Systems and Software Enterprises, LLC

Rockwell Collins, Inc.

System and Software Enterprises, Inc.

Joseph Renton

Rodney Farley

Randall Bird

Kevin Cote

Alan J Weinberger

Rick Neugaubauer

Dickey J Berry

Douglas C Infiesto

Rod J Farley

Vehicular entertainment systems where devices in the systems can each utilize a common type of storage units are presented. A vehicular entertainment system can include a media server head unit in communication over a network with a plurality of media players that are installed about the cabin of a vehicle. Media content can be stored on a plurality of field replaceable storage units where each of the storage units can be installed in any one of the players or the server. Each of the storage units can store a substantially identical content set including passenger content, player content, server content, crew content, or other types of content. The server or players can be restricted from accessing content to which they lack rights, possibly based on a location identifier that indicates roles or responsibilities of the players at their installed location.

Entertainment systems utilizing field replaceable storage units

An entertainment system comprising a media server networked with a plurality of docking stations is presented. The media server and docking stations can be networked together into a looped daisy-chained network to provide for content distribution to docked media players. The looped daisy-chained network retains connectivity or continuity when media players are undocked or when a connection is broken. In preferred embodiments, the entertainment system can be deployed within an aircraft as an in-flight entertainment system.

Entertainment system with network of docking stations

A terminal data loading device on a mobile platform includes a media unit for receiving a transportable media element containing media data and outputting a media signal to a control processor unit. The control processor unit outputs an information signal to a wireline communication unit. The wireline communication unit outputs a wireline signal to a network on the mobile platform.

Secure terminal data loader apparatus and method for a mobile platform

Entertainment system with looped daisy-chained network of docking stations

Secure terminal data loader system and in-flight entertainment management system

Methods and apparatus for collecting documents that are electronic newspapers, magazines, and books into sets (one or more objects) and distributing them to passenger vehicles. Once distributed to the vehicles, individual documents of the document sets are distributed, possibly for a fee, to the passengers.

Mobile electronic newsstand

A computer is used to manage communication over a network between one or more network addressable units and a plurality of physical devices of a passenger entertainment system. The system is configured and operated using software to provide passenger entertainment services including audio and video on-demand, information dissemination, product and service order processing, video teleconferencing and data communication services. The system includes a system server and a network supporting multiple computer processors. The processors and the server comprise application software that control telephony applications and network services. The server is coupled by way of the network to physical devices of the system. The server comprises software for instantiating a dispatch object to open a framework for one or more network addressable unit objects, for instantiating one or more virtual line replaceable unit objects to manage communication between a network address unit and one or more physical devices, and for instantiating a message processor for moving messages to the one or more network addressable unit objects for delivery to the one or more physical devices. The message processor receives messages containing network routing address from one or more device drivers. The message processor utilizes the network routing address to and a physical device type to access a table and determine the ultimate destination for the message. The message processor has at least one input named pipe and one output named pipe, and utilizes the named pipes to translate messages from a first format to a second format. The message processor logs invalid destination addresses in a storage medium. The message processor instantiates each device driver from a device handler class member.

Message processor for a passenger entertainment system, method and article of manufacture

A device to enable automatic wireless communication with an aircraft after the aircraft has parked at a gate. A terminal cellular bridge (TCB) enables the retrieval of data from, and the sending of data to the aircraft by an internet service provider. The internet service provider uses the Internet to send data to and receive data from a remotely located network operation center and data warehousing center. The data warehousing center provides secure data storage and retrieval, and data processing. The network operations center provides for system control and monitoring.

Aircraft data transmission system for wireless communication of data between the aircraft and ground-based systems

A computer is used to manage communication over a network between one or more network addressable units and a plurality of physical devices of a passenger entertainment system. The system is configured and operated using software to provide passenger entertainment services including audio and video on-demand, information dissemination, product and service order processing, video teleconferencing and data communication services. The system includes a system server and a network supporting multiple computer processors. The processors and the server comprise application software that control telephony applications and network services. The server is coupled by way of the network to physical devices of the system. The server comprises software that instantiates a network addressable unit server that interfaces to one or more network addressable units, that instantiates a services server that interfaces to one or more service clients that provide services of the passenger entertainment system, and that instantiates a router and one or more mail slots comprising a lookup table that identify each of the clients. Data comprising a network routing address and a physical device type are used to access the lookup table to determine message destinations. The respective servers interface to their clients by way of named pipes that translate messages from a first format to a second format. The server also comprises software that instantiates intranodal thread processors that route messages between processes on the physical devices and the one or more service clients to route services of the passenger entertainment system to the processes on the physical devices.

Transaction dispatcher for a passenger entertainment system, method and article of manufacture

A passenger entertainment system operates using system software to provide services including audio and video on-demand, information dissemination, product and service order processing, and video teleconferencing and data communication. The system software routes and processes passenger transactions and dispatches resources to respond to the transactions. A database contains data relating to services provided by the system and the resources that provide the services. A processor stores object oriented application programming interface calls corresponding to the services provided by the system. The processor receives a passenger transaction requesting a particular service and processes it to generate a database query using a selected object oriented application programming interface call. A database server queries the database using the selected object oriented application programming interface call to generate an appropriate response to the passenger transaction. Appropriate resources are dispatched that are defined in the response to the query to service the passenger transaction.

Passenger entertainment system, method and article of manufacture employing object oriented system software

A vehicle entertainment system distributes an executable program in more than one channel of a modulated RF signal by using a plurality of download lines provided between the system file server and the RF modulator. The multiple download lines permit a passenger seat that missed the time window for downloading an executable program to request and download the executable program even before the first download has completed. The multiple download lines also permit downloads of different executable programs to take place at the same time. The vehicle entertainment system further includes a dedicated download processor and a buffer. The dedicated download processor is provided to reduce the processing load of the file server processor, in particular, to take over the task of generating a continuous stream of data responsive to a download request and supplying them to the RF modulator. The buffer provides the dedicated download processor an area where previously retrieved executable program may be stored for subsequent fast access.

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Orange, CA, United States of America

Joseph Renton