METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DISTRIBUTING INFORMATION ON TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES

• US 20180137103A1
• Filed: 11/14/2016
• Published: 05/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Avionics Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Avionics Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Watson, Philip, Bates, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 10,169,338 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/006 using audible presentation of the information
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/009 Teaching or communicating with deaf persons G09B21/04 takes precedence; deaf and dumb persons G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/003 Digital PA systems using, e.g. LAN or internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/13 Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for communicating an announcement to passengers on a transportation vehicle. For example, one method includes providing an information system on the vehicle having at least one of a wireless access point and a plurality of seat display devices and operating the information system to communicate with the wireless access point or the seat display devices. The method includes playing audio corresponding to the announcement over a public address system of the vehicle, and causing text corresponding to the audio to display on the seat display devices or personal electronic devices in communication with the wireless access point.

Claims

1. A method for communicating an announcement to passengers on a passenger transportation vehicle having seats, the method comprising:

providing an information system on the vehicle in which the information system includes mounted in the vehicle at least one of a wireless access point and a plurality of seat display devices;

operating the information system to communicate with said at least one of a wireless access point and a plurality of seat display devices;

playing audio corresponding to the announcement over a public address system of the transportation vehicle;

causing text corresponding to the audio to display on personal electronic devices in communication with the wireless access point, for the information system having the wireless access point;

causing text to corresponding to the audio to display on the plurality of seat display devices for the information system having the plurality of seat display devices;

determining that at least one of a personal electronic device and a seat display device is being used by a visually impaired passenger having a language preference based on a data structure maintained by the information system;

causing the audio corresponding to the announcement to play on said at least one of a personal electronic device and said seat display device in accordance with the determined language preference; and

causing the audio to play on said at least one of a personal electronic device and a seat display device corresponding to the announcement in a default language, when the visually impaired passenger language preference is not specified.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said causing text corresponding to the audio to display on personal electronic devices and said causing text to corresponding to the audio to display on the seat display devices of said plurality includes:

determining if there is a language preference;

if no language preference is determined, displaying the text in a first language; and

if a language preference is determined, displaying the text in a second language based on the determined language preference.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the announcement is transmitted from a crew member device of the transportation vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the language preference is based on individual passenger preference.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the default language is based on an itinerary of the transportation vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information system on the vehicle includes a wireless access point;

the method further comprising

operating the wireless access point to permit passengers to use a personal electronic device to place the personal electronic device in communication with the information system and receive content therefrom via the wireless access point.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the transportation vehicle is one or more of an aircraft, a train, a bus, a ship and a recreational vehicle.

8. A method for communicating an announcement to passengers on a transportation vehicle, the method comprising:

providing an information system on the vehicle in which the information system includes mounted in the vehicle at least one of a wireless access point and a plurality of seat display devices;

operating the information system to communicate with said at least one of a wireless access point and a plurality of seat display devices;

selecting text for transmission to passengers on the transportation vehicle corresponding to the announcement;

determining which passengers of the transportation vehicle have an impairment based on a data structure maintained by the information system;

causing audio corresponding to the text to play for each passenger determined to have a visual impairment on a personal electronic device associated with the passenger and in communication with the wireless access point for the information system having the wireless access point; and

causing audio corresponding to the text to play for each passenger determined to have a visual impairment on a seat display device associated with the passenger for the information system having the plurality of seat devices.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the information system includes a wireless access point, the method further comprising:

determining if there is a language preference for passengers;

if a language preference is determined for a passenger, causing at least one of text and audio to be presented on a personal electronic device associated with the passenger in accordance with the determined language preference; and

if it is determined there is not a language preference for a passenger, causing at least of one text and audio to be presented on a personal electronic device associated with the passenger in a default language.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein audio is presented in the default language on the personal electronic device for a visually impaired passenger.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein a passenger may enter a language preference.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the default language is based on an itinerary of the transportation vehicle.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein said selecting text for transmission is selected by a crew member of the transportation vehicle.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the transportation vehicle is one or more of an aircraft, a train, a bus, a ship and a recreational vehicle.

15. A system for communicating announcements to passengers on a transportation vehicle in which at least some passengers have personal electronic devices, the system comprising:

an information system installable on the vehicle, the information system including;

at least one of a wireless access point configured to permit passengers to receive communications from the entertainment and communication system on their personal electronic device, and a plurality of seat display devices;

a public address system including speakers for communicating audio announcements to passengers in the vehicle; and

a memory including a non-transitory, machine readable medium comprising machine executable code, and a processor module coupled to the memory, the processor module executing the machine executable code to;

permit selection of an announcement for communication to passengers on a transportation vehicle via the public address system;

determine if there is a hearing impairment for a passenger based on a data structure maintained by the information system;

wherein for a passenger determined to have a hearing impairment, causes text corresponding to the audio to display on a personal electronic device being used by that passenger in communication with the wireless access point, for the information system having the wireless access point; and

wherein for a passenger determined to have a hearing impairment, causes text corresponding to the audio to display on a seat display device of the plurality of seat display devices that is associated with that passenger, for the information system having the plurality of seat devices.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor module executing the machine executable code further:

determines if there is a language preference for the passenger, and if it is determined there is a language preference, causes text corresponding to the audio to display for the passenger according to the determined language preference, and if there is no language preference, causes text corresponding to the audio to display in a default language.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the language preference is entered by the passenger.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the default language is based on an itinerary of the transportation vehicle.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the information system includes both a wireless access point and seat display devices and the text is displayed on seat display device associated with the passenger, and on a personal electronic device associated with the passenger if the personal electronic is in communication with the wireless access point.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the transportation vehicle is one or more of an aircraft, a train, a bus, a ship and a recreational vehicle.