System software architecture for a passenger entertainment system, method and article of manufacture

• US 6,499,027 B1
• Filed: 05/26/1998
• Issued: 12/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Weinberger, Alan J.
• Primary Examiner(s): ROBINSON, GRETA LEE
• Application Number:
  US09/085,249
• Time in Patent Office: 1,673 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/104, 707/3, 707/104.1, 707/4, 701/33, 348/6, 463/43, 709/217
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

System software that enable a passenger entertainment system on a vehicle. The passenger entertainment system is configured and operated using the system software to provide passenger entertainment services including audio and video on-demand, information dissemination, product and service order processing, video teleconferencing and data communication services between passengers on-board the vehicle using a local networks, and between passengers and people and computers off-board the vehicle using a communications link. The system software is used to route and process passenger transactions (requests for services) from requesting computer processors and dispatch appropriate resources to fulfill the transactions. To achieve this, a passenger transaction is transmitted from a passenger-controlled component to a message processor. The message processor decodes the passenger transaction and generating a request in a predetermined format. The request is transmitted to a transaction dispatcher for routing. A database query is then generated in response to the request. The database query is transmitted to a database server having a database containing data regarding resources of the system that allow communication with and/or control of the communications devices and information relating to products and services offered by the system. An appropriate response is generated in response to the query. Appropriate resources defined in the response are then dispatched to the query to service the passenger transaction.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a passenger entertainment system that includes a cabin file server having a plurality of interfaces to communications devices and passenger-controlled components of the passenger entertainment system, comprising the steps of:

transmitting a passenger transaction from a passenger-controlled component to the cabin file server in one of a plurality of message formats;

translating the passenger transaction in the one of the plurality of message formats into a request in a common message format in the cabin file server;

generating a database query in response to the request in the common message format in the cabin file server;

accessing a database containing data regarding resources of the passenger entertainment system with a database server;

generating a response to the database query with the data from the database; and

dispatching appropriate resources defined in the response to the database query to service the passenger transaction.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of transmitting a passenger transaction from a passenger-controlled component to the cabin file server in one of a plurality of formats comprises transmitting the passenger transaction to a message processor in the cabin file server.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of translating the passenger transaction in the one of the plurality of message formats into a request in the common message format in the cabin file server comprises:

decoding the passenger transaction message format in the message processor; and

generating the request in the common message format in the message processor.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of generating a database query in response to the request in the common message format comprises:

routing the request in the common message format from the message processor to a network addressable unit in the cabin file server;

processing the request in the network addressable unit;

transmitting the request from the network addressable unit to a transaction dispatcher in the cabin file server;

routing the request through the transaction dispatcher to a services function in the cabin file server; and

generating the database query in response to the request in the services function.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of transmitting the passenger transaction in one or a plurality of message formats further comprises transmitting the passenger transaction to an input/output handler and a device driver in the cabin file server that supports the one message format.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of generating a request in the common message format comprises generating a request in an IFE message format in the message processor in response to the passenger transaction.

7. A method of controlling a passenger entertainment system that includes a cabin file server having a plurality of interfaces to communications devices of the passenger entertainment system, comprising the steps of:

transmitting an operator control request from a graphical user interface to a cabin applications program interface library in a primary access terminal;

converting the operator control request to a control request IFE message in the cabin applications program interface library;

transmitting the control request IFE message to the cabin file server;

generating a database query in response to the operator control request in the cabin file server;

accessing a database containing data regarding resources of the passenger entertainment system with a database server;

generating a response to the database query with the data from the database; and

dispatching appropriate resources defined in the response to the database query to service the operator control request.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising sending the control request IFE message from the cabin applications program interface library to a services function in the cabin file server over an Ethernet network.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of generating the database query in response to the operator control request comprises the steps of:

generating a cabin applications program interface call in the services function in response to the operator control request; and

generating the database query in the services function in response to the cabin applications program interface call.

10. A passenger entertainment system, including a cabin file server for controlling one or more aspects of the passenger entertainment system said cabin file server comprising:

a message processor for receiving a passenger transaction transmitted by a passenger in a message format from a plurality of message formats by way of a system interface and for decoding the passenger transaction in the message format to generate a request in a common message format;

a transaction dispatcher for routing the request generated by the message processor;

a database server coupled to a database comprising data for responding to passenger transactions, said data includes information relating to products and services offered by the system and information relating to communications devices that deliver the products and services;

a service function coupled to receive the request from the transaction dispatcher and communicate database queries to the database server in response to the request to generate an appropriate response thereto; and

a predefined set of resources, selected ones of which are dispatched to service the passenger transaction in accordance with the response to the database query.

11. The system as recited in claim 10 wherein the system interface includes an input/output handler and a device driver that support network transmissions.

12. The system as recited in claim 10, including a plurality of network addressable units coupled between the message processor and transaction dispatcher that route requests and dispatch resources.

13. The system as recited in claim 12, further comprising pipe processors coupled between the message processor, the transcription dispatcher and the network addressable units for routing requests and dispatching resources.

14. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the database server comprises a standard query language (SQL) database server and the database comprises a relational database.

15. The system of claim 10 further including a primary access terminal connected to the cabin file server and for an operator to configure and control the system, and primary access terminal further comprising:

a graphical user interface for use by the operator to configure and control the system; and

a cabin applications interface library for receiving operator control requests from the graphical user interface and converting the request to a control request IFE message.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the cabin file server services function receives the control request IFE message over an Ethernet network and generates a database query in response to the control request IFE message.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the database server receives the database query and accesses the database.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the database provides a response to the database query to service the operator control request.