Patent ID: 8856277

Claim:
An aircraft communication system installed in an aircraft, the system comprising: a network installed in the aircraft; a processor installed in the aircraft and configured to perform interactive browsing of maintenance data stored in a network on the ground and to execute a shared aircraft maintenance tool shared with the network on the ground; and a controller establishing a network connection between the network on the ground and the network in the aircraft via at least one communication medium according to a synchronous communication mode, wherein the processor is configured to execute the shared aircraft maintenance tool to perform, under the control of an operator on the ground, tests on an avionics system of the aircraft to diagnose and isolate a fault associated with a fault indication to a potentially defective replaceable entity on the aircraft, wherein the shared aircraft maintenance tool performs a maintenance action on the aircraft under the control of the operator on the ground based on a received wirelessly transmitted command from the operator on the ground via the network connection, wherein the maintenance action, performed by the shared aircraft maintenance tool executing on the processor installed in the aircraft, under the control of the operator on the ground, includes determining whether the fault indication is spurious without the operator being on board the aircraft, and wherein the maintenance action, when the fault indication is determined not to be spurious, identifies procedures to repair the fault and performs the repair of the fault on the aircraft based on wirelessly transmitted commands from the operator on the ground without the operator being on board the aircraft.