Computer maintenance system for an aircraft with remote terminal
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to a computer maintenance system for an aircraft comprising a server hosting maintenance software and at least one access terminal. The system comprises a KVM switch over IP linked to said server. The terminal is adapted to connect to said switch by means of a TCP/IP connection and hosts a client application. Symmetrically, the switch hosts a server application, said applications being suitable for implementing a protocol for remotely accessing a video frame buffer. Each video frame is transmitted from the server application to the client application in the form of bitmap image data, uncompressed or else compressed by a lossless compression algorithm.
1. A computer maintenance system for an aircraft including a server hosting maintenance software and at least one access terminal, comprising:
a keyboard video mouse switch over IP, hereinafter referred to as KVM switch, linked to the server, wherein
the terminal is adapted to connect to the switch by a TCP/IP connection,
the terminal includes a client application,
the switch includes a server application that implements a protocol to remotely access a video frame buffer, and
each video frame is independently transmitted from the server application to the client application in the form of bitmap image data coded without reference to a preceding or a following frame, uncompressed or else compressed by a lossless compression algorithm.
2. The computer maintenance system according to claim 1 , wherein the server application is adapted to encrypt the data prior to its transmission over the TCP/IP connection.
3. The computer maintenance system according to claim 1 , wherein the server application transmits the video frames with a predetermined constant frequency.
4. The computer maintenance system according to claim 1 , wherein the server application is adapted to embed in each video frame a time indication supplied by a local clock of the switch.
5. The computer maintenance system according to claim 1 , wherein the server application is adapted to time-stamp the video frames prior to their transmission over the connection.
6. The computer maintenance system according to claim 1 , wherein the switch includes a video acquisition unit adapted to recover video frames in a graphics card of the server and store them in a local frame buffer.
7. The computer maintenance system according to claim 1 , wherein the client application is adapted
to encode a key code when a key of the keyboard of the terminal is pressed, and
to transmit the duly obtained code to the switch, which decodes it and converts it into a serial signal before transmitting it to the server.
8. The computer maintenance system according to claim 1 , wherein the client application is adapted
to encode an action of the mouse of the terminal, when the latter is clicked or moved, and
to transmit the duly encoded action to the switch, which decodes it and converts it into a serial signal before transmitting it to the server.
9. An aircraft comprising the computer maintenance system according to claim 1 , the aircraft being partitioned into a secured area, called avionics area, and an unsecured area, called open area, wherein
the server and the switch are installed in the avionics area,
the switch is linked elsewhere to a Local Area Network (LAN) situated in the open area,
the LAN includes a plurality of sockets arranged close to equipment fitted with built-in test modules, and
the terminal is able to be connected to any one of the sockets to set up a TCP/IP connection with the switch.