Wireless control unit for aircraft passengers, operational during all flight phases, and system comprising such a unit
AssigneeAirbus Atlantic
InventorSerge SANDANAM
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A control unit for allowing an aircraft passenger to control their seat environment including a touchscreen tablet communicating wirelessly with a docking station configured to receive the tablet. The docking station is connected to an SFCU and an IFE system. The touchscreen tablet transmits both seat actuation commands and entertainment commands to the docking station. The docking station integrates a mediation module carrying out a separation between actuation commands and entertainment commands. The mediation module routes the actuation commands to the SFCU, and directs the entertainment commands directly to the IFE system via a dedicated link, thus ensuring continuous operation during all phases of the flight.
Claims9
A control unit configured to allow an aircraft passenger to control their seat environment, comprising:
- a touchscreen tablet configured to communicate wirelessly;
- a docking station configured to receive the tablet;
- wherein the docking station is configured to be connected to a seat function control unit (SFCU), and to an in-flight entertainment (IFE) system;
- wherein the touchscreen tablet is configured to send seat actuation commands and entertainment commands to the docking station;
- wherein the docking station comprises a mediation module configured to segregate the seat actuation commands from the entertainment commands;
- and,
- wherein the mediation module is configured to route the seat actuation commands to the (SFCU) connected to the docking station and to route the entertainment commands to the (IFE) system via a direct link.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.