Patent ID: 8416698

Claim:
A first serial networking line replaceable unit (SN-LRU) for an inflight entertainment (IFE) system having a plurality of head end line replaceable units (HE-LRUs) and a plurality of serial networking line replaceable units SN-LRUs), said first SN-LRU comprising: a processor; and a plurality of ports communicatively coupled with the processor, wherein the SN-LRU detects that a closed system network has been formed between the plurality of HE-LRUs and the plurality of SN-LRUs based on a plurality of packets sourced by at least one of the HE-LRUs and received on a plurality of ports of each of the SN-LRUs, wherein in response to detecting that the closed system network has been formed, the first SN-LRU provides a logical break point for the network based on historical break information, and wherein the first SN-LRU provides the logical break point based on a determination that the first SN-LRU is as close to being a middle SN-LRU as a second SN-LRU that has recovered from a break, wherein the first SN-LRU has been designated to provide the logical break point in the event of a tie.