate with database  152 , which may contain owner/operator information for a plurality of aircraft. 
         [0017]    The database  152  may be received in its completed form, such as during installation of the software that operates the data processing unit  150 . Alternately, the database  152  may be populated during operation of the system. For example, information concerning flight plans may be retrieved. The flight plans may identify, for example, a tail number for a plurality of aircraft  170 ,  171 ,  172 . In another example, tail number information may be determined from the aircraft, e.g., using active or passive radars, etc. The tail number information may then be used to find the owner/operator information for the aircraft and populated into the database  152 . The database  152  may be integral to the data processing unit  150  or it may be a separate item located locally or remotely. 
         [0018]    The data processing unit  150  may communicate with a data capture arrangement  160 , which may include one or more Passive Secondary Surveillance Radar (“PSSR”) systems. A PSSR system may be, for example, the PASSUR® system sold by Megadata Corporation of Greenwich, Conn. Data collected by the data capture arrangement  160  may include, but is not limited to, a location of arriving aircraft. Those skilled in the art will understand that the exemplary embodiments are described with reference to a PSSR system. However, the present invention is not limited to collecting location data using a PSSR system. The data capture arrangement  160  may be any system that collects, directly or indirectly, data about aircraft  170 ,  171 ,  172 . This disclosure will proceed by describing the method as performed to obtain information regarding aircraft  170 , but those of skill in the art will understand that the same exemplary system and method are equally applicable to any selected aircraft. 
         [0019]      FIG. 2  shows an exemplary embodiment of a method  200  according to the present invention. The method  200  will be described with reference to the exemplary system  100  of  FIG. 1 ; however, those of skill in the art will understand that the exemplary method  200  may also be applied by systems that vary from the one described above. In step  210 , a user of the terminal  120  selects an aircraft  170  from a group of aircraft  170 ,  171 ,  172  that are being tracked. In step  220 , the identity of the selected aircraft  170  is transmitted from the user terminal  120  to the web server  140  via the network  110 , and subsequently is transmitted from the web server  140  to the data processing unit  150 . The aircraft  170  may typically be identified by its tail number, but may also be identified by any other unique identifier suitable for this purpose. 
         [0020]    In step  230 , the data processing unit  150  queries the database  152  with the identity of the selected aircraft  170 . In step  240 , the database  152  returns owner/operator information about the aircraft  170  to the data processing unit  150 . Returned information may be the name of the owner of aircraft  170 , the operator of aircraft  170 , the pilot of aircraft  170 , or any other such information pertaining to an individual or business entity associated with the aircraft  170 . In step  250 , the owner/operator information is transmitted from the data processing unit  150  to the user terminal  120  via the web server  140 . In step  260 , the owner/operator information is displayed to a user of the user terminal  120  on the display  130 . In some exemplary embodiments, the owner/operator information may be displayed on its own; in other embodiments, the owner/operator information may be displayed together with other relevant information about the aircraft  170 . 
         [0021]      FIG. 3  shows an exemplary output on display  130  for an exemplary system  100  wherein the user of the user terminal  120  is tracking aircraft using a textual output  300 . To commence operation of the exemplary method  200 , the user may select the aircraft  170  (e.g., by mousing over or clicking on the display line for aircraft  170  with a mouse, etc.). When the method  200  has executed, the owner/operator information may be displayed to the user, such as by the appearance of a window  310  containing the retrieved information. 
         [0022]      FIG. 4  shows an exemplary output on display  130  for an exemplary system  100  wherein the user of the user terminal  120  is tracking aircraft using a graphical output  400  representing positions of the aircraft  170 ,  171  and  172  relative to that of the data capture arrangement  160 . Those of skill in the art will understand that in other embodiments, the positions of the aircraft may be represented relative to that of one or more airports, a ground map, or any other reference suitable to inform a user of the positions of the displayed aircraft, and that the use of the data capture arrangement  160  as a reference point is only exemplary. To commence operation of the exemplary method  200 , the user may select the aircraft  172  (e.g., by mousing over or clicking on the icon representing the aircraft  172 , etc.). When the method  200  has executed, the owner/operator information may be displayed to the user, such as by the appearance of a window  410  containing the retrieved information. 
         [0023]    The exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide improved access to information for the user of an aircraft tracking system. Owner/operator information is made available intuitively, through an existing interface, and with minimal user effort. 
         [0024]    The present invention has been described with reference to the above specific exemplary embodiments. However, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the same principles may be applied to other embodiments of the present invention, and that the exemplary embodiments should therefore be read in an illustrative, rather than limiting, sense.