U.S. patent application number 12/210160 was filed with the patent office on 2009-03-12 for systems and methods for delivery of wireless data and multimedia content to aircraft.
This patent application is currently assigned to PROXIMETRY, INC.. Invention is credited to Wladyslaw Jan Buga, Tracy Raymond Trent.
Application Number | 20090070841 12/210160 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40433284 |
Filed Date | 2009-03-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090070841 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Buga; Wladyslaw Jan ; et
al. |
March 12, 2009 |
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DELIVERY OF WIRELESS DATA AND MULTIMEDIA
CONTENT TO AIRCRAFT
Abstract
Systems and methods for provisioning of media content and data
to aircraft are described. A hierarchical network, including one or
more wireless networks, may be used to provided selected media
content to aircraft and update aircraft with specific content based
on tailored criteria. Aircraft arrival may be detected and content
uploaded based on presence at an airport or other landing
facility.
Inventors: |
Buga; Wladyslaw Jan; (Rancho
Santa Fe, CA) ; Trent; Tracy Raymond; (San Diego,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
COOLEY GODWARD KRONISH LLP;ATTN: Patent Group
Suite 1100, 777 - 6th Street, NW
WASHINGTON
DC
20001
US
|
Assignee: |
PROXIMETRY, INC.
San Diego
CA
|
Family ID: |
40433284 |
Appl. No.: |
12/210160 |
Filed: |
September 12, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60971823 |
Sep 12, 2007 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
725/116 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/06 20130101;
H04B 7/18506 20130101; H04L 67/12 20130101; H04L 67/325
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
725/116 |
International
Class: |
H04N 7/173 20060101
H04N007/173 |
Claims
1. A system for distributing media content to a plurality of
aircraft, comprising: a first local controller disposed on a first
aircraft of said plurality of aircraft, said first local controller
configured to receive media content from one or more wireless
connections; and a regional controller comprising: a first server
configured to store a set of media content for delivery to said
plurality of aircraft; a software module configured to select one
or more items of media content from said set of media content, said
selection based at least in part on a media content prioritization
criteria associated with said first aircraft; and a base station
communicatively coupled to the first server and the first local
controller to facilitate transfer of said one or more items of
media content to said first aircraft via a wireless connection.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein said regional controller is
further configured to: detect the presence of said first aircraft
at an airport facility; and provide flight information associated
with said first aircraft to a global controller to facilitate media
content provisioning of said first aircraft through said regional
controller.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein the regional controller is
configured to select, based on media content metadata provided by
said global controller, said one or more items of media content for
delivery to said first aircraft.
4. The system of claim 3 wherein said base station is configured to
receive said one or more items of media content to be provided to
said first aircraft from said regional controller and provide, via
a wireless connection, said one or more items of media content to
said first local controller.
5. The system of claim 4 wherein said one or more items of media
content are further provided to an IFE system, disposed on said
first aircraft, from said local controller.
6. The system of claim 1 further comprising a repeater module
configured to receive, via a first wireless connection to said base
station, said one or more items of media content; and provide, via
a second wireless connection to said first local controller, said
one or more items of media content to said first local
controller.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein said first local controller
disposed on said first aircraft of said plurality of aircraft is
further configured to: search for the presence of a second local
controller disposed on a second aircraft of said plurality of
aircraft; establish, responsive to said search, a wireless
connection with said second local controller; receive, from said
second local controller, a content update requirement associated
with said second aircraft; and provide, responsive to said received
content update requirement, a second set of one or more items of
media content to said second aircraft.
8. The system of claim 7 wherein said first local controller is
communicatively coupled to a first IFE system disposed on the first
aircraft and said second local controller is communicatively
coupled to a second IFE system on said second aircraft.
9. The system of claim 1 wherein said regional controller is
further configured to: search for the presence of said first local
controller disposed on said first aircraft of said plurality of
aircraft; establish, responsive to said search, a wireless
connection with said first local controller; receive, from said
first local controller, flight information associated with said
first aircraft; transfer said flight information to a global
controller coupled to said regional controller, wherein said global
controller is configured to schedule content update to ones of said
plurality of aircraft; and receive, from said global controller,
media update metadata associated with said first aircraft to
facilitate uploading of media content to said first of said
plurality of aircraft.
10. A system for wirelessly providing media content to aircraft,
comprising: a first local controller disposed on a first aircraft
of a plurality of aircraft; and a second local controller disposed
on a second aircraft of said plurality of aircraft, said second
local controller configured to: search for the presence of said
first local controller disposed on said first aircraft; establish,
responsive to said search, a wireless connection with said first
local controller; receive, from said first local controller, a
content update requirement associated with said first aircraft; and
provide, responsive to said content update requirement, one or more
items of media content to said first local controller.
11. The system of claim 10 wherein said one or more items of media
content are provided from a set of media content stored on said
first aircraft.
12. The system of claim 10 wherein said one or more items of media
content are provided from a set of media content provided to said
first local controller from a regional controller wirelessly
connected to said second local controller.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C.
.sctn.119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.
60/971,823, entitled WIRELESS MULTIMEDIA DELIVERY SYSTEMS AND
METHODS FOR CONNECTING WITH GROUND BASED AIRCRAFT AT OR IN THE
VICINITY OF AIRPORTS, filed on Sep. 12, 2007. This application is
also related to U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No.
11/754,066, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR WIRELESS RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT, filed on May 25, 2007, to U.S. Utility patent
application Ser. No. 11/754,083, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR
WIRELESS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT WITH MULTI-PROTOCOL MANAGEMENT, filed
on May 25, 2007, and to U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No.
11/754,093, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR WIRELESS RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT WITH QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS) MANAGEMENT, filed on May
25, 2007. The content of each of these applications is hereby
incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all
purposes.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates generally to wireless delivery
of multi-media content. More particularly but not exclusively, the
present invention relates to systems and methods for delivering
wireless content to aircraft on the ground or in the vicinity of an
airport or other ground facility.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Modern aircraft, such as those used by commercial airlines,
use In Flight Entertainment (IFE) management systems to manage the
distribution of data and multi-media content to various aircraft
systems, and monitor consumption of digital video and other
content. In addition, IFE systems manage distribution of these
assets within the aircraft and transfer of data and content to and
from the IFE. This is currently done with a device known as a
Portable Data Loader (PDL), which is a notebook computer manually
carrier onboard an aircraft and synchronized, typically with a
wired connection, with the IFE system.
[0004] Unfortunately, these PDL systems have a number of drawbacks,
including significant costs, lack of real time transmission and
update capabilities, lack of distribution flexibility, lack of
remote communication with aircraft tracking systems, as well as
other disadvantages. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for
improved systems for distributing multimedia content to
aircraft.
SUMMARY
[0005] The present invention is related generally to data and
multi-media content provisioning for aircraft using wireless
networks.
[0006] In one aspect, the present invention is directed to systems
for intelligently providing media content to aircraft using
wireless connections.
[0007] In another aspect, the present invention is directed to
methods for intelligently providing media content to aircraft via
wireless connections.
[0008] Additional aspects of the present invention are further
described and illustrated herein with respect to the following
detailed description and appended drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] For a better understanding of the nature of the features of
the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed
description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in
which:
[0010] FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a GateSync (GS) system
implementation, in accordance with aspects of the present
invention.
[0011] FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a GS hierarchical and
distributed architecture, in accordance with aspects of the present
invention.
[0012] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of node connectivity and
topology of a regional community, in accordance with aspects of the
present invention.
[0013] FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a Regional Controller
(RC) implementation.
[0014] FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of a Local Controller (LC)
implementation.
[0015] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of GS wireless networking and
connectivity to an aircraft, in accordance with aspects of the
present invention.
[0016] FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of a GS operational &
peering scheme, in accordance with aspects of the present
invention.
[0017] FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of a screen shot view
showing a list of aircraft, in accordance with aspects of the
present invention.
[0018] FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of a screen shot view
showing aircraft details, in accordance with aspects of the present
invention.
[0019] FIG. 10 illustrates a screen show view showing content
assigned to the aircraft(s).
[0020] FIG. 11 illustrates one embodiment of a media and
information distribution algorithm, in accordance with aspects of
the present invention.
[0021] FIG. 12 illustrates one embodiment of a wireless network
configuration and radio resource allocation algorithm, in
accordance with aspects of the present invention.
[0022] FIG. 13 illustrates an example of roles and associated
priorities in accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0023] FIG. 14a illustrates a screen shot of an embodiment of
advertisement provisioning in accordance with aspect of the present
invention.
[0024] FIG. 14b illustrates a screen shot of an embodiment of
flight data upload provisioning in accordance with aspect of the
present invention.
[0025] FIG. 14c illustrates a screen shot of an embodiment of
current content upload provisioning in accordance with aspect of
the present invention.
[0026] FIG. 14d illustrates a screen shot of an embodiment of
flight data download provisioning in accordance with aspect of the
present invention.
[0027] FIG. 14e illustrates a screen shot of an embodiment of
packages provisioning in accordance with aspect of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
[0028] This application is related to U.S. Utility patent
application Ser. No. 11/754,066, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR
WIRELESS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, U.S. Utility patent application Ser.
No. 11/754,083, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR WIRELESS RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT WITH MULTI-PROTOCOL MANAGEMENT, and to U.S. Utility
patent application Ser. No. 11/754,093, entitled SYSTEMS AND
METHODS FOR WIRELESS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT WITH QUALITY OF SERVICE
(QOS) MANAGEMENT. The content of each of these applications is
hereby incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. These
applications may be denoted herein collectively as the "related
applications" for purposes of brevity.
[0029] With the emergence of new broadband wireless technologies
such as WiMAX (IEEE 802.16), mesh networks, and other emerging
networking technologies, there is an opportunity to establish
wireless networking as a potentially new paradigm of media
distribution. Aircraft, such as commercial airliners and their
onboard devices, can be connected by wireless broadband networks to
airline and service provider operations for performing various IT
related business functions, including data, media and information
exchanges, deliveries, and distributions. All of this can be
accomplished by using one or more dedicated, on or off-airport base
stations communicating directly with onboard aircraft radio
transceivers.
