Methods and systems for storing content for a vehicle entertainment system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11136123-B2
Application number	US-201916664570-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2019
Priority date	Jun 8, 2018
Publication date	Oct 5, 2021
Grant date	Oct 5, 2021

Abstract

Networking methods and systems are provided for a transportation vehicle with seat devices. One method includes detecting operational software installation for a first seat device to access an entertainment system with media files of a virtual local storage (VLS) media set distributed across storage of a portion of the seat devices; identifying a second seat device configured to store the operational software in a downloadable configuration; providing the operational software in the downloadable configuration to the first seat device; installing the operational software at the first seat device; determining that the first seat device is a member of the VLS media set, based on a location of the first seat; transmitting a portion of the VLS media set from one or more seat devices to the first seat device; and persistently storing the portion of the VLS media set at persistent storage of the first seat device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
detecting operational software installation for a first seat device of a plurality of seat devices of a transportation vehicle to access an entertainment system of the transportation vehicle, the entertainment system comprising a plurality of media files stored within a virtual local storage (VLS) media set distributed across persistent storage of at least a portion of the plurality of seat devices without using persistent mass storage of a media server on the transportation vehicle;
selecting at least a second seat device from a subset of the plurality of seat devices configured to store the operational software in a downloadable configuration, based on the second seat device's availability to transmit the operational software and processing capability;
providing the operational software in the downloadable configuration to the first seat device;
installing the operational software at the first seat device;
determining that the first seat device is a member of the VLS media set, based on a location of the first seat at the transportation vehicle;
transmitting a portion of the VLS media set from one or more seat devices to the first seat device; and
persistently storing the portion of the VLS media set at the persistent storage of the first device; wherein the operational software and the portion of the VLS media set are made available for streaming from the first seat device to another seat device of the plurality of seat devices.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operational software installation is executed to integrate the first seat device within the entertainment system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transportation vehicle is an aircraft.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein an aircraft interface initially routes the plurality of media files to the plurality of seat devices without using the media server.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the aircraft interface uses multicast channel group numbers (MCCGNs) for routing the plurality of media files to the plurality of seat devices.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the operational software installation is detected when the first seat device is brought on-line.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second seat device is based on a location of the second seat device within the aircraft.

8. A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions, comprising machine executable code which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to:
detect operational software installation for a first seat device of a plurality of seat devices of a transportation vehicle to access an entertainment system of the transportation vehicle, the entertainment system comprising a plurality of media files stored within a virtual local storage (VLS) media set distributed across persistent storage of at least a portion of the plurality of seat devices without using persistent mass storage of a media server on the transportation vehicle;
select at least a second seat device from a subset of the plurality of seat devices configured to store the operational software in a downloadable configuration, based on the second seat device's availability to transmit the operational software and processing capability;
provide the operational software in the downloadable configuration to the first seat device;
install the operational software at the first seat device;
determine that the first seat device is a member of the VLS media set, based on a location of the first seat at the transportation vehicle;
transmit a portion of the VLS media set from one or more seat devices to the first seat device; and
persistently store the portion of the VLS media set at the persistent storage of the first device; wherein the operational software and the portion of the VLS media set are made available for streaming from the first seat device to another seat device of the plurality of seat devices.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the operational software installation is executed to integrate the first seat device within the entertainment system.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the transportation vehicle is an aircraft.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10 , wherein an aircraft interface initially routes the plurality of media files to the plurality of seat devices without using the media server.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the aircraft interface uses multicast channel group numbers (MCCGNs) for routing the plurality of media files to the plurality of seat devices.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the operational software installation is detected when the first seat device is brought on-line.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the second seat device is selected based on a location of the second seat device within the aircraft.

15. A system, comprising:
a plurality of seat devices of a transportation vehicle to access an entertainment system of the transportation vehicle, the entertainment system comprising a plurality of media files stored within a virtual local storage (VLS) media set distributed across persistent storage of at least a portion of the plurality of seat devices without using persistent mass storage of a media server on the transportation vehicle; and
a processor coupled to a memory to execute machine executable code to:
detect operational software installation for a first seat device of the plurality of seat devices;
provide the operational software in the downloadable configuration to the first seat device from a second device from a subset of the plurality of seat devices configured to store the operational software in a downloadable configuration, based on the second seat device's availability to transmit the operational software and processing capability;
install the operational software at the first seat device;
determine that the first seat device is a member of the VLS media set, based on a location of the first seat at the transportation vehicle;
transmit a portion of the VLS media set from one or more seat devices to the first seat device; and
persistently store the portion of the VLS media set at the persistent storage of the first device; wherein the operational software and the portion of the VLS media set is made available for streaming from the first seat device to another seat device of the plurality of seat devices.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the transportation vehicle is an aircraft.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein an aircraft interface initially routes the plurality of media files to the plurality of seat devices without using the media server.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the aircraft interface uses multicast channel group numbers (MCCGNs) for routing the plurality of media files to the plurality of seat devices.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the operational software installation is detected when the first seat device is brought on-line.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the second seat device is selected based on a location of the second seat device within the aircraft.

Assignees

• Panasonic Avionics Corp

Inventors

• Braun Peter

Classifications

• B64D11/00155 Primary

  Individual entertainment or communication system remote controls therefor, located in or connected to seat components, e.g. to seat back or arm rest · CPC title

• H04N21/41422

  located in transportation means, e.g. personal vehicle (arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62) · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04N21/8166

  involving executable data, e.g. software (arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34) · 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