METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING A SATELLITE INTERFACE TO SUPPORT MOBILE COMMUNICATION SERVICES

• US 20090285150A1
• Filed: 11/26/2008
• Published: 11/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hughes Network Systems LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hughes Network Systems LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Barnett, Charles, Morris, Adrian, Ravishankar, Chanasandra, Jong, Je-Hong, Noerpel, Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 8,576,767 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/316
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18543 for adaptation of transmission parameters, e.g. power control for detecting or preventing errors in the information received H04L1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18563 Arrangements for interconnecting multiple systems data switching networks H04L12/00

Abstract

An approach provides a satellite air interface to efficiently support communication with a terrestrial network. One or more packets associated with a data communication session are received from a terrestrial network configured to provide cellular communications. A frame representing the packet for transmission is generated over a satellite link to a user terminal. Signaling information for the transmission of the packet over the terrestrial network is modified or eliminated for transmission over the satellite link.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving one or more packets associated with a data communication session from a terrestrial network configured to provide cellular communications; and

generating a frame representing the packet for transmission over a satellite link to a user terminal,

wherein signaling information for the transmission of the packet over the terrestrial network is modified or eliminated for transmission over the satellite link.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the data communication session provides one of a telephony service, a paging service, a messaging service, or broadband data service.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the data communication session is a Voice over Internet Protocol session.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the VoIP session is established according to a session initiation protocol (SIP).

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the frame is generated at a satellite base station configured to communicate with a satellite configured to transmit the frame over a spot beam to a user terminal.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the satellite base station utilizes an air interface that includes a physical layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a radio resource control (RRC) layer.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the terrestrial network includes one or more Internet Protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) elements.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the satellite base station utilizes an interface to communicate with the terrestrial network, the interface includes an Ethernet layer and an Internet Protocol (IP) layer.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a terrestrial interface configured to receive one or more packets associated with a data communication session from a terrestrial network configured to provide cellular communications; and

a satellite interface configured to generate a frame representing the packet for transmission over a satellite link to a user terminal,

wherein signaling information for the transmission of the packet over the terrestrial network is modified or eliminated for transmission over the satellite link.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the data communication session provides one of a telephony service, a paging service, a messaging service, or broadband data service.

11. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the data communication session is a Voice over Internet Protocol session.

12. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the VoIP session is established according to a session initiation protocol (SIP).

13. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the frame is generated at a satellite base station configured to communicate with a satellite configured to transmit the frame over a spot beam to a user terminal.

14. An apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the satellite base station utilizes an air interface that includes a physical layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a radio resource control (RRC) layer.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the terrestrial network includes one or more Internet Protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) elements.

16. An apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the satellite base station utilizes an interface to communicate with the terrestrial network, the interface includes an Ethernet layer and an Internet Protocol (IP) layer.

17. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of frames from a satellite, wherein the frames represent a multimedia session transported over a terrestrial network configured to provide cellular communications; and

generating one or more packets by modifying or adding overhead information to information transported over the frames.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein the multimedia session provides one of a telephony service, a paging service, a messaging service, or broadband data service.

19. A method according to claim 17, wherein the multimedia session is a Voice over Internet Protocol session.

20. A method according to claim 17, wherein the VoIP session is established according to a session initiation protocol (SIP).