An approach to facilitating in-vehicle services through attendant devices, user-provided devices, and/or an in-vehicle computer system is provided. In one implementation, one or more communication sessions with the in-vehicle computer system may be facilitated by an attendant device. Passenger information relating to one or more passengers of a vehicle and service information relating to one or more services to be provided to the one or more passengers may be obtained by the attendant device from the in-vehicle computer system via the one or more communication sessions. The passenger information and the service information may be provided by the attendant device. An indication that at least one service is in progress or is complete is received by the attendant device.

A seat system for a passenger aircraft. The seat system includes at least one passenger seat and a stowable tray installed onto or adjacent to the passenger seat. The stowable tray includes a tray plate adapted to support one or more items; a support arm attached to the tray plate adapted to move the tray plate between a stowable position and a presentation position; and a friction hinge attaching the tray plate to the support arm and adapted to adjust the tray plate between the presentation position and a tray position, wherein the tray plate is adapted to support a personal electronic device while in the presentation position and adapted to support one or more cocktail items while in the tray position. A second stowable tray may also be attached to the passenger seat.

An apparatus for an aircraft cabin may include a body and a personal electronic device (PED) holder. The body may include a sloped surface between a top surface and a recess surface with a plurality of recess protrusions configured to support a PED. The body may be couplable to a surface within the aircraft cabin via one or more couplers. The PED holder may include a paddle and at least one hinge coupler. The paddle may be located opposite the sloped surface within the recess. The paddle may be dimensioned to fit within the recess when the PED holder is in a closed position. The paddle may be configured to support the PED when the PED holder is in an open position. The PED holder may be configured to rotate about an axis through the at least one hinge coupler between at least the open position and the closed position.

A display device, which is placed in an aircraft, which is capable of wirelessly connecting with a remote controller, and which displays information in accordance with an operation of the remote controller performed by a passenger of the aircraft, comprises a wired communication unit, a CPU, and a wireless communication unit. The wired communication unit receives flight information of the aircraft. On the basis of the flight information, the CPU establishes an intensity of a radio field to be outputted by the remote controller in order to connect to the display device. The wireless communication unit transmits radio field intensity information indicating the established intensity of the radio field to the remote controller.

A system for synchronized data playback comprising at least one offset calculation device; and a plurality of clients; wherein the plurality of clients are each synchronized to a shared reference timeframe, each of the plurality of clients is configured to receive a common set of timestamped data frames, the offset calculation device is configured to determine a synchronized playback time for each of the common set of timestamped data frames with respect to the shared reference timeframe; and each of the plurality of clients is configured to playback each of the common set of timestamped data frames at the respective determined playback time.

A system may include an aircraft seat bottom cushion assembly having a front portion and two side portions. The aircraft seat bottom cushion assembly may include a power providing device positioned at the front portion or one of the two side portions of the aircraft seat bottom cushion assembly. The aircraft seat bottom cushion assembly may further include electrical wiring extending through the aircraft seat bottom cushion assembly to the power providing device. The electrical wiring electrically may be coupled to the power providing device.

A passenger unit for use on-board a passenger vehicle (e.g., an in-flight entertainment device) includes a display, a memory storing a passenger unit identifier, a network interface, and a connector configured to physically couple to a connector on a mounting unit, where the mounting unit is installed on, or proximate to, a particular seat of a plurality of seats on-board the passenger vehicle. The passenger unit also includes a controller configured to obtain a seat location code of the particular seat from the mounting unit, and to cause the seat location code and the passenger unit identifier to be transmitted, via the network interface, to a server on-board the passenger vehicle. The server is configured to map the passenger unit to the particular seat using the seat location code and the passenger unit identifier.

A supervision system for an aircraft for monitoring a safe charging of portable electrical devices of a passenger who may be in an attentive or an inattentive state, comprising a passenger seat, a power supply station assigned to the seat and used to supply electrical power to the portable electrical device, the portable electrical device being connected to the power supply station, a camera, which detects the state of the passenger situated on the seat, and an arrangement to distinguish whether the passenger is in an attentive or inattentive state. A method for safe charging of portable electrical devices is also presented and described, comprising the steps of detecting a passenger with a camera, analyzing whether the passenger is in an attentive state or in an inattentive state, and, if the passenger is in an attentive state, supplying a power supply station with electrical power to be provided to a portable electrical device connected to the power supply station.

Networking methods and systems are provided for a transportation vehicle with seat devices. One method includes detecting operational software installation for a first seat device to access an entertainment system with media files of a virtual local storage (VLS) media set distributed across storage of a portion of the seat devices; identifying a second seat device configured to store the operational software in a downloadable configuration; providing the operational software in the downloadable configuration to the first seat device; installing the operational software at the first seat device; determining that the first seat device is a member of the VLS media set, based on a location of the first seat; transmitting a portion of the VLS media set from one or more seat devices to the first seat device; and persistently storing the portion of the VLS media set at persistent storage of the first seat device.

A system and method according to which goods and services are provided during vehicular travel. In an exemplary embodiment, the vehicle is an airplane operated by a commercial airline.