Patent Description:
The present technology relates to a method for producing a lighting program for interior lighting in an aircraft.

Long flights can lead to jetlag for the passengers. A lighting program that adjusts the cabin lighting during flight can be used to diminish the effects of jetlag by affecting the circadian rhythm of the passengers. Known lighting program systems have difficulty adjusting the cabin lighting conditions when departing or arriving at polar regions, where sunrise and sunset times may be inapplicable. For example, previously known systems may simply use arbitrary sunrise or sunset times in such circumstances, such as <NUM>:<NUM> for the sunrise time and <NUM>:<NUM> for the sunset time. Using such arbitrary times fails to properly adjust the interior lighting and may reduce the efficacy of lighting programs in diminishing jetlag. <CIT>discloses using flight information to set light scenes in an aircraft.

Various implementations of the disclosed technology provide for scheduling of lighting events in the interior of an aircraft according to simulation logic that processes scheduled times in an "epoch time" format, which simplifies calculations involving times and durations. If there is no sunrise or sunset time, the duration of an offset between a start of day/sunrise and sunset/end of day is set to <NUM>, instead of assigning arbitrary times for a sunrise and sunset. This enables the system to better respect the actual lighting conditions at sunrise and sunset in polar regions.

In a first aspect, the technology is implemented as a method for use on a lighting control system that is communicatively coupled to cabin lighting on an aircraft to control lighting in an interior of the aircraft according to a lighting program. The method includes: determining a departure time and an arrival time as epoch times, the departure time being adjusted for an offset from GMT at a departure location and the arrival time being adjusted for an offset from GMT at an arrival location; generating a flight time with GMT offsets based, at least in part, on subtracting the departure time from the arrival time; determining an FMS flight time that represents the expected time that the aircraft will be in flight between the departure location and the arrival location; generating a simulation ratio modifier based, at least in part, on dividing the FMS flight time by the flight time with GMT offsets; applying the simulation ratio modifier to periods of a day between departure and arrival to generate scaled durations for periods of the day in a lighting program; and applying the lighting program to control the cabin lighting on the aircraft during flight according to the scaled durations.

In some implementations, the periods of the day between departure and arrival include a sunrise and/or a sunset. In some implementations, if there is no sunrise time and/or no sunset time, the duration of an offset between a start of day/sunrise and a sunset/end of day is set to zero.

Various representative implementations of the disclosed technology will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present technology may, however, be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the representative implementations set forth herein. In the drawings, the sizes and relative sizes of layers and regions may be exaggerated for clarity.

The examples and conditional language recited herein are principally intended to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present technology and not to limit its scope to such specifically recited examples and conditions. It will be appreciated that those skilled in the art may devise various arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shown herein, nonetheless embody the principles of the present technology and are included within its scope as defined by the appended claims.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used to distinguish one element from another. Thus, a first element discussed below could be termed a second element without departing from the teachings of the present disclosure.

By contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another element, there are no intervening elements present.

The terminology used herein is only intended to describe particular representative implementations and is not intended to be limiting of the present technology.

The functions of the various elements shown in the figures, including any functional block labeled as a "processor," may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing software. In some implementations of the present technology, the processor may be a general purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or a processor dedicated to a specific purpose, such as a digital signal processor (DSP). Moreover, explicit use of the term a "processor" should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, without limitation, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a read-only memory (ROM) for storing software, a random-access memory (RAM), and nonvolatile storage.

Software modules, or simply modules or units which are implied to be software, may be represented herein as any combination of flowchart elements or other elements indicating the performance of process steps and/or textual description. Moreover, it should be understood that a module may include, for example, but without limitation, computer program logic, computer program instructions, software, stack, firmware, hardware circuitry, or a combination thereof, which provides the required capabilities.

The present technology may be implemented as a system, a method, and/or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer-readable storage medium (or media) storing computer-readable program instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to carry out aspects of the disclosed technology. The computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of these. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer-readable storage medium includes: a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory, an optical disk, a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically or visually encoded medium (e.g., a punch card or bar code), and/or any combination of these. A computer-readable storage medium, as used herein, is to be construed as being a non-transitory computer-readable medium. It is not to be construed as being a transitory signal, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire.

It will be understood that computer-readable program instructions can be downloaded to respective computing or processing devices from a computer-readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. A network interface in a computing/processing device may receive computer-readable program instructions via the network and forward the computer-readable program instructions for storage in a computer-readable storage medium within the respective computing or processing device.

Computer-readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may be assembler instructions, machine instructions, firmware instructions, configuration data for integrated circuitry, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The computer-readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network.

All statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and implementations of the present technology, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof, whether they are currently known or developed in the future. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flowcharts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo-code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer-readable program instructions. These computer-readable program instructions may be provided to a processor or other programmable data processing apparatus to generate a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer-readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein includes an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowcharts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo-code, and the like.

The computer-readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to generate a computer-implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowcharts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo-code, and the like.

In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in flowcharts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo-code, and the like may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession in a flowchart may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each of the functions noted in the figures, and combinations of such functions can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or by combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

With these fundamentals in place, we will now consider some non-limiting examples to illustrate various implementations of aspects of the present disclosure.

<FIG> is a top plan view of an example aircraft <NUM> with which various aspects of the present disclosure may be used. Aircraft <NUM> may include, for example, any suitable aircraft such as corporate (i.e. business), private, commercial or any other type of aircraft, including fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, as well as local and remote piloted aircraft. Aircraft <NUM> may, for example, be a narrow-body, twin engine jet airliner.

Also shown schematically in <FIG> is an onboard lighting control system <NUM> for controlling illumination on board the aircraft <NUM>. The onboard lighting control system <NUM> may be coupled to various cabin lighting units, referred to collectively as cabin lighting <NUM>, for controlling the activation/de-activation and adjustment of lighting within the aircraft cabin. Onboard lighting control system <NUM> and cabin lighting <NUM> are shown in <FIG> as being superimposed over aircraft <NUM> for illustration purposes only.

<FIG> and <FIG> show perspective interior views of different cabin areas within a private aircraft in which the disclosed technology could be used. More specifically, <FIG> and <FIG> illustrate some non-limiting examples of lighting sources of the cabin lighting <NUM> that could be used to provide cabin illumination. The different lighting sources include by way of example, overhead lighting <NUM>, wall lighting <NUM>, monument lighting <NUM>, kick-space lighting <NUM>, pathway lighting <NUM>, personal service unit (PSU) lighting (not shown), and lavatory lighting (not shown), among other possibilities. The different lighting sources of the cabin lighting <NUM> may implemented via many different types of lighting devices, including, without limitation, LED lights, OLED lights, spot lights and fiber-optic lights, among other possibilities. As will be understood, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited by the specific cabin lighting <NUM> described herein.

<FIG> shows a schematic representation of aircraft <NUM> that includes lighting control system <NUM> communicatively coupled to cabin lighting <NUM>, as well as other aircraft systems, collectively referred to as aircraft systems <NUM>. The lighting control system <NUM> may communicate with one or more aircraft systems <NUM> to receive information that may be used to detect or determine predetermined cabin conditions. For example, the lighting control system <NUM> may receive information from aircraft systems <NUM> indicative of conditions associated with the aircraft, the aircraft cabin or even the external environment in which the aircraft is flying. By way of example, the aircraft systems <NUM> may include a cabin management system, a flight management system, an avionics system, an in flight entertainment system, an engine system, a landing gear system, and flight control computers, among many other possibilities. The present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the aircraft systems <NUM> to which the lighting control system <NUM> may be in communication.

The lighting control system <NUM> may be operatively connected either directly or indirectly, via wired or wireless connections, to the cabin lighting <NUM> and the aircraft systems <NUM>. In some implementations, lighting control system <NUM> may be operatively connected to a network to permit receipt of data, or sharing of data, with the aircraft systems <NUM> and cabin lighting <NUM> onboard aircraft <NUM>. Such a network may include one or more data buses, for example.

As shown in <FIG>, the lighting control system <NUM> may include one or more data processors <NUM> (referred hereinafter as "processor <NUM>") and non-transient computer-readable memory(ies)/medium(ia) (referred hereinafter as "memory <NUM>") containing instructions (such as control logic, or one or more applications) readable and executable by processor <NUM> to implement a computer-implemented process such that instructions, when executed by the data processor <NUM> can cause the functions/acts described herein. While the lighting control system <NUM> is shown in <FIG> as a stand-alone system, it is understood that it may be embodied as part of a larger cabin management system that includes the cabin lighting <NUM>, and that is responsible for controlling multiple different cabin functions, such as the temperature, audio system and window shades, among other functions. Alternatively, the lighting control system <NUM> may be an integral part of the cabin lighting <NUM> wherein the processor <NUM> and memory <NUM> are embedded within various lighting sources.

Processor <NUM> may, for example, include or be part of one or more digital computer(s) or other data processors or other suitably programmed or programmable logic circuits. Processor <NUM> may include general purpose computer(s), special purpose computer(s), or other programmable data processing apparatus. Processor <NUM> may be configured for use onboard aircraft <NUM>. Memory <NUM> may include any combination of one or more suitable computer-readable media.

