Methods and systems for selective media distribution for a vehicle entertainment system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10924770-B2
Application number	US-201816150143-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2018
Priority date	Jun 8, 2018
Publication date	Feb 16, 2021
Grant date	Feb 16, 2021

Abstract

Networking methods and systems are provided for a transportation vehicle, e.g. an aircraft. One method includes registering with a switching device, multicast network addresses assigned to each of a plurality of regions of an aircraft, each region including a plurality of seat devices configured to store media files of a media library of an in-flight entertainment system, the media files assigned to one of a plurality of tiers. A range of the multicast network addresses are reserved for each tier and the multicast network addresses are distributed across different regions of the aircraft, based on where media files are intended to be stored. Based on registered multicast network addresses, the switching device selectively forwards specific media files associated with specific multicast network addresses for storage at one or more seat devices located within a region associated with the specific multicast network address.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
using by a processor, a plurality of tiers for storing a plurality of media files of a media library of an entertainment system of a transportation vehicle at a plurality of seat devices;
wherein a first tier includes a first set of media files in which each media file of the first set is playable by all passengers of the transportation vehicle at the same time, a second tier is for a second set of media files in which each media file of the second set is playable by up to X percentage of all passengers at the same time, and a third tier is for a third set of media files in which each media file of the third set is playable by up to Y percentage of all passengers at the same time;
wherein a number of media files stored at the plurality of seat devices for each media set are based on a seat device's ability to stream data to another seat device of the transportation vehicle as determined by each seat device's processing ability and network bandwidth available on the transportation vehicle to each seat device;
assigning by the processor, a range of multicast network addresses to each of the first tier, the second tier and the third tier of the plurality of media files;
allocating by the processor, the range of multicast network addresses between different regions of the transportation vehicle, where seat devices of each region are configured to store media files belonging to the first tier, the second tier and the third tier;
registering the multicast network addresses from the range of multicast network addresses allocated to each region with a switching device of the transportation vehicle interfacing with one or more networks of the transportation vehicle for delivering media files to the plurality of seat devices;
selectively forwarding by the switching device specific media files associated with specific multicast network addresses for storage at one or more seat devices located within a specific region associated with the specific multicast network addresses;
wherein the switching device receives the specific media files from among the plurality of media files and selectively forwards the specific media files based on the registered multicast network addresses; and
modifying an assignment of a media file between the first set, the second set and the third set based on a comparison of a weighted score of the media file to a threshold value, the weighted score determined using a plurality of factors including a user access pattern for the media file, transportation vehicle configuration and a third party rating of the media file; wherein prior to modifying, the media file is initially assigned to the first set.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multicast network addresses are multicast channel group numbers (MCCGNs).

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the MCCGNs are registered with the switching device using an Internet Group Multicast Protocol (IGMP) join operation.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein when a media file category is changed, a new MCCGN is assigned for selectively forwarding the media file.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a server delivers the plurality of media files to the switching device via a first network connection.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein based on registered multicast channel group numbers, the seat devices selectively receive the specific media files via a second network connection that is slower than the first network connection.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transportation vehicle is one of an aircraft, a train, a ship and a bus.

8. A method comprising:
registering with a switching device, multicast network addresses allocated to each of a plurality of regions of an aircraft, each region including a plurality of seat devices configured to store media files of a media library of an in-flight entertainment system, the media files assigned to one of a plurality of tiers;
wherein a first tier includes a first set of media files in which each media file of the first set is playable by all passengers of the aircraft at the same time, and a second tier is for a second set of media files in which each media file of the second set is playable by up to X percentage of all passengers at the same time;
wherein a number of media files stored at the plurality of seat devices for each media set are based on a seat device's ability to stream data to another seat device of the transportation vehicle as determined by each seat device's processing ability and network bandwidth available on the aircraft to each seat device;
wherein a range of the multicast network addresses is reserved for each tier of media files and the multicast network addresses are distributed across the plurality of regions of the aircraft, based on where each tier of media files are intended to be stored;
receiving specific media files by the switching device associated with specific multicast network addresses from among the registered multicast network addresses;
wherein media files of the first set of media files included in the specific media files are received by the switching device prior to receiving media files of the second set of media files; and
selectively forwarding by the switching device the specific media files associated with the specific multicast network addresses for storage at one or more seat devices located within a region associated with the specific multicast network addresses;
wherein media files of the first set of media files included in the specific media files are forwarded before the media files of the second set of media files; and
modifying an assignment of a media file between the first and the second set based on comparison of a weighted score of the media file to a threshold value, the weighted score determined using a plurality of factors including an access pattern of the media file from a plurality of aircrafts, aircraft route information, aircraft type and configuration, a third party rating of the media file, and an airline preference.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a third tier is for a third set of media files in which each media file of the third set is playable by up to Y percentage of all passengers at the same time, where Y is different from X.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein when a media file category is changed between the plurality of tiers, a new multicast channel group number is assigned for selectively forwarding the media file.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the multicast network addresses are multicast channel group numbers (MCCGNs).

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the MCCGNs are registered with the switching device using an Internet Group Multicast Protocol (IGMP) join operation.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein a server delivers the plurality of media files to the switching device via a first network connection.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the seat devices selectively receive the specific media files via a second network connection that is slower than the first network connection.

15. A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions comprising machine executable code which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to:
use by a processor, a plurality of tiers for storing a plurality of media files of a media library of an entertainment system of a transportation vehicle at a plurality of seat devices; wherein a first tier includes a first set of media files in which each media file of the first set is playable by all passengers of the transportation vehicle at the same time, a second tier is for a second set of media files in which each media

Assignees

• Panasonic Avionics Corp

Inventors

• Braun Peter

Classifications

• B64D11/0015

  Arrangements for entertainment or communications, e.g. radio, television · CPC title

• H04N21/6405

  Multicasting {(data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18)} · CPC title

• H04N21/23103

  using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers (storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001) · CPC title

• G06F16/435

  Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles · CPC title

• H04N21/266

  Channel or content management, e.g. generation and management of keys and entitlement messages in a conditional access system, merging a VOD unicast channel into a multicast channel · CPC title