摘要 |
Internet access is provided to passengers in a vehicle such as an aircraft through a proxy server (10) which has access terminals (T1-n) for passengers' lap top computers or personal organisers (UT1-n). The proxy server (10) can be connected through a satellite link (2, 3) to a ground-based land station (5) connected to the Internet. In order to minimise use of the wireless link (2, 3), the proxy server, whilst the aircraft is in transit, is loaded with most frequently used web pages from a ground-based server (15), connected through terminals (14, 16) and a wired link (13). The downloaded web pages may be selected according to the destination of the journey. E-mail messages produced by the passengers may be temporarily stored until the aircraft lands and then downloaded to the server (15) for onward transmission.
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