Cell phone audio/video in-flight entertainment system
First Claim
1. An airborne cell phone audio/video in-flight entertainment (IFE) system comprising:
- a cell phone for making a telephone call and an IFE programming request by dialing an appropriate telephone number;
a pico cell for receiving the telephone call and the IFE programming request from the cell phone;
a soft switch connected to the pico cell and for switching the telephone call and the IFE programming request according to the appropriate telephone number;
a transceiver connected to the soft switch and for receiving the telephone call and sending the telephone call;
a ground station for receiving the telephone call from the transceiver and directing the telephone call to a telephone system to complete the telephone call; and
a media server connected to the soft switch and for receiving the IFE programming request and providing IFE programming to the cell phone through the soft switch and the pico cell,wherein the media server accepts a call from the cell phone through the soft switch and provides an entertainment menu and travel information that is driven and updated by aircraft position location data.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An airborne cell phone in-flight entertainment (IFE) system uses a cell phone for calls and IFE requests by dialing appropriate numbers. A pico cell receives the calls and the IFE requests. A soft switch switches the calls and IFE requests according to the telephone number. A transceiver receives the calls from the soft switch and sends them to a ground station that directs them to a telephone system. A media server receives IFE requests and provides IFE to the cell phone. A direct broadcast satellite (DBS) receiver on the aircraft receives DBS signals. A transcoder converts the received DBS signals from one compressed video format to another. A broad-to-connection protocol conversion process receives converted format DBS signals and converts them to video content blocks, stores the video content blocks to a continuously updated buffer and presents them to the media server and then to the cell phone.
199 Citations
33 Claims
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1. An airborne cell phone audio/video in-flight entertainment (IFE) system comprising:
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a cell phone for making a telephone call and an IFE programming request by dialing an appropriate telephone number; a pico cell for receiving the telephone call and the IFE programming request from the cell phone; a soft switch connected to the pico cell and for switching the telephone call and the IFE programming request according to the appropriate telephone number; a transceiver connected to the soft switch and for receiving the telephone call and sending the telephone call; a ground station for receiving the telephone call from the transceiver and directing the telephone call to a telephone system to complete the telephone call; and a media server connected to the soft switch and for receiving the IFE programming request and providing IFE programming to the cell phone through the soft switch and the pico cell, wherein the media server accepts a call from the cell phone through the soft switch and provides an entertainment menu and travel information that is driven and updated by aircraft position location data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An airborne cell phone audio/video in-flight entertainment (IFE) system comprising:
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a cell phone for making a telephone call and an IFE programming request by dialing an appropriate telephone number; a pico cell for receiving the telephone call and the IFE programming request from the cell phone; a soft switch connected to the pico cell and for switching the telephone call and the IFE programming request according to the appropriate telephone number; a transceiver connected to the soft switch and for receiving the telephone call and sending the telephone call; a ground station for receiving the telephone call from the transceiver and directing the telephone call to a telephone system to complete the telephone call; and a media server connected to the soft switch and for receiving the IFE programming request and providing IFE programming to the cell phone through the soft switch and the pico cell, wherein the media server uses a setup process to provide decoding and encoding of media between various cell phone formats. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of providing in-flight entertainment (IFE) and cell phone communications with an airborne cell phone audio/video in-flight entertainment (IFE) system comprising the steps of:
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dialing appropriate telephone numbers with a cell phone to make a telephone call and an IFE programming request; receiving the telephone call and the IFE programming request from the cell phone with a pico cell; switching the telephone call and the IFE programming request according to the appropriate telephone number with a soft switch; receiving the telephone call from the soft switch and sending the telephone call with a transceiver to a ground station; receiving the telephone call from the transceiver at the ground station and sending the telephone call to a telephone system to complete the telephone call; and receiving the IFE programming request and providing IFE programming to the cell phone with a media server, wherein the media server performs the steps of; accepting a call from the cell phone through the soft switch; and providing an entertainment menu and travel information that is driven and updated by an aircraft position location system. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of providing in-flight entertainment (IFE) and cell phone communications with an airborne cell phone audio/video in-flight entertainment (IFE) system comprising the steps of:
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dialing appropriate telephone numbers with a cell phone a make a telephone call and an IFE programming request; receiving the telephone call and the IFE programming request from the cell phone with a pico cell; switching the telephone call and the IFE programming request according to the appropriate telephone number with a soft switch; receiving the telephone call from the soft switch and sending the telephone call with a transceiver to a ground station; receiving the telephone call from the transceiver at the ground station and sending the telephone call to a telephone system to complete the telephone call; and receiving the IFE programming request and providing IFE programming to the cell phone with a media server, wherein the media server performs the step of decoding and encoding of media between various cell phone formats using a setup process. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An airborne cell phone audio/video in-flight entertainment (IFE) system for providing in-flight entertainment (IFE) and cell phone communications comprising:
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a plurality of cell phones for making telephone calls and programming requests by dialing appropriate telephone numbers; at least one pico cell for receiving the telephone calls and the programming requests from the plurality of cell phones; a soft switch connected to the at least one pico cell and for switching the telephone calls and the IFE programming request according to the appropriate telephone number; a transceiver connected to the soft switch and for receiving the telephone calls and sending the telephone calls to a telephone system; and a media server connected to the soft switch and for receiving the programming requests and providing programming to the plurality of cell phones, wherein the soft switch regulates data flow rate between the media server and plurality of cell phones to keep data throughput a stable rate to all cell phones. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 33)
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31. An airborne cell phone audio/video in-flight entertainment (IFE) system for providing in-flight entertainment (IFE) and cell phone communications comprising:
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a plurality of cell phones for making telephone calls and programming requests by dialing appropriate telephone numbers; at least one pico cell for receiving the telephone calls and the programming requests from the plurality of cell phones; a soft switch connected to the at least one pico cell and for switching the telephone calls and the IFE programming request according to the appropriate telephone number; a transceiver connected to the soft switch and for receiving the telephone calls and sending the telephone calls to a telephone system; and a media server connected to the soft switch and for receiving the programming requests and providing programming to the plurality of cell phones, wherein the soft switch monitors data and data streams to and from cell phones and injects audio and video messages stored in the soft switch and wherein the injected audio and video messages include advanced warning and priority messages to the passengers or crew. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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Specification