Aircraft in-flight entertainment system providing weather information and associated methods
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system comprising:
- at least one entertainment source for providing entertainment related data;
a satellite weather information receiver for receiving at least one weather related programming channel from at least one satellite, the at least one weather related programming channel providing information on different geographic areas;
a signal distribution network connecting said at least one entertainment source and said satellite weather information receiver;
a plurality of seat electronic boxes (SEBs) spaced throughout the aircraft and connected to said signal distribution network, each SEB comprising at least one processor forcomparing information on the different geographic areas provided by the at least one weather related programming channel with selected geographic areas, anddetermining the weather related information corresponding to the selected geographic areas;
a plurality of passenger seatback displays coupled to said plurality of SEBs for displaying the entertainment related data and for displaying the weather related information corresponding to the selected geographic areas; and
a plurality of passenger control units coupled to said plurality of SEBs, each passenger control unit associated with a respective passenger seatback display for permitting passenger selection of a geographic area from among a plurality of geographic areas including non-destination geographic areas, and each passenger control unit comprising an alpha-numeric keypad for entry of a city name corresponding to the geographic area being selected.
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Abstract
An aircraft in-flight entertainment system includes a satellite weather information receiver receiving a weather related programming channel from a satellite, and at least one passenger display connected to the satellite weather information receiver for displaying weather related information corresponding to a selected geographic area. A passenger control unit is associated with each passenger display for selecting the geographic area.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system comprising:
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at least one entertainment source for providing entertainment related data; a satellite weather information receiver for receiving at least one weather related programming channel from at least one satellite, the at least one weather related programming channel providing information on different geographic areas; a signal distribution network connecting said at least one entertainment source and said satellite weather information receiver; a plurality of seat electronic boxes (SEBs) spaced throughout the aircraft and connected to said signal distribution network, each SEB comprising at least one processor for comparing information on the different geographic areas provided by the at least one weather related programming channel with selected geographic areas, and determining the weather related information corresponding to the selected geographic areas; a plurality of passenger seatback displays coupled to said plurality of SEBs for displaying the entertainment related data and for displaying the weather related information corresponding to the selected geographic areas; and a plurality of passenger control units coupled to said plurality of SEBs, each passenger control unit associated with a respective passenger seatback display for permitting passenger selection of a geographic area from among a plurality of geographic areas including non-destination geographic areas, and each passenger control unit comprising an alpha-numeric keypad for entry of a city name corresponding to the geographic area being selected. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system comprising:
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at least one entertainment source for providing entertainment related data; a satellite weather information receiver for receiving at least one weather related programming channel from at least one satellite, the at least one weather related programming channel providing information on different geographic areas; a signal distribution network connecting said at least one entertainment source and said satellite weather information receiver; a plurality of seat electronic boxes (SEBs) spaced throughout the aircraft and connected to said signal distribution network, each SEB comprising a map image device for generating map images of selected geographic areas, and at least one processor for comparing information on the different geographic areas provided by the at least one weather related programming channel with the selected geographic areas, and determining the weather related information corresponding to the selected geographic areas; a plurality of passenger seatback displays coupled to said plurality of SEBs for displaying the entertainment related data and for displaying the weather related information on the map images corresponding to the selected geographic areas; and a plurality of passenger control units coupled to said plurality of SEBs, each passenger control unit associated with a respective passenger seatback display for permitting passenger selection of a geographic area from among a plurality of geographic areas including non-destination geographic areas, and each passenger control unit comprising an alpha-numeric keypad for entry of a city name corresponding to the geographic area being selected. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system comprising:
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a satellite receiver for receiving at least one weather related programming channel and at least one entertainment related programming channel from at least one satellite, the at least one weather related programming channel providing information on different geographic areas; a signal distribution network connected to said satellite receiver; at least one pilot seat electronic box (SEB) connected to said signal distribution network, said at least one pilot SEB comprising at least one processor for comparing information on the different geographic areas provided by the at least one weather related programming channel with selected geographic areas, and determining the weather related information corresponding to the selected geographic areas; at least one pilot display coupled to said at least one pilot SEB for displaying weather related information from said satellite receiver corresponding to the selected geographic areas; at least one pilot control unit connected to said at least one pilot SEB, and comprising an alpha-numeric keypad for entry of a city name corresponding to the geographic area being selected; a plurality of passenger SEBs spaced throughout the aircraft and connected to said signal distribution network; a plurality of passenger seatback displays coupled to said plurality of passenger SEBs for displaying the entertainment related data and for displaying the weather related information corresponding to the selected geographic areas; and a plurality of passenger control units coupled to said plurality of passenger SEBs, each passenger control unit associated with a respective passenger seatback display for permitting passenger selection of the entertainment related data and the weather related information corresponding to the selected geographic areas. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for operating an aircraft in-flight entertainment system comprising at least one entertainment source for providing entertainment related data, a satellite weather information receiver for receiving at least one weather related programming channel from at least one satellite, a signal distribution network connecting the at least one entertainment source and the satellite weather information receiver, a plurality of seat electronic boxes (SEBs) spaced throughout the aircraft and connected to the signal distribution network, each SEB comprising at least one processor;
- a plurality of passenger seatback displays coupled to the plurality of SEBs for displaying the entertainment related data and for displaying weather related information corresponding to selected geographic areas, a plurality of passenger control units coupled to the plurality of SEBs, each passenger control unit associated with a respective SEB, the method comprising;
receiving via the satellite weather information receiver at least one weather related programming channel from at least one satellite, the at least one weather related programming channel providing information on different geographic areas; and permitting passenger selection of weather related information corresponding to a selected geographic area from among a plurality of geographic areas including non-destination geographic areas via a respective passenger control unit, each passenger control unit comprising an alpha-numeric keypad for entry of a city name corresponding to the geographic area being selected comparing within the at least one processor in the SEB associated with the respective passenger control unit information on the different geographic areas provided by the at least one weather related programming channel with selected geographic areas, and determining the weather related information corresponding to the selected geographic areas; and displaying on the associated passenger seatback display the weather related information corresponding to the selected geographic areas. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
- a plurality of passenger seatback displays coupled to the plurality of SEBs for displaying the entertainment related data and for displaying weather related information corresponding to selected geographic areas, a plurality of passenger control units coupled to the plurality of SEBs, each passenger control unit associated with a respective SEB, the method comprising;
Specification