SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING AUDIO DATA

• US 20100142552A1
• Filed: 05/14/2008
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus Operations GmbH (Airbus SE)
• Inventors: Dietl, Michael, Deimer, Sandra, Kriebisch, Thomas, Andersen, Dirk
• Granted Patent: US 7,991,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/464
• 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: G10L 19/167 Audio streaming, i.e. formatting and decoding of an encoded audio signal representation into a data stream for transmission or storage purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/62 for transportation systems, e.g. in vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 50/40 Weight reduction

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and method for transmitting audio data in a combined cabin management system in an aircraft with the steps: playing back entertainment programs and providing communications possibilities with an entertainment system (1), which is connected to several first audio data sources (3) and to several first audio playback devices (4), setting and displaying cabin parameters with a control system (2), which is connected to several second audio data sources (8) and to several second audio playback devices (9), transmitting audio data between the control system (2) and the entertainment system (1) with several audio channels (6) each with a coding device (5) and a decoding device (7) respectively. In order to be able to carry out the transmission of audio data and associated information by using commercially available coding chips with the lowest possible expense, the steps are provided: interlinking the audio signals from the several audio data sources (3; 8) into one data stream through a multiplexer (12), via which the coding device (5) is connected to several audio data sources (3; 8), and depacketing the data stream into audio signals for the several audio playback devices (4; 9) through a demultiplexer (15) via which the decoding device (7) is connected to several audio playback devices (4; 9), wherein the audio data are transmitted between the coding device (5) and the decoding device (7) with a predetermined resolution.

Claims

1. Combined cabin management system in an aircraft with an entertainment system (1) for playing back entertainment programs and providing communications possibilities for passengers in the aircraft, which is connected to several first audio data sources (3) for storing and/or recording audio data and to several first audio playback devices (4) for playing back audio data,

a control system (2) for setting and displaying cabin parameters by crew members in the aircraft, which is connected to several second audio data sources (8) for storing and/or recording audio data and to several second audio playback devices (9) for playing back audio data,

several audio channels (6) in both directions for transferring audio data as a series of data packets between the control system (2) and the entertainment system (1) each with a coding device (5) for an upward transmission of audio data and a decoding device (7) respectively for a downward reception of audio data and each with an information channel belonging to an audio channel for transmitting channel parameters of the relevant audio channel,

characterised in that

the coding device (5) is connected by a multiplexer (12) to several audio data sources (3;

8) for interlinking the audio signals from several audio data sources (3;

8) into one data stream and

the decoding device (7) is connected by a demultiplexer (15) to several audio playback devices (4;

9) for depacketing the data stream into audio signals for the several audio playback devices (4;

9),

wherein the audio data are transmitted between the coding device (5) and the decoding device (7) with a predetermined resolution.

2. System according to claim 1 in which the multiplexer (12) each packets one audio channel into a subframe (18) and codes the subframes (18) in pairs into each one data frame.

3. System according to claim 1 in which the multiplexer (12) packets each two audio channels in pairs into a subframe (24) and codes the subframes (24) in pairs each into one data frame.

4. System according to claim 3 in which the multiplexer (12) packets the odd-numbered channels each into the 12 LSBs and the even-numbered channels each into the 12 MSBs of the subframe (24).

5. System according to claim 1 in which the multiplexer (12) is controlled by a control unit (13;

16) so that each of the transmitted channels starts with a predetermined bit in each data packet.

6. System according to claim 1 in which the demultiplexer (15) receives at its input a signal of the decoder (7) with which it can allocate the received audio channels in a clear manner to the destination channels so that the audio data of the individual data sources (3;

8) are each always allocated to the same data sinks (4;

9).

7. System according to claim 1 in which a channel identification takes place by the transmission of identification details for the relevant audio channel in the 12 LSBs of the subframe (24).

8. System according to claim 1 in which a channel identification takes place through the transmission of an additional synchronisation signal outside of the AES-3 interface.

9. Method for transferring audio data in a combined cabin management system in an aircraft with the steps:

playing back entertainment programs and providing communications possibilities for passengers in the aircraft with an entertainment system (1) which is connected to several first audio data sources (3) for storing and/or recording audio data and to several first audio play-back devices (4) for playing back audio data,

setting and displaying cabin parameters by crew members in the aircraft with a control system (2) which is connected to several second audio data sources (8) for storing and/or recording audio data and to several second audio playback devices (9) for playing back audio data,

transferring audio data as a sequence of data packets between the control system (2) and the entertainment system (1) with several audio channels (6) in both directions each with a coding device (5) for an upward transmission of audio data and a decoding device (7) for a downward reception of audio data and

transmitting channel parameters of each respective audio channel each with one information channel belonging to an audio channel,

characterised by

interlinking the audio signals from the several audio data sources (3;

8) into one data stream through a multiplexer (12), via which the coding device (5) is connected to several audio data sources (3;

8) and

depacketing the data stream into audio signals for the several audio playback devices (4;

9) through a demultiplexer (15) via which the decoding device (7) is connected to several audio playback devices (4;

9),

wherein the audio data are transmitted between the coding device (5) and the decoding device (7) with a predetermined resolution.

10. Method according to claim 9 in which the multiplexer (12) packets each one audio channel into a subframe (18) and codes the subframes (18) in pairs into each one data frame.

11. Method according to claim 9 in which the multiplexer (12) packets each two audio channels in pairs into one frame (24) and codes the subframes (24) in pairs into each one data frame.

12. Method according to claim 11 in which through the multiplexer (12) the odd-numbered channels are each packeted into the 12 LSBs and the even-numbered channels are each packeted into the 12 MSBs of the subframe (24).

13. Method according to claim 9 in which the multiplexer (12) is controlled by a control unit (13;

16) so that each of the transmitted channels starts with a predetermined bit in each data packet.

14. Method according to claim 9 in which the demultiplexer (15) receives at its input a signal of the decoder (7) with which it can allocate the received audio channels in a clear manner to the destination channels so that the audio data of the individual data sources (3;

8) are each always allocated to the same data sink (4;

9).

15. Method according to claim 11 in which a channel identification takes place through transmitting identification details for each relevant audio channel in the 12 LSBs of the subframe (24).

16. Method according to claim 9 in which a channel identification takes place through the transmission of an additional synchronisation signal outside of the AES-3 interface.