Frame relay protocol-based multiplex switching scheme for satellite mesh network
First Claim
1. A first earth station for use in a system having at least three earth stations interconnected via a satellite wherein data from each earth station is broadcast to every other earth station, the first earth station comprising:
- a satellite antenna, a transceiver coupled to the satellite antenna for sending signals to and receiving signals from the satellite antenna, a modem coupled to the transceiver for modulating and demodulating signals sent to or received from the transceiver, and a switch coupling a plurality of terminal devices to the modem, and inputting data from the plurality of terminal devices, packetizing the data into data packets having an address field, a data field, and control bytes for elementary error detection, and for discarding received data packets which are not directed to the first earth station and for routing data packets which are directed to the first earth station based upon the contents of down-link directed data packets.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A frame relay protocol-based earth station interface architecture provides full mesh connectivity for a relatively small number of network stations. The fundamental component of the architecture is a frame relay protocol-based switch, which employs a network interface ‘frame relay’ standard to define the multiplexing of multiple virtual ports across single physical communications port. Through address and control fields of its connectivity control software, the frame relay protocol-based switch can be dynamically configured to provide multilayer addressing and device selectivity, thereby enabling point-to-point connectivity of multiple terminal devices, such as a plurality of audio circuits, to be effected via a single port. Dial codes on the station side of an audio signal multiplexer link are translated into frame relay addresses (data link connection identifiers) that are added to each frame of data for routing through the network. With this additional layer of routing information, audio (voice) connectivity is now available between any two audio circuits (e.g. trunks) in the network.
279 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A first earth station for use in a system having at least three earth stations interconnected via a satellite wherein data from each earth station is broadcast to every other earth station, the first earth station comprising:
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a satellite antenna, a transceiver coupled to the satellite antenna for sending signals to and receiving signals from the satellite antenna, a modem coupled to the transceiver for modulating and demodulating signals sent to or received from the transceiver, and a switch coupling a plurality of terminal devices to the modem, and inputting data from the plurality of terminal devices, packetizing the data into data packets having an address field, a data field, and control bytes for elementary error detection, and for discarding received data packets which are not directed to the first earth station and for routing data packets which are directed to the first earth station based upon the contents of down-link directed data packets.
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2. A system comprising first, second, and third earth stations interconnected via a satellite with each earth station for broadcasting frame relay protocol based data packets to the other earth stations, wherein each earth station includes a switch for inputting data from a plurality of terminal devices, for packetizing the data into data packets having an address field and control bytes for elementary error detection, and configured for filtering and routing data packets received from the satellite based on the contents of an address field of down-link directed data packets.
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3. A system comprising an earth station inputting data from a plurality of terminal devices, packetizing the data into frame relay protocol based data packets and filtering and routing down-link directed data packets based on the contents of the address field of the data packets.
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4. A first earth station comprising a data link, and a switch configured for packetizing data from data circuits into data packets, and filtering and routing down-link directed data packets based on the content of the data packets, wherein the switch packetizes the data packets using elementary error detection.
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5. A method comprising:
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packetizing data from a data circuit into data packets, the data packets having frame relay based elementary error detection;
using a satellite network to broadcast the data packets; and
filtering and routing down-link directed data packets based upon the contents of the data packets using a switch supporting frame relay based protocols.
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6. In a first earth station, a method comprising:
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receiving at a first earth station data packets having control bytes that employ elementary error detection;
using a switch to filter and route down link directed data packets based on the contents of the data packets.
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7. An earth station for providing conditional access by a terminal coupled to the earth station to input packets each having an address, the earth station comprising:
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a receiver for receiving a packet from the satellite;
a switch for determining the address of the received packet, comparing at least a portion of the address with predetermined data, and either discarding the packet or processing the packet into output data depending upon a result of the step of comparing; and
an interface for transmitting the output data to the terminal.
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Specification