Aircraft in-flight entertainment system providing weather information and associated methods

• US 20030233658A1
• Filed: 05/02/2003
• Published: 12/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LiveTV LLC (Thales SA)
• Original Assignee: Live TV Incorporated
• Inventors: Frisco, Jeffrey A., Easterling, Scott D., Keen, Robert M., Latta, Glenn S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,587,733 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/76
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18508 with satellite system used as relay, i.e. aeronautical mobile satellite service
• 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 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25435 involving characteristics of content or additional data, e.g. video resolution or the amount of advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4185 for payment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• 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 21/4786 e-mailing message switching systems, e.g. electronic mail systems H04L51/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/106 for domestic distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/20 Adaptations for transmission via a GHz frequency band, e.g. via satellite

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.

Claims

1. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system comprising:

at least one entertainment source;

a satellite weather information receiver for receiving at least one weather related programming channel from at least one satellite;

a plurality of displays for displaying images from said at least one entertainment source and for displaying weather related information corresponding to selected geographic areas; and

a signal distribution network connecting said at least one entertainment source and said satellite weather information receiver to said plurality of displays.

2. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 1 further comprising a map image device connected to said satellite weather information receiver and to said plurality of displays for storing map images of the selected geographic areas, and wherein the displayed weather related information includes the map images.

3. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 2 wherein said map image device comprises a moving map image generator for generating a moving representation of the aircraft position on the map images.

4. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 1 wherein the selected geographic areas comprise geographic areas along a flight path of the aircraft.

5. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 1 wherein displaying the weather related information comprises scrolling through the weather related information to be displayed for each selected geographic area.

6. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 1 wherein the selected geographic areas comprise a destination of the aircraft.

7. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 1 further comprising a plurality of control units connected to said plurality of displays for selecting the geographic areas, each control unit being associated with a respective display.

8. An aircraft in-flight entertainment according to claim 7 wherein the geographic areas are selected by user entry of at least one of a city name, a zip code and an area code via said input means.

9. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 1 further comprising at least one processor connected to said satellite weather information receiver for determining the weather related information corresponding to each selected geographic area.

10. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 9 wherein said at least one processor compares information identifying the selected geographic areas with information provided by the at least one weather related programming channel.

11. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 1 wherein said plurality of displays comprise a plurality of seatback displays.

12. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 1 wherein said satellite weather information receiver operates within a frequency range of about 1 to 3 GHz.

13. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 1 wherein said at least one entertainment source comprises a satellite television (TV) receiver.

14. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 13 wherein said satellite TV receiver comprises a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) receiver.

15. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system comprising:

at least one entertainment source;

a satellite weather information receiver for receiving at least one weather related programming channel from at least one satellite;

a map image device for generating map images of selected geographic areas;

a plurality of displays for displaying images from said at least one entertainment source, and for displaying weather related information on the map images corresponding to the selected geographic areas; and

a signal distribution network connecting said at least one entertainment source, said satellite weather information receiver and said map image device to said plurality of displays.

16. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 15 wherein said map image device comprises a moving map image generator for generating a moving representation of the aircraft position on the map images.

17. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 16 wherein the selected geographic areas comprise geographic areas along a flight path of the aircraft.

18. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 15 wherein displaying the weather related information comprises scrolling through the weather related information to be displayed for each selected geographic area.

19. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 15 wherein the selected geographic areas comprise a destination of the aircraft.

20. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 15 further comprising a plurality of control units connected to said plurality of displays for selecting the geographic areas, each control unit being associated with a respective display.

21. An aircraft in-flight entertainment according to claim 20 wherein the geographic areas are selected by user entry of at least one of a city name, a zip code and an area code via said input device.

22. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 15 further comprising at least one processor connected to said satellite weather information receiver for determining the weather related information corresponding to each selected geographic area.

23. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 22 wherein said at least one processor compares information identifying the selected geographic areas with information provided by the at least one weather related programming channel.

24. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 15 wherein said plurality of displays comprise a plurality of seatback displays.

25. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 15 wherein said satellite weather information receiver operates within a frequency range of about 1 to 3 GHz.

26. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 15 wherein said at least one entertainment source comprises a satellite television (TV) receiver.

27. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 26 wherein said satellite TV receiver comprises a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) receiver.

28. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system comprising:

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;

at least one pilot display for displaying weather related information from said satellite receiver corresponding to selected geographic areas;

a signal distribution network connecting said satellite receiver to said at least one pilot display; and

a plurality of passenger control units;

said signal distribution network connecting said satellite receiver to said plurality of passenger displays.

29. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 28 further comprising a map image device connected to said satellite receiver and to said at least one pilot display for storing map images of the selected geographic areas, and wherein the displayed weather related information includes the map images.

30. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 28 wherein the selected geographic areas comprise geographic areas along a flight path of the aircraft.

31. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 28 further comprising at least one pilot control unit connected to said at least one pilot display for selecting the geographic areas.

32. An aircraft in-flight entertainment according to claim 28 further comprising a plurality of passenger displays for displaying images from said satellite receiver;

said signal distribution network connecting said satellite receiver to said plurality of passenger displays.

33. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 28 further comprising at least one processor connected to said satellite receiver for determining the weather related information corresponding to each selected geographic area.

34. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 28 further comprising a wireless data link for receiving weather related information while the aircraft is on the ground;

said at least one pilot display for displaying the weather related information from said wireless data link; and

said signal distribution network connecting said wireless data link to said at least one pilot display.

35. An aircraft in-flight entertainment system according to claim 28 wherein said satellite receiver comprises a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) receiver.

36. A method for operating an aircraft in-flight entertainment system comprising at least one entertainment source, a satellite weather information receiver, a plurality of displays, and a signal distribution network connecting the at least one entertainment source and the satellite weather information receiver to the plurality of displays, 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 weather related information; and

displaying on the plurality of displays the weather related information corresponding to selected geographic areas.

37. A method according to claim 36 wherein the aircraft in-flight entertainment system further comprises a map image device connected to the satellite weather information receiver and to the plurality of displays for storing map images of the selected geographic areas, and wherein the displayed weather related information includes the map images.

38. A method according to claim 37 wherein the map image device comprises a moving map image generator for generating a moving representation of the aircraft position on the map images.

39. A method according to claim 36 wherein the selected geographic areas comprise geographic areas along a flight path of the aircraft.

40. A method according to claim 36 wherein displaying the weather related information comprises scrolling through the weather related information to be displayed for each selected geographic area.

41. A method according to claim 36 wherein the selected geographic areas comprise a destination of the aircraft.

42. A method according to claim 36 further comprising displaying on the plurality of displays images from the at least one entertainment source.

43. A method according to claim 36 wherein the aircraft in-flight entertainment system further comprises a plurality of control units connected to the plurality of displays for selecting the geographic areas, each control unit being associated with a respective display.

44. A method according to claim 43 wherein the geographic areas are selected by user entry of at least one of a city name, a zip code and an area code.

45. A method according to claim 36 wherein the aircraft in-flight entertainment system further comprises at least one processor connected to the satellite weather information receiver for determining the weather related information corresponding to each selected geographic area.

46. A method according to claim 45 wherein the at least one processor compares information identifying the selected geographic areas with information provided by the at least one weather related programming channel.

47. A method according to claim 36 wherein the satellite weather information receiver operates within a frequency range of about 1 to 3 GHz.

48. A method according to claim 36 wherein the at least one entertainment source comprises a satellite television (TV) receiver.

49. A method according to claim 48 wherein the satellite TV receiver comprises a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) receiver.