<FIG> shows a high-level overview of daylight simulation logic in accordance with the disclosed technology, along with the interconnections between the data, tables, and calculations that are used. The daylight simulation logic includes avionics flight management system (FMS) data <NUM>, input flight data <NUM>, database data <NUM>, pre-set database data <NUM>, GUI display data <NUM>, epoch time calculations <NUM>, basic day calculations <NUM>, flight plan calculations <NUM>, flight plan schedular standard day table <NUM>, flight plan schedular simulated standard day table <NUM>, flight schedular standard day table <NUM>, and flight schedular simulated standard day table <NUM>. Additionally, the overview shown in <FIG> includes a graphical representation <NUM> of the standard day simulation. Each of these tables, calculations, and data sources will be described in greater detail below.

In the overview shown in <FIG>, as well as in the figures detailing the data, tables, and calculations, an example flight between Los Angeles International Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport is used to illustrate the daylight simulation logic. Additionally, data and calculations may be shown in a hierarchical representation. It will be understood that the calculations performed by the daylight simulation logic, as well as processing of data and tables, may be performed by the lighting control system <NUM>, and may use data from aircraft systems <NUM>.

<FIG> shows the avionics FMS data <NUM> and the input flight data <NUM>. As can be seen, the avionics FMS data includes data from the FMS, such as the current location of the aircraft, the destination location, and the flight time. The data from the avionics FMS are made available to other portions of the daylight simulation logic on a read-only basis.

The input flight data <NUM> includes data that may be automatically populated from the avionics FMS data <NUM>, such as the current location of the aircraft, the destination location, and so on. The input flight data <NUM> may further include data that has been input into the system, such as scheduled departure and arrival times, and airport codes.

<FIG> shows database data <NUM>. As can be seen, the database data <NUM> includes basic data from a database, including information on the arrival and departure airports (e.g., name, location, time zone information, etc.), and information on sunrise and sunset times at the departure and arrival locations.

<FIG> shows pre-set database data <NUM>. Pre-set database data <NUM> includes codes for times that are relevant for a flight, such as codes for times of day, codes for meals, and codes for flight-related times, such as departure boarding time, arrival time, etc. These codes are used in other parts of the system to identify times.

<FIG> shows GUI display data <NUM>. GUI display data <NUM> includes data that are displayed on a graphical user interface (GUI), as well as data that is entered into a GUI by a user. Information such as current location, departure information, arrival information, and flight time are only for display, and may be accessed from or linked to the avionics FMS data <NUM> and/or input flight data <NUM>. Data for input by a user may include inputs such as the time and duration of meals (e.g., in the example shown in <FIG>, breakfast is scheduled at <NUM>:<NUM> and has a duration of <NUM> minutes), as well as options such as an "extended work" day (in which, e.g., sleep time and meal times may be shortened) or "extended sleep" (in which, e.g., sleep time may be extended, and meal times may be shortened or eliminated). Inputs may also include information such as boarding time.

<FIG> shows epoch time calculations <NUM>. Epoch time is the number of seconds (excluding leap seconds) that have elapsed since a particular epoch - typically the "unix epoch," which is January <NUM>, <NUM> at <NUM>:<NUM>:<NUM>. Epoch time calculations <NUM> perform this calculation, as shown in the "epoch calculation" section. Epoch times are also determined for departure time and arrival time. Use of epoch time makes it easier to calculate, e.g., intervals in seconds between two times. Some of the data used in the epoch time calculations - e.g., for the departure time stamp, the arrival time stamp, and whether daylight savings time applies, may be linked with data from the database data <NUM>.

The epoch time calculations <NUM> also include a calculation of a "simulation modify ratio" or SMR, which is used to scale periods of the day according to the flight time and time zone changes. As can be seen in <FIG>, the SMR is calculated by dividing the FMS flight time (i.e., the expected actual time in flight, per the FMS) by the flight time including GMT offsets for arrival and departure. This flight time with GMT offset is calculated (again, as seen in <FIG>) by subtracting the departure time including GMT offset at the departure location from the arrival time including GMT offset at the arrival location. In the example shown in <FIG>, the arrival time including GMT offset at the arrival location is (in epoch time) <NUM>, and the departure time including GMT offset at the departure location is (in epoch time) <NUM>, for a difference of <NUM> seconds (i.e., <NUM> hours). The FMS flight time is <NUM> hours, which is <NUM> seconds. Therefore, the SMR is <NUM>/<NUM> = <NUM>. Essentially, in this example, a difference in local times of <NUM> hours between arrival and departure needs to be scaled to the actual flight time of <NUM> hours for controlling lighting, meal times, etc. An SMR of <NUM> means that periods of the day that occur during the flight will be half as long as their "normal" durations for purposes of controlling the cabin lighting.

<FIG> shows basic day calculations <NUM>. The basic day calculations <NUM> determine the start and run times for various parts of the day, such as midnight, sunrise, dawn, morning, mid-morning, noon, afternoon, late afternoon, evening, dusk, sunset, night start, and night (end of day). Some of these values are fixed, while others are calculated, as specified in the "type" information for each period. Additionally, the "type" information may be used to specify pre-set lighting displays, such as dynamic lighting changes at sunrise and sunset. Information on the periods of the day and their codes may be linked to the pre-set database data <NUM>. Information on, e.g., the times of sunrise and sunset may be linked to the database data <NUM>. In accordance with various implementations of the disclosed technology, if there is no sunrise/sunset time, as will be the case, e.g. in polar regions during summer (no sunset) and winter (no sunrise), the duration of the offset between a start of day/sunrise and sunset/end of day is set to <NUM>, to better respect actual lighting conditions at those times.

<FIG> shows flight plan calculations <NUM>. The flight plan calculations <NUM> determine start and run times for meals and for flight events, such as departure, boarding, arrival, etc. Entries in the flight plan calculations may be fixed or programmed, as determined by the "type" information for each entry. The entries are also linked to codes for the meals and flight events from the pre-set database data <NUM>, to user inputs on, e.g., meal times, meal durations, and boarding, from the GUI display data <NUM>, and to information on, e.g., departure time and arrival time, from the epoch time calculations <NUM>.

<FIG> shows flight plan schedular standard day table <NUM>, which includes the pre-set code, time stamp, time, and duration for the events scheduled in the flight plan calculations <NUM>. The flight plan schedular simulated standard day table <NUM> is also shown. As specified in the rules for the flight plan schedular simulated standard day table <NUM>, time stamps before the departure time and time stamps after the DLS stop event are removed from the flight plan schedular standard day table <NUM> to generate the flight plan schedular simulated standard day table <NUM>.

<FIG> shows the flight schedular standard day table <NUM>, which includes the pre-set code, time stamp, time, and duration for each period of the day, as determined in the basic day calculations <NUM>. These periods of the day are used to control the cabin lighting, but their durations have not yet been scaled using the simulation modify ratio (SMR), which may also be referred to as the simulation ratio modifier (SRM).

The scaled periods of the day are shown in the flight schedular simulated standard day table <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>. The flight schedular simulated standard day table <NUM> includes the pre-set code, time stamp, time, and duration for each period of the day, as in the flight schedular standard day table <NUM>. Additionally, the flight schedular simulated standard day table <NUM> is linked to the SMR (or SRM) from the epoch time calculations <NUM>. Per the rules that apply to the flight schedular simulated standard day table <NUM>, the SMR (or SRM) is applied to the durations for all time stamps that are greater than the departure time and less than the DLS stop event. The application of the SMR (or SRM) is shown in the "SRM" column of the table, and the scaled duration is shown in the "Label <NUM>" column.

The scaled durations are used to control the lighting program for the aircraft interior while the aircraft is in flight. As discussed above, if there is no sunrise/sunset time (e.g., in polar regions), the duration of the offset between a start of day/sunrise and sunset/end of day may be set to <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a graphical representation <NUM> of the standard day simulation. The graphical representation <NUM> is based on information from the flight plan schedular simulated standard day table <NUM> and the flight schedular simulated standard day table <NUM>.

Claim 1:
A method for use on a lighting control system (<NUM>) that is communicatively coupled to cabin lighting (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) on an aircraft (<NUM>) to control lighting in an interior of the aircraft according to a lighting program, the method comprising:
determining a departure time and an arrival time as epoch times, the departure time being adjusted for an offset from GMT at a departure location and the arrival time being adjusted for an offset from GMT at an arrival location;
generating a flight time with GMT offsets based, at least in part, on subtracting the departure time from the arrival time;
determining an FMS, Flight Management System, flight time that represents an expected time that the aircraft will be in flight between the departure location and the arrival location; and characterised by the method comprising:
generating a simulation ratio modifier based, at least in part, on dividing the FMS flight time by the flight time with GMT offsets;
applying the simulation ratio modifier to periods of a day between departure and arrival to generate scaled durations for periods of the day in a lighting program; and
applying the lighting program to control the cabin lighting on the aircraft during flight according to the scaled durations.