[0030] In accordance with the present invention, embodiments of a
media/content distribution system, also denoted herein as a
GateSync (GS) system, are described. A GS system is configured to
enable intelligent data and multi-media information distribution
and exchange to and/or from aircraft, either while on the ground or
in the vicinity of the ground, using wireless networks. For
example, aircraft owned by commercial airlines such as United
Airlines or American Airlines may be wirelessly connected to a GS
system while on the ground at a gate or terminal, in a parking
area, or while taxiing to or from runways, terminals or other
airport locations, with data and/or media uploaded or downloaded
from the aircraft.
[0031] In a typical embodiment, a GS system may include
content/media management servers, media distribution routers,
wireless base stations and/or repeaters (transmitter(s) and
receiver(s)), multiple antenna systems, mobile and stationary
wireless nodes with single or multiple transmitters, as well as
receivers and antennas. Management and control software agents,
which are application programs/modules providing device and/or
system management functionality, may be present on some or all GS
components for enabling management and configuring and controlling
communication between various connected GS components. The related
applications describe embodiments of the use of such agents in a
wireless network such as the wireless networks described
herein.
[0032] The GS components may be configured generally into Regional
Controllers (RCs) configured to communication with multiple Local
Controllers (LCs), which are typically installed onboard aircraft
and configured to be in wireless communication with a Base Station
(BS) integral with or coupled to the RC. These various system
components may further be communicatively coupled to a Network
Operations Center (NOC) that includes interfaces, such as GUIs or
other user interfaces, that are configured to allow operators to
manage and control systemwide operation to the various GS
components, including the RCs and LCs, as well as the content to be
loaded and retrieved from the aircraft. In addition, a GS system
may include or be coupled with one or Global Controllers (GCs) that
may also be coupled to the RCs to provide content. A typical GC
will be assigned to a particular airline to allow the airline to
provisional appropriate content to its respective aircraft at
various RCs.
[0033] In addition to the various GS embodiments further described
below with respect to the drawings, in some embodiments, the
following components and functional capabilities may also be
included in GS system implementations.
[0034] Fountain Codes--Fountain codes may be used to ensure
delivery of content in a noise and/or error prone environment.
Fountain codes have been shown to be useful for multicast problems
such as may arise in some embodiments of the present invention. Use
of such fountain codes are described in, for example, M. Luby, "LT
Codes," Proc. Of IEEE Symposium on the Foundations of Computer
Science (FOCS), 2002, pp. 271-280, and in U.S. Utility Pat. No.
6,307,487, both of which are incorporated by reference herein in
their entirety.
[0035] Remote login for maintenance functionality--This capability
may be provided to operation staff at the Network Operations Center
(NOC) or to aircraft maintenance staff or airlines staff tasked
with managing content to gain insight into the status of on
aircraft devices, such as the local controllers (LCs), or status of
other GC components. The operator is provided with an interface in
the NOC to check that content is indeed properly transferred
(validating reporting) to the various aircraft, debug systems that
are reported to be malfunctioning, restart devices or interfaces
remotely, and/or collect information on system usage such as memory
or CPU cycles that may be causing performance degradation or
unreliability. In some applications, the ability to do this without
physically boarding an aircraft is important as it permits
technical and system expertise to be applied to potential failures
without using critical aircraft down time and/or without going
through the process of gaining permission to access sensitive
airport locations or sensitive aircraft spaces.
[0036] Interface to multiple avionics systems--in some embodiments,
a GS system may be configured to act as a "mailbox," for
transferring files and/or data streams from onboard aircraft
systems to offsite systems for distribution or analysis and from
offsite systems to onboard systems for use. In addition to onboard
entertainment systems (such as IFE systems and the like), there are
many other data producing and consuming systems onboard a typical
aircraft. Examples of these include ACARS (Aircraft Communication
Addressing and Reporting System) and flight deck systems. One
application of the present invention is the delivery and reporting
of electronic flight bag data to the flight deck to update charts
for navigation. Another ACARS application example is downloading
log files of performance of avionics systems and scheduling of
maintenance and logistics of spare parts based on time (such as
hours) since the last service/maintenance and/or repair, as well as
aircraft performance measurements.
[0037] These various aircraft onboard systems each have specific
interface descriptions, with potentially proprietary interfaces
and/or protocols. In some cases, an Ethernet connection may be
physically adequate to access the systems, however, security
requirements may be required or necessary in order to access data.
For example, in the case of flight deck systems, a local controller
(LC) as described herein may need to shut down all other
communication interfaces while a dedicated connection is opened to
transfer EFB content, then the interface is disconnected and other
interfaces are reinitialized to communicate with other on or off
aircraft systems. In typical embodiments, digital certificates may
be used based on the specific requirements of each interface to
improve performance.
[0038] Live feeds besides remote login--Live feeds may be enabled
in GS implementations in certain embodiments. While the primary
function of a typical GS system is to deliver data and media
content efficiently, the infrastructure may also be used for
providing real time services such as audio, video or VoIP between
the aircraft (i.e. crew, cabin, passengers) and/or to off aircraft
personnel or others. For example, aircraft crews may desire to call
the terminal or airline controller to provide or receive
instructions for cleaning crews or others during cabin preparation.
Security personnel may monitor passenger or crew behavior over live
video feeds. A wide variety of additional live feed applications
that can be facilitated by a GS system in accordance with the
present invention are also envisioned.
[0039] In some embodiments, multiple communication layers may be
coordinated to implement optimization of networking algorithms in
accordance with conditions such as channel characteristics and/or
other specific profile information. This is described in further
detail elsewhere herein, however, in general, coordination of OSI
layer 1 (PHY), 2 (MAC) and 3 (IP), as well as, in some cases,
higher layers such as layer 7 for content management, may be
performed dynamically to optimize network performance against a
specific usage profile. In one example, this involves maximizing
network throughput (in Bytes, etc.). Other examples include
guaranteeing priority deadlines before aircraft takeoff, providing
the best connectivity to the weakest link, optimization of
broadcast session, providing higher priority to premier customers,
and the like.
[0040] Ability to shift profiles for system optimization--In some
implementations, configuration coordination and tuning of multiple
layers to optimize against a profile may be done. In this case
optimization is dynamically implemented and changes based on
triggers, such as presence of premier customer aircraft, incomplete
transmission of critical data to aircraft due to depart, specified
priorities from airlines as to content distribution timing, as well
as others. This may be done by providing closed loop dynamic
invocation of optimization profiles from a library of canned or
predefined parameter sets.
[0041] Ability to coordinate reporting cross regional sites--In a
typical embodiment a system in accordance with the present
invention will be configured in hierarchical fashion, with two or
more RCs coordinated by a GC. With this configuration, the GC
manages media transmission and determine at which RC particular
media content will be provided to particular aircraft. If an
aircraft is traveling between two or more regions, this
coordination may be done based on aircraft downtimes at particular
airports, or based on other criteria. A central NOC may also be
included which will provide a window into reporting from other
system components, both for current status of devices, wireless
links and content transfer, as well as for historical tracking of
both of these, as well as other system collected information. In
addition, security information may be stored for use in situations
where the aircraft are not connected via broadband or other
connectivity to an RC. The NOC will contain information as to
upload and download requirements as well as last reported
transactions, health of devices, and identities of LCs. Thus, for
example, where GSM is the only means of communication it can be
used to provide information guiding transactions for unconnected
modes of exchange as are further described below.
[0042] "Mail drop scenario with unconnected BS and GS"--In cases
where it is not desirable to establish an RC with broadband
connectivity, a "mail drop" RC can be established. This RC
implementation differs from the standard RC implementation in that
it does not have its own broadband connection to pull down fresh
content from the MC. Instead it uploads fresh content from aircraft
that land at the associated airport to create a content cache, and
then transfers that content to other aircraft that don't have that
particular content (for example, a single movie that is part of a
monthly entertainment update). In this embodiment the RC functions
similar to a standard RC, however, it uploads content as well as
data from other aircraft, rather than from a central content
distribution site.
[0043] No BS peer to peer--In some implementations, two aircraft
having LCs will be present at the same airport, where the airport
does not have an RC. Nevertheless, it may be desirable to exchange
content between the aircraft so that any appropriate missing
content stored on one aircraft can be exchanged with the other, and
vice versa. In order to do this, the respective LCs may be
configured to establish communications with each other and
communicate to exchange the information. To facilitate this
approach, LCs may get location information from GSM connectivity
(or via other mechanisms, such as on board GPS systems or other
aircraft positioning systems as a backup), and then determine which
frequencies they may be permitted to use for radio communication.
They may then try to establish communication with other aircraft
and associated LCs based on this information. If the LC receives a
response to its signals it then establishes a relationship with the
other LC (for example, the first one to transmit may act as a
"super peer" and controls the transaction in a fashion similar to
an RC) and uses metadata drawn from the GSM (or other connectivity)
to establish security bonafides and content deltas across the two
LCs. The content is then transmitted up and down link (absent the
sophisticated optimization features) to update the respective
content inventory of the LC and the superPeer (for example with the
LC further configured to reboot in RC mode).
[0044] Data and information distribution algorithms--Content may be
assigned a type, priority, aircraft association (such as based on
type of aircraft, time of arrival/departure, flight number, etc.)
to facilitate content distribution and loading. This may be mapped
to the airline/aircraft, arrival and/or departure times, etc. The
GS system may be further configured to dynamically adapt to changes
in the underlying information (such as changes in aircraft, arrival
and departure times, airports, local wireless conditions, etc.) to
manipulate and modify how content provisioning and network
configuration is done.
