Content Delivery Handoff System for Seamless In-Flight Entertainment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless communication systems fail to ensure continuity and completion of content delivery services for passengers transitioning from an airborne wireless network to a terrestrial network, particularly when the entirety of selected electronic content is not delivered before the flight concludes.
Innovation Solution
The Content Delivery Handoff System, which associates selected electronic content with a passenger's wireless device, logs delivery progress and stores information in a content management repository, allowing passengers to access and complete content delivery at a later time from a terrestrial location, ensuring seamless continuation of content receipt.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If content delivery is provided only during airborne network coverage, then passengers can receive content in-flight, but delivery is terminated when the aircraft lands and passengers cannot retrieve the remainder of the content
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by logging delivery progress and storing content identification information in a content management repository before the airborne network connection is lost. This allows the terrestrial network to resume delivery from the correct point without requiring retransmission of already-delivered content segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The content management repository acts as an intermediary between the airborne and terrestrial networks. It stores content identification information and delivery progress logs, enabling seamless handoff and resumption of content delivery when transitioning between network types.
2Reliability
If the system logs and stores delivery progress for all passengers, then content delivery can be resumed after flight conclusion, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of storing complete content data, the system stores only content identification information (pointers or references) in the content management repository. This copying approach maintains service continuity while significantly reducing storage requirements and system complexity compared to storing actual content segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts only the essential delivery progress information and content identification data from the complete content delivery process. This extraction allows the content management repository to track delivery status without storing the actual content, reducing complexity while maintaining reliability.
3Loss of time
If content delivery is interrupted due to flight conclusion, then passengers must wait for next flight or lose content access, but implementing cross-network delivery requires complex network integration
Solution Approach 1:
The content management repository is designed with universal functionality to serve both airborne and terrestrial networks. By implementing a unified repository that can be accessed by both network types, the system enables cross-network content resumption without requiring separate systems for each network, reducing integration complexity while minimizing content access time loss.
Data Source
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AI summary
The Content Delivery Handoff System enables a passenger's wireless device, operating in an airborne wireless cellular network, to receive selected content and to ensure continuity and/or completion of the content delivery when the aircraft reaches its destination before the entirety of the selected content is delivered to the passenger. This completion of content delivery can occur in a spatially and temporally disjunct manner where the delivery of the remainder of the selected content occurs at a terrestrial location or on a subsequent flight and at a later time.