Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080204313 | Radio Navigation Satellite System Wall Power Automatic Timer - A radio navigation satellite system (RNSS) automatic timer for regulating a flow of wall power is adapted to determine time and position information based at least in part on signals received from RNSS satellites, determine an operational state as a function on the time and position information and regulate a flow of power from a wall power source as a function of the operational state. Through judicious integration of a RNSS receiver into an automatic timer, the need for a user to enter time, date, and position information is advantageously reduced or eliminated outright. The need for a backup battery to maintain the clock state in the event of a power failure is also eliminated. | 08-28-2008 |
20080300776 | Traffic lane management system - A management system for a traffic lane achieves congestion management objectives by dynamically predicting future vehicle density in a traffic lane and assigning to a requesting user a time slot for entering the traffic lane selected independent of any user requested time and based at least in part on a current prediction about future vehicle density in the traffic lane. The current prediction is based at least in part on predicted trajectories of vehicles, which are determined in turn based at least in part on actual trajectories of vehicles. | 12-04-2008 |
20090018761 | Traffic lane management system - A management system for a managed vehicle traffic lane adaptively and selectively extends authorization to use the lane to lower priority vehicle service classes when extension can be done without adversely impacting higher priority vehicle service classes. The management system offers significant quality of life improvement for motorists in congested urban areas by improving throughput of managed and unmanaged lanes and reducing travel times and fuel consumption. | 01-15-2009 |
20090081960 | Radio Navigation Satellite System Wall-Powered Electrical Appliance Controller - RNSS controller having a Radio Navigation Satellite System (RNSS) receiver and adapted to exert time- and location-dependent control over at least one function of a wall-powered electrical appliance in which the RNSS controller is integrated, and methods of use thereof. Such an RNSS controller in some embodiments comprises an RNSS receiver and a signal controller adapted to generate control signals based at least in part on information received from the RNSS receiver and provide the control signals to a function controller adapted to use information in the control signals to control at least one function of the appliance. | 03-26-2009 |
20090171772 | RNSS-based lane-level vehicle tolling method and system - An RNSS-based lane-level vehicle tolling method and system for a roadway having at least one managed traffic lane and at least one unmanaged traffic lane, and on-vehicle equipment for use therein, overcome lane identification limitations of RNSS-based tolling and achieves lane-level tolling through explicit lane identification. In some embodiments, a vehicle transmits a lane presence indication (LPI) to indicate to off-vehicle toll processing whether the vehicle is currently in a managed or unmanaged traffic lane. In other embodiments, on-vehicle toll processing uses lane identification information locally to determine whether the vehicle is currently in a managed or unmanaged traffic lane. | 07-02-2009 |
20110046987 | Method and system for virtual inflight reservation of post-flight resources - Methods and systems for virtual inflight reservation and a reservation manager for use therein allow passengers to effectively reserve post-flight resources while in-flight, and without having connectivity to a terrestrial communication network. In exemplary operation, before departure, a flight is allocated certain resources and a temporary hold is placed in a terrestrial reservation system on these resources. While in-flight, passengers reserve desired resources within the temporarily held resources. These reservations are “virtual” since they have not yet been processed by the terrestrial reservation system, although the temporary hold guarantees that the post-flight resource will be available when the reservation is later processed by the terrestrial reservation system. After the flight arrives at its destination, the reservations are processed by the terrestrial reservation system. | 02-24-2011 |
20110063998 | SERIAL NETWORKING FIBER OPTIC INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM NETWORK CONFIGURATION - Serial networking dedicated fiber optic inflight entertainment (IFE) systems, methods therefor and components thereof, that exhibit improved configuration and failover attributes through implementation of novel network configuration protocols. In some aspects of the invention, such an IFE system comprises a plurality of head end line replaceable units (HE-LRUs) and a plurality of serial networking line replaceable units (SN-LRUs), wherein each of the SN-LRUs individually detects that a closed system network has been formed between the plurality of HE-LRUs and the plurality of SN-LRUs based on a plurality of packets sourced by at least one of the HE-LRUs and received on a plurality of ports of each of the SN-LRUs, and wherein in response to detecting that the closed system network has been formed one of the SN-LRUs blocks one of its ports based on further detecting that the SN-LRU is a middle SN-LRU. | 03-17-2011 |
20110065303 | VIDEO DISPLAY UNIT DOCKING ASSEMBLY FOR FIBER-TO-THE-SCREEN INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM - A Video Display Unit (VDU) docking system for a dedicated fiber optic in-flight-entertainment (IFE) system allows VDUs to be quickly replaced by personnel who do not need specialized training in fiber coupling without risk of damage to fiber optic components of the dedicated fiber optic IFE system. In some embodiments, a VDU docking station is configured to receive a VDU such that when a VDU is inserted therein, the VDU becomes automatically communicatively coupled with a fiber optic distribution network of the IFE system via a blind mate connection. In some arrangements, a blank LRU having no operative user interface elements but sufficient functionality to maintain communicative coupling is mounted in the VDU docking station in lieu of a VDU. In some configurations, the VDU docking station includes an embedded switch for maintaining communicative coupling across the VDU docking station in the absence of a VDU. | 03-17-2011 |