[0045] Examples of functionality that may be employed in various
embodiments of a GS system in accordance with the present invention
include: centralized data and content distribution and management,
unicast (i.e. one source, several sinks (aircraft)) transmission,
multicast or broadcast transmission, chunking/parallelization &
multicast (Bit-Torrent like), fountain codes used for multicast
(for example, modified by time to departure priority), scheduling
based on dynamically monitored network map, distributed and
multi-hop communication links, mailbox host modes, peer-to-peer
connectivity (such as between LCs), dynamically configured mesh
networks (such as between multiple LCs), relay communication links
(between LCs and other LCs and/or LCs and BCs), determination of
link performance characteristics (such as link performance margins,
SNIRs, etc), dynamic adjustment of modulation and data throughput
rates (configuration/adaptation of PHY layer), advanced antenna
system (such as space division access), dynamic time scheduling and
dynamic content delivery selection, time bounded constraints, such
as dynamic network and/or content distribution configuration based
on aircraft landing and departure times, time bounded priorities
and exceptions, node availability times (such as appearing and
disappearing nodes (aircraft/LCs) within reach of a particular BS
or RC), dynamic adjustment of communication infrastructure and
protocols, use of TCP/UPD/IP, protocol overhead and performance
management, dynamic configuration and adjustment of MAC protocols,
as well as advanced antenna systems ((for example, beam forming,
Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO), 802.11, etc.).
[0046] To realize the above capabilities as well as others, typical
GS implementations include the following elements: content/media
management servers, media distribution routers, dedicated on or
off-airport wireless base stations and/or repeaters (transmitter(s)
and receiver(s)), advanced antenna systems, mobile and stationary
wireless nodes with single or multiple transmitters, receivers and
antennas. Management and control software agents, such as are
described in the related applications, may be present on some or
all GS components for the purpose of enabling management and
controlling communication between the various GS components.
[0047] Attention is now directed to FIG. 1, which illustrates an
embodiment of a typical GateSync (GS) system 100 (also denoted
herein as "GS 100" for brevity). GS 100 includes communication and
networking components configured to communicate with one or more
aircraft 112 located on or near an airport facility 110. For
example, the airport 110 may include a terminal building or
buildings 114 with one or more gates B5-B11 where aircraft 112 may
be parked, as shown in FIG. 1. Other airport configurations or
other facility configurations are also contemplated. The aircraft
112 may also be transiting to or from the gates and/or other
airport facilities or may also be located on runways or aircraft
parking areas. Alternately, in some embodiments, the aircraft 112
may be taking off or landing at the airport while communicating
with GS 100. Each aircraft 112 typically has an onboard with a
local controller (LC) 145 configured to communicate with other LC
145s and/or with a Regional Controller (RC) 220 and Base Station
(BS) 130 via a sector controller 140 through antenna 120 and/or
repeater 125.
[0048] An LC 145 typically comprises hardware and software
components installed on the aircraft 112. An LC 145 may include one
or more processors, radios, antennas, computer hardware, software
and/or interfaces for communicating with other aircraft devices, as
well as the BS 130 and/or other aircraft 112. The radio components
of the LC 145 may be shared with other onboard aircraft systems or
other onboard aircraft radios. The LC 145 is typically coupled with
the aircraft's IFE system to provide media content to the IFE.
[0049] In a typical situation, the aircraft 112 are parked for
limited time intervals at the gates where they are within a reach
of one or more base stations 130 that are configured for media
delivery to the nodes (i.e., the aircraft 112 LC 145) via one or
more sector controllers 140 through one or more antennas 120. In
addition, one or more repeaters 125 may be used to provide
additional coverage to the aircraft 112 by extending coverage
range. FIG. 1 illustrates example link speeds between various
communication components, such as 20 Mbps between repeater 125 and
antenna 120, however, these link speeds are shown for purposes of
illustration, not limitation. Accordingly, other link speeds and
connectivity, either fixed or dynamically determined, may also be
supported by various embodiments.
[0050] Antennas 120 may be located on the airport facility boundary
in some embodiments; however, in some embodiments it may be
desirable to locate one or more of the antennas 120 offsite, such
as at a location near to the airport but not on the airport
facility. This is illustrated in FIG. 1, where antenna 120 and
repeater 125 are located off of the airport boundary. This
implementation may be useful for business or regulatory reasons,
such as to minimize on-site costs or other regulatory burdens, or
for other reasons. Antennas 120 are connected to one or more sector
controllers 140, with the sector controllers configured to
communicate to various regions of the airport or to various
aircraft within a region. For example, an antenna 120 may be a
directional antenna with coverage to aircraft in a 60% (or other
angular) direction, with a corresponding sector controller matched
to the particular antenna and coupled to the BS 130.
[0051] In addition an RC 220 may include servers 158, 160, 162 and
170 configured to receive, store, prepare and/or deliver media
content to the aircraft 112. The media content may be provisioned
as further described below and stored on a content server 170 or
152 to then be provided to one or more aircraft 112. The system may
be configured to optimize the transport of these "media packages"
to each aircraft and corresponding flight through the base station
130.
[0052] In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the RC 220
comprises one or more media/content servers 152, one or more
communication hubs 156, one or more Device Management (DM) servers
158, Resource Management (RM) servers 162, as well as one or more
Provisioning/AirSync Servers (PS) 160. It is noted that, in some
embodiments, the functionality associated with these various
servers may be combined in one more physical servers or other
computer systems so as to reduce the number of physical components
in a system. Likewise, in some embodiments the functionality
associated with these various components may be distributed in two
or more physical computer systems to provide redundancy and/or
distributed processing capability. The processing functionality
provided by these components is further described below.
[0053] Provisioning Servers (PS) 160 are systems including
hardware, software and/or software/hardware combinations in the
form of modules configured to provide an interface and management
functionality to GS 100 System Administrators, also denoted herein
as "Operators." The Operators may be persons associated with
particular airlines or groups of airlines who are responsible for
content selection and provisioning, or may be overall system
operators or administrators with similar duties. The functionality
associated with PS 160 may be provided directly through PS 160 to
the operators, such as no a display screen or other user interface,
and/or may be provided through a separate Control/Admin computer
system such as GC server 153, Media Center (MC) server 151, and/or
NOC server 154 as shown in FIG. 1. These capabilities allows for
remote access to provisioning functionality through a WAN or VPN in
conjunction with a Communications Hub (Com Hub) 156. PS 160
typically stores information regarding network operation policy,
provisioned services and security needs and requirements, as well
as other information related to content provisioning and delivery.
In a typical embodiment, PS 160, either alone or in conjunction
with Control/Admin Computer 153, provides an operator front end
interface for access to and use of the system to facilitate media
content provisioning. It may be configured to serve WebServices
calls (by, for example, SOAP protocol) from an associated Graphical
User Interface (GUI), or from another system (such as Computer 153,
or another networked computer system such as asset management
system (not shown), network management system (not shown), or other
system.
[0054] Device Management (DM) Servers 158 are systems including
hardware, software and/or software/hardware combinations in the
form of modules configured to provide configure, control and
enforce configuration data to managed network nodes, such as the
Base Station 130, Sector Controllers 140, Local Controllers 145
and/or Repeaters 125. For example, in a typical embodiment, a DM
module running on DM Server 158 is responsible for configuring and
implementing secure and reliable communication protocols to the
various nodes, as well as interfacing to network layers in
supported nodes/devices.
[0055] Resource Management/AirSync (RM) Servers 162 are systems
including hardware, software and/or software/hardware combinations
in the form of modules configured to provide and manage overall
system operation and make decisions regarding network behavior.
This may include managing admitted services and associated quality
levels, as well as network link quality analysis. Information
gathered via DM modules from the network is provided to and
processed and management by one or more RM modules, and then, based
on the results of this data and network requirements, provisioning
parameters and settings may be modified to adapt or adjust to
current network performance and state.
[0056] Additional details regarding various embodiments of PS, DM
and RM servers and associated processing is provided elsewhere
herein as well as in the related applications.
[0057] Components DM 158, PS 160, RM 162, as well as other
components such as MC Server 151, NOC Server 154, and GC Server 153
may be interconnected as shown in FIG. 1, with connectivity to the
base station 130 via Ethernet or other wired or wireless networking
configurations. Other configurations of these components, such as
co-location in a common facility or distributed location of the
various components is also contemplates. MC 151 may be housed in or
connected to a Media Center facility configured to allow
development, editing, encryption and/or other processing to
facilitate data provisioning to the aircraft.
[0058] The GS 100 system may further include a management console
(not shown), where the management console comprises one or more
hardware and/or software modules, including elements such as a
graphical user interface (GUI), to allow GS 100 system
administrators to configure the GS 100 system and/or individual
components (such as groups, aircraft, rules, roles, priorities,
content, and the like. This functionality may be incorporated in
NOC Server 154, GC Server 153, and/or in other computer systems or
servers in GS 100.
[0059] Example screen shots of embodiments of management console
display screens and associated functionality are further
illustrated in FIG. 8, as well as FIGS. 9 and 10. As noted above,
in some embodiments, the management console may reside in whole or
in part on computer 153, however, in some embodiments the
functionality associated with the management console may be
distributed over other system components, such as other server
components as shown in FIG. 1 or on other networked computer
systems (not shown).
[0060] MC 151, GC 153 and NOC Server 154 may be linked via the
Internet or via other types of wired or wireless connectivity to
multiple RC 220s and base stations 130.
[0061] Typical aircraft 112 include an in flight entertainment
(IFE) system. The GS 100 is configured to manage a database of in
flight entertainment (IFE) content (also denoted herein as an IFE
database) coupled with an associated schedule of aircraft types and
location timetables. The IFE content may include data, text,
digital audio or video content, multimedia content, electronic
games or other interactive content, or other types of content for
inflight use or entertainment, with the IFE database including
information about the corresponding IFE content associated with
particular aircraft or flight. The IFE database may also define a
media-update schedule for all subscriber aircraft 112. A separate
transport layer may be configured to be responsible for moving
large digital media files to local storage at each airport site for
storage and upload to particular aircraft 112.
