AIRCRAFT ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM

• US 20130031215A1
• Filed: 05/11/2010
• Published: 01/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bluebox Avionics Limited
• Original Assignee: Bluebox Avionics Limited
• Inventors: Macrae, James, Skelton, Murray
• Granted Patent: US 9,602,570 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1868 Measures taken after transmission, e.g. acknowledgments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

A content distribution system comprises a server, a plurality of clients and means for distributing a plurality of items of content to the plurality of clients, wherein each client is configured to transmit at least one message to the server representative of portions of the items of content that are present or not present at that client, and the distribution means is configured to determine from the messages portions of the items of content that are missing from at least one client, and to distribute the missing portions of content to the clients according to a multicast protocol.

Claims

1-54. -54. (canceled)

55. A content distribution system comprising a server, a plurality of clients and a processing resource for distributing a plurality of items of content to the plurality of clients, wherein each client is configured to transmit at least one message to the server representative of portions of the items of content that are present or not present at that client, and the processing resource is configured to determine from the messages portions of the items of content that are missing from at least one client, and to distribute the missing portions of content to the clients according to a multicast protocol.

56. The system according to claim 55, being an aircraft content distribution system, wherein the server is installed in an aircraft comprising a plurality of passenger seats, and each client is configured to output content to a respective output device associated with at least one passenger seat.

57. The system according to claim 55, wherein the processing resource is configured to construct a transport stream comprising the missing portions of content, and the distribution of the missing portions of content comprises transmitting the transport stream to the clients.

58. The system according to claim 57, wherein the processing resource is configured to order the portions of content in the transport stream in dependence on the number of clients that are missing each portion of content.

59. The system according to claim 57, wherein the processing resource is configured to transmit the transport stream according to a network layer transport protocol, each client is configured to receive and process the transport stream according to the network layer transport protocol thereby to extract the portions of the items of content, to perform an application layer process to identify portions of content that have or have not been received, and to transmit at least one further message representative of any remaining missing portions of content.

60. The system according to claim 55, wherein the processing resource is configured to monitor for receipt of any further messages from the clients, to determine from the further messages any remaining missing portions of content and to redistribute the remaining missing portions of content to the clients.

61. The system according to claim 60, wherein the processing resource is configured to construct a further transport stream comprising the remaining missing portions of content, and the redistribution of the remaining missing portions of content comprises transmitting the further transport stream to the clients.

62. The system according to claim 55, wherein the processing resource is configured to repeatedly monitor for receipt of any further messages and to repeatedly redistribute remaining missing portions of content.

63. The system according to claim 55, wherein each client is configured to monitor whether it has received substantially all portions of content and to perform a further procedure in response to having received substantially all items of content, wherein optionally the further procedure comprises or is in preparation for entry into a local control mode.

64. The system according to claim 63, wherein each client is configured to perform the further procedure independently of whether one or more other of the clients have received substantially all portions of content or are ready to perform the further procedure.

65. The system according to claim 63, wherein each client is configured to perform the further procedure independently of whether the processing resource is continuing to distribute missing portions of content.

66. The system according to claim 55, wherein the processing resource is configured to distribute content using a connectionless or unreliable protocol.

67. The system according to claim 55, wherein the processing resource is configured to distribute all of the missing portions of content to all of the clients.

68. The system according to claim 55, wherein the processing resource is configured to not distribute at least some and preferably all of those portions of items of content not identified as missing.

69. The system according to claim 55, wherein the processing resource is configured to provide at least one list of the portions of the items of content, and optionally the server is configured to transmit the at least one list to each client, each client is configured to identify missing portions of content from the at least one list, and for each client the at least one message comprises at least one identifier identifying missing portions of content, and further optionally the server is configured to transmit the at least one list using a connection-oriented and/or reliable protocol.

70. The system according to claim 55, wherein each client comprises a processor and a storage device for storage of the plurality of items of content and each client is associated with a respective at least one output device;

and each client processor is operable to provide a selected one of the stored plurality of items of content to the associated at least one display unit.

71. A method of distributing content within an aircraft, comprising determining for each of a plurality of clients which portions of a plurality of items of content are present or not present at that client, determining which portions of items of content are missing from at least one client, and distributing the missing portions of content to the clients according to a multicast protocol.

74. A computer program product comprising computer readable instructions that are executable to perform the method according to claim 71.

72. A server for use in an aircraft entertainment system, the server comprising a processing resource configured to receive messages from a plurality of clients identifying items of content or portions of items of content that are present or not present at each client, to determine from the messages which items of content or portions of items of content are missing from at least one client, and to transmit the missing items of content or portions of items of content to the clients according to a multicast protocol.

73. A client device for use in an aircraft content distribution system, comprising an application layer processor and a network layer processor, wherein the network layer processor is configured to receive a transport stream comprising a plurality of portions of items of content and to process the transport stream according to a network layer transport protocol thereby to extract the portions of items of content, and the application layer processor is configured to compare the received portions of items of content to a list of expected portions of items of content, to identify any missing portions of items of content, and to transmit at least one message to a server identifying the missing portions of items of content.