20110107377 | SERIAL NETWORKING FIBER-TO-THE-SEAT INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM - An entertainment system that exhibits advantages of fiber-to-the-seat systems, has improved failure recovery characteristics, and reduces the connection components is disclosed. In one aspect, an inflight entertainment system comprises a plurality of head end line replaceable units physically interconnected in a ring configuration and a plurality of serially-connected networking line replaceable units physically interconnected in a serial configuration, wherein two of the serially-connected networking line replaceable units at the edge of the serial configuration are physically interconnected with two of the head end line replaceable units, respectively, wherein a loop-free head end data path is maintained between active head end line replaceable units by regulating link participation in the head end data path, and wherein one or more loop-free serially-connected networking data paths are maintained between at least one of the two head end line replaceable units and active serially-connected networking line replaceable units by regulating link participation in the serially-connected networking data paths. | 05-05-2011 |
20110115286 | Inflight entertainment system power provisioning - An inflight entertainment (IFE) system receives power from a multiple of power supply units that each supply power to passenger seats in a multiple of multi-seat groups, wherein different power supply units supply power to adjacent passenger seats in each multi-seat group. The IFE system exhibits reduced power supply unit costs and incurs lower operational penalties in the event a power supply unit fails, and is particularly well suited for a wide body aircraft wherein flight attendant call buttons are integral with the IFE system. For example, where flight attendant call buttons are integral with the IFE system and a power supply unit fails in the present arrangement, every passenger still has access to a flight attendant call button associated with an adjacent seat, which can remove the requirement that passengers be relocated or moved to another flight in order for the aircraft to depart. | 05-19-2011 |
20110126242 | Inflight entertainment system with screen configurable video display unit roles - An inflight entertainment (IFE) system provides screen configurable video display unit (VDU) roles. Screen configurable VDU roles allow a role for each VDU in the system to be specified in the field through user inputs on the VDU and advertised to the head end system to create awareness of the specified role. Screen configurable VDU roles can reduce the number of discrete VDU line replaceable unit (LRU) types deployed on a single aircraft and across a fleet of aircraft, reducing hardware and software upgrade and sparing costs, while adding substantial flexibility to the system by removing cabin positioning restrictions on certain VDU types and facilitating system reconfiguration. | 05-26-2011 |
20110134333 | Inflight entertainment system video display unit with swappable entertainment processor board - A video display unit (VDU) for an inflight entertainment (IFE) system, and a main circuit board and swappable entertainment processor board for use therein. The swappable entertainment processor board detachably engages with the main circuit board, allowing a main circuit board of a single design configuration to be deployed on VDUs throughout an aircraft (or across a fleet of aircraft) with entertainment processor boards of various design configurations that support different IFE feature sets. In addition to facilitating differentiated IFE services, the present invention permits rapid deployment of new technologies through redesign and swapping of entertainment processor boards. Moreover, the main circuit board may be advantageously designed to accept an industry standard entertainment processor board, which allows an entire shipset of VDUs (or a subset thereof) to be upgraded by simply swapping-in an entertainment processor board compliant with the latest version of the industry standard. | 06-09-2011 |
20110162016 | Inflight entertainment system video display synchronization - Inflight entertainment (IFE) system with remote control capability and video display synchronization. In one aspect, remote control capability and video display synchronization are used to extend the advantages of touch screen IFE passenger controls to airline passengers who cannot easily reach their seatback video display unit (VDU) due to, for example, cabin seating arrangements, age or disabilities. These advantages are realized through the expedient of a passenger control unit (PCU) touch screen video display that is synchronized with a VDU video display. When the passenger makes a selection by touching the PCU touch screen video display, the VDU video display reflects the selection at latency levels below human perception. In another aspect, remote control capability and video display synchronization are used to allow selections to be made remotely from the passenger's seat, such as by a flight attendant, parent, or interactive game competitor, and reflected on both a remote video display and the passenger's seatback VDU and/or PCU video display at latency levels below human perception. | 06-30-2011 |
