Radio system using nodes with high gain antennas
First Claim
1. A method for creating a radio communication route for data communications to a sending ground station from a receiving ground station different from the sending ground station, wherein the ground stations include a plurality of ground station directional antennas for transmitting and receiving radio signals, the method comprising:
- (a) providing multiple satellites orbiting the earth, wherein each of a plurality of the satellites includes a plurality of satellite antennas and each of multiple antennas of the plurality of satellite antennas comprises a reflector with a plurality of feeds for transmitting radio signals in a corresponding plurality of directions different from each other and for receiving radio signals in the respective different directions;
(b) receiving on at least one of the multiple antennas of plural receiving satellites an initial information routing signal transmitted from an antenna at a sending ground station;
(c) storing at the plural satellites receiving the initial information routing signal on at least one of the multiple antennas (i) address information identifying the ground station from which the initial information routing signal was received, (ii) the satellite antenna on which the initial information routing signal was received, and (iii) the antenna feed on which the information routing signal was received;
(d) transmitting linking information routing signals from a number of the antennas of each of the plural receiving satellites, wherein the linking information routing signals include (i) linking information identifying each of the plural receiving satellites, and (ii) a quality of the received initial information routing signal indicating a suitability of the satellite and the sending ground station as a radio link in a radio communication route between the ground stations;
(e) storing at a receiving ground station receiving at least one linking information routing signal (i) address information identifying the satellite transmitting the linking information routing signal, (ii) the receiving ground station antenna on which the linking information routing signal was received, and (iii) a quality of the initial information routing signal received at the satellite transmitting the linking information routing signal; and
(f) determining a preferred radio communication route for data communications from the receiving ground station to the sending ground station via a particular satellite based on (i) a quality of the received linking information routing signal indicating a suitability of the receiving ground station and the particular satellite as a radio link in a radio communication route between the ground stations, and (ii) the quality of the initial information routing signal, wherein the routing signals comprise digital data streams and the quality of a received routing signal is expressed as a quantitative figure of merit based at least in part on a property of the digital data stream.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A radio communication route enables communication from an originating ground station to a destination ground station via one of multiple randomly orbiting satellites with no active attitude control. The ground stations and satellites include multi-feed parabolic antennas for receiving radio signals from and transmitting radio signals in multiple directions. The satellites store an address of a destination ground station from which an initial information signal is transmitted and antenna information identifying the satellite antenna feed on which the initial information signal was received. Plural satellite antennas transmit linking information identifying the satellite to the originating ground station. Data transmissions received at the originating ground station that designate a particular destination are transmitted by the originating ground station using the antenna on which the linking information was received and the satellite retransmits the data transmission using the satellite antenna feed identified by the stored antenna information.
41 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A method for creating a radio communication route for data communications to a sending ground station from a receiving ground station different from the sending ground station, wherein the ground stations include a plurality of ground station directional antennas for transmitting and receiving radio signals, the method comprising:
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(a) providing multiple satellites orbiting the earth, wherein each of a plurality of the satellites includes a plurality of satellite antennas and each of multiple antennas of the plurality of satellite antennas comprises a reflector with a plurality of feeds for transmitting radio signals in a corresponding plurality of directions different from each other and for receiving radio signals in the respective different directions; (b) receiving on at least one of the multiple antennas of plural receiving satellites an initial information routing signal transmitted from an antenna at a sending ground station; (c) storing at the plural satellites receiving the initial information routing signal on at least one of the multiple antennas (i) address information identifying the ground station from which the initial information routing signal was received, (ii) the satellite antenna on which the initial information routing signal was received, and (iii) the antenna feed on which the information routing signal was received; (d) transmitting linking information routing signals from a number of the antennas of each of the plural receiving satellites, wherein the linking information routing signals include (i) linking information identifying each of the plural receiving satellites, and (ii) a quality of the received initial information routing signal indicating a suitability of the satellite and the sending ground station as a radio link in a radio communication route between the ground stations; (e) storing at a receiving ground station receiving at least one linking information routing signal (i) address information identifying the satellite transmitting the linking information routing signal, (ii) the receiving ground station antenna on which the linking information routing signal was received, and (iii) a quality of the initial information routing signal received at the satellite transmitting the linking information routing signal; and (f) determining a preferred radio communication route for data communications from the receiving ground station to the sending ground station via a particular satellite based on (i) a quality of the received linking information routing signal indicating a suitability of the receiving ground station and the particular satellite as a radio link in a radio communication route between the ground stations, and (ii) the quality of the initial information routing signal, wherein the routing signals comprise digital data streams and the quality of a received routing signal is expressed as a quantitative figure of merit based at least in part on a property of the digital data stream. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for creating a radio communication route for data communications from a receiving ground station to a sending ground station, wherein the ground stations include a plurality of ground station directional antennas for transmitting and receiving radio signals, the method comprising:
