Abstract: In-flight entertainment systems provide entertainment for passengers on commercial airline flights. Presently, usually on longer flights, video entertainment is commonly available on in-flight passenger entertainment systems. In-flight entertainment systems can display video on a variety of display monitors ranging from a conventional CRT display to a more modern Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). Generally most displays are connected to the aircraft electronic system via a ARINC 722 connector. The ARINC 722 connector commonly provides an electrical interface between the aircraft and the video system, whether the video system is a CRT or LCD type monitor. With the increasing use of LCD monitors there is a greater need for the ability of the display monitor to be able to report its status. The need for status reporting is increased because the LCD monitors are often greater in number than the prior art CRT monitors and because malfunctions are less obvious.

Abstract: In-flight entertainment systems provide entertainment for passengers on commercial airline flights. Presently, usually on longer flights, video entertainment is commonly available on in-flight passenger entertainment systems. In-flight entertainment systems can display video on a variety of display monitors ranging from a conventional CRT display to a more modern Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). Generally most displays are connected to the aircraft electronic system via a ARINC 722 connector. The ARINC 722 connector commonly provides an electrical interface between the aircraft and the video system, whether the video system is a CRT or LCD type monitor. With the increasing use of LCD monitors there is a greater need for the ability of the display monitor to be able to report its status. The need for status reporting is increased because the LCD monitors are often greater in number than the prior art CRT monitors and because malfunctions are less obvious.

Abstract: A system for detecting an obstruction in the deploy path of a retractable LCD monitor includes a disc that rotates with the monitor as the monitor is deployed, an optical switch operatively coupled to the disc to generate pulses indicating the speed at which the monitor is deploying, and a retriggerable one-shot circuit that receives the pulses from the optical switch. When the pulses fail to arrive at the retriggerable one-shot circuit fast enough, i.e., below a threshold rate, the retriggerable one-shot circuit times out and its output state transitions from a high level to a low level. The high-to-low state transition causes the monitor to retract and re-attempt deployment.