[0062] The GS 100 may also be configured to manage the preparation
(licensing, editing, packaging, & encoding) of airline data,
audio, video, print, multimedia and gaming content. Media packages
prepared as dictated by the system are transported around the globe
to regional content servers 170 in RC 220s associated with
particular airports or regions, for secure delivery to each
individual aircraft 112 via a corresponding local controller (i.e.,
LC 145). All media packages are typically identified in a manner
whereby they can only be downloaded and decrypted based upon unique
aircraft LC 145 identification.
[0063] Attention is now directed to FIG. 2 which illustrates
additional details of a GS 100 system architecture. The GS 100 may
be built using hierarchical and distributed architecture that
consists of multiple Global Controllers (GC) 210, Regional
Controllers (RC) 220 and Local Controller(s) (LC) 145, as
illustrated in FIG. 2. In addition, one or more Network Operations
Centers (NOC) 260 may be coupled to the GS 100 system, as well as
one or more Media Centers 250, which include one or more MC servers
150.
[0064] The NOC 260 includes one or more centrally located servers
for consolidated support of the entire system. This is typically
for primarily technical purposes, but may also be used to provide
visibility and management access to content transfer functions.
Server 153 as shown in FIG. 1 may be located in the NOC 260 to
provide this functionality.
[0065] There will typically be multiple sources of content for
provisioning. For example, there may be one set of content for each
airline customer, and potentially one or more for content
generators in the Media Center(s) (MC) 260 who prepare encrypted
and/or edited content for each airline. The MC 260 may also have
portals for the airlines to manage the content. In addition, there
will typically be multiple Global Controllers (GCs) 210, which are
typically associated with a particular airline or airport. In a
typical embodiment, metadata associated with the content will be
forwarded to each RC 220 from the MC 150s, GC 210s or the NOC 260,
and the RC 220 will fetch associated the content from the MC 150 or
GC 210. The NOC 260 will check to make sure the relevant metadata
is present, with the RC 220 typically not caring where the data or
content comes from as long as it has the appropriate content and
metadata needed to describe deployment criteria
[0066] As noted previously, in a typical embodiment, MC 250
constitutes a separate facility, where personnel edit films or
other content for airlines in conjunction with computer
systems/servers, then encrypt the content and include a user
interface for airlines to schedule deployment of the films or other
content to various flights. The data associated with the films or
other content is denoted as metadata, with the film or other media
denoted as content. This service will typically be done by a third
party. A global controller, such as GC 210, may be an alternate
source of content and metadata. Typically the GC 210 will contain
airline uploaded content, such as daily news, passenger manifest
information, or other content, along with metadata describing
priorities and targeted aircraft for deployment. In addition, a GC
210 may supplement or override metadata associated with content
from the MC 150. The GC 210 will typically be associated with an
airline, or in some cases an airport. The content and metadata from
both the MC 150 and GC 210 will typically be found on multiple RC
220s for distribution to multiple LC 145s.
[0067] In a typical embodiment each RC 220 is located at or in the
proximity of an airport, with the RCs typically including one or
more servers as shown in FIG. 1, one or more sector controllers
140, one or more base stations 130, as well as, optionally one or
more repeaters 125. As described previously with respect to FIG. 1,
LC 145s are aircraft onboard systems providing aircraft system
interfaces, communications links, security, and store and forward
capabilities to provide connectivity with the RC 220s through the
BS 130s.
[0068] The NOC 260 is typically run by a system operator, which
could be an operator such as the company Proximetry, Inc., assignee
of the present application, a customer or customers, a joint
venture providing services to the airlines (or potentially to
airports who resell the service to airlines), or another operator.
The NOC 260 is connected to other system elements, such as the RC
220s, via Internet or other networking connectivity. The NOC 260 is
configured to monitor the entire network, including the status of
all fixed network devices (RCs), onboard aircraft devices (LCs),
and the aircraft IFEs that the LCs connect with. Software to
monitor network health and proper network optimization is
associated with alarms and tools for ad hoc debugging and remote
investigation of problem areas.
[0069] A typical GC 210 is configured to manage media distribution
for the entire global enterprise (for example, global content
delivery to a specific airline operator such as United Airlines or
American Airlines), where the global enterprise typically consists
of multiple aircraft 112 distributed over large geographical areas
such as the entire globe, or on multiple continents, countries or
states. A group of aircraft 112 form regional communities for media
exchanges. Each regional community is then controlled by an RC 220
in coordination with the GC 210 and LCs 145 onboard aircraft 112. A
particular aircraft 112 may join any regional community for
participation. However, an aircraft 112 is typically an active
participant of only one regional community at a time, as physically
present at a regional airport or other regional facility.
[0070] In a typical embodiment, the base station 130 may reside on
airport or off-airport within a certain maximum distance (e.g., for
example, within 3 mile radius depending on geography, etc.), with
antennas mounted on nearby elevated infrastructures. Both licensed
and license exempt wireless frequencies may be employed. The RC 220
manages media distribution of the regional community of aircraft.
Aircraft 112 are typically distributed over an airport's
geographical area, and located/positioned at different distances to
and from a BS 130. Such a configuration may be represented in a
form of the graph, which consists of nodes interconnected by links,
as illustrated in FIG. 3. A node (i.e., LC 145) can be connected to
a central point (i.e., BS 130) directly or via one or more
multi-hop nodes, such as through a repeater 125 or another LC 145.
In addition, aircraft 112 can be connected to other aircraft 112
through one or more corresponding LC 145s to form peer-to-peer and
mesh configurations. Examples of these various configurations are
illustrated in FIG. 3. Other configurations (not shown) may also be
done, such as LC 145s connecting through a repeater 125, multiple
LC 145s communicating in a multi-hop or mesh configuration, or
other configurations such as are known or developed in the art.
[0071] One potential advantage of a system implemented in this
fashion is the alignment of optimization strategies on multiple
layers of the network. Various optimization goals may require
coordinated policy changes on PHY, MAC and IP layers of the
delivery system, as well as application linked strategies regarding
which media to transfer at which time with unicast or multicast
protocols. THE RC 220 may be configured to dynamically employ
multiple routing and media delivery strategies based upon one or
more of the following criteria and objectives: Lowest cost; Highest
data throughput available; Shortest time available; Highest
priority; Maximum number of aircraft to serve; Minimal latency to
streaming live applications; or other criteria.
[0072] An LC 145 is typically configured to manage media
distribution for a single connected aircraft 112. This includes
receiving and storing media content and content needs of its
particular aircraft 112, as well as collecting, receiving, storing
and/or transmitting other data or information, such as flight
information, passenger manifests, aircraft condition information
and the like. Each LC 145 may also be configured to communicate
with its neighboring LC 145s to be aware of its neighbors, and
store data or content from other aircraft as well as information
about the quality of communication links between them. In addition,
an LC 145 present on one aircraft 112 may communicate with an LC
145 present on another aircraft 112 on a peer-to-peer basis. Such
communication may be controlled by an associated RC 220 if such a
communication link is established between the various nodes, or can
be established and conducted without the presence of an RC 220 if
no RC 220 is present, or if there is no communication link to/from
an RC 220. LC 145s can communicate with an RC 220 BS 130 directly,
through a repeater 125, and/or through another LS 145 in a mesh
relay mode. LC 145s may also communicate directly with other LC
145s in a peer to peer mode (and/or multiple aircraft if operating
in a "superPeer" mode where one LC 145s is configured similar to an
RC 220).
[0073] Exchanges performed in the absence of an RC 220 may occur in
a number of ways. For example, in a simple form a "mailbox" server
implementation may be used, where the RC 220 does not have the high
speed Internet connectivity to pull down the content, but does have
the wireless infrastructure to connect to the aircraft 112. In this
implementation, an aircraft 112, upon landing, will have its LC 145
upload its latest content to an "unconnected RC 220," where the
content is cached for another aircraft 112 needing the same
content. In a similar fashion, another LC 145 associated with a
different aircraft 112 will query the "unconnected RC 220" for any
new or updated content it needs. In this implementation, the
unconnected RC 220 functions as a mailbox to store and transmit
content based on particular aircraft needs and connectivity
availability.
[0074] In another implementation, where no RC 220 is available, the
LC 145 may search for another LC 145 with which to exchange
content. Mutual authentication and secure communication is
typically used between the two (or more) LC 145s to securitize this
peer-to-peer communication session. The GC 210 may pre-authorize
such communications between LC 145s, based upon various parameters
such as RC 220 knowledge of LC 245 content needs, content
availability, connection schedule, location information, and/or
other parameters. This knowledge may be acquired and updated with
the assistance of GC 210. LC 145s may also provide a dialog or
negotiation between themselves regarding content needs and content
availability prior to content exchange. The LC 145s may also update
a connected RC 220 on its communications with other LC 145s to
ensure that both RC 220 and GC 210 have information regarding the
current state of media distribution.
[0075] In some embodiments, an RC 220 can learn about LC 145s that
are not in its communication range by requesting a neighbor report
from connected LC 145s. This report may include a list of all LC
145s that are in the range of the requested LC 145. Neighbor
reports may also include other information such LC 145 status,
media content available and/or required, or other information.
Neighbor LC 145s may also provide their neighbor reports to a
connected LC 145 for transfer of these reports to an RC 220. Based
upon this available information RC 220 may instruct and authorize
LC 145 to conduct peer-to-peer, mesh or relay communications.
[0076] In the event that there is no RC 220 and no base station
230, the LC 145 may use an alternative radio link configured to
connect to carrier or private network frequencies (such as CDMA,
GSM, or LTE) to register connectivity and provide information to or
from the NOC, identify its location and permissible frequencies and
protocols for use, and identify peer to peer partners at the same
airport. In addition this connectivity may be used to draw
appropriate content from the NOC 260 for the bandwidth
available--for example EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution
Data Only is a telecommunication standard defined by the third
generation partnership project (3GPP2) as part of the CDMA2000
family of standards, and has been adopted by many mobile phone
service providers around the world to support high data rates to be
deployed alongside a wireless carrier's voice services) or GSM
could deliver manifests, while LTE (Long Term Evolution, which is a
4G standard defined also defined by 3GPP2) could deliver content.
