[00029 ] Turning now to FIG. 3,it can be seen that the seat processor 18a functions in accordance with an address resolution protocol (ARP). Specifically, the seat processor performs a proxy ARP function which makes the addresses assigned to the user devices appear to be on the SEB network. Without proxy ARP, each user would appear to be attached to the seat processor through a separate subnet requiring a routing table entry in the airborne router. Thus, using an ARP proxy enables a reduction in address requirements and a reduction in the size of the routing table used by the airborne router. The ports 48 can therefore be defined as being one of the passenger interfaces wherein the ports 48 have logical PSN addresses for which the logical PSN address of the SEB 16a serves as a proxy. Furthermore, the passenger - supplied computing devices 14 can be defined as being one of the passenger interfaces, wherein the computing devices 14 have logical PSN addresses for which the logical PSN address of the SEB 16a serves as a proxy.
[00030] Those skilled in the art can now appreciate from the foregoing description that the broad teachings of the present invention can be implemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while this invention can be described in connection with particular examples thereof, the true scope of the invention should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of the drawings, specification and following claims.
What is claimed :
1. An Internet protocol (IP) networking architecture for an aircraft ,the architecture comprising ; a command and control sub - network (CCN ) interconnecting a plurality of control interfaces wherein each conLrol interface has a corresponding logical CCN address ; a passenger services sub - network ( PSN ) interconnecting a plurality of passenger interfaces wherein each passenger interface has a corresponding logical PSN address ; and an air - to - ground sub - network (AGN) providing Internet access to the passenger interfaces via one or more isolation systems having corresponding logical CCN addresses and corresponding logical PSN addresses ftuch that devices communi¬cating on the AGN and the PSN are blocked from accessing the CCN addresses.
2. The architecture of claim 1 wherein the isolation systems have logical AGN addresses corresponding to an aircraft identifier such that the aircraft has a unique subnet address.
3. The architecture of claim 2 wherein an airborne router is defined as one of the isolation systems, the airborne router having a device identifier such that the aircraft identifier and the device identifier define the logical AGN address for the airborne router.
4. The architecture of claim 2 wherein a web server is defined as one of the isolation systems, the web server having a device identifier such that the aircraft identifier and the device identifier define the logical AGN address for the web server.
5. The architecture of claim 1 wherein a seat electronics box is defined as one of the passenger interfaces, the logical PSN address of the set electronics box acting as a proxy for devices coupled to the seat electronics box.
6. The architecture of claim 5 wherein the seat electronics box has seat processor for translating PSN addresses into AG addresses in accordance with the address resolution protocol.
7. The architecture of claim 5 wherein a port is defined as one of the passenger interfaces, the port having a logical PSN address for which the logical PSN address of the seat electronics box serves as a proxy.
8. The architecture of claim 5 wherein a passenger 一 supplied computing device is defined as one of the passenger interfaces, the passenger - supplied computing device having a logical PSN address for which the logical PSN address of the seat electronics box serves as a proxy.