Asymmetric satellite-based internet service

• US 6,968,394 B1
• Filed: 03/21/2000
• Issued: 11/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Zaksat General Trading Co., Wll
• Original Assignee: Zaksat General Trading Co., Wll
• Inventors: El-Rafie, Khalid Monir A.
• Primary Examiner(s): EDELMAN, BRADLEY E
• Application Number:
  US09/532,804
• Time in Patent Office: 2,072 Days
• Field of Search: 709/245, 709/250, 709/249, 709/238, 370/401, 455/3.01, 725/123, 725/118
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields

Abstract

An asymmetric access satellite based system having improved features including multicasting, master and slave cache facilities, roaming, and flexible IP packet routing.

Claims

1. An asymmetric satellite based terminal device configured to receive Internet data from a satellite using a standard TCP/IP stack, the terminal device comprising:

a personal computer comprising;

a modem in communication with an Internet Service Provider (ISP);

an expansion card based satellite receiver in communication with a Satellite Network Operation Center (NOC), the NOC having a range of satellite IP addresses assigned thereto; and

an operating system, the operating system including the standard TCP/IP stack;

a first driver configured to access the expansion card based satellite receiver; and

a second driver configured to access the modem;

wherein the first driver is further configured to route data received from the satellite receiver card to the standard TCP/IP stack, the second driver is further configured to route request data from the standard TCP/IP stack to the modem, and the modem is configured to send the request data to the ISP, the request data as sent from the modem having as its source address a satellite source IP address from the range of satellite IP addresses assigned to the NOC, the satellite source IP address not being encapsulated within another source IP address, whereby asymmetric satellite communications is enabled.

2. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is dynamically assigned an IP address from the range of IP addresses assigned to the NOC.

3. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is statically assigned an IP address from the range of IP addresses assigned to the NOC.

4. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 3, wherein the IP address is associated with a subscriber of satellite service provided via the NOC.

5. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 4, wherein the terminal device is assigned an IP address from the range of IP addresses assigned to the NOC based on a token.

6. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 5, wherein the token is in communication with the terminal device and is selected from the group consisting of an access card, a Smartcard, and a data key.

7. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 5, wherein the token is entered into the terminal device by a user and is selected from the group consisting of an id value, a password, an id value and a password, an encrypted ID, and an encrypted ID and a password.

8. An asymmetric satellite system comprising an asymmetric satellite based terminal device configured to receive Internet data from a satellite using a standard TCP/IP stack, a satellite network operation center (NOC) located at a distance from the asymmetric satellite based terminal device and having a range of satellite IP addresses assigned thereto, and an Internet having a plurality of remote hosts, wherein the terminal device is configured to send web page request data to the remote hosts via a modem with the request data source address being a source address of the network operations center, the source address comprising a satellite IP address from the range of IP addresses assigned to the NOC, the satellite source IP address not being encapsulated within another source IP address.

9. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 8 wherein the network operation center is configured to encapsulate data output to the asymmetric satellite based terminal device from the network operation center in MPEG II packets.

10. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 9 wherein the data includes WEB pages.

11. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 8, further comprising an Internet Service Provider (ISP) connected between the terminal device and the Internet, wherein the ISP is configured to assign to the terminal device an IP address associated with the network operations center.

12. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 11, wherein the ISP has a plurality of available IP addresses assigned to the network operations center and is configured to dynamically assign an available IP address of the plurality of available IP addresses to the terminal device.

13. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 11, wherein the ISP is configured to statically assign the IP address to the terminal device based on the identity of a user of the terminal device.

14. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 11, wherein the ISP is configured to assign the IP address based on a token.

15. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 14, wherein the token is in communication with the terminal device and is selected from the group consisting of an access card, a Smartcard, and a data key.

16. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 14, wherein the token is entered into the terminal device by a user and is selected from the group consisting of an id value, a password, an id value and a password, an encrypted ID, and an encrypted ID and password.

17. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 8, wherein a first host of the remote hosts is connected to the terminal device via a first hop on a terrestrial link, a second host of the remote hosts is connected to the terminal device via a second hop on the terrestrial link, and an ISP is configured to return data from the first host to the terminal device via the terrestrial link and to return data from the second host to the terminal device via a satellite link.

18. An asymmetric satellite system comprising a satellite network operations center having a range of satellite IP addresses assigned thereto, an Internet having a plurality of hosts, and a terminal device located at a distance from the network operations center and configured to utilize an IP address belonging to the network operations center such that access requests across the Internet are returned to the network operations center, wherein the terminal device includes a personal computer having a modem, an expansion card based satellite receiver, and an operating system, the operating system including the standard TCP/IP stack, and an application program for assigning the IP address as a source address of the terminal device, wherein the terminal device is configured to issue requests for web pages via a modem with the request source address being a source address of the network operations center, the source address comprising a satellite IP address from the range of IP addresses assigned to the network operations center, the satellite source IP address not being encapsulated within another source IP address.

19. An asymmetric satellite based terminal device configured to utilize an IP address belonging to a satellite network operations center (NOC), the NOC having a range of satellite IP addresses assigned thereto, the asymmetric satellite based terminal device including a personal computer having a modem, an expansion card based satellite receiver, and an operating system, the operating system including the standard TCP/IP stack, and an application program for assigning the IP address as a source address of the asymmetric satellite based terminal device, wherein the asymmetric satellite based terminal device is configured to issue requests for web pages via a modem with the request source address being a source address of the network operations center, the source address comprising a satellite IP address from the range of IP addresses assigned to the NOC, the satellite source IP address not being encapsulated within another source IP address.

