초록 ▼

An end-to-end global distribution system that can produce and deliver live content as well as pre-recorded content and other content, to commercial passenger aircraft via a satellite and ground-based infrastructure. The content can include live television, pre-recorded content, advertisements as wel

An end-to-end global distribution system that can produce and deliver live content as well as pre-recorded content and other content, to commercial passenger aircraft via a satellite and ground-based infrastructure. The content can include live television, pre-recorded content, advertisements as well as other content such as software applications, internet material, etc. The delivered content can be tailored based on distribution criteria such as airline, aircraft, origin and destination, flight number, cabin class, and others. Such system can be advertiser-supported and include targeted and distribution specific advertisements. Furthermore, access to the content can be controlled by various conditional access parameters at the server level, to various aircraft zones, and at the passenger level.

대표청구항 ▼

1. In an in-flight system for providing live television signals and other data content to passengers on a plurality of aircraft comprising one or more sources of television and other data content, a satellite delivery system for transmitting content to aircraft while in flight, an aircraft-based rec

1. In an in-flight system for providing live television signals and other data content to passengers on a plurality of aircraft comprising one or more sources of television and other data content, a satellite delivery system for transmitting content to aircraft while in flight, an aircraft-based receiver system for receiving the transmitted content, and an aircraft-based delivery system for delivering the received content to passengers, the improvement comprising:a content management and distribution system for formatting, scheduling and distribution of content to said plurality of aircraft, wherein a portion of said content includes live content, and wherein said content is scheduled in accordance with content distribution criteria including at least data corresponding to aircraft origin, and aircraft destination. 2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said content management and distribution system formats, schedules, and distributes advertising segments with said content. 3. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said content management and distribution system formats said content in segments comprising elements and streams of content. 4. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said content comprises a combination of live television and pre-recorded content. 5. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said content management and distribution system addresses said packetized content in accordance with said distribution criteria. 6. A method for providing media content to a plurality of aircraft comprising the steps of:receiving content from a plurality of content providers; said content comprising live television content and other content;accessing content distribution criteria including flight destination and flight origin, used to distribute said content to a plurality of aircraft, said aircraft comprising aircraft in flight and grounded aircraft;using said content distribution criteria to form a schedule defining the sequence and timing for transmission of selected, digitized portions of said content; wherein said digitized portions are identified in accordance with one or more of said content distribution criteria;forming a data feed comprising said selected portions of content and sequenced in accordance with said schedule; andcausing said data feed to be transmitted to said plurality of aircraft using one or more satellite up-link facilities. 7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of transmitting said data feed to one or more of said plurality of aircraft while said aircraft are stationary. 8. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of inserting advertising slots in said data feed. 9. The method of claim 6 further comprising the forming of channel schedules for controlling play out of said content on one or more of said plurality of aircraft and transmitting said channel schedules to said one or more of said plurality of aircraft. 10. A method for providing media content to aircraft passengers comprising the steps of:receiving on board an aircraft via satellite up-link digitized data scheduled by a content management and distribution system based on content distribution criteria including at least data corresponding to both flight destination and flight origin, comprising live television content, said digitized data comprising information identifying said content;accessing said identifying information in said received digitized data;accessing on board said aircraft one or more on-board content distribution criteria corresponding to one or more flight parameters used to control the disposition of said received digitized data;using said identifying information and said one or more on-board content distribution criteria to determine whether portions of said received digitized data are discarded, stored for subsequent play out to passengers, or played out to passengers substantially upon receipt. 11. The method of claim 10 further comprising receiving a channel schedule to control play out of said content to the p assengers. 12. A digital broadcast network for distribution of television and other media content to aircraft comprising:one or more operations centers adapted to process live television content and schedule content based on content distribution criteria including at least data corresponding to both flight destination and flight origin, to form a digital broadcast feed, said operations centers coupled to a ground-based communications network;one or more satellite up-link facilities, geographically spaced from each other and coupled to said operations centers;a plurality of aircraft satellite antenna systems disposed on a corresponding plurality of aircraft and coupled to said satellite up-link facilities via one or more communications satellites; anda plurality of aircraft content storage and distribution systems, each of said storage and distribution systems coupled to a corresponding satellite antenna system and one or more in-flight entertainment systems on board said aircraft;wherein said operations center is adapted to incorporate information into said digital broadcast data feed information used by said plurality of aircraft content storage and distribution systems to control distribution of said content to said in-flight entertainment systems. 