Adaptive modulation in a hybrid vehicle communication system
First Claim
1. A method of providing communications to and from devices being transported by vehicles, comprising:
- obtaining, at a hybrid communications distributor disposed in a terrestrial location, first content that is to be delivered to a device, the device being a mobile computing device that is temporarily being transported by a vehicle that is in-flight and outside of a distance from a vehicle port at which a beacon signal transmitted by a transceiver disposed at the vehicle port is detectable;
selecting, by a processor of the hybrid communications distributor, a first modulation scheme from a set of pre-defined modulation schemes;
causing, by the hybrid communications distributor, a forward transmission to be sent via a forward link to the vehicle that is in-flight, the forward link included in a first communication link supported by a first frequency band, the forward transmission configured using the first modulation scheme, and the forward transmission including (i) the first content, and (ii) an indication of the device;
receiving, at the hybrid communications distributor from the vehicle, via a reverse link included in a second communication link supported by a second frequency band, feedback information including information corresponding to a geo-spatial location of the vehicle that is in-flight, the geo-spatial location including an altitude of the vehicle that is in-flight;
selecting, by the processor of the hybrid communications distributor and based on the feedback information, a second modulation scheme from the set of pre-defined modulation schemes for delivery of a subsequent forward transmission to the vehicle, the subsequent forward transmission including second content to be delivered to the device or to another device being transported by the vehicle; and
causing, by the hybrid communications distributor, the subsequent forward transmission to be sent via the forward link to the vehicle, the subsequent forward transmission configured using the second modulation scheme.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques for providing hybrid communications to devices on vehicles include using a selected modulation scheme on a forward link to deliver data (that is intended to be received by an on-board device) onto a vehicle, and using a reverse link in a different frequency band to send reverse data from the vehicle. Based on the reverse data, a subsequent pre-defined modulation scheme for a subsequent forward transmission is selected from a plurality of modulation schemes corresponding to a plurality of performance levels of data delivery. The selections may be based on a current geo-spatial location of the vehicle, a type of data, and/or on one or more other dynamic conditions. The forward data may be multiplexed and/or multicast. Thus, adaptive modulation is achieved in a hybrid communications system in which the forward link and the reverse link to the vehicle are supported by different wireless communication bands.
94 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of providing communications to and from devices being transported by vehicles, comprising:
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obtaining, at a hybrid communications distributor disposed in a terrestrial location, first content that is to be delivered to a device, the device being a mobile computing device that is temporarily being transported by a vehicle that is in-flight and outside of a distance from a vehicle port at which a beacon signal transmitted by a transceiver disposed at the vehicle port is detectable; selecting, by a processor of the hybrid communications distributor, a first modulation scheme from a set of pre-defined modulation schemes; causing, by the hybrid communications distributor, a forward transmission to be sent via a forward link to the vehicle that is in-flight, the forward link included in a first communication link supported by a first frequency band, the forward transmission configured using the first modulation scheme, and the forward transmission including (i) the first content, and (ii) an indication of the device; receiving, at the hybrid communications distributor from the vehicle, via a reverse link included in a second communication link supported by a second frequency band, feedback information including information corresponding to a geo-spatial location of the vehicle that is in-flight, the geo-spatial location including an altitude of the vehicle that is in-flight; selecting, by the processor of the hybrid communications distributor and based on the feedback information, a second modulation scheme from the set of pre-defined modulation schemes for delivery of a subsequent forward transmission to the vehicle, the subsequent forward transmission including second content to be delivered to the device or to another device being transported by the vehicle; and causing, by the hybrid communications distributor, the subsequent forward transmission to be sent via the forward link to the vehicle, the subsequent forward transmission configured using the second modulation scheme. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11)
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9. A hybrid communication system for communicating with devices that are being transported by vehicles, comprising:
a hybrid communications distributor communicatively connected to an in-flight vehicle via a forward link included in a first wireless communication link, the forward link supporting a plurality of modulation schemes, each modulation scheme included in the plurality of modulation schemes corresponding to a respective level of performance, the in-flight vehicle located outside of a distance from a vehicle port at which a beacon signal transmitted by a transceiver disposed at the vehicle port is detectable, and the hybrid communications distributor including; one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory, tangible, computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the hybrid communications distributor to; obtain first content that is to be delivered to a device being transported by the in-flight vehicle; determine one of the plurality of modulation schemes to be utilized for delivery of the first content; cause a forward transmission to be sent to the in-flight vehicle over the forward link using the determined one of the plurality of modulation schemes, the forward transmission including (i) the first content, and (ii) an indication of the device; receive feedback information transmitted from the in-flight vehicle via a reverse link included in a second wireless communication link supported a frequency band different than the frequency band supporting the first wireless communication link, the feedback information including data corresponding to a geo-spatial location of the in-flight vehicle, the geo-spatial location of the in-flight vehicle including an altitude of the in-flight vehicle; determine, based on the feedback information, a subsequent one of the plurality of modulation schemes for delivery of a subsequent forward transmission to the in-flight vehicle, the subsequent forward transmission including second content to be delivered to the device or to another device being transported by the in-flight vehicle; and cause the subsequent forward transmission to be sent over the forward link to the in-flight vehicle using the selected subsequent one of the plurality of modulation schemes. - View Dependent Claims (10, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of providing communications to and from devices being transported by in-flight vehicles, comprising:
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receiving, at a vehicle that is in-flight via a forward link included in a first wireless communication link supported by a first frequency band, a forward transmission in a first modulation scheme included in a plurality of pre-defined modulation schemes that a modem that is fixedly connected to the vehicle is capable of supporting without any reconfiguration, the vehicle located outside of a distance from a vehicle port at which a beacon signal transmitted by a transceiver disposed at the vehicle port is detectable; demodulating the forward transmission; determining, by a hybrid communications collector fixedly connected to the vehicle, first content included in the demodulated forward transmission and intended to be delivered to a device, the device being a mobile computing device that is temporarily being transported by the vehicle; causing, by the hybrid communications collector, the first content to be sent to the device using a wireless network contained within the vehicle; causing, by the hybrid communications collector, feedback information to be transmitted from the vehicle using a reverse link included in a second wireless communication link supported by a second frequency band, wherein the feedback information is based on a current geo-spatial position of the vehicle and the current geo-spatial position of the vehicle includes a current altitude of the vehicle; receiving, at the vehicle, a subsequent forward transmission in a second modulation scheme included in the plurality of pre-defined modulation schemes, the second modulation scheme selected based on the feedback information; demodulating the subsequent forward transmission; and causing, by the hybrid communications collector, the second content to be sent to the device or to the another device using the wireless network contained within the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification