Patent ID: 9118547
Filing Date: 2015-08-25
Classification: H04B,H04L,H04N

Abstract:
1. An inflight entertainment system comprising: a plurality of interconnected head end line replaceable units (HE-LRUs); a plurality of serially-connected networking line replaceable units (SN-LRUs) interconnected in a serial configuration by links, the plurality of SN-LRUs comprising a first edge unit at a first edge of the serial configuration and a second edge unit at a second edge of the serial configuration; the first edge unit being interconnected with a first of the HE-LRUs without an intervening area distribution box; the second edge unit being interconnected with a second of the HE-LRUs without an intervening area distribution box; and a network management system comprising a plurality of processors and configured to: determine a first grouping of the SN-LRUs and a second grouping of the SN-LRUs, wherein: the first grouping includes the first edge unit and the second grouping includes the second edge unit; the first grouping forms a first loop-free serially-connected networking data path in communication with the first HE-LRU; and the second grouping forms a second loop-free serially-connected networking data path in communication with the second HE-LRU; and regulate link participation in the first and second serially-connected networking data paths, thereby maintaining data communication between each of the SN-LRUs and one of the first and second HE-LRUs.