Method and system for providing an audio/video in-route entertainment system

• US 20030084451A1
• Filed: 09/06/2002
• Published: 05/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AirIQ Inc.
• Original Assignee: AirIQ Inc.
• Inventors: Pierzga, Wayne, Herbst, Carl A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,100,187 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/47
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2146 located in mass transportation means, e.g. aircraft, train or bus flight-deck installations for entertainment or communications B64D11/0015; arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62; moving wireless networks H04W84/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/24 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. monitoring of server load, available bandwidth, upstream requests monitoring of server performance or load G06F11/34; arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26208 the scheduling operation being performed under constraints
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26616 for merging a unicast channel into a multicast channel, e.g. in a VOD application, when a client served by unicast channel catches up a multicast channel to save bandwidth data multicast over packet-switching network H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41422 located in transportation means, e.g. personal vehicle arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6143 involving transmission via a satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6193 involving transmission via a satellite arrangements for data linking, networking or transporting, or for controlling an end to end session in a satellite broadcast system H04B7/18526
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

An apparatus and a method generate customized content for in-route entertainment on a mobile element, such as an aircraft. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a shared program input for receiving a shared program stream, which includes primary entertainment content (e.g., video segments) intended for a plurality of mobile elements; a supplemental content input for receiving customized supplemental content, such as advertising and branding segments; a scheduler providing scheduling information, which indicates insertion points in the shared program stream for customized supplemental input as a function of characteristics of the mobile element; and an output for outputting the shared program stream, the customized supplemental content, and the scheduling information for subsequent generation of an entertainment content stream customized for the mobile element.

Claims

1. An apparatus for use in generating customized content for in-route entertainment on a mobile element, comprising:

a shared program input for receiving a shared program stream, which includes primary entertainment content intended for a plurality of mobile elements;

a supplemental content input for receiving customized supplemental content;

a scheduler providing scheduling information, which indicates insertion points in said shared program stream for customized supplemental input as a function of characteristics of said mobile element; and

an output for outputting said shared program stream, said customized supplemental content, and said scheduling information for subsequent generation of an entertainment content stream customized for said mobile element.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said primary entertainment content includes a plurality of video segments.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said customized supplemental content includes at least one of customized advertisement information and branding segments.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a raw entertainment content input for inputting raw entertainment content; and

a compression unit for deleting undesired information from said raw entertainment content.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said undesired information includes pre-formatted advertising segments.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said mobile element is an aircraft.

7. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said scheduler generates said scheduling information based on a transit schedule of said mobile element.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said customized entertainment content stream is tailored to viewing habits of passengers on said mobile element.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a content insertion scheduler for generating a predictive content insertion schedule based on a schedule of said mobile element.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said content insertion scheduler receives feedback from said mobile element indicating changes to said content insertion schedule.

11. A method of providing customized programming for in-route entertainment on a plurality of mobile elements, comprising:

providing a shared program stream including primary entertainment content, said primary entertainment content being the same for said plurality of mobile elements;

scheduling time-slots in said shared program stream for customized supplemental content; and

generating a customized program stream for each of said plurality of mobile elements by inserting customized supplemental content in scheduled time-slots of said shared program stream.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein said customized supplemental content includes advertisements, and different customized program streams are generated for different mobile elements by inserting different advertisements in the same time-slots of the shared program stream, such that the same time-slot in said shared program stream is designated for different advertisers.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein said customized supplemental content includes branding information.

14. An apparatus for providing customized in-route entertainment on a mobile element, comprising:

an input for receiving a predictive customized content insertion schedule, which is based on characteristics of said mobile element;

an intra-transit scheduler for refining said predictive customized content insertion schedule based on changes to said characteristics of said mobile element; and

a program output for outputting a customized program stream in accordance with the refined insertion schedule generated by said intra-transit scheduler.

15. An apparatus for providing in-route entertainment on a mobile element, comprising:

a passive radio-frequency (RF) coupler operatively connected to a mobile antenna for splitting a received broadcast signal into two paths, a first path for extracting information relating to navigation of said mobile element and a second path for extracting information used for in-route entertainment; and

a media unit, on said second path, for extracting information from said broadcast signal related to in-route entertainment.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said mobile antenna is a satellite antenna.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said mobile antenna is an Inmarsat antenna.