Efficient startup of services for in-flight entertainment display terminals

An in-flight entertainment and communication head-end server connectible to a plurality of passenger display terminals, the server comprising:

• a data network interface connecting to each of the plurality of passenger display terminals over data transfer links;
• an application server with which each of the plurality of passenger display terminals selectively establishes a persistent communications link over the respective data transfer links;
• and
• a message broker publishing messages to one or more selected topics, a first selected subset of the passenger display terminals being directed to initiate the respective one of the persistent communications links to the application server based upon a message published to a first topic to which message clients being executed on corresponding ones of the first selected subset of the passenger display terminals is subscribed, wherein the message broker activates a message broker service on a first one of the passenger display terminals, the message broker service publishing the messages to the one or more selected topics for a second selected subset of the passenger display terminals executing message client services in communication with the message broker service and subscribed to the selected topics.

An in-flight entertainment and communications passenger display terminal comprising:

• a processor;
• a data network interface connectible to a head-end server computer system and other passenger display terminals over one or more data transfer links;
• a message client executed by the processor, the message client being subscribed to one or more topics to which a remote message broker service publishes messages;
• an application client executed by the processor, the application client initiating a persistent communications link to an application service being executed on the head-end server computer system in response to a first message published by the remote message broker service to a first one of the one or more topics to which the message client is subscribed;
• and
• a local message broker service with a deactivated state and an activated state, the local message broker service being in communication with the other passenger display terminals and in the activated state, publishing messages to the one or more topics to which message clients being executed on the other passenger display terminals are subscribed, wherein the local message broker service being in a deactivated state is detected by at least one of one or more active message brokers, with another message broker being activated by the active message brokers in response.