Internet over satellite system

• US 6,529,477 B1
• Filed: 02/02/1999
• Issued: 03/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Mentat Inc (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: McCooey, Jeremy A., Toporek, Jerome D., Hartrick, Timothy W., Hasson, Marc B., Palter, David C., Guyer, Kay A.
• Primary Examiner(s): HSU, ALPUS
• Application Number:
  US09/243,185
• Time in Patent Office: 1,491 Days
• Field of Search: 370/229,230,231,232,235,252,253,316,319,338,349,352,355,389,392,401,465,466,467 455/12.1,13.1 709/201,203,217,218,219,230,232,233,238,249
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18589 Arrangements for controlling an end to end session, i.e. for initialising, synchronising or terminating an end to end link

Abstract

According to the present invention a telecommunications system for providing transport of packetized information over large distances. The system includes a first satellite station gateway for providing a bi-directional flow of information using a connection over a satellite network to a second satellite gateway. The system uses a gateway that translates the information using the TCP protocol into information using a satellite protocol, which is suitable for transmission of such information over the satellite network.

Claims

1. A communication system for transmitting packetized information, said information comprising a plurality of packets, each of said packets comprising data and a header, over a satellite link, said system comprising:

a first gateway, adapted to be connected to a client by a first telecommunications link;

a second gateway, adapted to be connected to a server by a second telecommunications link;

said first gateway connected to said second gateway by a third telecommunications link;

said first and second gateways being substantially symmetrical to one another in a transport layer protocol conversion functionality;

code for intercepting a transport connection attempt with said server, said transport connection attempt initiated by said client;

code for establishing a transport connection between said first gateway and said second gateway over said third telecommunications link;

code for providing a bidirectional flow of information from said client to said server and from said server to said client using said transport connection between said first gateway and said second gateway, wherein said providing a bidirectional flow occurs transparently to said client and said server; and

a computer readable storage medium for storing said codes.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

code for converting said information at said first gateway from a first transport protocol into a second transport protocol for transmission over said telecommunications link; and

code for converting said second transport protocol into said first transport protocol at said second gateway.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the first transport protocol comprises TCP and said second transport protocol comprises XTP.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein said second transport protocol is more suitable for transmission over a satellite link than using a TCP protocol.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein said code for converting comprises removing said header to leave said data substantially intact.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein said code for converting comprises code for removing said header to leave said data substantially intact and code for encapsulating said data using a satellite protocol header.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said data is a portion of said flow of information.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising code for receiving said flow of information by said second gateway over said telecommunications link.

9. The system of claim 2 wherein said first transport protocol has a first throughput and said second transport protocol has a second throughput, said first throughput being at least 7.5 times greater than said second throughput at a bit error rate of 1×

10<sup>−

7</sup>.

10. The system of claim 2 wherein said first transport protocol has a first throughput and said second transport protocol has a second throughput, said first throughput being at least 10 times greater than said second throughput at a bit error rate of 1×

10<sup>−

6</sup>.

11. The system of claim 2 wherein said first transport protocol has a throughput of at least 95% of an available bandwidth at a bit error rate of 1×

10<sup>−

8</sup>.

12. The system of claim 2 wherein the first and second gateways are each adapted for converting the flow of information from the first transport protocol into the second transport protocol, and also from the second transport protocol into the first transport protocol.

13. The system of claim 2 further comprising:

code for converting a return flow of information at the second gateway from the first transport protocol into the second transport protocol for transmission over the telecommunications link; and

code for converting the second transport protocol into the first transport protocol at the first gateway for transmission of the return flow of information to the client.

14. A communication system comprising:

code for intercepting a first communication connection between a client and a server;

code for forming a second communication connection between a first satellite gateway and a second satellite gateway that is over a satellite link, said first and second gateways being substantially symmetrical to one another in a transport protocol conversion functionality;

code for transmitting information describing said first connection to said second satellite gateway;

code for forming a third communication connection between said second satellite gateway and a destination server using said information describing said first connection wherein said code for forming said second connection and code for forming said third connection execute transparently to said client and said server; and

a computer readable storage medium for holding said codes.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein said information comprises a client address and a destination server address.

16. The system of claim 14 further comprising code for transmitting a response from said second satellite gateway to said first satellite gateway when said third communication connection with said destination server occurs.

17. The system of claim 14 further comprising code for transmitting a response from said first satellite gateway to said client when said third communication connection with said destination server occurs.

18. The system of claim 14 further comprising code for transmitting a failure response from said first satellite gateway to said client when said third communication connection is lost.

19. A communication system comprising:

a first gateway adapted to be coupled to a client and to a second gateway, the first gateway comprising a transport layer protocol conversion functionality for converting a flow of information from a first transport layer protocol into a second transport layer protocol; and

a computer readable storage medium, comprising

code for intercepting a transport connection attempt with a server, said transport connection attempt initiated by the client in the first transport layer protocol;

code for establishing a transport connection between the first gateway and the second gateway over a telecommunications link; and

code for providing a bi-directional flow of information from the client to the server and from the server to the client using the transport connection between the first gateway and the second gateway, wherein the providing a bi-directional flow occurs transparently to the client and the server, and wherein the bi-directional flow between the first and second gateways is in the second transport layer protocol.

20. The system as in claim 19 wherein the first gateway is co-resident with the client.