Patent ID: 8462799

Claim:
A method of transmitting non-public messages from an airborne aircraft to a ground station using an improved ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Routing System), comprising the steps of: (A) generating a standard internet protocol (IP) based message on-board the aircraft by a client comprising an IP-based local area network (LAN) on the aircraft, said standard IP based message generated by an application associated with said client and said standard IP based message including a header; (B) associating a respective one of a plurality of routers with a respective one of a plurality of communication interfaces, each of said communication interfaces comprising a packet based radio communication interface, each of said plurality of routers servicing an IP interface associated with a respective one of a plurality of clients on said LAN; (C) assigning an address to each of the routers, said address corresponding to an address comprising said LAN; (D) said ACARS routing system validating said standard IP based message and selecting one of the communication interfaces for use in transmitting the standard IP based message from the aircraft to the ground station, said selecting determined by content provided by said client application within said standard IP based message and not determined by said LAN standard IP, said content including routing policies, priority information, and any route restrictions contained in the header of the standard IP based message; (E) sending the standard IP based message to the address of the router associated with the communication interface selected in step (D); and, (F) transmitting the standard IP based message from the aircraft to the ground station using the communication interface selected in step (D) using ACARS message routing.