On 2006-09-08, Grumman-581 grumman581@DIE-SPAMMER-SCUM wrote:
No, a patent on the idea of using TCP/IP for communication between various
systems aboard an aircraft... Or maybe it's a copywrite... Whatever...

It could be either or both. The code would be copyrighted by default,
and the method itself could be patented. However, just like most patents
issued by the USPTO today, it's barely worthy of a patent because it's
just so obvious to control devices using data passed down some data
connection (such as TCP/IP). I suspect they used TCP/IP rather than
concocting their own control protocol because TCP/IP (for all its warts)
is well understood and TCP/IP stacks are ubiquitous on virtually any
device (including microcontrollers) with even trivial amounts of
processing power - thus reducing development costs.

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