Patent ID: 8917207

Claim:
An in-flight entertainment (IFE) system for an aircraft and comprising: a radome to be carried by the aircraft; a phased array antenna to be carried by the aircraft and protected by said radome, said phased array antenna comprising a first plurality of antenna elements sized to operate at a first frequency, and a second plurality of antenna elements sized to operate at a second frequency different from the first frequency, and with said first and second plurality of antenna elements being laterally interspersed with one another; control circuitry to be carried by the aircraft and associated with said first and second plurality of antenna elements to simultaneously generate dual antenna beams for receiving television programming and Internet data from respective spaced apart satellites, with each antenna beam having a respective antenna beam boresight; a television programming distribution system to be carried by the aircraft and coupled to said phased array antenna and control circuitry to provide the received television programming within the aircraft; and at least one access point to be carried by the aircraft and coupled to said phased array antenna and control circuitry to provide a wireless local area network (WLAN) within the aircraft for the received Internet data.