Release-time based prioritization of on-board content

A system for release-time driven prioritized delivery of on-board content to on-board media servers disposed on a plurality of transport crafts via a communications network, the system comprising:

• a content processor comprising:
• a content network interface to communicate with a content network having, stored thereon, a plurality of content file sets;
• and
• a profile store having stored thereon a plurality of release-time-driven (RTD) priority profiles, each RTD priority profile associated with a respective content file set of the plurality of content file sets, each of the plurality of content file sets having an assigned release time and an assigned release priority score,
• wherein each RTD priority profile defines priority scores over a range of times for delivery of the respective content file set via the communications system, the range of times comprising a first time window during which the priority scores are less than the assigned release priority score of the respective content file set, and a second time window succeeding the first time window and comprising the assigned release time of the respective content file set, the priority scores equaling the assigned release priority score during at least a portion of the second time window;
• a priority processor comprising:
• a profile interface coupled with the content processor to obtain the plurality of RTD priority profiles, wherein the priority processor computes a priority surface as a function of the plurality of RTD priority profiles for a selected time of the range of times, the priority surface comprising the priority scores of the plurality of RTD priority profiles for the selected time over the on-board media servers;
• and
• a delivery interface to output a plurality of delivery files, the plurality of delivery files selected by the priority processor as a function of the priority surface to be content file sets of the plurality of content file sets for which the priority scores for the selected time are above a priority threshold;
• and
• a traffic shaper coupled with the priority processor and comprising:
• a communications network interface to couple with the communications network, wherein the traffic shaper schedules, as a function of available network capacity associated with the selected time for the communications network, the plurality of delivery files for delivery over the communications network to the on-board media servers at the selected time via the communications network interface.