Message transmission in onboard and off board aircraft communications networks

• US 7,630,710 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2006
• Issued: 12/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Kauffman, Donald C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; David Q
• Application Number:
  US11/553,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20080102824A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,139 Days
• Field of Search: 455/431, 340/945, 340/531, 340/963, 244/118.5
• US Class Current: 455/431
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/0059 by communicating emergency situations to ground control or between crew members
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity

Abstract

A method for transmitting one or more messages over a secure communications network is disclosed. The method involves receiving the one or more messages from a plurality of message sources at a management unit within the secure communications network, the one or more messages protected with information security and authorizing each message for display at a display point. The method further involves transmitting each of the messages to a plurality of communication end points throughout the secure communications network and relaying at least one response through the management unit.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting one or more messages over a secure communications network, the method comprising:

receiving the one or more messages from a plurality of message sources at a management unit within the secure communications network, the one or more messages protected with information security;

selectively withholding message existence and content from display at an intermediary display point based on the information security;

transmitting the one or more messages through the management unit to a plurality of communication end points positioned throughout the secure communications network via one or more data transmission links; and

relaying at least one response through the management unit.

2. The method of claim 1, and further comprising transmitting the one or more messages through the management unit from one or more of the plurality of communication end points.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the one or more messages from the plurality of message sources comprises:

authenticating each message based on at least one of a voice-activated key phrase and a data-activated keyword; and

routing each message through one or more access points.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively withholding message existence and content from display at the intermediary display point further comprises limiting access to each message at the intermediary display point, wherein the intermediary display point comprises an existing display responsive to the management unit.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein relaying the at least one response comprises responding to each message from at least one of the intermediary display point and one or more of the communication end points.

6. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions, the program instructions operable to cause at least one programmable processor in at least one communications management unit and integrated avionics processing platform hosting the communications management function of an aircraft to:

receive a secure message from one of a plurality of personal communication devices;

selectively withholding existence and content of the secure message at an intermediary display point in the aircraft flight deck;

transmit the secure message over one or more communications networks within the aircraft, through the communications management unit, and to one or more ground operations units outside the aircraft via one or more data transmission links; and

wherein the at least one communications management unit receives one or more secure responses for selective transmission to the plurality of personal communication devices.

7. The program product of claim 6, wherein the instructions operable to selectively withhold the existence and the content of the secure message at the intermediary display point in the aircraft flight deck cause the at least one programmable processor to determine whether or not to withhold the existence and content of the secure message based on information included in the secure message and circumstances in the aircraft flight deck.

8. The program product of claim 6, wherein the instructions operable to selectively withhold the existence and the content of the message at the intermediary display point cause the at least one programmable processor to continue transmission of the secured message in situations where the secure message is not intended for display on the aircraft flight deck.

9. The program product of claim 6, wherein the instructions operable to transmit the secure message cause the at least one programmable processor to respond to the secure message from the aircraft flight deck.

10. An electronic system, the system comprising:

at least one personal communications device that transmits and receives a plurality of messages protected with information security, the at least one personal communications device resident on an aircraft;

one or more access points in communication with the at least one personal communications device;

a communications management unit responsive to the one or more access points and operable to receive the plurality of messages protected with information security, the communications management unit further operable to transmit the plurality of messages protected with information security via one or more data transmission links;

a display unit in communication with the communications management unit and responsive to the plurality of messages protected with information security in addition to existing aircraft communications processing, wherein the existence and content of messages are selectively withheld from display based on the information security; and

at least one ground operations unit responsive to a data downlink based on the at least one of the plurality of messages protected with information security originating from the at least one personal communications device.

11. The system of claim 10, and further comprising the messages protected with information security originating from the at least one ground operations unit for receipt by the communications management unit as a data uplink.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one personal communications device is one of a wireless communications device and a voice-activated transceiver.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one personal communications device authenticates each message prior to application of the information security protection.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one personal communications device authenticates each message based on at least one of a voice-activated key phrase and a data-activated keyword.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more access points comprise one or more wireless networking access points within the aircraft.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the communications management unit limits viewing access on the display unit to the plurality of messages as authorized by the at least one personal communications device.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one ground operations unit is further responsive to at least one radio transceiver in communication with the communications management unit.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one ground operations unit transmits the data uplink to a plurality of personal communication devices on multiple aircraft.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one ground operations unit comprises one of a flight operations center, a service provider network hub, an air traffic control center, a law enforcement center, and a homeland security operations center.