13. The system of claim 12 wherein said airborne content storage and distribution systems access on-board information in-flight and use said on-board information to provide a playout schedule for playout of said content to said in-flight entertainment systems. 14. A method for providing an advertiser-supported, in-flight entertainment service comprising the steps of:acquiring entertainment content from one or more content providers, wherein a portion of said entertainment includes live entertainment;providing said content in digitized form to a plurality of member aircraft participating in said service;acquiring advertising content from one or more advertisers for said service and providing said advertising content to said member aircraft;forming a content play out schedule for scheduling the playout of said entertainment and advertising content to passengers on board said member aircraft;wherein one or more portions of said advertising content are selected for insertion into said play out schedule on board said aircraft in accordance with both the destination of and origin of each of said aircraft. 15. The method of claim 14 wherein additional portions of said advertising content are selected for insertion into said play out schedule dependent upon the entertainment content adjacent to which said additional portions are inserted. 16. The method of claim 14 wherein additional portions of said advertising content are selected for insertion into said play out schedule dependent upon the demographics of said passengers. 17. The method of claim 14 wherein additional portions of said advertising content are selected for insertion into said play out schedule dependent upon the time of year. 18. The method of claim 14 wherein additional portions of said advertising content are selected for insertion into said play out schedule in accordance with a special event occurring at said destination point. 19. The method of claim 14 wherein additional portions of said advertising content are selected for insertion into said play out schedule in accordance with the cabin class for said play out schedule. 20. The improvement of claim 1, wherein access to said content is further based on access control criteria selected from the group consisting of airline, aircraft number, flight number, flight phase, cabin class, language, date, time of day, flight origin, flight destination, passenger demographics, special events, scheduled departure and arrival times, season local time, and flight duration. 21. The improvement of claim 20, wherein said access control criteria are further based on zone access parameters wherein said zone access parameters include one or more parameters associated with controlling access to said content at various zones of said aircraft. 22. The improvement of claim 21, wherein said access control criteria are further based on server access parameters wherein said server access parameters include one or more parameters associated with controlling access to said content at one or more on-board servers. 23. The improvement of claim 22, wherein said access control criteria are further based on smart card access parameters wherein said smart card access parameters include one or more parameters associated with controlling access to said content by one or more individual passengers on-board said aircraft. 24. The improvement of claim 1, wherein said system further includes a ground-based network for transmitting said content to a plurality of distribution points. 25. The improvement of claim 1, wherein said content is encrypted. 26. The improvement of claim 1, wherein said content is multiplexed into a data stream and transmitted to said plurality of aircraft. 27. The improvement of claim 2, wherein said advertising segments are targeted and distributed based on destination. 28. The improvement of claim 2, wherein said advertising segments are targeted and distributed based on content. 29. The improvement of claim 2, wherein said advertising segments are targeted and distributed based on passenger demographics. 30. The improvement of claim 2, wherein said advertising segments are targeted and distributed based on cabin class. 31. The improvement of claim 3, wherein said elements comprise pre-recorded content and said streams comprise live content. 32. The improvement of claim 4, wherein said live television content is multiplexed with said pre-recorded content. 33. The improvement of claim 4, wherein said pre-recorded content is transmitted through wireless transmission while said aircraft is stationed on the ground at the airport terminal. 34. The method of claim 6, wherein said content distribution criteria is selected from the group consisting of airline, aircraft number, flight number, flight phase, cabin class, language, date, time of day, flight origin, flight destination, passenger demographics, special events, scheduled departure and arrival times, season local time, and flight duration. 35. The method of claim 6, wherein said data feed is transmitted in elements and streams. 36. The method of claim 35, wherein said elements comprise pre-recorded content and said streams comprise live content. 37. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving performance data from said aircraft, wherein said performance data comprises codes that reveal errors in transmission of said data feed and failed receipt of said data feed. 38. The method of claim 6, wherein said data feed is transmitted to said plurality of aircraft while in-flight. 39. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving said data feeds on said plurality of aircraft and dispensing said data feeds based on said content distribution criteria. 40. The method of claim 6, wherein said data feed includes advertising content that is targeted and destination specific. 