Aircraft based cellular system
First Claim
1. A system for providing an aircraft-based wireless communications service, comprising:
- a plurality of aircraft, each of the aircraft being used as a cell site and including on-board equipment that acts as a base station for supporting wireless communications both with terrestrial users within the aircraft'"'"'s field of view and with passengers on-board the aircraft;
one or more ground stations communicating with the plurality of aircraft using feeder communications links exchanging the wireless communications'"'"' traffic and control information and providing interfaces with a terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure; and
a control center that manages the one or more ground stations and the on-board equipment of the plurality of aircraft and dynamically assigns resources to the on-board equipment of the plurality of aircraft to create an overlapped set of coverage patterns for the terrestrial users.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for providing an aircraft-based wireless communications service is disclosed. An exemplary system includes a plurality of aircraft each including on-board equipment for supporting wireless communications with one or more dual mode handsets and for exchanging wireless communication traffic and control information. One or more ground stations communicate with the plurality of commercial aircraft using feeder communications links exchanging the wireless communication traffic and control information and providing interfaces with a terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure. A control center manages the one or more ground stations and the on-board equipment of the commercial aircraft and dynamically assigns resources to the on-board equipment of the plurality of aircraft using an overlapped set of coverage patterns.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A system for providing an aircraft-based wireless communications service, comprising:
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a plurality of aircraft, each of the aircraft being used as a cell site and including on-board equipment that acts as a base station for supporting wireless communications both with terrestrial users within the aircraft'"'"'s field of view and with passengers on-board the aircraft; one or more ground stations communicating with the plurality of aircraft using feeder communications links exchanging the wireless communications'"'"' traffic and control information and providing interfaces with a terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure; and a control center that manages the one or more ground stations and the on-board equipment of the plurality of aircraft and dynamically assigns resources to the on-board equipment of the plurality of aircraft to create an overlapped set of coverage patterns for the terrestrial users. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 20)
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10. A method for providing an aircraft-based wireless communications service, comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of aircraft, each of the aircraft being used as a cell site and including on-board equipment that acts as a base station for supporting wireless communications both with terrestrial users within the aircraft'"'"'s field of view and with passengers on-board the aircraft; providing one or more ground stations communicating with the plurality of aircraft using feeder communications links exchanging the wireless communications'"'"' traffic and control information and providing interfaces with a terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure; and providing a control center that manages the one or more ground stations and the on-board equipment of the plurality of aircraft and dynamically assigns resources to the on-board equipment of the plurality of aircraft to create an overlapped set of coverage patterns for the terrestrial users. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22)
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Specification