US 11,842,648 C1 (13,164th)
Distributed management of airfield ground lighting objects
Shyju John, Bangalore (IN); Ganesh Vijayamani, Kannur (IN); Dhyan K. Pasi, Borbil (IN); Chandra Gangineni, Bangalore (IN); Manjunath Bj, Bangalore (IN); Kaushik Paul, Bangalore (IN); Soniya Thiyagarajan, Peravurani (IN); and Franklin Joseph, Bangalore (IN)
Filed by Honeywell International Inc., Charlotte, NC (US)
Assigned to HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC., Charlotte, NC (US)
Reexamination Request No. 90/019,631, Aug. 22, 2024.
Reexamination Certificate for Patent 11,842,648, issued Dec. 12, 2023, Appl. No. 17/539,873, Dec. 1, 2021.
Ex Parte Reexamination Certificate issued on Jan. 29, 2026.
Int. Cl. G08G 5/00 (2025.01); G08G 5/22 (2025.01); G08G 5/56 (2025.01)
CPC G08G 5/56 (2025.01) [G08G 5/22 (2025.01)]
OG exemplary drawing
AS A RESULT OF REEXAMINATION, IT HAS BEEN DETERMINED THAT:
Claims 9-11 and 14 are cancelled.
Claims 1, 3, 8, 12 and 16 are determined to be patentable as amended.
Claims 2, 4-7, 13, 15 and 17-19, dependent on an amended claim, are determined to be patentable.
New claims 20 and 21 are added and determined to be patentable.
1. A system for distributed management of airfield ground lighting objects, comprising:
an aggregator control and monitoring system computing device (CMSCD);
a first substation management computing device (SMCD) in communication with the aggregator CMSCD, wherein:
the first SMCD is in communication with a first number of airfield ground lighting objects associated with a first portion of an airfield, wherein the first portion is a first physical area of the airfield; and
the first SMCD is configured to control the first number of airfield ground lighting objects in response to receiving a control signal [ by:
configuring an alarm associated with the first number of airfield ground lighting objects] ; and
[ suppressing the alarm; and]
a second SMCD in communication with the aggregator CMSCD, wherein:
the second SMCD is in communication with a second number of airfield ground lighting objects associated with a second portion of the airfield, wherein the second portion is a second physical area of the airfield different than the first physical area; and
the second SMCD is configured to control the second number of airfield ground lighting objects in response to receiving a different control signal;
[ a central management computing device (CMCD) in communication with the first SMCD and the second SMCD; and
an event database configured to record events associated with the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the second number of airfield ground lighting objects;]
wherein:
the aggregator CMSCD is configured to [ :]
aggregate status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects received from the first SMCD and [ transmit the aggregated status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects to a client device; and
aggregate ] status information about the second number of airfield ground lighting objects received from the second SMCD for transmission to a client device [ and transmit the aggregated status information about the second number of airfield ground lighting objects to the client device ] ; [ and
transmit the aggregated status information to a computing device of a flight information system of the airfield;
wherein the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the second number of airfield ground lighting objects includes whether a runtime of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects exceeds a predetermined runtime threshold and whether a runtime of the second number of airfield ground lighting objects exceeds the predetermined runtime threshold;
the CMCD is configured to transmit the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the status information about the second number of airfield ground lighting objects to an air traffic control (ATC) computing device utilized by an air traffic controller to direct and control vehicles around the airfield;]
the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the second number of airfield ground lighting objects includes:
an operational status of each respective object including whether each respective object is on or off; and
an operational intensity associated with an operational category of the airfield of each respective object; and
the first SMCD is configured to control the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the second SMCD is configured to control the second number of airfield ground lighting objects separately from the first number of airfield ground lighting objects to keep the second number of airfield ground lighting objects operational upon the first number of airfield ground lighting objects becoming non-operational [ during an expansion of the airfield that includes adding another runway to the airfield and/or adding additional airfield ground lighting objects to the airfield; and
the first SMCD is further configured to:
transmit a command to the first number of airfield ground lighting objects to control the first number of airfield ground lighting objects for maintenance operations for the first number of airfield ground lighting objects; and
store which ones of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects are in a maintenance mode; and
wherein during the maintenance mode:
the ATC computing device is configured to:
display, to the air traffic controller, the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects including the operational status of whether each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects is on or off;
receive, from the air traffic controller based on the operational category of the airfield, an input to turn off each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on to test whether the maintenance operations for the first number of airfield ground lighting objects are properly executed; and
transmit, to the first SMCD via the CMCD in response to receiving the input, a control signal to cause the first SMCD to turn off each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on;
the first SMCD is configured to, in response to receiving the control signal from the ATC computing device:
transmit a command to each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on to turn off; and
determine each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on have turned off after transmitting the command;
the event database is configured to:
record the input received from the air traffic controller and the control signal transmitted to the first SMCD as an event; and
record the command transmitted from the first SMCD to each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on to turn off as an event] .
