ROUTER FOR ESTABLISHING CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN A CLIENT DEVICE AND ON-BOARD SYSTEMS OF AN AIRPLANE

• US 20080075090A1
• Filed: 09/27/2006
• Published: 03/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Stout, Paul S., Taylor, Joshua A., Herzberg, Garry Gean, Farricker, James T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,940,791 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/395.53
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control

Abstract

A system and method for establishing connectivity between a client device and an on-board computer network of an airplane are provided. The client device is connected for establishing communication with a network such as an enterprise intranet associated with the airplane. A virtual private network is created for establishing communication between a router and the client device. The client device is connected with an on-board server of the airplane via the router while maintaining connectivity between the personal computer and the network.

Claims

1. A method of establishing connectivity between a client device and an on-board computer network of an airplane comprising:

connecting the client device for communication with a network;

creating a virtual private network for establishing communication between a router and the client device; and

connecting the client device with an on-board server of the airplane via the router while maintaining connectivity between the client device and the network.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising establishing a communication path between the router and an avionic core architecture of the on-board computer network of the airplane.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the avionic core architecture comprises an open data network and a closed data network and wherein the communication path is established between the router and the closed data network.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the closed data network of the avionic core architecture comprises at least one of:

(a) an isolated data network and (b) an avionics interface module.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising sending data received from the router at the closed data network to the open data network for communication with the on-board server.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the network is at least of:

(a) an internal network;

(b) the Internet;

(c) an airport network; and

(d) a factory network.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the internal network is an enterprise network and the client device communicates with the enterprise network.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the client device is a maintenance control unit and further comprising utilizing the maintenance control unit to interact with the on-board server to perform maintenance analysis functions or loading of software while in communication with the enterprise network.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the network is an internal network and further comprising connecting an Ethernet interface of the router to the internal network;

identifying an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the internal network;

connecting the router to the on-board computer network of the airplane; and

configuring the virtual private network associated with the client device and the router with the IP address obtained from the internal network.

10. A system for establishing connectivity between a client device and an on-board computer network of an airplane comprising:

a router adapted to communicate with the client device through a virtual private network;

said client device adapted to communicate with a network; and

said client device adapted to connect with an on-board server of the airplane via the router while maintaining connectivity between the client device and the network.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising a communication path established between the router and avionic core architecture of the on-board computer network of the airplane.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the avionic core architecture comprises an open data network and a closed data network and wherein the communication path is established between the router and the closed data network.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the closed data network of the avionic core architecture comprises at least one of:

(a) an isolated data network and (b) an avionics interface module.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the closed data network sends data received from the router to the open data network for communication with the on-board server.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the network is at least one of:

(a) an internal network;

(b) the Internet;

(c) an airport network; and

(d) a factory network.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the internal network is an enterprise network and the client device communicates with the enterprise network.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the client device is a maintenance control unit adapted to interact with the on-board server to perform maintenance analysis functions or loading of software while in communication with the enterprise network.

18. The system of claim 10 wherein the network is an internal network and an Ethernet interface of the router is connected to the internal network and an Internet Protocol (IP) address is obtained from the internal network.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the router is connected to the on-board computer network of the airplane and the virtual private network associated with the client device and the router is configured using the IP address obtained from the internal network.