20. An asymmetric satellite based terminal device comprising:

a modem in communication with an Internet Host via a terrestrial link;

a satellite card in communication with an Internet Host via a satellite link;

a storage device having computer-readable instructions stored thereon for performing steps comprising;

creating a data packet having as its IP source address an address assigned to a centralized uplink center of a satellite service, the IP source address not being encapsulated within another source IP address; and

sending the data packet from the modem to the Internet Host via the terrestrial link in its unencapsulated form.

21. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 20, wherein the storage device further includes instructions for performing the step of receiving data at the satellite card from the Internet Host via the satellite link in response to the data packet being sent from the modem.

22. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 21, wherein the Internet Host is connected to the modem via a first hop on the terrestrial link, and the storage device further includes instructions for performing the step of receiving data at the modem from the Internet Host via the terrestrial link in response to the data packet being sent from the modem.

23. A method for providing asymmetric satellite based service to a terminal device, the method comprising:

creating a data packet having as its IP source address a source address assigned to a centralized uplink center of a satellite network, the source IP address not being encapsulated within another IP source address; and

sending the data packet in its unencapsulated form from a modem of the terminal device to an Internet Host via a terrestrial link.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising, in response to the step of sending, receiving response data at the terminal device from the Internet Host via a satellite link.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the Internet Host is connected to the terminal device via a first hop on the terrestrial link, the method further comprising receiving response data at the terminal device from the Internet Host via the terrestrial link in response to the step of sending.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising assigning an IP address assigned to an uplink center of a satellite network to the terminal device, wherein, for the step of creating, the source address matches the IP address assigned to the uplink center.

27. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon for performing steps comprising:

creating a data packet having as its IP source address a source address assigned to a centralized uplink center of a satellite service the IP source address not being encapsulated within another IP source address; and

sending the data packet in its unencapsulated form from a modem of an asymmetric satellite based terminal device to an Internet Host via a terrestrial link.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27 including further computer-readable instructions for performing the step of receiving data at the terminal device from the Internet Host via a satellite link in response to the data packet being sent from the modem.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 27 including further computer-readable instructions for performing the step of assigning an IP address assigned to an uplink center of a satellite network to the terminal device, wherein, for the step of creating, the source address matches the IP address assigned to the uplink center.

30. An asymmetric satellite based terminal device configured to receive Internet data from a satellite using a standard TCP/IP stack, the terminal device comprising:

a personal computer comprising;

a modem in communication with an Internet Service Provider (ISP);

an expansion card based satellite receiver in communication with a Network Operation Center (NOC), the NOC having a range of IP addresses assigned thereto, the receiver having an Internet broadcast IP address from the range of IP addresses assigned to the NOC; and

an operating system, the operating system including the standard TCP/IP stack;

a first driver configured to access the expansion card based satellite receiver; and

a second driver configured to access the modem;

wherein the first driver is further configured to route data received from the satellite receiver card to the standard TCP/IP stack, the second driver is further configured to route request data from the standard TCP/IP stack to the modem, and the modem is configured to send the request data to the ISP, the request data as sent from the modem having, as an IP source address unencapsulated within another IP source address, the Internet broadcast IP address of the receiver, whereby asymmetric satellite communications is enabled.

31. The asymmetric satellite terminal device of claim 30, wherein the terminal device is configured to send web page request data to remote hosts with the return address as the Internet broadcast IP address.

32. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 31 wherein the data includes WEB pages.

33. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 31, further comprising an Internet Service Provider (ISP) connected between the terminal device and the Internet, wherein the ISP is configured to assign to the terminal device the Internet broadcast IP address associated with the network operations center.

34. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 33, wherein the ISP has a plurality of available Internet broadcast IP addresses assigned to the network operations center and is configured to dynamically assign an available Internet broadcast IP address of the plurality of available Internet broadcast IP addresses to the terminal device.

35. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 33, wherein the ISP is configured to statically assign the Internet broadcast IP address to the terminal device based on the identity of a user of the terminal device.

36. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 33, wherein the ISP is configured to assign the Internet broadcast IP address based on a token.

37. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 36, wherein the token is in communication with the terminal device and is selected from the group consisting of an access card, a Smartcard, and a data key.

38. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 37, wherein the token is entered into the terminal device by a user and is selected from the group consisting of an id value, a password, an id value and a password, an encrypted ID, and an encrypted ID and password.

39. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 30 wherein the network operation center is configured to encapsulate data output to the asymmetric satellite based terminal device from the network operations center in MPEG II packets.

40. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 30 wherein the terminal device includes an application program for assigning the source Internet broadcast IP address from the range of IP addresses as a return address of the terminal device, wherein the terminal device is configured to issue requests for web pages with a return address of the network operations center.

41. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 30, wherein the terminal device is dynamically assigned the Internet broadcast IP address from the range of IP addresses assigned to the NOC.

42. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 30, wherein the terminal device is statically assigned the Internet broadcast IP address from the range of IP addresses assigned to the NOC.

43. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 42, wherein the Internet broadcast IP address is associated with a subscriber of satellite service provided via the NOC.

44. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 43, wherein the terminal device is assigned the Internet broadcast IP address from the range of IP addresses assigned to the NOC based on a token.

45. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 44, wherein the token is in communication with the terminal device and is selected from the group consisting of an access card, a Smartcard, and a data key.

46. The asymmetric satellite based terminal device of claim 44, wherein the token is entered into the terminal device by a user and is selected from the group consisting of an id value, a password, an id value and a password, an encrypted ID, and an encrypted ID and a password.

47. The asymmetric satellite system of claim 30, wherein a first host of the remote hosts is connected to the terminal device via a first hop on a terrestrial link, a second host of the remote hosts is connected to the terminal device via a second hop on the terrestrial link, and the ISP is configured to return data from the first host to the terminal device via the terrestrial link and to return data from the second host to the terminal device via a satellite link.