On-board vessel entertainment system

• US 8,984,567 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2014
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alaska Airlines Incorporated (Alaska Air Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Virgin America Incorporated (Alaska Air Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ogilvie, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Alcon, Fernando
• Application Number:
  US14/248,026
• Publication Number:
  US 20140223478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 343 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 725/76
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2146 located in mass transportation means, e.g. aircraft, train or bus flight-deck installations for entertainment or communications B64D11/0015; arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62; moving wireless networks H04W84/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41422 located in transportation means, e.g. personal vehicle arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62
• 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: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

An improved user experience is provided for passengers on a vessel such as an airplane, train or ship. Passengers can customize their travel experience ahead of time by accessing a web-based server system to indicate preferences with respect to a number of in-flight entertainment options. The passenger'"'"'s experience is also enhanced by allowing passengers to share preferences such as media playlists with others. Meals can be ordered on-demand once on board, and seat-to-seat chat as well as group chatting is also made available through an in-seat or other proximate entertainment device.

Claims

1. A method for providing in-flight multimedia entertainment, the method comprising:

providing, by an on-board system aboard an aircraft, a multimedia playlist to an entertainment device of a first aircraft passenger aboard the aircraft, the multimedia playlist describing a plurality of multimedia content items;

receiving, from the entertainment device of the first aircraft passenger, a request to modify the multimedia playlist;

modifying, by the on-board system, the multimedia playlist according to the request;

receiving, from the entertainment device of the first aircraft passenger, a publishing option to publish the playlist to passengers aboard the aircraft; and

responsive to receiving the publishing option, providing the multimedia playlist to a plurality of entertainment devices aboard the aircraft, each entertainment device associated with one of a plurality of passengers aboard the aircraft, the plurality of passengers including the first passenger.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia playlist is provided to the entertainment device of the first aircraft passenger responsive to receiving a request from the entertainment device to display the multimedia playlist.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the on-board system aboard the aircraft, the multimedia playlist, the plurality of multimedia content items included in the multimedia playlist selected by the first passenger for consumption during a voyage of the aircraft; and

storing, at the on-board system, the multimedia playlist.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to modify the multimedia playlist comprises a request to add new media content to the multimedia playlist.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the new media content is already stored in the media server on board the aircraft.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, from the entertainment device of the first aircraft passenger, a request to search for the new media content; and

identifying search results according to the request;

providing the search results to the entertainment device of the first aircraft passenger;

receiving, from the entertainment device of the first aircraft passenger, a selection of a media content included in the search results; and

adding the selected media content to the multimedia playlist.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to modify the multimedia playlist and modifying the multimedia playlist comprises:

receiving, from the entertainment device of the first aircraft passenger, a request to remove media content from the multimedia playlist; and

removing the media content from the multimedia playlist responsive to the request.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to modify the multimedia playlist and modifying the multimedia playlist comprises:

receiving, from the entertainment device of the first aircraft passenger, a request to modify an order of the plurality of multimedia content items included in the multimedia playlist; and

modifying the order of the multimedia content items; and

providing the multimedia playlist with the modified order of the multimedia content items to the entertainment device of the first aircraft passenger.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, at a second entertainment device associated with a second passenger aboard the aircraft, a second publishing option of a second multimedia playlist indicating that the second multimedia playlist should be published to passengers aboard the aircraft and to passengers aboard a second aircraft; and

distributing the second multimedia playlist to a second plurality of entertainment devices, each of the second plurality of entertainment devices associated with a corresponding passenger and located aboard either the aircraft or the second aircraft.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the multimedia content items include video content items.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the multimedia content items include audio content items.

12. An on-board system for providing in-flight multimedia entertainment, the on-board system comprising:

at least one computer processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing executable code, the code when executed by the computer processor cause the computer processor to;

provide a multimedia playlist to an entertainment device of a first aircraft passenger aboard the aircraft, the multimedia playlist describing a plurality of multimedia content items;

receive, from the entertainment device of the first aircraft passenger, a request to modify the multimedia playlist;

modify the multimedia playlist according to the request;

receive, from the entertainment device of the first aircraft passenger, a publishing option to publish the playlist to passengers aboard the aircraft; and

responsive to receiving the publishing option, provide the multimedia playlist to a plurality of entertainment devices aboard the aircraft, each entertainment device associated with one of a plurality of passengers aboard the aircraft, the plurality of passengers including the first passenger.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the multimedia content items include video content items.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the multimedia content items include audio content items.

15. A computer-implemented method for displaying a multimedia playlist editing interface, the method comprising:

displaying, on an entertainment device aboard an aircraft, a list of multimedia content items available on a media server on board the aircraft;

displaying, on the entertainment device, an add option associated with each multimedia content item, the add option associated with a request to add the associated multimedia content item to a multimedia playlist;

receiving, on the entertainment device, a user input selecting the add option of a multimedia content item;

responsive to receiving the user input, adding the multimedia content item to the multimedia playlist;

displaying, on the entertainment device, two or more publishing options, the publishing options associated with a request to specify a plurality of entertainment devices associated with each publishing option that will have access to the multimedia playlist, the plurality of entertainment devices aboard the aircraft;

receiving, on the entertainment device, a user input selecting one of the two or more publishing options; and

responsive to receiving the user input, publishing the multimedia playlist to the plurality of entertainment devices associated the selected publishing option.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

displaying, on the entertainment device, a plurality of multimedia content items included in the multimedia playlist, the multimedia content items displayed in a ranked order within the multimedia playlist;

displaying, on the entertainment device, a remove option associated with each multimedia content item, the remove option associated with a request to remove an associated multimedia content item from the multimedia playlist;

receiving, on the entertainment device, a user input selecting the remove option of a second multimedia content item; and

responsive to receiving the user input, removing the second multimedia content item from the multimedia playlist.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising:

displaying, on the entertainment device, a position option to change a position of an associated multimedia content item within the ranked order of the multimedia playlist;

receiving, on the entertainment device, a user input selecting the position option of a multimedia content item; and

responsive to receiving the user input, changing the position of the multimedia content item within the ranked order of the multimedia playlist.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the position option comprises a move up option and a move down option, the move up option associated with a request to move the associated multimedia content item higher in the ranked order of the multimedia playlist, and the move down option associated with a request to move the associated multimedia content item lower in the ranked order of the multimedia playlist.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the multimedia content items includes at least one of video content items and audio content items.