Onboard aircraft system with artificial human interface to assist passengers and/or crew members

1 . An automated method of controlling a component onboard an aircraft, the method comprising:

providing user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for members of a flight crew and user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for passengers, where the user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for members of the flight crew include at least one different action from the user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for the passengers;

providing area-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for users in each of a plurality of areas of the aircraft, where the plurality of areas includes at least one cabin area and at least one galley area, where the area-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for users in the at least one galley area include at least one different action from the area-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for users in the at least one cabin area;

detecting presence of a user within one of the plurality of areas of the aircraft supported by a display monitor of an onboard user assistance system, wherein the detecting is based on output of a proximity sensor;

determining if the detected presence of the user corresponds to a member of the flight crew or a passenger;

in response to the detecting, causing display of an animated digital representation of an assistant on the display monitor;

controlling the animated digital representation of the assistant to react to speech input;

processing speech input of the user with a natural language processing engine to identify at least one action in a selected one of the user-specific libraries of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions to be carried out onboard the aircraft, where the selected one of the user-specific libraries of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions corresponds to the user being a member of the flight crew or being a passenger and/or to the user being in the at least one cabin area or in the at least one galley area;

controlling the animated digital representation of the assistant to respond to the identified at least one action in the selected one of the user-specific libraries of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions; and

issuing at least one command, instruction, or control signal to the component onboard the vehicle, to initiate the identified at least one action in the selected one of the user-specific library of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the animated digital representation of the assistant comprises an artificial digital human.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

each of the plurality of areas is supported by a respective display monitor of the onboard user assistance system.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the area-specific library of actions can be identified with the natural language processing engine.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

changing at least one trait of the animated digital representation of the assistant in an area-specific manner.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the determining if the detected presence of the user corresponds to a member of the flight crew or a passenger comprises processing the speech input of the user to determine an identity of the user.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

adaptively training the onboard user assistance system to personalize and update the user-specific libraries of actions over time.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

monitoring operating status of the aircraft; and

controlling the animated digital representation of the assistant to provide information that is contextually relevant to the operating status.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

processing the speech input of the user to determine an identity of the user; and

selecting at least one trait of the animated digital representation of the assistant based on the determined identity of the user.

10 . A user assistance system onboard an aircraft, the system comprising:

a plurality of proximity sensors configured to detect presence of users within one of a plurality of areas of the aircraft, where the plurality of areas includes at least one cabin area and at least one galley area;

a display monitor located within one of the plurality of areas;

at least one processor; and

at least one processor-readable medium associated with the at least one processor, the at least one processor-readable medium storing processor-executable instructions configurable to be executed by the at least one processor to perform an automated method of controlling a component onboard the aircraft, the method comprising:

providing user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for members of a flight crew and user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for passengers, where the user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for members of the flight crew include at least one different action from the user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for the passengers;

providing area-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for users in each of a plurality of areas of the aircraft, where the area-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for users in the at least one galley area include at least one different action from the area-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for users in the at least one cabin area;

detecting a presence of a user within one of the plurality of areas of the aircraft, wherein the detecting is based on output of one of the plurality of proximity sensors;

determining if the detected presence of the user corresponds to a member of the flight crew or a passenger;

in response to the detecting, causing display of an animated digital representation of an assistant on the display monitor;

controlling the animated digital representation of the assistant to react to speech input;

processing speech input of the user with a natural language processing engine to identify at least one action in a selected one of the user-specific libraries of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions to be carried out onboard the aircraft, where the selected one of the user-specific libraries of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions corresponds to the user being a member of the flight crew or being a passenger and/or to the user being in the at least one cabin area or in the at least one galley area;

controlling the animated digital representation of the assistant to respond to the identified at least one action in the selected one of the user-specific libraries of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions; and

issuing at least one command, instruction, or control signal to the component onboard the aircraft, to initiate the identified at least one action in the selected one of the user-specific library of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein:

each of the plurality of areas is supported by a respective display monitor of the onboard user assistance system; and

the area-specific library of actions can be identified with the natural language processing engine.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises: changing at least one trait of the animated digital representation of the assistant in an area-specific manner.

13 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises:

monitoring flight status of the aircraft; and

controlling the animated digital representation of the assistant to provide information that is contextually relevant to the flight status.

14 . The system of claim 10 , wherein:

the determining if the detected presence of the user corresponds to a member of the flight crew or a passenger comprises processing the speech input of the user to determine an identity of the user; and

selecting at least one trait of the animated digital representation of the assistant based on the determined identity of the user.

15 . The system of claim 10 , further comprising:

an artificial intelligence engine that cooperates with the natural language processing engine to influence behavior of the animated digital representation of the assistant; and

a digital human engine that cooperates with the natural language processing engine to influence behavior of the animated digital representation of the assistant.

16 . At least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having executable instructions stored thereon, the instructions configurable to cause at least one processor onboard an aircraft to perform an automated method of controlling a component onboard the aircraft, the method comprising:

providing user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for members of a flight crew and user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for passengers, where the user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for members of the flight crew include at least one different action from the user-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for the passengers;

providing area-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for users in each of a plurality of areas of the aircraft, where the plurality of areas includes at least one cabin area and at least one galley area, where the area-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for users in the at least one galley area include at least one different action from the area-specific libraries of actions that can be performed for users in the at least one cabin area;

detecting presence of a user within one of the plurality of areas of the aircraft supported by a display monitor, wherein the detecting is based on output of a proximity sensor;

determining if the detected presence of the user corresponds to a member of the flight crew or a passenger;

in response to the detecting, causing display of an animated digital representation of an assistant on the display monitor;

controlling the animated digital representation of the assistant to react to speech input;

processing speech input of the user with a natural language processing engine to identify at least one action in a selected one of the user-specific libraries of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions to be carried out onboard the aircraft, where the selected one of the user-specific libraries of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions corresponds to the user being a member of the flight crew or being a passenger and/or to the user being in the at least one cabin area or in the at least one galley area;

controlling the animated digital representation of the assistant to respond to the identified at least one action in the selected one of the user-specific libraries of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions; and

issuing at least one command, instruction, or control signal to the component onboard the aircraft, to initiate the identified at least one action in the selected one of the user-specific library of actions and the area-specific libraries of actions.

17 . The at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the area-specific library of actions that can be identified with the natural language processing engine.

18 . The at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises: changing at least one trait of the animated digital representation of the assistant in an area-specific manner.

19 . The at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises:

monitoring flight status of the aircraft; and

controlling the animated digital representation of the assistant to provide information that is contextually relevant to the flight status.

20 . The at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises:

processing the speech input of the user to determine an identity of the user; and

selecting at least one trait of the animated digital representation of the assistant based on the determined identity of the user.