41. The method of claim 9, wherein said play-out of said content may be revised based on immediate data selected from the group consisting of delays in take-off, changes in routing, delays in landing, weather conditions, maintenance problems, cancellations, and changes in overall flight time. 42. The method of claim 7, wherein said transmitting of said data feed occurs while said plurality of aircraft are parked at a plurality of terminal gates. 43. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting playout reports to a plurality of advertisers. 44. The method of claim 43, wherein said playout reports reconcile pre-scheduled advertisement with actual advertisement play-outs. 45. The method of claim 9, wherein said channel schedules are further tailored by data obtained and processed while on-board said plurality of aircraft. 46. The method of claim 45, wherein said data includ es local departure and arrival times of the flight. 47. The method of claim 46, wherein said data is selected from the group consisting of delays in take-off, changes in routing, delays in landing, weather conditions, maintenance problems, cancellations, and change in overall flight time. 48. The method of claim 10, wherein said content distribution criteria further include content type and language. 49. The method of claim 10, further comprising forming channel schedules to control playout of said content while on-board said aircraft. 50. The method of claim 49, wherein said channel schedules are formed by receiving aircraft-specific data while said aircraft are in-flight. 51. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of decrypting encrypted data. 52. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of selecting and inserting advertising content from advertisements that are pre-recorded and stored on-board said aircraft. 53. The method of claim 52, wherein said advertisements are selected and based on destination of said aircraft. 54. The method of claim 53, wherein said advertisements are selected and based on passenger demographics. 55. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of buffering said content before playout of said content to test if said content was properly received. 56. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of substituting live content with stored content in the event of loss of signal. 57. The method of claim 10, further comprising verification of receipt in complete form of said received data prior to storage or play out to passengers of said received data. 58. The method of claim 57, further comprising replacing certain said received content with certain stored content and categorizing said received in order to provide seamless play-out of said received content. 59. The method of claim 10, wherein said content distribution criteria are selected from the group consisting of aircraft number, flight number, flight phase, airline, cabin class, language, date, time of day and passenger demographics. 60. The method of claim 58, further comprising play-out of pre-recorded content instead of said categorized received content when live satellite reception is interrupted to provide seamless play-out of said content. 61. The method of claim 11, further comprising modifying received said channel schedules based on received flight-specific data. 62. The method of claim 61, further comprising forming multiple playout schedules. 63. The digital broadcast network of claim 12, wherein said ground-based communications network comprises a public switched telephone network (PSTN). 64. The digital broadcast network of claim 12, further comprising a communication channel for providing data from said aircraft to said operations center. 65. The digital broadcast network of claim 64, wherein said communication channel serves to notify said operations center of partial receipt of said content and errors with said content. 66. The digital broadcast network of claim 64, wherein said communications channel serves to provide playout reports reconciling pre-scheduled playout of advertisements with actual playout of advertisements. 67. The digital broadcast network of claim 12, wherein said ground-based communications network comprises Internet access. 68. The digital broadcast network of claim 12, further comprising links for transmitting said content while said aircraft are ground-based. 69. The digital broadcast network of claim 12, wherein said incorporated information identifies a type of said content. 70. The digital broadcast network of claim 12, further comprising an advertising manager for selling available advertisement slots to a plurality of advertisers. 71. The digital broadcast network of claim 70, wherein said advertising manager reports back playout of advertisements to said plurality of advertisers. 72. The system of claim 12, wherein said network further comprises one or more back-cha nnels wherein communications are transmitted from said operations centers to said plurality of aircraft. 73. The system of claim 12, wherein said network includes ground-based back-channels that are located at a plurality of airport terminals. 74. The system of claim 73, wherein said back channels exist at a first point of access by an individual passenger of said plurality of aircraft in said system. 75. The system of claim 74, wherein said back channel provides connectivity to said individual passenger from said aircraft's entertainment system. 76. The system of claim 74, wherein said back channel provides connectivity to said individual passenger from said passenger's personal computer. 77. The system of claim 72, wherein said communications further includes performance data of on-board system operations. 78. The system of claim 77, wherein said performance data allows for corrective action selected from the group consisting of re-transmitting a failed signal, auditing of content play-out, reconciliation of as-run advertisements and other data that is used to administer content delivery to aircraft. 79. The system of claim 13, wherein said operation centers elect content for particular geographic regions they serve based on various factors selected from the group consisting of customer feedback, demographics and airline requirements.