초록 ▼

A system that provides live television programming to passengers by integrating direct broadcast satellite services into an in-flight aircraft entertainment system. The present invention is a satellite television system that has an antenna disposed on the aircraft that is pointed at a plurality of s

A system that provides live television programming to passengers by integrating direct broadcast satellite services into an in-flight aircraft entertainment system. The present invention is a satellite television system that has an antenna disposed on the aircraft that is pointed at a plurality of satellites that are part of a direct broadcast satellite system. The antenna is controlled by an antenna controller and antenna interface unit that send control signals and process status signals to steer the antenna. The antenna is steered to lock it onto RF signals transmitted by the satellites. The antenna interface unit downconverts the received RF signals to provide left hand circularly polarized RF signals and right hand circularly polarized RF signals that contain different sets of television channels. The downconverted RF signals are processed by a receiver/decoder that decodes them to provide video signals corresponding to different television channels. The video signals for the different channels are routed to an video and audio distribution system on the aircraft which distributes live television programming to the passengers. A low-cost single channel receiver/decoder version of the system is also disclosed that provides a single channel of television programming to overhead monitors in an aircraft.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A satellite television system that provides live television programming to passengers on an aircraft derived from direct broadcast satellites, said system comprising:a video and audio distribution system disposed on the aircraft for distributing video signals to the passe

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A satellite television system that provides live television programming to passengers on an aircraft derived from direct broadcast satellites, said system comprising:a video and audio distribution system disposed on the aircraft for distributing video signals to the passengers on the aircraft;an antenna that comprises steering means for steering the antenna toward the satellite in response to control signals supplied thereto;antenna control means for providing the control signals to the antenna and for processing status signals derived from the antenna to steer the antenna so that it is locked onto RF signals transmitted by the satellite, and for downconverting the RF signals to provide left hand and right hand circularly polarized RF signals that correspond to a plurality of television channels; anda receiver/decoder coupled to the antenna control means for processing the downconverted RF signals to provide video signals corresponding to the plurality of television channels, and for feeding back the status signals to the antenna control means which are used to steer the antenna to lock it onto the RF signals received from the satellite, and for outputting the video signals to the video and audio distribution system which distributes live television programming to the passengers.