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the second number of airfield ground lighting objects further includes at least one of: a health status of each respective object ; and
a runtime of each respective object.
8. A system for distributed management of airfield ground lighting objects, comprising:
an aggregator control and monitoring system computing device (CMSCD);
a first substation management computing device (SMCD) connected to the CMSCD, wherein:
the first SMCD is in communication with a first number of airfield ground lighting objects associated with a first portion of an airfield, wherein the first portion is a first physical area of the airfield; and
the first SMCD is configured to:
control the first number of airfield ground lighting objects in response to receiving a control signal [ by:
configuring an alarm associated with the first number of airfield ground lighting objects; and
suppressing the alarm] ; and
transmit status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects to the aggregator CMSCD;
a second SMCD connected to the CMSCD, wherein:
the second SMCD is in communication with a second number of airfield ground lighting objects associated with a second portion of the airfield, wherein the second portion is a second physical area of the airfield different than the first physical area; and
the second SMCD is configured to:
control the second number of airfield ground lighting objects in response to receiving a different control signal; and
transmit status information about the second number of airfield ground lighting objects to the aggregator CMSCD;
[ a central management computing device (CMCD) in communication with the first SMCD and the second SMCD; and
an event database configured to record events associated with the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the second number of airfield ground lighting objects;]
wherein:
the aggregator CMSCD is configured to aggregate the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects received from the first SMCD and the status information about the second number of airfield ground lighting objects received from the second SMCD for transmission [ and transmit the aggregated status information ] to a client device;
[ the aggregator CMSCD is configured to transmit the aggregated status information to a computing device of a flight information system of an airfield;]
the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the second number of airfield ground lighting objects includes:
[ whether a runtime of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects exceeds a predetermined runtime threshold and whether a runtime of the second number of airfield ground lighting objects exceeds the predetermined runtime threshold;]
an operational status of each respective object including whether each respective object is on or off; and
an operational intensity associated with an operational category of the airfield of each respective object; and
[ the CMCD is configured to transmit the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the status information about the second number of airfield ground lighting objects to an air traffic control (ATC) computing device utilized by an air traffic controller to direct and control vehicles around the airfield; and]
the first SMCD is configured to control the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the second SMCD is configured to control the second number of airfield ground lighting objects separately from the first number of airfield ground lighting objects to keep the second number of airfield ground lighting objects operational upon the first number of airfield ground lighting objects becoming non-operational [ during an expansion of the airfield that includes adding another runway to the airfield and/or adding additional airfield ground lighting objects to the airfield; and
the first SMCD is further configured to:
transmit a command to the first number of airfield ground lighting objects to control the first number of airfield ground lighting objects for maintenance operations for the first number of airfield ground lighting objects; and
store which ones of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects are in a maintenance mode; and
wherein during the maintenance mode:
the ATC computing device is configured to:
display, to the air traffic controller, the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects including the operational status of whether each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects is on or off;
receive, from the air traffic controller based on the operational category of the airfield, an input to turn off each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on to test whether the maintenance operations for the first number of airfield ground lighting objects are properly executed; and
transmit, to the first SMCD via the CMCD in response to receiving the input, a control signal to cause the first SMCD to turn off each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on;
the first SMCD is configured to, in response to receiving the control signal from the ATC computing device:
transmit a command to each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on to turn off; and
determine each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on have turned off after transmitting the command;
the event database is configured to:
record the input received from the air traffic controller and the control signal transmitted to the first SMCD as an event; and
record the command transmitted from the first SMCD to each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on to turn off as an event] .
