In-vehicle content delivery system operable in autonomous mode and non-autonomous mode
Multimedia content may be delivered to content consumer devices via a content-delivery network. Encrypted content and cryptography keys for decrypting the content may be distributed from a data center to various nodes of the content-delivery network, each node acting as a semi-independent content-delivery system. Each content-delivery system is capable of delivering received content to end-users and implementing a key-management scheme to facilitate secure content-delivery and usage tracking, even when the content-delivery system is disconnected from the data center. In other words, the disclosed systems and methods facilitate the operation of nodes which may operate in “autonomous mode” when disconnected from a larger content-delivery network, thus maintaining content-delivery capabilities despite having little if any connectivity to external networks.
1. A method for providing an in-vehicle content-delivery service to a mobile consumer device, the method comprising: detecting a communication disconnection between a content delivery system disposed at a vehicle and a license server external to the vehicle (“external license server”), wherein the external license server is configured to authorize content requests from mobile consumer devices connected to an in-vehicle network for the vehicle; activating an autonomous mode for the content delivery system in response to detecting the communication disconnection; receiving at the content delivery system, while in autonomous mode, from a mobile consumer device: (i) a content-request for content, and (ii) identification information particular to the mobile consumer device or to a user of the mobile consumer device; initiating a content delivery session between the content delivery system and the mobile consumer device to deliver to the mobile consumer device a first portion of the content associated with the content-request; after initiating the content delivery session, detecting a communication connection between the content delivery system and the external license server; activating a non-autonomous mode for the content delivery system in response to detecting the communication connection; synchronizing the content delivery system with the external license server by: (i) transmitting the identification information from the content delivery system to the external license server; (ii) receiving at the content delivery system a selected indication that is selected from (a) a first indication indicating that the content-request is authorized by the external license server and (b) a second indication indicating that the content-request is not authorized by the external license server, wherein the selected indication is selected by the external license server based on a verification of the identification information; (iii) continuing the content delivery session when the selected indication is the first indication; and (iv) stopping the content delivery session after delivering at least a part of the first portion of the content associated with the content-request and not delivering a second portion of the content associated with the content-request when the selected indication is the second indication.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the content delivery system providing a consumer portal by transmitting to the mobile consumer device content-option data representing available content options, wherein the delivered content is selected via the consumer portal by a user of the mobile consumer device from the available content options.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein initiating the content delivery session comprises transmitting encrypted content data, and wherein the method further comprises the content delivery system transmitting a key to the mobile consumer device for the content delivery session, the key for decrypting the encrypted content data.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identification information includes a user identifier unique to the user of the mobile consumer device.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identification information includes a token issued to the mobile consumer device by the external license server in response to a previous content-request by the mobile consumer device during non-autonomous mode.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identification information includes payment information for paying for the content delivery session.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the verification of the identification information includes a verification of the payment information performed by the external license server; wherein the verification of the payment information includes: the external license server processing the payment information to determine whether the payment information is accepted or declined; and wherein the method further comprises the external license server transmitting to the content delivery system the first indication that the content-request is authorized when the payment information is accepted, and transmitting to the content delivery system the second indication that the content-request is not authorized when the payment information is declined.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the communication disconnection comprises transmitting a message from the content delivery system to the external license server and not receiving a response within a time period.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the communication disconnection comprises detecting a particular number of communication disconnections within a time period.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the communication disconnection comprises detecting that the vehicle has entered a known dark zone where the in-vehicle network cannot transmit data to or receive data from the external licensing server.
11. A system for providing an in-vehicle content-delivery service to a mobile consumer device, the system comprising: a license server external to a vehicle (“external license server”) that authorizes content-requests from mobile consumer devices connected to an in-vehicle network for the vehicle; and a content delivery hardware system disposed at the vehicle and communicatively connected to the in-vehicle network, the content delivery hardware system configured to operate in: (i) an autonomous mode in which the external license server is disconnected from the in-vehicle network, and (ii) a non-autonomous mode in which the external license server is connected to the in-vehicle network; wherein when the content delivery hardware system is in autonomous mode, the content delivery hardware system (i) temporarily authorizes a content-request for content from a mobile consumer device after receiving identification information particular to the mobile consumer device or to a user of the mobile consumer device, and (ii) initiates a content delivery session to deliver to the mobile consumer device a first portion of the content associated with the content-request; wherein when the content delivery hardware system is in non-autonomous mode, the content delivery hardware system: (i) transmits the identification information to the external license server, (ii) receives a selected indication that is selected from (a) a first indication indicating that the content-request is authorized by the external license server, and (b) a second indication indicating that the content-request is not authorized by the external license server, wherein the selected indication is selected by the external license server based on a verification of the identification information, (iii) continues the content delivery session when the selected indication is the first indication, and (iv) stops the content delivery session after delivering at least a part of the first portion of the content associated with the content-request when the selected indication is the second indication so that a second portion of the content associated with the content-request is not delivered to the mobile consumer device.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the content delivery hardware system includes a distribution server that transmits to the mobile consumer device the content associated with the content-request.
13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the identification information includes a user identifier unique to the user of the mobile consumer device.
14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the vehicle is an aircraft, and wherein the external license server is a ground-based server configured to communicatively connect to the in-vehicle network via an air-to-ground communication link.
15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the identification information includes a token issued to the mobile consumer device by the external license server in response to a previous content-request by the mobile consumer device during non-autonomous m ode.
16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the identification information includes payment information for paying for access to the content associated with the content-request; wherein the external license server is configured to perform the verification of the identification information by processing the payment information to determine whether the payment information is accepted or declined; and wherein the external license server is further configured to: (i) transmit to the content delivery hardware system the first indication that the content-request is authorized when the payment information is accepted, and (ii) transmit to the content delivery hardware system the second indication that the content-request is not authorized when the payment information is declined.
17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the content delivery hardware system includes a proxy license server that authorizes the content-request by updating license-data stored at a memory to reflect that the mobile consumer device has been granted access rights.
18. The system of claim 11 , wherein when the content delivery hardware system is in autonomous mode, the content delivery hardware system transmits to the mobile consumer device a key for decrypting content delivered during the content delivery session.
19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the content delivery hardware system includes a memory storing a content library, and wherein the content request represents a request for particular content selected by a user of the mobile consumer device from the content library.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein when the content delivery hardware system is in non-autonomous mode, the content delivery hardware system transmits to the external license server a content identifier representing the particular content, and wherein the external license server is configured to perform the verification of the identification information based on whether or not the user or the mobile consumer device was previously authorized to access the particular content.