Methods and systems for acquiring service within a satellite communications system
First Claim
1. A method of acquiring service for a user terminal from a satellite communications system wherein the satellite communications system defines a plurality of spot beams with each of the spot beams providing service for a different geographic region, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving geographic information at the user terminal defining a location of the user terminal wherein the geographic information is received over a control channel of a terrestrial communications system;
selecting a satellite control channel corresponding to one of the spot beams covering said location of the user terminal using said geographic information; and
acquiring said service for said user terminal from the satellite communications system over said satellite control channel.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for acquiring service for a user terminal with a satellite communications system are provided wherein geographic information is received via an electromagnetic transmission at the user terminal defining a location of the user terminal. A control channel is selected corresponding to one of the spot beams covering the location of the user terminal using the geographic information. The user terminal acquires service from the satellite communications system over the control channel. The geographic information enables the user terminal to shorten the search time by searching those channels which correspond to the geographic region determined from the geographic information.
23 Citations
29 Claims
-
1. A method of acquiring service for a user terminal from a satellite communications system wherein the satellite communications system defines a plurality of spot beams with each of the spot beams providing service for a different geographic region, said method comprising the steps of:
-
receiving geographic information at the user terminal defining a location of the user terminal wherein the geographic information is received over a control channel of a terrestrial communications system; selecting a satellite control channel corresponding to one of the spot beams covering said location of the user terminal using said geographic information; and acquiring said service for said user terminal from the satellite communications system over said satellite control channel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A user terminal for communicating with a satellite communications system wherein the satellite communications system defines a plurality of spot beams with each of the spot beams providing service for a different geographic region, said user terminal comprising:
-
a transceiver which transmits and receives communications to and from said satellite communications system, and which receives geographic information defining a location of the user terminal over a control channel of a terrestrial communications system; a processor coupled to said transceiver which selects a satellite control channel corresponding to one of the spot beams covering said location of the user terminal using said geographic information, and which acquires service for said user terminal from the satellite communications system over said satellite control channel. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A user terminal for communicating with a satellite communications system wherein the satellite communications system defines a plurality of spot beams with each of the spot beams providing service for a different geographic region, said user terminal comprising:
-
transceiver means for transmitting and receiving communications to and from said satellite communications system and receiving geographic information defining a location of the user terminal over a control channel of a terrestrial communications system; and processor means coupled to said transceiver means for selecting a satellite control channel corresponding to one of the spot beams covering said location of the user terminal using said geographic information, and acquiring the service for said user terminal from the satellite communications system over said satellite control channel. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A method of acquiring service for a user terminal from a satellite communications system wherein the satellite communications system defines a plurality of spot beams with each of the spot beams providing service for a different geographic region, said method comprising the steps of:
-
attempting to acquire service for said user terminal from the satellite communications system for an associated predetermined threshold; determining whether the associated predetermined threshold has been exceeded; receiving geographic information at the user terminal defining a location of the user terminal wherein the geographic information is received over a control channel of a terrestrial communications system if the associated predetermined threshold has been exceeded; selecting a satellite control channel corresponding to one of the spot beams covering said defined location of the user terminal using said received geographic information; and acquiring said service for said user terminal from the satellite communications system over said selected satellite control channel.
-
Specification