Vehicle entertainment system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11202106-B2
Application number	US-202016888313-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 29, 2020
Priority date	Jun 8, 2018
Publication date	Dec 14, 2021
Grant date	Dec 14, 2021

Abstract

Methods and systems for a vehicle entertainment system are provided. One method includes generating by a processor, a plurality of media sets for storing a plurality of media files at a transportation vehicle, each of the plurality of media set configured to store a first set of media files playable at the same time by all passengers, a second set of media files playable at the same time by up to X percentage of the passengers and a third set of media files playable at the same time by up to Y percentage of the passengers; distributing by the processor, the plurality of media files for storage across a plurality of smart monitors of the transportation vehicle; monitoring user access of the plurality of media files on the transportation vehicle; and modifying by the processor, an assignment of a media file between the first set, the second set and the third set based on a plurality of factors.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
storing a plurality of media files for an inflight entertainment system of an aircraft across a plurality of seat devices of the aircraft using at least a first set and a second set, each of the first set and the second set having a plurality of media subsets that include one or more media files, where a number of media subsets for the first set and the second set is based on each seat device's processing ability to stream data to another seat device and network bandwidth available to each seat device for streaming media files;
wherein media files in the first set are playable simultaneously by a greater number of passengers than media files of the second set;
monitoring access to the plurality of media files streamed in response to user requests for media files; and
modifying an assignment of a media file between the first set and the second set based on comparison of a weighted score of the media file to a threshold value, the weighted score using a plurality of factors including a user access pattern for the media file determined from the monitoring 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 media files of the first set are simultaneously playable by all passengers and media files of the second set are simultaneously playable by a number of passengers fewer than all the passengers.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein based on airline preference, an amount of storage space of the plurality of seat devices is configured to store the first set and the second set of media files.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein usage data for the plurality of media files on a plurality of aircrafts is provided to a ground tool for modifying the assignment of the media file.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of factors include one or more of aircraft route information, airline preference and time of the year.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of factors include aircraft type and aircraft configuration.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media file is assigned to either the first set or the second set based on a likelihood of being accessed at a same time by a certain number of passengers.

8. A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions comprising machine executable code which when executed by one or more machine, causes the one or more machine to:
store a plurality of media files for an inflight entertainment system of an aircraft across a plurality of seat devices of the aircraft using at least a first set and a second set, each of the first set and the second set having a plurality of media subsets that include one or more media files, where a number of media subsets for the first set and the second set is based on each seat device's processing ability to stream data to another seat device and network bandwidth available to each seat device for streaming media files;
wherein media files in the first set are playable simultaneously by a greater number of passengers than media files of the second set;
monitor access to the plurality of media files streamed in response to user requests for media files; and
modify an assignment of a media file between the first set and the second set based on comparison of a weighted score of the media file to a threshold value, the weighted score using a plurality of factors including a user access pattern for the media file determined from the monitoring and a third party rating of the media file; wherein prior to modifying, the media file is initially assigned to the first set.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8 , wherein media files of the first set are simultaneously playable by all passengers and media files of the second set are simultaneously playable by a number of passengers fewer than all the passengers.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8 , wherein based on airline preference, an amount of storage space of the plurality of seat devices is configured to store the first set and the second set of media files.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8 , wherein usage data for the plurality of media files on a plurality of aircrafts is provided to a ground tool for modifying the assignment of the media file.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of factors include one or more of aircraft route information, airline preference and time of the year.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of factors include aircraft type and aircraft configuration.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the media file is assigned to either the first set or the second set based on a likelihood of being accessed at a same time by a certain number of passengers.

15. A method comprising:
storing a plurality of media files across a plurality of devices of a transportation vehicle using at least a first set and a second set, each of the first set and the second set having a plurality of media subsets that include one or more media files, where a number of media subsets for the first set and the second set is based on each seat device's processing ability to stream data to another seat device and network bandwidth available to each seat device for streaming media files;
wherein media files in the first set are playable simultaneously by a greater number of passengers than media files of the second set;
monitoring access to the plurality of media files streamed in response to user requests for media files; and
modifying an assignment of a media file between the first set and the second set based on comparison of a weighted score of the media file to a threshold value, the weighted score using a plurality of factors including a user access pattern for the media file determined from the monitoring and a third party rating of the media file; wherein prior to modifying, the media file is initially assigned to the first set.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein media files of the first set are simultaneously playable by all passengers and media files of the second set are simultaneously playable by a number of passengers fewer than all the passengers.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein based on a transportation vehicle provider preference, an amount of storage space of the plurality of seat devices is configured to store the first set and the second set of media files.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein usage data for the plurality of media files on a plurality of a transportation vehicles is provided to a computing device for modifying the assignment of the media file.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of factors include transportation vehicle type and configuration.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the media file is assigned to either the first set or the second set based on a likelihood of being accessed at a same time by a certain number of passengers.

Assignees

• Panasonic Avionics Corp

Inventors

• Braun Peter
• Watson Philip

Classifications

• H04N21/2402

  Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available (traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876) · CPC title

• H04N21/214

  Specialised server platform, e.g. server located in an airplane, hotel, hospital {(arrangements specially adapted for local area broadcast systems H04H20/61)} · CPC title

• H04N21/26216

  involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth (admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61) · CPC title

• G06F16/438

  Presentation of query results · CPC title

• G06F16/43

  Querying · CPC title