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(a) providing multiple satellites orbiting the earth, wherein each of a plurality of the satellites includes a plurality of satellite antennas and each of multiple antennas of the plurality of satellite antennas comprises a reflector with a plurality of feeds for transmitting radio signals in a corresponding plurality of directions different from each other and for receiving radio signals in the respective different directions; (b) receiving on at least one of the multiple antennas of at least one satellite an initial information signal transmitted from an antenna at a sending ground station; (c) storing at any satellite receiving the initial information signal on at least one of the multiple antennas at least (i) address information identifying the ground station from which the initial information signal was received, (ii) the satellite antenna on which the initial information signal was received, and (iii) the antenna feed on which the information signal was received; (d) transmitting linking information signals from a number of the antennas of at least one satellite receiving the initial information signal, wherein the linking information signals include (i) linking information identifying the satellite, and (ii) a quality of the received initial information signal indicating a suitability of the satellite and the sending ground station as a radio link in a radio communication route between the ground stations; (e) storing at a receiving ground station receiving at least one linking information signal (i) address information identifying the satellite transmitting the linking information signal, (ii) the receiving ground station antenna on which the linking information signal was received, and (iii) a quality of the initial information signal received at the satellite transmitting the linking information signal; and (f) determining a preferred radio communication route for data communications from the receiving ground station to the sending ground station via a particular satellite based on (i) a quality of the received linking information signal indicating a suitability of the receiving ground station and the particular satellite as a radio link in a radio communication route between the ground stations, and (ii) the quality of the initial information signal, wherein; the satellites are designated as a first type of node and the ground stations are designated as a second type of node, and each type of node can only communicate with a node of a different type, and the method further includes sending a data transmission from the receiving ground station to the sending ground station, wherein the first type of node only transmits radio signals in a first mode and only receives radio signals in a second mode that substantially eliminates interference with transmissions in the first mode, and the second type of node only receives radio signals in the first mode and only transmits radio signals in the second mode. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for creating a radio communication route for data communications from a receiving ground station to a sending ground station, wherein the ground stations include a plurality of ground station directional antennas for transmitting and receiving radio signals, the method comprising:
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(a) providing multiple satellites orbiting the earth, wherein each of a plurality of the satellites includes a plurality of satellite antennas and each of multiple antennas of the plurality of satellite antennas comprises a reflector with a plurality of feeds for transmitting radio signals in a corresponding plurality of directions different from each other and for receiving radio signals in the respective different directions; (b) receiving on at least one of the multiple antennas of at least one satellite an initial information signal transmitted from an antenna at a sending ground station; (c) storing at any satellite receiving the initial information signal on at least one of the multiple antennas at least (i) address information identifying the ground station from which the initial information signal was received, (ii) the satellite antenna on which the initial information signal was received, and (iii) the antenna feed on which the information signal was received; (d) transmitting linking information signals from a number of the antennas of at least one satellite receiving the initial information signal, wherein the linking information signals include (i) linking information identifying the satellite, and (ii) a quality of the received initial information signal indicating a suitability of the satellite and the sending ground station as a radio link in a radio communication route between the ground stations; (e) storing at a receiving ground station receiving at least one linking information signal (l) address information identifying the satellite transmitting the linking information signal, (ii) the receiving ground station antenna on which the linking information signal was received, and (iii) a quality of the initial information signal received at the satellite transmitting the linking information signal; and (f) determining a preferred radio communication route for data communications from the receiving ground station to the sending ground station via a particular satellite based on (i) a quality of the received linking information signal indicating a suitability of the receiving ground station and the particular satellite as a radio link in a radio communication route between the ground stations, and (ii) the quality of the initial information signal, the method further including communicating a data transmission comprising packets of digital data from an origin comprising a receiving ground station to a destination comprising a sending ground station, each data transmission packet including a header including the address information of the destination and a payload including a data stream representing the content of the transmission, wherein (1) the origin transmits the packet of digital data to the particular satellite using the receiving ground station antenna on which the linking information signal was received, and (ii) the particular satellite transmits the packet of digital data transmission to the destination using the feed of the antenna of the particular satellite on which the initial information signal was received. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification