Patent ID: 7965202

Claim:
A system for presenting an abbreviated pathway on a tactical display unit, such system comprising: a source of navigation data; a source of terrain data; a processor configured to receive navigation data representative of a flight plan and aircraft position and attitude, receive terrain data corresponding to the navigation data, define first location data representative of at least one boundary of an active flight path originating at a preceding waypoint and terminating at the next waypoint of the flight plan, define second location data representative of the next waypoint of the flight plan, a first successive waypoint of the flight plan, and an approaching flight path originating at the next waypoint and terminating at the first successive waypoint of the flight plan, generate an image data set representative of an abbreviated pathway and a three-dimensional perspective scene outside the aircraft, wherein the image data set is generated as a function of the terrain data, first location highlighter data associated with the first location data, and second location highlighter data associated with the second location data, further wherein the first location highlighter data is determined using a boundary enhancing function, and provide the image data set to a display system; and the display system configured to receive the image data set, and present an image represented in the image data set on a tactical display unit, whereby the abbreviated pathway appears on the tactical display unit superimposed against the three-dimensional perspective scene outside the aircraft, where the abbreviated pathway comprises a plurality of boundaries of the active path, where the location of each boundary is highlighted with a variable-visibility three-dimensional location highlighter, the next waypoint, the location of which is highlighted as a three-dimensional location highlighter, the first successive waypoint, the location of which is highlighted as a three-dimensional location highlighter, and the approaching flight path, depicted as a straight or curved first connector between the location highlighters of the next waypoint and the first successive waypoint, where such first connector is depicted with an originating end at the next waypoint and a terminating end at the first successive waypoint.