Optimizing usage of modems for data delivery to devices on vehicles

• US 9,326,217 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2014
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gogo Business Aviation LLC (GOGO Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Gogo LLC (GOGO Incorporated)
• Inventors: Lauer, Bryan Adrian, Loganathan, Rukmani, Sasi, Sajit, Walsh, Pat, Chari, Anand
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamza, Faruk
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zaman, Shah R
• Application Number:
  US14/225,077
• Publication Number:
  US 20150131514A1
• Time in Patent Office: 763 Days
• Field of Search: 370/312
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18508 with satellite system used as relay, i.e. aeronautical mobile satellite service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks

Abstract

Techniques for optimizing modem use for data delivery to vehicles that are near to or parked at ports include using a high-capacity forward communications link, in a first frequency band, to support a logical forward link of a data tunnel via which data is delivered between a data provider and the vehicle. Instead of using the reverse communications link of the first frequency band, though, a reverse communications link in a different frequency band is used to support the reverse logical link of the data tunnel, as reverse data typically requires less bandwidth. Thus, the forward communications link is used in a high-throughput, unidirectional manner. Forward data may be multiplexed and/or multicast, and in some cases, multiple forward communications links may be used in parallel to support the logical forward link of the data tunnel.

Claims

1. A method of for optimizing modem usage on a vehicle, comprising:

determining, at a processor that is fixedly connected to the vehicle, that the vehicle is in one of a plurality of port states, each of the plurality of port states being indicative of the vehicle being located proximate to a vehicle port;

based on the determination that the vehicle is in the one of the plurality of port states, causing, by the processor, a first modem that is (i) operating in a bi-directional mode, (ii) fixedly connected to the vehicle, and (iii) turned to a first frequency band to be in a receive-only state;

causing an establishment of a first wireless communication link at the first modem in the receive-only state;

causing, by the processor, a second wireless communication link to be established at a second modem that is fixedly connected to the vehicle and that is tuned to a second frequency band, the second wireless communication link being established between the second modem and a transceiver that is fixedly connected to a structure external to and separate from the vehicle;

using the first wireless communication link as a forward link over which first data is able to be received onto the vehicle while the vehicle is in the one of the plurality of port states; and

using the second wireless communication link as a reverse link, corresponding to the forward link and having a maximum bandwidth less than a maximum bandwidth of the forward link, over which second data is able to be transmitted from the vehicle while the vehicle is in the one of the plurality of port states.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is a particular vehicle, and the method further comprises receiving, onto the particular vehicle, a multicast transmission via the first wireless communication link, wherein the multicast transmission is multicast to a plurality of vehicles including the particular vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

using the first wireless communication link as the forward link comprises using the first wireless communication link to support at least a portion of a forward link of a data communication tunnel between a computing device fixedly connected to the vehicle and a data center external to and separate from the vehicle;

using the second wireless communication link as the reverse link corresponding to the forward link comprises using the second wireless communication link to support at least a portion of a reverse link of the data communication tunnel;

the first data is provided by the data center; and

the second data is received at the data center.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining the vehicle is in one of the plurality of port states comprises determining the vehicle is in one of a plurality of port states including weight-on-wheels, taxiing, parked, and stationary;

or

the plurality of port states is included in a plurality of flight states of the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the first wireless communication link using the first modem tuned to the first frequency band comprises establishing the first wireless communication link using the first modem tuned to at least one of:

an L frequency band, a K_a frequency band, a K_u frequency band, another frequency band allocated for satellite communications, or a frequency band allocated for broadband communications.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the second wireless communication link using the second modem tuned to the second frequency band comprises establishing the second wireless communication link using the second modem tuned to at least one of a Wi-Fi frequency band, a WiMAX frequency band, another frequency band allocated for terrestrial cellular radio communications, or a frequency band allocated for direct air-to-ground (ATG) communications.

7. A method of for optimizing modem usage on a vehicle, comprising:

determining, at a processor of a data center, that the vehicle is in one of a plurality of port states, each port state of the plurality of port states being indicative of the vehicle being proximally located to a vehicle port, and the plurality of port states included in a plurality of flight states of the vehicle;

causing, by the processor of the data center, a data communication tunnel to be established between the data center and a computing device located on-board the vehicle, the on-board computing device including a vehicle endpoint of the data communication tunnel, and the data communication tunnel supported by;

a forward communication link having a direct connection to a first modem that (i) is fixedly connected to the vehicle, (ii) has been changed from operating in a bi-directional mode to being in a receive-only state based on a detection of the vehicle being in the one of the plurality of port states, and (iii) is tuned to a first frequency band; and

a reverse communication link having a direct connection to a second modem that is (i) fixedly connected to the vehicle, and (ii) tuned to a second frequency band;

causing, by the processor of the data center while the vehicle is in the one of the plurality of port states, content data to be delivered to the on-board computing device using a forward link of the data communication tunnel supported by the forward communication link; and

receiving feedback data, corresponding to the content data, at the data center via a reverse link of the data communication tunnel supported by the reverse communication link while the vehicle is in the one of the plurality of port states.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the vehicle is a particular vehicle, and wherein causing the content data to be delivered to the particular vehicle comprises causing, by the data center, the content data to be multicast to a plurality of vehicles, the plurality of vehicles including the particular vehicle.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of:

