Abstract: In an in-flight entertainment system implementing a wireless link between a network server S and wireless processing units SDBi,j which each serve the individual devices of a plurality of seats GSi,j of one and the same row, an identification i of the column in which a wireless processing unit SDBi,j is positioned is carried out by providing for a sequential powering-up (PWi-on) of the columns, the powering-up of a column coli triggering at this instant known to the server the boot process BP for the devices SDBi,j of this column, enabling the column to be identified i by a local duration measurement bi,j supplied by an internal clock DTi,j of these devices previously initialized at a known instant of the boot process BP.

Abstract: In an in-flight entertainment system implementing a wireless link between a network server S and wireless processing units SDBi,j which each serve the individual devices of a plurality of seats GSi,j of one and the same row, an identification i of the column in which a wireless processing unit SDBi,j is positioned is carried out by providing for a sequential powering-up (PWi-on) of the columns, the powering-up of a column coli triggering at this instant known to the server the boot process BP for the devices SDBi,j of this column, enabling the column to be identified i by a local duration measurement bi,j supplied by an internal clock DTi,j of these devices previously initialized at a known instant of the boot process BP.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of sending data packets from a server to clients via a first data link that has a given error rate. The clients are interconnected by a second data link that has a lower error rate than that of the first link. The server sends all the packets to all the clients over the first link, regardless of the client that is the recipient of each of the packets. A client that detects that it has not received a packet of which it is the recipient over the first link requests the other clients to send said packet to it over the second link. The Invention is particularly applicable for video-on-demand.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of sending data packets from a server to a client. The client simultaneously uses at a constant rate D, the data that it receives. A stream of data packets from the server to the client is composed of a main stream P, a retransmission stream R for sending again the packets that have not been received by the client and an advance stream A for accumulating data at the client. The rate of the main stream P is fixed at D and the rate of the advance stream A is fixed at a given value when the rate of the retransmission stream R is zero. The rate of the advance stream A is zero and the sum of the rates of the main stream P and of the retransmission stream R are fixed at the rate D when the rate of the retransmission stream R is not zero or when the client has accumulated data beyond a given threshold S. A packet sent by the server but not received by the client is sent again to the client a given time ?T after it was first sent, the time ?T satisfying ?T×D<S.