Ground-based content curation platform distributing geographically-relevant content to aircraft inflight entertainment systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12548455-B2
Application number	US-202117553353-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 16, 2021
Priority date	Dec 16, 2021
Publication date	Feb 10, 2026
Grant date	Feb 10, 2026

Abstract

A ground-based content curation platform identifies geographically-relevant content having metadata indicating a geographic relevance area which satisfies a relevance rule relative to the present location of the aircraft. The platform distributes the geographically-relevant content to an IFE system of the aircraft for local storage and access by passengers, wherein the geographically-relevant content is distributed through the at least one network interface and routed through a satellite radio communication system or a terrestrial radio communications system. The platform repeats the identification of geographically-relevant content and the distribution of the geographically-relevant content to initiate replacement of the geographically-relevant content at the IFE system, based on a threshold change in location of the aircraft.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A ground-based content curation platform comprising:
at least one network interface; at least one processor connected to communicate through the at least one network interface; and at least one memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
obtain a present location of an aircraft;
identify geographically-relevant content having metadata indicating a geographic relevance area which satisfies a relevance rule relative to the present location of the aircraft;
distribute the geographically-relevant content to an inflight entertainment (IFE) system of the aircraft for local storage and access by passengers, wherein the geographically-relevant content is distributed through the at least one network interface and routed through a satellite radio communication system or a terrestrial radio communications system;
repeat the identification of geographically-relevant content and the distribution of the geographically-relevant content to initiate replacement of the geographically-relevant content at the IFE system, based on a threshold change in location of the aircraft;
computing a maximum text length, a maximum video playout time, or a content expiration time, based on a present ground speed of the aircraft;
filtering content of the selected content server based on at least one rule that removes any sub-content having a text content length greater than the maximum text length, a video playout time greater than the maximum video playout time, or any sub-content that was initially published or initially made available from the server more than the content expiration time before a present time of day from being included in the filtered content; and
distributing the filtered content to the IFE system of the aircraft via relay through the satellite communication system or the terrestrial communications system.

2 . The ground-based content curation platform of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
sending a message to the IFE system of the aircraft to initiate removal of the geographically-relevant content from the local storage, responsive to an updated location of the aircraft no longer satisfying the relevance rule relative to the geographic relevance area of the geographically-relevant content.

3 . The ground-based content curation platform of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise:
computing a threshold time the content is to be available for access by the passengers through the IFE system, based on present aircraft ground speed, wherein the sending of the message to the IFE system of the aircraft to initiate removal of the geographically-relevant content from the local storage and terminate access by the passengers, is further based on expiration of the threshold time.

4 . The ground-based content curation platform of claim 3 , wherein the operations further comprise:
further computing the threshold time the geographically-relevant content is to remain available for access by the passengers through the IFE system, based on the present aircraft ground speed and an estimate of total time needed to complete the identification of the geographically-relevant content and the distribution of the geographically-relevant content to the IFE system of the aircraft.

5 . The ground-based content curation platform of claim 1 , further comprising:
computing a ground segment based on the present location of the aircraft and a flight path of the aircraft, wherein the geographically-relevant content is identified based on the metadata indicating a geographic relevance area which is intersected by the ground segment; and initiating replacement of the geographically-relevant content at the IFE system based on the geographic relevance area not being intersected by an updated ground segment computed based on an updated location of the aircraft and an updated flight path of the aircraft.

6 . The ground-based content curation platform of claim 1 , wherein the operations to identify geographically-relevant content having metadata indicating a geographic relevance area which satisfies the relevance rule relative to the present location of the aircraft, comprise:
determining at least one geographic search term based on the present location of the aircraft; and operating a search engine to query content servers using the determined at least one geographic search term to identify geographically-relevant content for distribution to the IFE system of the aircraft, wherein the operations of the search engine to query content servers using the determined at least one geographic search term to identify geographically-relevant content for distribution to the IFE system of the aircraft, comprise:
selecting a content server from among a list of content servers based on the selected content server having metadata indicating a geographic relevance area which satisfies the relevance rule relative to the present location of the aircraft; and
querying the selected content server to select the geographically-relevant content for distribution to the IFE system of the aircraft.

7 . The ground-based content curation platform of claim 1 , wherein the operations to identify geographically-relevant content having metadata indicating a geographic relevance area which satisfies the relevance rule relative to the present location of the aircraft, comprise:
determining at least one geographic search term based on the present location of the aircraft; and operating a search engine to query content servers using the determined at least one geographic search term to identify geographically-relevant content for distribution to the IFE system of the aircraft, wherein operations of the search engine to query content servers using the determined at least one geographic search term to identify geographically-relevant content for distribution to the IFE system of the aircraft, comprise:
querying at least two of: online publications site servers; Resource Description Framework (RDF) Site Summary (RSS) web feed servers; social media site servers;
and photo sharing site servers, using the determined at least one geographic search term to identify geographically-relevant content for distribution to the IFE system of the aircraft.

8 . The ground-based content curation platform of claim 1 ,
wherein the computing the maximum text length, the maximum video playout time, or the content expiration time comprises computing the maximum video playout time based on the present ground speed of the aircraft; and wherein the filtering content of the selected content server based on at least one rule that removes any sub-content having the text content length greater than the maximum text length, the video playout time greater than the maximum video playout time, or any sub-content that was initially published or initially made available from the server more than the content expiration time before the present time of day from being included in the filtered content comprises filtering content of the selected content server based on at least one rule that removes any sub-content having the video playout time greater than the maximum video playout time from being included in the filtered content.

9 . The ground-based content curation platform of claim 1 ,
wherein the computing the maximum text length, the maximum video playout time, or the content expiration time comprises computing the content expiration time based on the present ground speed of the aircraft; and wherein the filtering content of the selected content server based on at least one rule that removes any sub-content having the text content length greater than the maximum text length, the video playout

Assignees

• Thales Avionics Inc

Inventors

• Stuart Margaret
• Sumien Maneesha
• Hong Peter

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• G08G5/59

  in accordance with predefined flight zones, e.g. to avoid prohibited zones · 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

• H04N21/25841

  involving the geographical location of the client (retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00) · CPC title

• H04N21/2146

  located in mass transportation means, e.g. aircraft, train or bus (flight-deck installations for entertainment or communications B64D11/0015; arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62; moving wireless networks H04W84/005) · CPC title