20130055321 | Inflight Entertainment System with Selectively Preloaded Seat End Video Caches - An inflight entertainment (IFE) system preloads from head end equipment onto seat end video caches subsets of prerecorded video entertainment programs from a library of prerecorded video entertainment programs stored on the head end equipment. Preloading is done independent of play requests made by passengers using the IFE system. The selected subsets are selected using selection metrics such as program popularity, passenger demographics and/or passenger preferences. The same or a different subset may be selected for different passengers. As a result of the selective preloading of the seat end video caches, if the head end equipment or the distribution system becomes inoperable during the flight, the IFE system is able to continue to deliver a limited offering of popular, demographically indicated and/or passenger preferred video entertainment from the seat end video caches, without requiring a large multiplier in storage capacity or loading time. | 02-28-2013 |
20130074108 | Seatback Video Display Unit Wireless Access Points for Inflight Entertainment System - An IFE system includes seatback VDUs having dedicated wireless access points to which airline passengers can connect using mobile client devices and access an IP network infrastructure. The seatback VDUs are configured to receive requests from passengers to access the IP network infrastructure via the dedicated wireless access points, activate the wireless access points and output access credentials, and the dedicated wireless access points are configured to receive from mobile client devices the access credentials and validate the access credentials whereupon the mobile client devices are authorized to access the IP network infrastructure via the wireless access points. | 03-21-2013 |
20130081091 | Seat End Program Cache Updates for Inflight Entertainment System - An inflight entertainment system and method for use therein reduce the loading time required to preload programs identified in playlists onto seat end equipment. Loading time is reduced by retaining programs included in playlists on seat end equipment across flights and making incremental updates to such programs to account for changes in playlists, rather than updating them wholesale for each flight. Loading time is further reduced by adding programs to seat end equipment for the current flight, where possible, by copying such programs from other seat end equipment, rather than copying them from head end equipment. | 03-28-2013 |
20130083696 | SERIAL NETWORKING FIBER OPTIC INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM NETWORK CONFIGURATION - Serial networking dedicated fiber optic inflight entertainment (IFE) systems, methods therefor and components thereof, that exhibit improved configuration and failover attributes through implementation of novel network configuration protocols. In some aspects of the invention, such an IFE system comprises a plurality of head end line replaceable units (HE-LRUs) and a plurality of serial networking line replaceable units (SN-LRUs), wherein each of the SN-LRUs individually detects that a closed system network has been formed between the plurality of HE-LRUs and the plurality of SN-LRUs based on a plurality of packets sourced by at least one of the HE-LRUs and received on a plurality of ports of each of the SN-LRUs, and wherein in response to detecting that the closed system network has been formed one of the SN-LRUs blocks one of its ports based on further detecting that the SN-LRU is a middle SN-LRU. | 04-04-2013 |
20140192268 | Personal Interactive Overhead Projection Inflight Entertainment System - In a personal interactive overhead projection IFE system, an overhead projector associated with a passenger's seat projects video onto a passive substrate attached to the seat. The passive substrate may be a tray table or a dedicated video projection screen. The passenger sitting in the seat controls the projected video by positioning his or her finger or making hand gestures proximate the passive substrate. An overhead camera records the hand actions. An overhead processor interprets the hand actions and controls the projected video based on the hand actions. The system provides highly desirable personal and interactive features while obviating the need for seatback video display units or passenger control units. | 07-10-2014 |
20140269262 | SERIAL NETWORKING FIBER-TO-THE-SEAT INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM - An entertainment system that has improved failure recovery characteristics and reduces the connection components is disclosed. In one aspect, an inflight entertainment system comprises a plurality of physically interconnected head end line replaceable units and a plurality of serially-connected networking line replaceable units physically interconnected in a serial configuration, wherein two of the serially-connected networking line replaceable units at the edge of the serial configuration are physically interconnected with two of the head end line replaceable units, respectively, wherein a loop-free head end data path is maintained between active head end line replaceable units by regulating link participation in the head end data path, and wherein one or more loop- free serially-connected networking data paths are maintained between at least one of the two head end line replaceable units and active serially-connected networking line replaceable units by regulating link participation in the serially-connected networking data paths. | 09-18-2014 |
20140316965 | Method and System for Managing Sovereign/Non-Sovereign Dual Debit Accounts - A sovereign/non-sovereign dual debit account (DDA) management system includes a DDA entity having a sovereign debit account containing sovereign currency and a non-sovereign debit account containing non-sovereign currency and a currency trading entity. The system further includes a real-time digital currency exchange (rtDCE). The DDA entity and the currency trading entity partner through the rtDCE to add, in real-time, sovereign currency to the DDA entity sovereign debit account by selling non-sovereign currency from the DDA entity non-sovereign debit account to the currency trading entity at a current exchange rate, and vice versa. The currency trading entity may or may not be a DDA entity. The system enables DDA holders to use sovereign and non-sovereign currency interchangeably for everyday commercial transactions, removing a significant hurdle to mass adoption of non-sovereign currency. | 10-23-2014 |