Once peer-to-peer partners are identified, along with permitted
radio permutations, the system will start up the determined radio
interfaces and initiate peer-to-peer connections.
[0077] Peer-to-peer connectivity can be achieved using a
configurable multiple radio LC 145, controlled by intelligent
software, with updated data on location. For example, in one
embodiment the LS 145 receives/downloads information from GSM,
avionics, GPS, IFE or other position determination devices and then
uses that information to determine appropriate/allowable radio
communication channels (i.e., frequencies and protocols). The LS
145 may first listen for an RC 220 and if no RC 220 is present, the
LS 145 may then listen for another LS 145 operating in a "beacon"
or "superPeer" mode, which functions similar to an RC 220. For
example, a previously arrived aircraft may operate in the most
after having determined that no RC 220 or other LS 145 is present.
If the newly arrived aircraft detects the superPeer, it may then
establish communication and exchange any desired media content or
data with the other aircraft. Conversely, if the newly arrived
aircraft does not detect another RC 220 or LS 145 operating in
superPeer mode, it may then re-initialize and operate in superPeer
mode to detect later arriving aircraft. Software modules contained
in the LS 145s may be configured to implement this functionality,
including determination of location, selection of appropriate radio
frequencies/channels, communication and networking protocols, modes
of operation (i.e. BS or subscriber station), credentials needed to
establish a session, as well as other parameters.
[0078] In some embodiments, if the connection is determined to be
peer-to-peer the system may reboot in special configurations--for
example a WiMAX cpe that is part of the PC may be reconfigured to
act as a picoBaseStation, or a combination of radios may act as a
relay, utilizing multiple protocols and frequencies. In addition in
a peer to peer mode there will be lightweight content transfer
control software present to determine which files should be
transferred to which device.
[0079] The above network topology options, combined with multiple
modes of communications, enable creating parallel media
distribution and cross loading capabilities that acts as space
divided multiple subnetworks reusing scare radio resources, such as
frequency and bandwidth, while maximizing link margins, thus
increasing the speed of data transfers. This parallelization can be
seen as separating the media distribution algorithm into a number
of local algorithms operating concurrently at different
transmitter-receiver pairs.
[0080] In addition, in typical embodiments the RC 220, which
includes base station(s) 130, management servers 155, 160 and 162,
and other infrastructure elements such as are shown in FIG. 1,
manages its regional operations and its wireless network around the
airport location, and dynamically adjusts the service levels
associated with each content type depending on parameters such as
the aircraft 112 departure date/time and current throughput. The RC
220 may also be configured to manage the onboard aircraft LC 145
software/firmware, including updates and changes, and wireless
network and link parameters to optimize data transfers under a
range of settings. In addition, the RC 220 may also manage the
transfer of content to the LC 145s in accordance with metadata
associated with content packages according to grouping information
derived from the MC/GC server(s). The RC 220 may also be configured
to validate download events and allocate priorities dynamically
according to defined profiles. As used herein, profiles are network
optimization configurations--for example, most bytes transferred,
best coverage to all devices, timing priorities, etc. Typically not
all content is given the same value/priority, and not all aircraft
are similarly characterized. Therefore, a matrix of priorities
based on media content such as daily news vs digital movie for
flight departing in 3 minutes vs 2 hours is developed. In addition,
live debug sessions and service flows such as VoIP and video may be
done, such as when an aircraft lands and requires service,
maintenance, testing, etc. In addition, these priorities may be
modified based upon wireless network and link performance to each
aircraft 112 and to date/time for flight departure.
[0081] In some embodiments, another application supported by GS 100
is the ability to create secure sessions with associated service
flows to both the LC 145 and IFE. This connectivity is directed at
solutions for two scenarios: the first is maintenance and
troubleshooting of the equipment, and the second is supporting live
feeds for on aircraft devices and crew members. In the maintenance
and troubleshooting mode live statistics relating to content
transfer, connectivity, and device health are sent back to the NOC
for monitoring purposes. In the event that these statistics trigger
further investigation secure network sessions are created for
remote users to log in and run diagnostics, configuration scripts,
and restart interfaces and devices. This will depend on the device
interface. Most devices will have SSH and telnet interfaces, and
some may have more advanced tools. With IFEs, a reverse SSH session
may be initiated by the IFE from behind its firewall based on the
IFE polling its associated LC 145 for a flag on "start debug
session" and a parameter of the NOC IP requesting the session. For
the LC 145, a simpler situation would be the NOC 260 directing
initiation of an SSH session with credentials.
[0082] In addition there is the provision to support the use case
of crew members wishing to use the network link for applications
rather than simply content transfer, including latency sensitive
application such as voice and video. Aircraft maintenance, cabin
preparation, and passenger loading are among the activities we have
been requested to support with streaming and other realtime
applications. These streams may be identified by protocol sniffing
or IP:Port profiling, and QOS levels may be applied to predefined
services designed for these applications.
[0083] The integration of GC 210 and RC 220 functionality sets
makes the combination a unique and powerful tool for wireless
delivery of critical information and content in tight windows of
data transfer opportunities (the so called "wheels down window").
This window of time may be very limited for many commercial
aircraft due to the desire to keep aircraft in the air to maximize
revenue. For many commercial airlines, airplanes need to be quickly
unloaded, cleaned (if applicable), refueled and reprovisioned, and
then reloaded for departure. In many cases this time window is very
short, requiring that systems in accordance with the present
invention be capable of quickly determining aircraft needs and
providing the associated content.
[0084] Another aspect of the present invention relates to an RC 220
management system, which includes a wireless network management
software utility that fully integrates provisioning (content
assignments), device management (content distributions) and
resource management (wireless network and links performance
optimizations). Details of embodiments of this wireless network
management system and software are described in U.S. Utility patent
application Ser. No. 11/754,066, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR
WIRELESS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, U.S. Utility patent application Ser.
No. 11/754,083, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR WIRELESS RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT WITH MULTI-PROTOCOL MANAGEMENT, and to U.S. Utility
patent application Ser. No. 11/754,093, entitled SYSTEMS AND
METHODS FOR WIRELESS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT WITH QUALITY OF SERVICE
(QOS) MANAGEMENT. The content of each of these applications is
hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all
purposes.
[0085] The provisioning systems and methods described in these
related patent applications allows users to create a set of service
levels and rules that apply these to users, applications and data
streams. Depending on the business process requirements, service
levels can be associated with airline company requirements, and
each individual department's (entertainments, safety, maintenance,
etc.), data types (video, telemetry, etc.), devices (aircraft IFE,
aircraft Flight Deck, other navigation, maintenance, avionics and
mobile systems connected with aircraft or the maintenance and
servicing of aircraft, commerce, operations, etc.), or applications
(VoIP, e-commerce, etc.) residing on devices or any combination
thereof.
[0086] A Device Manager (DM) application is configured to provide
the ability to manage the images, i.e., software/firmware on
particular devices in the network, and configurations of supported
devices. It also provides a "back door" by which the device may be
remotely controlled at the NOC 260 or controlled locally for
purposes of maintenance and monitoring. Its role is the maintenance
of image stability, including patches, updates and network rules,
as well as the ability to dynamically change device parameters as
dictated by a Resource Manager (RM) application. The DM also
manages the content delivery to devices and a group of devices. The
DM application is typically run on a server such as DM server 158,
shown in FIG. 1, to maintain configuration and device inventories
on the server. In an exemplary embodiment it uses a AirSync agent
(i.e., a local device agent application/module) residing on the
various devices to perform a proxy operation. A secure
communication channel and protocol between the DM server 158 and
AirSync agents executing on the various devices, such as LC 145s,
is typically provided.
[0087] A Resource Manager (RM) application is an engine that
monitors network conditions and invokes the service level rules
established in the provisioning module to dynamically configure
managed wireless network devices in real-time. This control
includes traffic shaping and wireless network and links parameters
on wireless network devices such as base stations 130, LC 145s and
other devices, such as IFEs, using the network. The Resource
Manager constantly monitors the network anticipating the need to
change network configurations to ensure the service levels mandated
by the provisioning requirements are met, and RC 220 optimization
goals are met. An RM application may be configured in a fashion
similar to a DM as described above, and may reside on an RM server,
such as server 162 as shown in FIG. 1. RM processing modules may
reside on the RM server and may be downloaded to devices, such as
LC 145s, using DM communication, for local execution on the
particular device.
[0088] Using these applications in a GS 100 system provides an
intelligent, rules-driven foundation which device management and
resource management modules leverage to provide higher throughput
and predictable service levels. With this foundation, the GS 100
system manipulates and manages users, accounts, applications,
application rules, and devices within a context and priority based
environment.
[0089] Attention is now directed to FIG. 4 which illustrates an
exemplary implementation of an RC 220. The RC 220 wireless network
infrastructure may include one or more base stations 130, sector
controllers 140, and sector antennas 120. The RC 220 may also
include one or more servers as shown in FIG. 1, including content
server 170, DM, RM, and provisioning servers 158, 162, 160, and or
other servers, such a the AirSync server 460 shown in FIG. 4, which
may be the same as or coupled to server 150 as shown in FIG. 1.
Base station 130 and/or associated servers may include an embedded
software agent, denoted herein as an "AirSync agent" based on a
specific implementation of such an agent offered by Proximetry,
Inc., which operates in conjunction with the AirSync server 460 as
shown in FIG. 4 and/or Provisioning Server 160 as shown in FIG.
1.
