GERALD JEFFREY BLOCK
Pilots at Dogwood Way, Vista, CA

6889124, May 3, 2005

Mar 18, 2003

10/391452

Gerald J. Block - Vista CA, US
Albert J. Bourdon - Vista CA, US

G05D001/00

701 9, 701 3, 701 14, 244 75 R, 340945

A system for reducing nuisance alerts and warnings in a terrain awareness and warning system for an aircraft, including determining if the aircraft is within a predetermined geometric volume surrounding an airport. If the aircraft is within the geometric volume, then determining the aircraft's current projected flight path for a selected distance or time and comparing it with at least one approach volume extending from a runway at the airport towards an outer boundary of the geometric volume. If the aircraft's current projected flight path is such that the aircraft is expected to be within the approach volume and stay within the approach volume to the runway, then inhibiting selected alerts and warnings associated with non-threatening terrain.

6999023, Feb 14, 2006

Nov 3, 2003

10/700323

Gerald J. Block - Vista CA, US

G01S 7/04

342 65, 342179, 342181, 701 4, 340945

Embodiments of the invention provide a method and apparatus for indicating aircraft height relative to an obstruction in a terrain awareness warning system. The method includes receiving data indicative of geographic features of an obstruction, lateral distance of the geographic feature from an aircraft, height and flight path of the aircraft, calculating a projected height of the aircraft at the location of the obstruction using the data, generating a result signal, and displaying a colored indication on a display screen based on the result signal. The apparatus includes inputs for signals from instruments measuring height, flight path, and location of an aircraft, as well as an input for an instrument providing information about geographic features of terrain surrounding the aircraft. The apparatus includes a means for employing the signals to calculate an effective height of the aircraft relative to the terrain, and a screen display for graphically displaying the results of the calculation.

2012020, Aug 9, 2012

Feb 6, 2012

13/366926

Gerald J. Block - Vista CA, US

SANDEL AVIONICS, INC. - Vista CA

G06F 12/02

711170, 711E12002

Systems and methods are described here to provide a degree or level of certification to a resident application such as an operating system, e.g., Linux®. In a Linux® implementation, the operating system provides a robust environment including many seasoned communication stacks, e.g., TCP/IP, USB, and the like. However, Linux® is not certified to the level necessary to be a part of many avionics applications. To eliminate the need to certify all of such an operating system, such certification being highly costly, the avionics application itself may be protected so that the operating system cannot alter the application's operating environment, e.g., application code and data, once the application is loaded and running. In this case, only the application requires certification at the highest level, and not the operating system such as Linux®.

2011027, Nov 10, 2011

Apr 8, 2011

13/083115

Gerald J. Block - Vista CA, US

SANDEL AVIONICS, INC. - Vista CA

G08G 5/04, G01C 21/00, G01C 5/00

701 9

An aircraft terrain awareness warning system is disclosed that includes an interface for entering flight plan details of an aircraft including at least one waypoint. The terrain awareness warning system is configured such that potential-terrain-collision alerts are suppressed in the aircraft during landing operations performed at waypoints associated with landing zones.

8527117, Sep 3, 2013

Jul 5, 2011

13/176383

Gerald J. Block - Vista CA, US

Sandel Avionics, Inc. - Vista CA

G05D 1/00

701 9, 348144, 701 3

An aircraft hover system for enabling an aircraft to hover at a target spatial location represented by GPS location coordinates. The hover system includes a display screen rendering a display including live video feed of the terrain below the airborne aircraft, a first mark overlaying the video feed, the first mark representing the current position of the aircraft relative to the terrain, and a perimeter surrounding the first mark, the portion of the terrain within the perimeter being substantially magnified compared to that of the terrain outside of the perimeter. The hover system is configured such that, as the aircraft approaches the target spatial location, the distance between the first mark and a second mark on the display gradually decreases until and finally the first and second marks coincide; the second mark representing the target spatial location.

8111920, Feb 7, 2012

Oct 15, 2007

11/872643

Gerald J. Block - Vista CA, US
Delmar M. Fadden - Preston WA, US

Sandel Avionics, Inc. - Vista CA

G06K 9/00

382181

Systems and methods for operating an avionics component to a level of certification. Steps include: receiving and sending data to a data monitor and an integrity monitor, the data monitor operating at a first level of certification and the integrity monitor operating at a second higher level; using the integrity monitor, determining where a feature of the data should appear on a display; checking if the feature properly appears, and if not, an error condition appears. The system includes: a sensor for sensing an aircraft condition; a data monitor for receiving and rendering data from the sensor, the data monitor certified to a first category level; an integrity monitor for receiving the data from the sensor and for calculating where a feature of the data should appear on a data display, the integrity monitor certified to a second higher level. If the feature does not properly appear, an error condition appears.

2013034, Dec 26, 2013

Aug 29, 2013

14/013174

Gerald J. Block - Vista CA, US

Sandel Avionics, Inc. - Vista CA

B64D 45/00

701 4, 701 14

An aircraft hover system for enabling an aircraft to hover at a target spatial location represented by GPS location coordinates. The hover system includes a display screen rendering a display including live video feed of the terrain below the airborne aircraft, a first mark overlaying the video feed, the first mark representing the current position of the aircraft relative to the terrain, and a perimeter surrounding the first mark, the portion of the terrain within the perimeter being substantially magnified compared to that of the terrain outside of the perimeter. The hover system is configured such that, as the aircraft approaches the target spatial location, the distance between the first mark and a second mark on the display gradually decreases until and finally the first and second marks coincide; the second mark representing the target spatial location.

2007024, Oct 18, 2007

Mar 5, 2007

11/682213

Gerald Block - Vista CA, US

G06F 17/40

707201000, 707E17007

A display system for an airplane or other vehicle is disclosed. A rear projection LCD is used to allow for a maximum amount of screen area to be used in displaying operator pertinent data.