In-flight entertainment system with hand-out passenger terminals

• US 20060174285A1
• Filed: 11/04/2005
• Published: 08/03/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales Avionics Incorporated (Thales SA)
• Original Assignee: Thales Avionics Incorporated (Thales SA)
• Inventors: Foreman, Bradley, Thompson, Mark, Reed, Dan, Brady, Kenneth A. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 8,082,569 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/76
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/352 involving special game server arrangements, e.g. regional servers connected to a national server or a plurality of servers managing partitions of the game world
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/516 connected to a local network, e.g. in a plane, hotel
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 11/0015 Arrangements for entertainment or communications, e.g. radio, television
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 11/00155 Individual entertainment or communication system remote controls therefor, located in or connected to seat components, e.g. to seat back or arm rest
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/62 for transportation systems, e.g. in vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/4028 the transportation system being an aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• 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 7/106 for domestic distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

An in-flight entertainment system with hand-out terminals is described. An embodiment of the invention comprises a server having digital content, which is communicatively linked to a communications network, a connector located proximate to each passenger seat of an aircraft, each connector being communicatively linked to the network, and hand-out terminals. Each hand-out terminal is configured to be coupled to one of the connectors to permit a passenger at the seat to which the connector is proximate to access the digital content.

Claims

1. A system for providing in-flight entertainment, the system comprising:

a server disposed within an aircraft, the server having stored thereon digital content;

a communications network disposed within the aircraft, wherein the server is communicatively linked to the network;

a plurality of connectors, each connector being located proximate to a passenger seat of a plurality of passenger seats on the aircraft, each connector being communicatively linked to the network; and

a plurality of hand-out terminals, each hand-out terminal being configured to be coupled to a connector of the plurality of connectors to permit a passenger at the seat to which the connector is proximate to access the digital content via the hand-out terminal.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications network an Ethernet network in which Ethernet frames containing the digital content are transmitted to the hand-out terminal at the passenger'"'"'s seat.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital content is transmitted to the hand-out terminal as streaming video, and wherein the hand-out terminal comprises a decoder for decoding the streaming video.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital content is transmitted to the hand-out terminal as streaming audio, and wherein the hand-out terminal comprises a decoder for decoding the streaming audio.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital content stored on the server comprises in-flight movies.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital content is a video game, and wherein the hand-out terminal permits the passenger to play the video game.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the connector is a Universal Serial Bus connector.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein in the network determines whether or not the terminal is one that belongs to the system and, based on the determining step, permits the digital content to be transmitted to the terminal.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a network switch communicatively linked to the server and to the hand-held terminal.

10. A method for permitting a passenger to access a digital content on an in-flight entertainment system, the system being located on-board an aircraft, the method comprising:

a crew cabin member handing out a terminal to the passenger;

the passenger plugging the terminal into a connector located proximate to the passenger'"'"'s seat;

the system recognizing the presence of the terminal;

the passenger using the terminal to request the digital content from the system;

the system retrieving the content from an on-demand server;

the system transmitting the digital content to the terminal;

the terminal decoding the digital content; and

the terminal presenting the digital content to the passenger.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the system transmits the digital content over an Ethernet network in which Ethernet frames containing the digital content are received by the terminal at the passenger'"'"'s seat.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the system transmits the digital content to the terminal as streaming video, and wherein the terminal comprises a decoder for decoding the streaming video.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the system transmits the digital content to the terminal as streaming audio, and wherein the terminal comprises a decoder for decoding the streaming audio.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the digital content comprises in-flight movies.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the digital content is a video game, wherein the terminal permits the passenger to play the video game.

16. A system for permitting a passenger to access a digital content on an in-flight entertainment system, the system being located on-board an aircraft, the system comprising:

a server having stored therein digital content;

a computer network, the server being communicatively linked to the computer network;

a plurality of video display units, each video display unit being located proximate to a passenger seat, each video display unit comprising a connector, each video display unit being communicatively linked to the network; and

a plurality of hand-out terminals, each hand-out terminal being provided to one of a plurality of passengers for being plugged in to the connector of the video display unit proximate to the passenger'"'"'s seat, each hand-out terminal being identifiable to the system,

wherein the passenger uses the terminal to request the content from the system,

wherein, in response to the request, the system retrieves the content from the server and transmits the content to the video display unit,

and wherein the video display unit provides the content and electrical power to the hand-out terminal, thereby permitting the passenger possessing the terminal to view or hear the content.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the communications network is an Ethernet network in which Ethernet frames containing the digital content are transmitted to the video display unit at the passenger'"'"'s seat.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the digital content is transmitted as streaming video, wherein the hand-out terminal comprises a decoder for decoding the streaming video.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the digital content is transmitted as streaming audio, wherein the hand-out terminal comprises a decoder for decoding the streaming audio.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the digital content is a video game, wherein terminal permits the passenger to play the video game.