[0090] In an typical application, when an aircraft 112 touches down
and comes into range of RC 220 wireless connectivity, the base
station 130 detects the aircraft, such as by having the LC 145
activate an appropriate radio channel and present its credentials
to the BS 130, and then prompts the DM application to check that
aircraft's content needs against metadata derived from the MC 150
or GC 210. As noted previously, there may be more than one Media
Center and/or Global Controller associated with the system--and
typically it will not be just a single facility. Web services
associates MCs with the NOC 260 (such as by passing metadata
including a pointer to content data) and the NOC 260 forwards this
metadata (via web services in an xml format) to the RC 220. The RC
220 typically includes a content server which downloads the content
associated with the metadata from the MC 150. Metadata is
originally associated with content by the MC 250 or GC 210, either
through a scripting process or UI when content is uploaded. The GC
210 may modify metadata or generate content and metadata on its
own--which is then sent to the NOC 260 and processed as described
above.
[0091] The MC 250 is typically associated with a service provider
for content, with the GC 210 typically controlled by an airline
that designates which content goes where and adds perishable
content (e.g. local news updates) or local/unique content (e.g.
passenger manifest).
[0092] Assigned streams of content are then directed to the
aircraft 112's onboard LC 145. Transferred content is typically
stored on a hard drive in the LC 145, to be uploaded to the
aircraft's IFE system later, such as during taxiing or takeoff. The
AirSync server, (i.e. Server 160) is configured to manage service
flows from the wireless network used to transfer content from the
BS 130 in RC 220 to the LC 145s. Streams are managed according to
priorities assigned in metadata and triggers based on network state
and external events such as gate and equipment changes, departure
times, and the like.
[0093] Attention is now directed to FIG. 5 which illustrates an
exemplary implementation of a local controller (LC) 145. As noted
previously, an LC 145 may include one or more antennas 510,
typically window mounted paddle antennas or other antennas
configured for use on aircraft, with each LC 145 including an
embedded AirSync agent configured to interpret and execute local
radio parameter settings dictated by an EWM/AirSync server 460
and/or 160 as shown in FIG. 4, through a base station 130.
[0094] A typical LC 145 includes one or more, typically several,
radio units with interfaces that can be managed by embedded
software running locally. These are systems configured with the
ability to select appropriate interface (protocol and frequency)
and mode (for example WiMAX pBS vs. SS mode) on start up, and
capable of adapting to frequency requirements and to better
wireless channels to optimize around areas of interference and low
received signals. The radio components and the entire LC are
typically onboard aircraft equipment and managed and controlled by
software including agents for the AirSync and GateSync
functionality. In addition, they will typically be connected to on
board systems to provide aircraft related information and/or other
communication links.
[0095] Additional modes of operation are possible for the LC 145s.
For example, by leveraging the fact that a typical onboard system
includes dual radios with two or more antennas mounted on opposite
sides of the aircraft, which allow for opportunistic use of mesh
capabilities in the wireless network against two scenarios to
increase throughput against poor line of sight or interference
scenarios. In the first scenario, when an aircraft 112 is docked
with poor angle of reception or in a building shadow, adjacent
aircraft 112 can act as mesh "relay stations" to transmit live data
streams to the target aircraft 112. In a second example, adjacent
aircraft 112 can signal each other via LC 145 agents on board and
transfer common content back and forth without requiring use of
valuable base station 230 bandwidth. This type of operation enables
the ability to overcome NON LOS (i.e. Line of Sight) communication
or non-reliable paths, by employing LOS mesh communication paths to
maximize data rates due to lower path loss (higher link margin) for
these shorter peer-to-peer links.
[0096] Aircraft typically have software-controlled radio devices
capable of adapting to frequency requirements and to better
wireless channels to optimize around areas of interference and low
received signals. These may be integral with our coupled with the
LC 145s and may be used in conjunction with dynamic adaptations and
advanced antenna systems (AAS), individual SLAs (i.e. Airline
Service Level Agreements) to guarantee timely delivery of critical
content to priority aircraft.
[0097] Software agents embedded on these LC devices may be used
carry out local network configuration changes as dictated by the
management server at the RC 220 location.
[0098] FIG. 6 shows an example of a GS 100 system providing
wireless networking and connectivity to an aircraft 112.
Communications may be provided through antennas known or developed
for aircraft use, such as surface mount fin antennas, window mount
antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for aircraft
applications. Communications from a sector controller 140 are
provided to the onboard LC 145, which in some embodiments may be a
worldwide wireless bridge capable of acting as a transceiver for a
range of communication protocols such as 802.16, 802.11, LTE, or
others.
[0099] In a typical implementation, data content and multimedia
information will be available to the GS 100 system for distribution
to wireless nodes (i.e. aircraft via LC 145s). This content may
include multiple multimedia files based on various types and sizes.
Each file may have assigned source and destination addresses (Tx
and Rx nodes) for delivery, delivery priorities, delivery start and
expiration time, file type, information type, QOS requirements,
and/or other characteristics and delivery requirements. Based upon
this information and the file characteristics, the GS 100 system
will prepare these files for optimal distribution over the wireless
network, as illustrated on FIG. 6. For example, a GateSync Server
(i.e. DM/GS 158) gets metadata from NOC 260, as forwarded from MC
150 and/or GC 210, and content from MC 250 and/or GC 210 is then
transferred to the Content Server 170 for later upload to the
aircraft. The preparation may include, "chunking" and indexing
large files into manageable fragments that can be reassembled by
the receiving nodes, which are typically done by the Content
Server.
[0100] The GS 100 typically has global knowledge of all content
that is available and that must be distributed to each individual
user/device/node. This knowledge may be derived from metadata
provided in conjunction with the content that the GS 100 system
receives before it accepts content, such as from the MC 250 and/or
GC 210. Likewise, Each RC 220 may have a local file server, such as
content server 170, configured to store the received content and
provide it for distribution. The stored content may include (but is
not limited to):
[0101] From airline Media Center/GC: Groups, airline name, aircraft
type, origin airport, destination airport, flight number, departure
time (only for flight number group)
[0102] Devices: air planes/air plane tail FIN numbers
[0103] LC devices: Radios
[0104] Content packages: Movies and video files for IFE (In Flight
Entertainment) system, Multimedia advertisements for IFE system,
News, Flight Manifest, Operational data, Video for security,
Telemetry for medical emergency, e-commerce data
[0105] Service types: Broadcast, Multicast, Unicast, Rules, Arrival
time, Departure time, Link performance, Number of connected
aircraft, Download needs, Download status, Download complete,
Exceptions
[0106] The above information may be obtained, refreshed and
synchronized with airline Media Center/GC 210.
[0107] FIG. 7 illustrates aspects of one embodiment including peer
to peer communication, where a first aircraft 112 receives content
from a BS 130 via an LC 145, with the BS 130 located either
off-site of the airport or on-site (not shown), and then provides
specific tailored content to a second aircraft 112 in a
peer-to-peer networking configuration.
[0108] FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 show screen shots that illustrate
exemplary embodiments of some of the above information fields.
[0109] FIG. 8 illustrates a screen shot of an Aircraft View 800.
Aircraft View 800 may be presented on a control/administration
computer within the GS 100 system, such as computer 153 as shown in
FIG. 1, or via NOC 260, MC 250 or GC 210 computer systems. This
computer may comprise a management console as previously described
with respect to FIG. 1, with a DM server used to keep track of
groupings. In a typical embodiment, an aircraft is treated as a
device, identified by a unique number, with unique Flight
Information (FIN). A system administrator, such as a GS 100 system
operator or an airline specific operator/user may use screen
displays such as the display shown in FIG. 9 to define groupings
based on airline operational plans.
[0110] Aircraft view 800 includes a group hierarchy 810, which may
include an airline associated with the aircraft, the type of flight
(i.e., regular, charter, etc.), the Origin airport, flight numbers,
and/or other information about the aircraft 112 and it's
relationship to an associated airline and/or airports or other
facilities. In addition, a unique identification number or other
designator 820 may be provided, along with additional details 830
regarding the aircraft 112 and media to be uploaded to the aircraft
112 and/or other data.
[0111] Upon selecting additional details 830 as shown in FIG. 8,
another screen may be presented, such as the one shown in FIG. 9,
which illustrates an embodiment of an Aircraft Details View 900.
This view may include various features, such as an aircraft
sub-view 910, an aircraft rules sub-view 920, an aircraft packages
sub-view 930, as well as other views (not shown). Aircraft sub-view
910 may include information related to the aircraft and associated
airlines, flight numbers, departure or arrival cities, schedule
information, group information and/or other information.
[0112] In an exemplary embodiment, a group is used as a container
for both a single role and one or more aircraft. It thus serves as
the connection mechanism for the modified service flow and the
contextually defined status of the aircraft to dynamically assign
and optimize a set of network resources and service rules to the
aircraft.
[0113] In accordance with one embodiment, the following is a list
of roles, and simplified examples of what type of data might be
important.
[0114] Roles
[0115] Landing--This is the role the AirSync Client, residing on
the aircraft's LC 145, will initially receive. The client will stay
in this role until the GS 100 Server (i.e. Server 158) receives a
notification from the Airline that the client has arrived at the
gate. This role will have priorities adjusted so that information
that needs to be sent immediately after touchdown will be send.
[0116] At Gate--This role will be assigned to the LC 145 (client)
upon the GS 100 server receiving a notification that a client has
arrived at a gate. This information may come from the GC 210, in
conjunction with the respective airline(s) reporting system. In one
embodiment, the information may be provided in a webservice message
to the GS 158 server. The GS 158 server then instructs the AirSync
(i.e., PS 160) server to change the role assigned to the target LC
145. This role change will then be changed to modify the priority
for multimedia information such as news, movies, music, etc (i.e.,
increase priority at the gate). Content type may include passenger
manifest, news, movies, maintenance data, etc. the passenger
manifest is a list of passengers with seat assignments, and may
also include other passenger related information. Service flow is a
connection (e.g., VoIP call, TCP connection, etc.) with assigned
quality of service (QOS) parameters.
