Patent ID: 7035634

Claim:
An e-mail system for use by a plurality of passengers in a vehicle to exchange messages with a second server located external to the vehicle and associated with a data network, each passenger having access to a terminal, the e-mail system comprising: a first server located on said vehicle, wherein said first server is configured to transport e-mail between said first server and said terminal; and a communications system configured to combine e-mail from the plurality of passengers into a storage queue and to transfer e-mail in the storage queue across a plurality of wireless connections to thereby wirelessly transfer e-mail between said first server and said second server while the vehicle is in motion, wherein the plurality of wireless connections comprises an immediate mode having a first cost associated with an allocated block of data and a batch transfer mode having a second cost that is lower than the first cost, and wherein the communications system is further configured to transfer messages having a high priority with the immediate mode, and to transfer messages having a lower priority with the immediate mode if excess bandwidth exists in the allocated block of data acquired for high priority messages, and to otherwise transfer messages having a lower priority with the batch transfer mode to thereby minimize the overall cost of operating the communications system.