Server system, aircraft or spacecraft and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10270887-B2
Application number	US-201213724491-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2012
Priority date	Jan 3, 2012
Publication date	Apr 23, 2019
Grant date	Apr 23, 2019

Abstract

The present invention provides a server system, in particular for an aircraft or spacecraft, comprising an integration device which has at least two server modules which have in each case at least one program-controlled arithmetic-logic means, at least one memory which is coupled with the program-controlled arithmetic-logic means, and at least one communication interface which is coupled with the program-controlled arithmetic-logic means, comprising at least one data line which interconnects the two server modules for data communication by the communication interfaces thereof, and comprising a server interface which is configured to connect the integration device to a data network for data communication by the communication interfaces of the server modules, the integration device being configured to exchange data with the data network. The present invention also provides an aircraft or spacecraft and a method.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A server system, in particular for an aircraft or spacecraft, comprising:
an integration device that facilitates communications between a virtual server and different electronic systems of an aircraft, wherein the virtual server includes server modules arranged as plug-in cards in respective slots of the electronic systems, wherein each of the server modules includes at least one program-controlled arithmetic-logic module, at least one memory which is coupled with the program-controlled arithmetic-logic module, and at least one communication interface which is coupled with the program-controlled arithmetic-logic module;
at least one data line which interconnects the server modules for data communication by the communication interfaces thereof; and
a server interface which is configured to connect the integration device to a data network for data communication by the communication interfaces of the server modules, wherein each of the electronic systems is configured to communicate with the virtual server via the server interface, wherein the integration device is configured to forward, via the data network, data arriving at the server interface to the server module which is located closest to one of the electronic systems from which a request originates, wherein the integration device monitors the communications between the server modules and the electronic systems and correspondingly adapts sender and receiver addresses of data packets; and
wherein the integration device includes for each server module a disconnecting device which is configured to couple the respective server module with power lines and control lines of the respective electronic system, to operate the respective server module with an input interface of the respective electronic system, and to disconnect the respective server module functionally from the respective electronic system, without thereby influencing operation of the respective electronic system.

2. The server system according to claim 1 , wherein the data line is configured as an internal data connection of the data network.

3. The server system according to claim 1 , wherein the integration device is configured to forward the data arriving at the server interface to the server module which has the greatest free computing capacity.

4. The server system according to claim 1 , wherein the server system is configured as an in-flight entertainment server system.

5. The server system according to claim 1 , wherein the server system is configured as an audio/video server and/or as a video-on-demand server and/or as a web server and/or as an email server and/or as a gaming server.

6. The server system according to claim 1 , wherein the program-controlled arithmetic-logic module of the server modules comprises single-core processors, multi-core processors or processor modules with at least one processor.

7. The server system according to claim 1 , wherein the server interface is configured as a cable-bound interface and/or as an optical data interface and/or as a wireless data interface.

8. An aircraft or spacecraft, in particular aircraft, comprising:
a data network which connects electronic systems of an aircraft; and
a server system, the server system being coupled with the data network, and the server system comprising:
an integration device that facilitates communications between a virtual server and the electronic systems, wherein the virtual server includes server modules arranged as plug-in cards in respective slots of the electronic systems, wherein each of the server modules includes at least one program-controlled arithmetic-logic module, at least one memory which is coupled with the program-controlled arithmetic-logic module, and at least one communication interface which is coupled with the program-controlled arithmetic-logic module;
at least one data line which interconnects the server modules for data communication by the communication interfaces thereof; and
a server interface which is configured to connect the integration device to the data network for data communication by the communication interfaces of the server modules, wherein each of the electronic systems is configured to communicate with the virtual server via the server interface, wherein the integration device is configured to forward, via the data network, data arriving at the server interface to the server module which is located closest to one of the electronic systems from which a request originates, wherein the integration device monitors the communications between the server modules and the electronic systems and correspondingly adapts sender and receiver addresses of data packets; and
wherein the integration device includes for each server module a disconnecting device which is configured to couple the respective server module with power lines and control lines of the respective electronic system, to operate the respective server module with an input interface of the respective electronic system, and to disconnect the respective server module functionally from the respective electronic system, without thereby influencing operation of the respective electronic system.

9. A method for operating a data network, in particular in an aircraft or spacecraft, the method comprising:
coupling by a data line in an integration device server modules of a virtual server, wherein the integration device facilitates communications between the virtual server and different electronic systems of an aircraft, wherein the server modules are arranged as plug-in cards in respective slots of the electronic systems, wherein each of the server modules includes at least one program-controlled arithmetic-logic module, at least one memory which is coupled with the program-controlled arithmetic-logic module, and at least one communication interface which is coupled with the program-controlled arithmetic-logic module;
connecting, by a server interface, the integration device to a data network for data communication via the communication interfaces of the server modules, wherein each of the electronic systems is configured to communicate with the virtual server via the server interface, wherein the integration device is configured to forward, via the data network, data arriving at the server interface to the server module which is located closest to one of the electronic systems from which a request originates, wherein the integration device monitors the communications between the server modules and the electronic systems and correspondingly adapts sender and receiver addresses of data packets; and
using, for each server module, a disconnecting device to couple the respective server module with power lines and control lines of the respective electronic system, to operate the respective server module with an input interface of the respective electronic system, and to disconnect the respective server module functionally from the respective electronic system of the data network, without thereby influencing operation of the respective electronic system.

10. A server system, in particular for an aircraft or spacecraft, comprising:
an integration device that facilitates communications between a virtual server and different electronic systems of an aircraft, wherein the virtual server includes server modules arranged as plug-in cards in respective slots of the electronic systems, wherein each of the server modules includes at least one program-controlled arithmetic-logic module, at least one memory which is coupled with the program-controlled arithmetic-logic module, and at least one communication interface which is coupled with the program-controlled arithmetic-logic module;
at least one data line which interconnects the serv

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Gmbh

Inventors

• Riedel Christian
• Klose Peter

Classifications

• H04L67/42 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L2012/4028

  the transportation system being an aircraft · CPC title

• H04L67/14 Primary

  Session management (for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066) · CPC title