12. The system of claim 8, wherein the first SMCD is configured to control the first number of airfield ground lighting objects in response to receiving the control signal by:
controlling individual luminaires associated with the first portion of the airfield;
controlling groups of luminaires associated with the first portion of the airfield; configuring an alarm associated with the individual luminaires associated with the first portion of the airfield;
suppressing the alarm; or [ or]
control of transformers associated with the individual luminaires.
16. A method for distributed management of airfield ground lighting objects, comprising:
transmitting, by a first substation management computing device (SMCD), status information about a first number of airfield ground lighting objects associated with a first portion of an airfield to an aggregator control and monitoring system computing device (CMSCD), wherein [ the first SMCD is in communication with a central management computing device (CMCD) and ] the first portion is a first physical area of the airfield;
transmitting, by a second SMCD, status information about a second number of airfield ground lighting objects associated with a second portion of the airfield to the aggregator CMSCD, wherein [ the second SMCD is in communication with the central management computing device (CMCD) and ] the second portion is a second physical area of the airfield different than the first physical area;
aggregating, by the aggregator CMSCD, the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the status information about the second number of airfield ground lighting objects [ and transmitting, by the aggregator CMSCD, the aggregated status information to a computing device of a flight information system of the airfield] , wherein the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the second number of airfield ground lighting objects includes:
[ whether a runtime of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects exceeds a predetermined runtime threshold and whether a runtime of the second number of airfield ground lighting objects exceeds the predetermined runtime threshold;]
an operational status of each respective object including whether each respective object is on or off; and
an operational intensity associated with an operational category of the airfield of each respective object; and
[ transmitting, by the CMCD, the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the status information about the second number of airfield ground lighting objects to an air traffic control (ATC) computing device utilized by an air traffic controller to direct and control vehicles around the airfield;]
transmitting, by the aggregator CMSCD, the aggregated [ status ] information to a client device;
[ recording, by an event database, events associated with the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and the second number of airfield ground lighting objects;] and
controlling, by the first SMCD in response to receiving a control signal from the client device via the aggregator CMSCD, the first number of airfield ground lighting objects, wherein:
the first SMCD is configured to control the first number of airfield ground lighting objects separately from the second SMCD controlling the second number of airfield ground lighting objects to keep the second number of airfield ground lighting objects operational upon the first number of airfield ground lighting objects becoming non-operational [ during an expansion of the airfield that includes adding another runway to the airfield and/or adding additional airfield ground lighting objects to the airfield; and
controlling the first number of airfield ground lighting objects includes configuring an alarm associated with the first number of airfield ground lighting objects and suppressing the alarm; and
the first SMCD is further configured to:
transmit a command to the first number of airfield ground lighting objects to control the first number of airfield ground lighting objects for maintenance operations for the first number of airfield ground lighting objects; and
store which ones of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects are in a maintenance mode; and
wherein the method further includes, during the maintenance mode:
displaying, by the ATC computing device to the air traffic controller, the status information about the first number of airfield ground lighting objects including the operational status of whether each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects is on or off;
receiving, by the ATC computing device from the air traffic controller based on the operational category of the airfield, an input to turn off each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on to test whether the maintenance operations for the first number of airfield ground lighting objects are properly executed;
transmitting, by the ATC computing device to the first SMCD via the CMCD in response to receiving the input, a control signal to cause the first SMCD to turn off each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on;
transmitting, by the first SMCD in response to receiving the control signal from the ATC computing device, a command to each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on to turn off;
determining, by the first SMCD, each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on have turned off after transmitting the command;
recording, by the event database, the input received from the air traffic controller and the control signal transmitted to the first SMCD as an event; and
recording, by the event database, the command transmitted from the first SMCD to each respective one of the first number of airfield ground lighting objects whose operational status is on to turn off as an event] .
[ 20. The system of claim 8, wherein the CMCD is further configured to transmit a command to the first SMCD to cause the first SMCD to control the first number of airfield ground lighting objects according to airfield ground lighting object sectioning information stored locally at the CMCD.]
[ 21. The system of claim 8, wherein:
the first SMCD is further configured to control the first number of airfield ground lighting objects in response to receiving the control signal via a configuration file associated with the first number of airfield ground lighting objects;
the configuration file defines types of objects at the airfield and their respective relationships to one another; and
the configuration file is automatically distributed to the first SMCD, the second SMCD, the CMCD, and the aggregator CMSCD in response to a change of objects in the system.]