Wireless ground link-based aircraft data communication system with roaming feature
First Claim
1. A system for providing information to an aircraft comprising:
- an aircraft-based RF receiver disposed within said aircraft;
an aircraft-located data store coupled to said aircraft-based RF receiver,a ground-based RF transmitter; and
a ground-based server/archive coupled to said ground-based RF transmitter and containing information to be uploaded to the aircraft, said ground-based RF transmitter receiving said information from said server/archive and transmitting said information over a wireless RF communications link to the aircraft after the aircraft has landed at an airport, said aircraft-based RF receiver receiving said information and storing said information in said aircraft-located data store.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A flight information communication system has a plurality of RF direct sequence spread spectrum ground data links that link respective aircraft-resident subsystems, in each of which a copy of its flight performance data is stored, with airport-located subsystems. The airport-located subsystems are coupled by way communication paths, such as land line telephone links, to a remote flight operations control center. At the flight operations control center, flight performance data downlinked from plural aircraft parked at different airports is analyzed. In addition, the flight control center may be employed to direct the uploading of in-flight data files, such as audio, video and navigation files from the airport-located subsystems to the aircraft.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A system for providing information to an aircraft comprising:
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an aircraft-based RF receiver disposed within said aircraft; an aircraft-located data store coupled to said aircraft-based RF receiver, a ground-based RF transmitter; and a ground-based server/archive coupled to said ground-based RF transmitter and containing information to be uploaded to the aircraft, said ground-based RF transmitter receiving said information from said server/archive and transmitting said information over a wireless RF communications link to the aircraft after the aircraft has landed at an airport, said aircraft-based RF receiver receiving said information and storing said information in said aircraft-located data store. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for providing information to an aircraft comprising:
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coupling an aircraft-located data store to an aircraft-based RF receiver, uploading information from a ground-based server/archive over a wireless RF communications link to the aircraft-based RF receiver after the aircraft has landed at an airport, and storing said information in said aircraft-located data store. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for providing information to an aircraft comprising:
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coupling an aircraft-located data store to an aircraft-based RF transceiver; transmitting a probe message to the aircraft-based RF transceiver on at least one of a plurality of preselected radio-frequency channels; transmitting a response to the probe message from the aircraft-based RF transceiver on at least one of a plurality of preselected radio-frequency channels providing an indication of signal quality on said at least one preselected radio-frequency channel; selecting desired preselected radio-frequency channels and dynamically assigning such preselected radio-frequency channels based upon the quality of available channel links; uploading information from a ground-based server/archive over a wireless RF communications link in at least one of the assigned preselected radio-frequency channels to the aircraft-based RF transceiver after the aircraft has landed at an airport; receiving at the aircraft-based RF transceiver the uploaded information on the assigned preselected radio-frequency channel; and storing said information in said aircraft-located data store. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A system for providing information to an aircraft comprising:
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an aircraft-based RF receiver disposed within said aircraft; an aircraft-located data store coupled to said aircraft-based RF receiver, a ground-based RF transmitter; a ground-based server/archive coupled to said ground-based RF transmitter and containing information to be uploaded to the aircraft, said ground-based RF transmitter receiving said information from said server/archive and transmitting said information over a wireless RF communications link to the aircraft after the aircraft has landed at an airport, said aircraft-based RF receiver receiving said information and storing said information in said aircraft-located data store; and an aircraft-based RF transmitter coupled to the aircraft-located data store, and wherein said ground-based RF transmitter transmits a probe message to the aircraft-based RF receiver on at least one of a plurality of preselected radio-frequency channels, and wherein said aircraft-based RF transmitter transmits a response to the probe message on at least one of a plurality of preselected radio-frequency channels providing an indication of signal quality on said at least one preselected radio-frequency channel.
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32. A method for providing information to an aircraft comprising:
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coupling an aircraft-located data store to an aircraft-based RF receiver, uploading information from a ground-based server/archive over a wireless RF communications link to the aircraft-based RF receiver after the aircraft has landed at an airport, storing said information in said aircraft-located data store; and determining an optimal operating frequency for the wireless RF communications link utilizing a frequency management system and automatically changing to a better quality frequency when the determined operating frequency suffers an impairment.
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33. A method for providing information to an aircraft comprising:
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coupling an aircraft-located data store to an aircraft-based RF receiver, uploading information from a ground-based server/archive over a wireless RF communications link to the aircraft-based RF receiver after the aircraft has landed at an airport, storing said information in said aircraft-located data store; and receiving a probe message on at least one of a plurality of preselected radio-frequency channels; selecting desired preselected radio-frequency channels and dynamically assigning such preselected radio-frequency channels based upon the signal quality on said at least one preselected radio-frequency channel; and wherein uploading information over a wireless RF communications link comprises uploading such information in the selected radio-frequency channel after the aircraft has landed at an airport.
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Specification