establishing the data communication tunnel supported by the forward communication link having the direct connection to the first modem that is tuned to the first frequency band comprises establishing the data communication tunnel supported by the forward communication link having the direct connection to a first modem that is tuned to at least one of;

an L frequency band, a K_a frequency band, a K_u frequency band, another frequency band allocated for satellite communications, or a frequency band allocated for broadband wireless communications;

or

establishing the data communication tunnel including the reverse communication link having the direct connection to the second modem that is tuned to the second frequency band comprises establishing the data communication tunnel supported by the reverse communication link having the direct connection to a second modem that is tuned to at least one of;

a Wi-Fi frequency band, a WiMAX frequency band, another frequency band allocated for terrestrial cellular radio communications, or a frequency band allocated for direct air-to-ground (ATG) radio communications.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein establishing the data communication tunnel supported by the forward communication link and the reverse communication link comprises establishing the data communication tunnel supported by a forward communication link having a data transmission rate at least four times greater than a data transmission rate of the reverse communication link.

11. A hybrid communications system for optimizing modem usage on a vehicle, the hybrid communications system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory, tangible computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the hybrid communications system to, when the vehicle is in one of a plurality of port states indicative of the vehicle being located proximate to a vehicle port;

establish a data communication tunnel with a computing device fixedly connected to the vehicle, the computing device fixedly connected to the vehicle being a recipient computing device and including an endpoint of the data communication tunnel, and the data communication tunnel including;

a forward tunnel link supported at least in part by a forward communication link connected to a first modem that (i) is fixedly connected to the vehicle and communicatively connected to the recipient computing device, (ii) has been changed from operating in a bi-directional mode to a being in a receive-only state based on a detection of the vehicle being in the one of the plurality of port states, and (iii) is tuned to a first frequency band; and

a reverse tunnel link supported at least in part by a reverse communication link connected to a second modem that is (i) fixedly connected to the vehicle and communicatively connected to the recipient computing device, and (ii) tuned to a second frequency band;

cause content data to be delivered to the recipient computing device via the forward tunnel link while the vehicle is in the one of the plurality of port states; and

receive feedback data corresponding to the content data via the reverse tunnel link while the vehicle is in the one of the plurality of port states.

12. The hybrid communications system of claim 11, wherein the first frequency band is one of:

an L frequency band, a Ka frequency band, a Ku frequency band, another frequency band allocated for satellite communications, or another frequency band allocated for broadband wireless communications.

13. The hybrid communications system of claim 11, wherein the second frequency band is one of:

a Wi-Fi frequency band, a WiMAX frequency band, another frequency band allocated for terrestrial cellular radio communications, or a frequency band allocated for direct air-to-ground (ATG) radio communications.

14. The hybrid communications system of claim 11, wherein the content data includes at least one of:

data that is for presentation on a user interface of a mobile device being temporarily transported by the vehicle, configuration data for configuring an on-board device fixedly connected to the vehicle, or executable instructions for execution by the on-board device fixedly connected to the vehicle.

15. A hybrid communications system on a vehicle for optimizing modem usage on a vehicle, the hybrid communications system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory, tangible computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the hybrid communications system to;

determine that the vehicle is in one of a plurality of port states indicative of the vehicle being proximally located to a vehicle port;

based on the determination that the vehicle is in the one of the plurality of port states, cause a first modem that is fixedly connected to the vehicle to change from operating in a bi-directional mode to operating in a receive-only mode, and cause a receive-only wireless communication link to be established on a first frequency band to which the first modem in the receive-only mode is tuned;

cause a bi-directional wireless communication link to be established on a second frequency band to which a second modem is tuned, the second modem being fixedly connected to the vehicle;

receive content data onto the vehicle via the receive-only wireless communication link while the vehicle is in the one of the plurality of port states; and

cause feedback data corresponding to the content data to be sent from the vehicle via the bi-directional wireless communication link while the vehicle is in the one of the plurality of port states.

16. The hybrid communications system of claim 15, wherein the content data is included in a multicast transmission received onto the vehicle via the receive-only wireless communication link.

17. The hybrid communications system of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the hybrid communications system to:

extract the content data from the multicast transmission; and

cause the content data to be delivered, to a recipient device on-board the vehicle using a communications network contained within the vehicle, in a unicast transmission indicating the recipient device.

18. The hybrid communications system of claim 15, wherein the receive-only wireless communication link is a high-speed portion of a forward data link of a data communication tunnel between a data center and a computing device that is fixedly connected to the vehicle, and wherein the bi-directional wireless communication link is a low-speed portion of a reverse data link of the data communication tunnel.

19. The hybrid communications system of claim 15, wherein at least one of:

the first frequency band is one of;

the Ka frequency band, the Ku frequency band, another frequency band allocated for communications with satellites, or another frequency band allocated for broadband wireless communications;

or

the second frequency band is one of;

a Wi-Fi frequency band;

a WiMAX frequency band;

another frequency band allocated for terrestrial wireless communications;

or

an air-to-ground frequency band that is allocated for data delivery, when the vehicle is in-flight, directly between the second modem and a transceiver that is fixedly connected to a stationary structure in a terrestrial location.

20. The hybrid communications system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of port states is determined based on at least one of:

a geo-spatial location of the vehicle with respect to the vehicle port;

a content of a wireless signal that is transmitted by a transceiver fixedly located at the vehicle port and received onto the vehicle;

or

a quality of the wireless signal transmitted by the transceiver fixedly located at the vehicle port and received onto the vehicle.