In-Vehicle Distributed Storage for Entertainment Load Balancing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional in-flight entertainment systems face inefficiencies in data distribution and management, leading to unbalanced load and network congestion, especially when popular content is requested by multiple passengers, which can negatively impact passenger experience.
Innovation Solution
A distributed data storage system using a Ceph or GlusterFS-like architecture, where content is broken into blocks and stored across multiple nodes, allowing for balanced load distribution and automatic healing and replication, with a host managing metadata and redirecting requests to available nodes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a central head-end server is used to store and distribute entertainment content, then data management is simplified, but network congestion and unbalanced load occur when multiple passengers request popular content
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized content storage into distributed storage across multiple terminal devices. Each terminal device stores blocks of entertainment programs locally, transforming a single-point storage system into a multi-node distributed storage network. This segmentation eliminates the bottleneck at the central server and distributes the content delivery load across multiple nodes, preventing network congestion while maintaining reliable content delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a hierarchical structure where terminal devices serve dual roles: as consumer devices for local playback and as storage nodes in a distributed cluster. Within this nested architecture, storage nodes contain blocks of content that can be shared with other nodes, creating a layered system where local storage is nested within the broader distributed network, providing both local efficiency and network-wide redundancy.
2Reliability
If entertainment content is stored on multiple terminal devices, then load is balanced and availability improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a host device as an intermediary that manages the distributed storage cluster. The host stores metadata about content blocks and their locations across terminal devices, and coordinates data requests by directing them to appropriate storage nodes. This intermediary layer abstracts the complexity of distributed management from individual terminal devices, maintaining high availability while preventing system complexity from becoming unmanageable.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of having terminal devices actively query and manage content distribution, the patent inverts the approach by having storage nodes passively store content blocks and rely on the host to manage metadata and routing. This inversion transforms a complex active management model into a simpler passive storage model with centralized coordination, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining distributed reliability.
3Productivity
If content is divided into blocks and distributed across nodes, then streaming performance improves, but data management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements automatic content block distribution where the host device autonomously manages metadata and routing decisions based on request patterns. When content blocks are requested, the system automatically identifies which storage nodes hold the required blocks and directs requests accordingly, without requiring manual intervention. This self-service approach maintains high streaming performance through efficient block delivery while preventing data management complexity from escalating.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates monitoring mechanisms where monitor nodes track the status and content distribution across storage nodes. This feedback loop enables the host to make informed routing decisions, automatically rebalance content blocks based on demand patterns, and detect when redistribution is needed. The feedback mechanism optimizes streaming performance dynamically while keeping data management automated and complexity-controlled through rule-based adjustments.
Data Source
AI summary
A data storage system for providing entertainment content to terminal devices in a passenger vehicle is provided to comprise: a first group of terminal devices configured to operate as storage nodes of a storage cluster configured to provide the entertainment content to media playback devices disposed in the passenger vehicle, the entertainment content including one or more entertainment programs and the storage nodes configured to store blocks of the one or more entertainment programs; a second group of terminal devices configured to operate as monitor nodes in the storage cluster, the monitor nodes configured to monitor status of the storage nodes; and a host in communication with the first group and the second group of the terminal devices via an in-vehicle network and configured to store metadata for the storage cluster and facilitate delivery of the entertainment content from the first group of terminal devices to the media playback devices.