[0117] Departing--This role will be assigned to the LC 145 (client)
upon the GS server receiving a notification that the client will be
taking off in a particular time period (e.g., the next 10-20
minutes). Upon assignment the server will initiate transfer of
passenger manifest information. For example, for an aircraft
departing in X minutes, based on departure from gate time provided
by the GC 158, the GS 100 system will automatically track time
remaining to transfer content, and increase priority of critical
untransferred content depending on content type and time to
departure. The mechanism for these changes may be a webservices
notification to the AirSync server to change the role assigned to
the LC 145 to ensure completed transfer of essential content, for
example, manifest and daily news would have priority over monthly
update of digital movies as they are REQUIRED to take off.
[0118] Dept Ready--This role will be assigned upon the completion
of the passenger manifest transfer. Passenger manifest transfers
may occur several times during a gated period, and as they will
typically be assigned a high priority, they may interrupt other
content transfer activities. Once this transfer is completed, other
lower priority transfers may then occur. FIG. 13 illustrates a set
of roles and associated priority in accordance with one embodiment
of the invention.
[0119] Aircraft rules sub-view 920 includes information related to
rules for particular types of media content as well as
prioritization of the delivery of the associated media content to
the aircraft. For example, Application is a Media Type (i.e., video
content, audio content), that has an assigned rule, such as, for
example, an available bandwidth such as 1000-1500 Kbps, a priority
(for example, high priority may be set at 1), and group objects
linking it to a role (interface).
[0120] Aircraft packages sub-view 930 includes information
regarding the inventory of content to be transferred. Illustrative
content inventory is shown in FIG. 930, content type is passenger
manifest, name is simply a tracking of passenger manifest for the
designated flight, and service flow is data transfer (P2P) as
opposed to broadcast or latency sensitive streaming flows such as
VoIP.
[0121] FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of an Aircraft Content
Assignment display, showing packages of content 1010 to be assigned
to a particular aircraft 112 upon arrival at an airport or other
facility. This display may be provided through the provisioning
implemented in the media control center 150. For example, it may
represent a list of available packages (software/content for
uploads). A system administrator will typically assign packages to
groups/aircraft in conjunction with the media control center 150 as
described with respect to FIG. 1. FIG. 14 shows an embodiment of a
content selection view 1400 illustrating available and assigned
advertising items.
[0122] Content types will typically use one or more service flows,
dependent on network conditions and aircraft status. Table 1 below
illustrates a mapping representation of content to service flow
status given a range of mapping options. Typically a combination of
GS 100 system servers (such as, for example the GateSync server
158, Content Server 170, and AirSync Server 160) will select and
send content leveraging different services depending on parameters
such as aircraft priority, content downloaded, modulation to
members of potential multicast groups, missing chunks in multicast
content as well as total load on the wireless system.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Content and Associated Service Types Content
Service Types Feature Films Feature Film, Multicast, Multicast
Priority, Feature Films Priority Advertisements Advertisement,
Advertisement Priority, Current Content Multicast, Current Content,
Current Content Priority Flight Data, Uploads Flight Data, Flight
Data Priority Flight Data, Downloads Flight Data, Flight Data
Priority LiveLink (VoIP) Handheld VoIP
[0123] Communication between nodes can be constrained by certain
policies, rules, priorities, time limits and performance
requirements, and these can vary from node to node. These policies,
rules, priorities, etc. are typically assigned by role. These
constrains are taken for consideration by algorithms optimizing
system and specific link or node performance. The GS may used
variety of algorithms designed to meet specific performance or
optimization goal or multiple goals for each or set of nodes. These
algorithms are launched as required to meet a specific optimization
goal. For example, major optimization goals and associated
constraints include providing content in a specific time and
insuring communication link available. For example, one constraint
is to determine the required capacity to upload content to an
aircraft during downtime (i.e. time between arrival and departure)
based on the required content to be uploaded and system capacity
and configuration. In some cases there may be exception events that
would require dynamic reconfiguration, such as when an aircraft
arrives late and/or must depart early or in less than the expected
downtime. In addition, content delivery criteria may change
requiring uploading or more and/or different content prior to
departure. The GS 100 system is configured to process various
conditions such as these and dynamically adjust content delivery in
response.
[0124] For example, one significant constraint is time
limits/deadlines for communication link availability, such as
landing to departure time. Processing to address these constraints
may be done by the RM running application/module running on the RM
server
[0125] In typical embodiments, the computations take into account
only devices that are connected to particular base station at a
time. This is typically done by an RM module/application running on
the RM Server, such as server 162 shown in FIG. 1, and adjustments
are activated based on occurrence of conditions requiring content
delivery update. This is typically provided by a content
provisioning server, such as server 160 as shown in FIG. 1. In a
typical embodiment, only rules that are assigned to the currently
connected aircraft are taken into account, with activation
occurring when specific conditions, such as aircraft delays or
arrival/departure changes, happen. Activation may be done in
conjunction with a provisioning server, such as PS 160 as shown in
FIG. 1.
[0126] For example, in one embodiment, when an airplane 112 arrives
and connects to an RC 220, the RC 220 retrieves current roles
defining service flows, priorities and device characteristics for
the particular LC 145 and utilizes roles for all connected
airplanes definitions for all connected airplanes 112, including
the newly detected one, to perform calculations and optimizations.
In addition, time triggers that check the time of departure for a
particular airplane 112, and other conditions or exceptions such as
change of equipment (i.e., aircraft, failure of content file
transfer based on an ECC check, or other unexpected conditions that
may invoke recalculation of rules for a particular RC 220 or BS
130.
[0127] Wireless technologies such IEEE 802.16 may be used to employ
adaptive modulation techniques and data transfer rates in
accordance to available link performance margin (SNIR). Link
margins are affected by the distance between transmitter and
receiver, transmit power, by signal to noise ratios and
interference, in addition to other factors affective RF signal
propagation. Line-of-sight (LOS) and No-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) signal
propagation will also affect link and system performance, with LOS
links typically delivering higher link margin/performance. More
efficient modulation and coding techniques may be used for higher
link margin, resulting in higher data transmission rate and data
throughput. Table 2 below illustrates a mapping of signal strength,
as may be determined by local components such as LC 145s, sector
controllers 140 and/or base stations 125, mapped to corresponding
modulation techniques and associated data rates. For example, if
the GS 100 system determines that the received signal strength on a
particular wireless link between an LC 145 and BS 125 is -68 dBm or
better, 64QAM--3/4 modulation may be selected and used to support a
54 Mbps data rate. Conditions such as those shown in Table 2 may be
continuously monitored, with the associated modulation (or other
parameters, such as signal power, etc.) updated to provide a
particular desired performance.
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Modulation and Associated Data Rate as a
Function of Signal Strength Received Signal Strength Modulation Max
Data Rate -68 dBm 64QAM-3/4 54 Mbps -69 dBm 64QAM-2/3 48 Mbps -74
dBm 16QAM-3/4 36 Mbps -76 dBm 16QAM-1/2 24 Mbps
[0128] Consequently, in a typical implementation each link can be
characterized by a set of performance characteristics that may
include parameters such as SNIR (signal to noise/interference
ratio), and QOS profile (data rate, delay, etc.). Typically, nodes
closer to a BS 230 will exhibit better link performance, because
more efficient coding/modulation scheme can be used for links with
higher link margin (i.e., SNIR).
[0129] Network topologies and modes of communications such as those
described above allow creating efficient media delivery networks
with maximized data rates, due to selection of the best performing
links, and by "converting" NLOS links to LOS, when utilizing
peer-to-peer and mesh configurations.
[0130] In accordance with some embodiments of the present
invention, implementation of an RC 220 may employ OFDMA and antenna
systems based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, incorporated by
reference herein. If single-hop communications are used, BS 230
associated with the RC 230 is configured to control TX power and
time/frequency scheduling in OFDMA-based wireless networks with
point-to-multi-point architectures (single-hop communication). BS
230 acquires and stores, through, for example, radio channel
feedback which is stored on the RM server 162 and/or an associated
database, channel knowledge of each node, such as channel knowledge
regarding each connection between LC 145s and other LC 145s,
repeaters 125 and/or basestations 125. Based upon this information,
BS 230 assigns time slots and sub-carriers (chunks) to each
subscriber together with proper modulation/coding rates that result
from a dynamically determined power allocation strategy. The
objective of the algorithm is to maximize either some aggregate
utility of rates or, more generally, the sum of appropriate
utility-per-cost measures subject to given QoS constraints such as
delay and rate constraints.
[0131] The consideration of utility-per-cost measures may be
reasonable in cases when the throughput performance should be
balanced against the power or energy consumption. As described
above, provided media typically includes different file/traffic
types, with different QoS and priority requirements. Traffic may
include real-time and non-real-time traffic with hard rate
requirements as well as best effort traffic. The MAC protocols
dynamically adapt to varying channel and network parameters. For
example, MAC (Media Access Control) is an OSI layer 2 protocol. The
MAC protocol "grants" media access to the specific radio media
(i.e. LC 145s, repeaters 125, etc.), with the MAC choosing or
adapting to the particular modulation scheme being used, such as
those described previously with respect to Table 2. This may
further be based on knowledge of the channel (RSSI, interference,
etc.). Dynamic adaptation can be done in various ways. For example,
in one embodiment, a "thresholding" approach may be used, wherein
the RSSI threshold is used to determine which MAC to use, with the
radios then instructed to change modulation, etc. The MAC can also
be used to instruct transmitter elements of the various radios to
use more power to increase signal strength (and RSSI) to facilitate
better modulation methods, thus allowing higher data rates (such as
is as shown in Table 2). In addition, in a typical embodiment a BS
230 is not restricted to allocate a block of consecutive
sub-carriers. For example, a BS 230 may allocate different
modulation/coding rates per chunk and/or per node, based on system
requirements.
[0132] In some embodiments, aspects of implementation details
described in PCT Patent Application Serial No. PCT/DE2006/001653,
entitled SIGNALING METHOD FOR THE DECENTRALIZED ALLOCATION OF
ONLINE TRANSMISSION POWER IN A WIRELESS NETWORK, filed on Sep. 18,
2006, may be used. This PCT Application is hereby incorporated by
reference herein in its entirety.
