Patent · US Expired

Communications systems for aircraft

US6757712B1 · kind B1 · utility

208Cited by
11References
43Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 19, 2000
Grant dateJun 29, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 19, 2020

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04W84/06
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system for permitting passengers on board an aircraft to send and receive electronic data is described. The components of the system on board the aircraft include a server having a plurality of nodes to which computer terminals are attached, as desired. The computer terminals are laptop or palm-top personal computers belonging to the various passengers on board or fixed terminals within the aircraft. The server communicates with a wide variety of different terminals running different operating systems. Each computer terminal is connected to the server via an aircraft network. Server has mass storage which contains a database of WWW pages which can be browsed by passengers using terminals. Server provides a domain name server (DNS) that masquerades as the passenger's usual DNS. Server then links the passenger to the appropriate locally stored WWW page. Server also contains storage for e-mail messages. Connected to the server is one or more radios. This permits data to be transferred to base station using communications network. A virtual private network (VPN) connects station to communications service provider networks, web content processor, and via links to the Internet, includi…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.