Aircraft Content Transfer via Passenger Courier Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
In-flight entertainment systems face challenges in efficiently and cost-effectively transferring large content files between ground-based and aircraft-based content servers due to high costs and insufficient communication bandwidth of existing wireless data links, especially at airports.
Innovation Solution
The method involves dividing content files into fragments and distributing them across courier electronic devices carried by passengers, ensuring redundancy to ensure successful reassembly even if not all fragments are received, using these devices to transfer data between ground and aircraft-based servers via wireless networks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If wireless ground data links are deployed at airports to transfer content files, then communication bandwidth is improved, but deployment and maintenance cost becomes prohibitively expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces courier electronic devices (passengers' personal devices) as intermediary carriers to transfer content fragments from ground-based servers to aircraft-based servers. Instead of deploying expensive wireless ground data links, the system uses existing mobile devices of passengers who naturally travel between locations, thereby avoiding the need for costly infrastructure deployment and maintenance while achieving efficient content transfer.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides content files into multiple fragments and distributes them across multiple courier electronic devices. Each device holds a copy of a fragment, and the system reconstructs the original content by combining fragments from multiple devices. This copying approach enables reliable content transfer without requiring expensive dedicated communication infrastructure, as the system can tolerate loss of some fragments and reconstruct content from available copies.
2Reliability
If subscriber-based ground and satellite data links are used for content file transfers, then communication reliability is improved, but per-megabyte usage cost becomes prohibitively expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments content files into multiple smaller fragments and distributes them across multiple courier electronic devices. This segmentation allows the system to use multiple low-cost transmission paths (passengers traveling via different routes) rather than relying on expensive subscriber-based data links. The redundancy in fragment distribution ensures that even if some fragments are lost, the content can be reconstructed from remaining fragments, maintaining reliability while reducing cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the transmission parameter from using expensive dedicated subscriber-based data links to using free or low-cost wireless networks (WiFi, cellular) available to passengers' personal devices. By changing the transmission medium parameter and accepting the use of multiple fragmented transmissions rather than single reliable channels, the system dramatically reduces per-megabyte usage cost while maintaining content transfer reliability through fragment reconstruction.
3Quantity of substance
If content files are divided into fragments and distributed across courier electronic devices, then transfer cost is reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes courier electronic devices multi-functional by using them for both their original purposes (personal computing, communication) and as content transfer carriers. These universal devices eliminate the need for dedicated content transfer infrastructure, reducing system complexity. The ground-based server, aircraft-based server, and passenger devices all use standard, widely-available technology platforms, avoiding the need for specialized expensive equipment.
4Reliability
If redundant data is included in content fragments distributed to courier electronic devices, then content reassembly reliability is improved, but data transmission volume increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial redundancy by including error correction codes and checksums in content fragments, but not full duplication of all data. The redundancy level is optimized to provide sufficient reliability for content reassembly while minimizing unnecessary data transmission volume. This partial redundancy approach ensures that lost or corrupted fragments can be detected and recovered without transmitting excessive redundant data across all networks.
Data Source
AI summary
A ground based content server transfers content to an aircraft based content server via courier devices that are transported by aircraft passengers. Content files to be delivered to a target aircraft are identified. Courier devices associated with persons scheduled to become passengers on the target aircraft are identified. Each of the content files are divided into content fragments, where the content fragments collectively contain all data necessary for reassembling the content files. The content fragments are distributed from the ground based content server across the courier devices, so that each courier device is distributed one of the content fragments containing data that is at least partially redundant with data contained in one of the content fragments that is distributed to at least one other one of the courier devices and that is not redundant to data contained in other content fragments distributed to still other ones of the courier devices.