Apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving passenger service system and telephone signals over a network
AssigneeRockwell Collins, Inc.
InventorsClayton R. Backhaus, Gregory K. Henrikson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method of distributing telephone and passenger service signals from a zone interface unit to a plurality of seat electronic units in an in-flight entertainment system is described. The method uses a master/slave arrangement in which multiplexed telephone and passenger service signals are transmitted over a bus to the receiving seat electronic units.
Claims16
A system for distributing telephone signals and passenger service signals in an in-flight entertainment system, comprising:
- a first memory to store passenger service data;
- a second memory to store telephone data;
- a serializer to multiplex the passenger service data and the telephone data onto a bus which distributes the signal to seat electronic units in the in-flight entertainment system, wherein the multiplexed passenger service data and telephone data includes a plurality of frames;
- a transmitter to send a passenger service signal to a seat electronic unit in a first portion of a frame;
- and
- a receiver to detect an acknowledgment to the command in a second portion of a frame.
A method of distributing telephone and passenger service signals in an in-flight entertainment system comprising:
- storing telephone data in a first memory;
- storing passenger service signals in a second memory;
- multiplexing the telephone data in the first memory with the passenger service signals in the second memory to create a multiplexed stream of data that includes a plurality of frames for output on a bus;
- and
- transmitting a passenger service signal command to a seat electronic unit in a first portion of a frame and receiving an acknowledgment to the command in a second portion of a frame.
A master/slave system for transmitting passenger service signals and telephone data comprising:
- a zone interface unit to receive telephone signals from a telephone line and passenger service signals, from a passenger service signal line, the zone interface unit acting as a master to initiate data transmission including passenger service signal commands and telephone signal commands in a first portion of a frame of multiplexed data;
- a seat electronic unit to act as a slave, the seat electronic unit to receive the first portion of the frame of multiplexed data and respond with an acknowledgment in the second portion of the frame of multiplexed data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.