[0133] In embodiments using centralized multi-hop communications,
BS(s) 230 associated with an RC 220 may control power and
scheduling managed by the BS 230s for a number of involved hops.
This may be implemented by, for example, providing a control signal
from the RM server 162 to the MAC to configure particular
radios.
[0134] In embodiments using distributed multi-hop and mesh
implementations, such as load balancing implementations, BS(s) 130
associated with an RC 220 jointly controlling and manage wireless
network resources. Such control may be based on distributed
algorithms. These algorithms may include the differentiation among
traffic types as well as to efficient utilization of buffer and
power resources of relaying nodes. The concept of situation-aware
(dynamic) routing for the efficient utilization of the buffer space
at the relaying nodes along the routes may be utilized.
[0135] Multiple antenna systems, including beam-forming (one data
stream per link) and MIMO (multiple data streams per link) may also
be utilized in some embodiments to enhance and optimize the media
content distribution performance. In addition, stochastic power
control for fast fading channels can be employed, to ensure a
certain outage probability for traffic with hard QoS constraints or
to maximize the aggregate utility based on the knowledge of the
slow fading components and the statistics of the fast-fading
components.
[0136] In embodiments having multiple cells, sectors, or BS 230s
controlled by an RC 220, the RC 220 may allocate nodes to cells or
to BS 230s or sectors depending on the load, available resources,
interference situation, or other parameters.
[0137] End to end communications between peer entities, i.e., peer
to peer LC 145s, can be carried via a set of multiple RF links
making this connectivity, with different link margins, bandwidths,
etc. thus resulting in different data rates and throughputs.
Selection of proper link topologies such as point to point,
multi-hop, mesh, etc., combined with selection of media
distribution schema such broadcasting, multicasting, etc. is used
to optimize overall system performance and/or a single peer-to-peer
connection.
[0138] Packet based protocols such as IP, TCP, UDP, RTCP, etc., can
be used for content transmission and routing between the nodes.
These protocols can introduce addition transmission overhead bits
thereby affecting the actual data throughput, and these protocols
can offer more or less reliable transmission. As an example, bits
that are sent by UDP are not acknowledged upon receive, thus a
sending node does not have knowledge if the sent bits were received
correctly, or received in error, or not received at all. Therefore,
selection of an appropriate communications protocol or protocols
should take into account media QOS and reliability requirements
[0139] Media and information distribution algorithms may be used to
create the optimal configurations, topologies, methods, protocols
and time schedules to optimize the overall systems performance and
to meet performance requirements of each individual node. An
example of application of such a media and information
configuration and distribution algorithm is shown in FIG. 11.
Algorithms or their components may be dynamically distributed among
all controllers for optimum performance and scalability.
[0140] FIG. 12 shows an example of application of a wireless
network configuration and radio resource allocation algorithm for a
specific link associated with a specific node. Resource allocation
algorithm will use the node and link knowledge to derive optimum
device/link/network configuration and resource assignments to meet
various optimization goals specified by GS. Dynamic exceptions and
varying environmental conditions may also be taken into
account.
[0141] In various embodiments, the following components/mechanisms
for resource allocation and interference management may be used,
either individually or jointly:
[0142] 1. Multiple antenna systems/multiple antenna elements--In
some embodiments, in the receiver, transmitter or both, antenna
diversity may be implemented using multiple antennas to enhance the
spectral efficiency and robustness against fading effects, and to
combat the interference.
[0143] 2. Power control--In some embodiments, location of transmit
power to MIMO sub-channels in connection with adaptive modulation,
including in mesh modes, can be done.
[0144] 3. Channel assignment--Channel assignments can be either
fixed or dynamic depending on the channel states of the users. In
various embodiments, the following channel assignments schemes may
be used:
[0145] a. AMC (adaptive modulation and coding) mode, where adjacent
sub-carriers are grouped to a sub-channel.
[0146] b. Interleaved mode where the sub-carriers of each
sub-channel are uniformly distributed over the signal bandwidth at
some constant distance.
[0147] c. Random mode where randomly distributed sub-carriers are
grouped to a sub-channel.
[0148] d. Sub-carrier assignment where there are no sub-channels,
each sub-carrier is treated independently.
[0149] 4. Link activation--In some embodiments, such as in mesh
mode implementations, data may be constrained to half-duplex.
Therefore, some links might not be activated simultaneously A link
activation scheme may be used based on random access or link
scheduling protocol.
[0150] 5. Time-frequency (TF) scheduling--In some embodiments, at
the beginning of every frame, the chunks (sub-frame-sub-channel
pairs) are allocated to the links or groups of links (in case of
multicast) that are active.
[0151] 6. Multi-hop routing and load balancing--In some
embodiments, data packets are transmitted using intermediate
airplanes as relay stations. Load balancing is achieved by means of
multipath routing where packets are sent over multiple paths to
their destinations.
[0152] 7. Multicast communications--In some embodiments data
packets may be prepared and designated for multiple airplanes.
Multicast implementations may be used to improve the network
performance by reducing the amount of data transmitted to the
airplanes.
[0153] 8. Network coding/Fountain Codes--Network coding may be used
to achieve performance gains in networks in which there are several
data flows. In traditional implementations, intermediate nodes
between sources and destinations always simply forwarded data, and
the information flows were treated separately. Using Network
coding, intermediate nodes are configured to allowed to process, in
addition to forward, data they receive. In general, applying
network coding in wireless networks may also bring gains in terms
of wireless bandwidths, delay and energy consumption.
[0154] 9. Peer-to-peer relay communication: Some data packets may
be also available at airplanes (intermediate nodes) so that they do
not need to be requested from the base station. Instead, the base
station only needs to prompt the airplanes to transmit the packets
to other airplanes.
[0155] 9. Peer-to-peer relay communication: Some data packets may
be also available at airplanes (intermediate nodes) so that they do
not need to be requested from the base station. Instead, the base
station only needs to prompt the airplanes to transmit the packets
to other airplanes.
[0156] Higher-layer specialized protocols, called job schedulers,
are used to optimally allocate resources using above mechanisms to
achieve the optimization goals. In the context of the present
invention, a job refers to the operation of transmitting some
specified data packets to one or more aircraft, with possible
acknowledgment in response. The job scheduler is a protocol that
initiates and interrupts jobs. A set of all jobs at some given time
point is called a job request. The job frame is the time between
two consecutive time points at which the job scheduler can change a
job request. Consequently, job schedulers decide (determine) when
and which data packets should be transmitted to which airplanes. At
some predefined time points, the job scheduler can intervene into
the current data transmission in order to either interrupt some
connections or initiate new ones.
[0157] In some embodiments, the optimization objective may not need
to be to maximize a total throughput at any time point but rather
to minimize the time for completing the jobs, possibly within some
predefined time period. A job is completed if all the corresponding
packets arrive at their destinations. To achieve this objective a
transmission policy that aims at minimizing the time which is
needed to complete jobs assigned by the job scheduler is used.
[0158] Various GS 100 implementations may employ multiple power and
sub-channel allocation strategies. These strategies are selected as
needed to support various optimizations goals, network
configurations and communications modes. These choices include, but
are not limited to: [0159] Multiple antenna multicast system with
beamforming [0160] Multiple antenna unicast system with beamforming
[0161] Multiple antenna unicast and multicast system with
beamforming [0162] Multiple antenna multicast system with
beamforming and with fountain coding with or without feedback
[0163] It is noted that in various embodiments the present
invention may relate to processes or methods such as are described
or illustrated herein and/or in the related applications or
described in conjunction with system components. These processes
are typically implemented in one or more modules comprising systems
as described herein and/or in the related applications, and such
modules may include computer software stored on a computer readable
medium including instructions configured to be executed by one or
more processors. It is further noted that, while the processes
described and illustrated herein and/or in the related applications
may include particular stages, it is apparent that other processes
including fewer, more, or different stages than those described and
shown are also within the spirit and scope of the present
invention. Accordingly, the processes shown herein and in the
related applications are provided for purposes of illustration, not
limitation.
[0164] As noted, some embodiments of the present invention may
include computer software and/or computer hardware/software
combinations configured to implement one or more processes or
functions associated with the present invention such as those
described above and/or in the related applications. These
embodiments may be in the form of modules implementing
functionality in software and/or hardware software combinations.
Embodiments may also take the form of a computer storage product
with a computer-readable medium having computer code thereon for
performing various computer-implemented operations, such as
operations related to functionality as describe herein. The media
and computer code may be those specially designed and constructed
for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the
kind well known and available to those having skill in the computer
software arts, or they may be a combination of both.
[0165] Examples of computer-readable media within the spirit and
scope of the present invention include, but are not limited to:
magnetic media such as hard disks; optical media such as CD-ROMs,
DVDs and holographic devices; magneto-optical media; and hardware
devices that are specially configured to store and execute program
code, such as programmable microcontrollers, application-specific
integrated circuits ("ASICs"), programmable logic devices ("PLDs")
and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer code may include
machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing
higher-level code that are executed by a computer using an
interpreter. Computer code may be comprised of one or more modules
executing a particular process or processes to provide useful
results, and the modules may communicate with one another via means
known in the art. For example, some embodiments of the invention
may be implemented using assembly language, Java, C, C#, C++, or
other programming languages and software development tools as are
known in the art. Other embodiments of the invention may be
implemented in hardwired circuitry in place of, or in combination
with, machine-executable software instructions.
[0166] The description, for purposes of explanation, used specific
nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.
However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that
specific details are not required in order to practice the
invention. Thus, the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments
of the invention are presented for purposes of illustration and
description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the
invention to the precise forms disclosed; obviously, many
modifications and variations are possible in view of the above
teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to
best explain the principles of the invention and its practical
applications, they thereby enable others skilled in the art to best
utilize the invention and various embodiments with various
modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It
is intended that the following claims and their equivalents define
the scope of the invention.
* * * * *