GROUND SYSTEM FOR VEHICLE DATA DISTRIBUTION

• US 20180139120A1
• Filed: 12/22/2017
• Published: 05/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gogo Business Aviation LLC (GOGO Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Gogo LLC (GOGO Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wahler, Ronald A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,129,133 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• 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 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

Techniques for delivering data or information to a vehicle include a method of distributing information to a vehicle. Information corresponding to the vehicle is first received while the vehicle is en route between an origination point and a destination from a computing device that is not being transported by the vehicle. A first computing device or a second computing device determines a destination port at which the vehicle is to arrive, the destination port included in a plurality of ports at which vehicles arrive and from which vehicles depart. The first computing devices causes data to be routed to a third computing device communicatively connected to the first computing device, the third computing device corresponding to the destination port, and at least one of the data or the third party computing device determined based on the information received at the first computing device.

Claims

1. A ground-based communications system for distributing information to a vehicle, the system comprising:

a plurality of access networks, each of which is fixedly disposed at a different location and supports respective one or more wireless communication channels for communicating with an on-board data distribution device fixedly connected to the vehicle while the vehicle is en route between an origination point and a destination point; and

a plurality of computing devices including communicative connections to the plurality of access networks and communicative connections to a set of port networks, each port network included in the set of port networks being fixedly disposed at a different port at which vehicles arrive and from which vehicles depart, and the plurality of computing devices configured to;

receive data at a first computing device from a second computing device in communicative connection over a private network with the first computing device,

the first computing device corresponding to a location at which the vehicle is predicted to arrive, the location at which the vehicle is predicted to arrive being a predicted location, and

at least one of the data or the predicted location determined based on information received at the second computing device from the vehicle via at least one access network of the plurality of access networks while the vehicle is en route between an origination point and a destination point; and

transmit, by the first computing device using a wireless communication channel of a particular network disposed at the predicted location, the received data to the on-board data distribution device fixedly connected to the vehicle upon arrival of the vehicle at the particular location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the predicted location corresponds to a respective location of a particular access network included in the plurality of access networks, and the particular network is the particular access network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the predicted location is the destination point of the vehicle, and the particular network is a particular port network fixedly disposed at the destination point.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the wireless communication channel is included in a particular bearer of a plurality of bearers,

the plurality of bearers are of different types and correspond to a plurality of interfaces for transferring information to the vehicle, and

the plurality of interfaces are included in the on-board data distribution device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is an airborne vehicle, a water-borne vehicle, or a land-borne vehicle.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the data received at the first computing device from the second computing device corresponds to at least one of:

vehicle location monitoring, vehicle system monitoring, vehicle navigation, vehicle operation, vehicle safety, media content, entertainment content, data generated by an end-user of the ground-based communications system, data generated by an administrator of the ground-based communications system, a request generated by the end-user, or a request generated by the administrator.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the information received at the second computing device from the vehicle via the at least one access network while the vehicle is en route between the origination point and the destination point corresponds to at least one of:

equipment fixedly connected to the vehicle;

cargo aboard the vehicle;

a travel route of the vehicle;

a request generated by a least one of a passenger aboard the vehicle, a crew member aboard the vehicle, or a remote user of the information distribution system;

or

information generated by a least one of the passenger, the crew member, or the remote user.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the location at which the vehicle is predicted to arrive excludes the destination point of the vehicle.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the location at which the vehicle is predicted to arrive is determined after the vehicle has departed the origination point.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the location at which the vehicle is predicted to arrive is determined prior to the vehicle departing from the origination point.

11. A system of computing devices for distributing information to a vehicle, the system comprising:

a ground-based communications network having (i) communicative connections to a plurality of access networks, each of which is fixedly disposed at a different location and supports respective one or more wireless communication channels for communicating with an on-board data distribution device that is fixedly connected to the vehicle while the vehicle is in transit, and (ii) communicative connections to a set of port networks disposed at respective, different ports at which vehicles arrive and from which vehicles depart, the ground-based communications network configured to;

receive, from the vehicle via at least one access network of the plurality of access networks while the vehicle is en route between an origination point and a destination point, information corresponding to the vehicle;

determine, based upon the received information corresponding to the vehicle, at least one of particular data that is to be delivered to the on-board data distribution device that is fixedly connected to the vehicle or a location at which the vehicle is predicted to arrive, the location at which the vehicle is predicted to arrive being a predicted location; and

transmit, via a wireless communication channel of a particular network disposed at the predicted location, the particular data to the on-board data distribution device fixedly connected to the vehicle upon arrival of the vehicle at the particular location.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the predicted location corresponds to a respective location of a particular access network included in the plurality of access networks, and the particular network is the particular access network.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the predicted location is the destination point of the vehicle, and the particular network is a particular port network fixedly disposed at the destination point.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the wireless communication channel is included in a particular bearer of a plurality of bearers,

the plurality of bearers are of different types and correspond to a plurality of interfaces for transferring information to the vehicle, and

the plurality of interfaces are included in the on-board data distribution device.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the vehicle is an airborne vehicle, a water-borne vehicle, or a land-borne vehicle.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the particular data corresponds to at least one of:

vehicle location monitoring, vehicle system monitoring, vehicle navigation, vehicle operation, vehicle safety, media content, entertainment content, data generated by an end-user of the ground-based communications system, data generated by an administrator of the ground-based communications system, a request generated by the end-user, or a request generated by the administrator.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the information received from the vehicle via the at least one access network while the vehicle is en route between the origination point and the destination point corresponds to at least one of:

equipment fixedly connected to the vehicle;

cargo aboard the vehicle;

a travel route of the vehicle;

a request generated by a least one of a passenger aboard the vehicle, a crew member aboard the vehicle, or a remote user of the information distribution system;

or

information generated by a least one of the passenger, the crew member, or the remote user.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the location at which the vehicle is predicted to arrive excludes the destination point of the vehicle.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the location at which the vehicle is predicted to arrive is determined after the vehicle has departed the origination point.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the location at which the vehicle is predicted to arrive is determined prior to the vehicle departing from the origination point.