Communication system and method
First Claim
1. A communication system, including:
- a plurality of user nodes, each user node for receiving data from a remote application program, the data including message data for communication to a central application program operatively associated with the remote application program;
a plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes, wherein the gateway nodes are distributed over the surface of the earth, in the air or in space;
a hub for communicating with the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes to receive the message data for communication to the central application program; and
two or more access nodes for receiving the message data from at least one of the plurality of user nodes via a first communications interface, wherein the two or more access nodes comprises at least one satellite based access node and at least one terrestrial based access node and each of the at least one satellite based access node and the at least one terrestrial based access node implements the same first communications interface, and the two or more access nodes communicates the received message data to the hub, wherein the at least one satellite based access node communicates the message data to the hub via a second communications interface to one or more of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes and the at least one terrestrial based access node communicates the message data to the hub either via the second communications interface to one or more of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes or via a direct connection to the hub, wherein at least one of the first communications interface and the second communications interface operates in the range of 30 MHz to 1 GHz, and wherein, to route a message to the hub from one of the two or more access nodes via one or more of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes, the one access node is configured to select one or more geographically distributed gateway nodes that are expected to reduce the message delivery latency to the hub for the message data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A communication system is disclosed. In an embodiment, the communication system includes a user node for receiving data from a remote application program, the data including message data for communication to a central application program operatively associated with the remote application program; plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes; one or more access nodes for receiving the message data from the user node via a first communications interface, and communicating the message data via a second communications interface to one or more of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes; and a hub for communicating with the one or more of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes to receive the message data for communication to the central application.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A communication system, including:
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a plurality of user nodes, each user node for receiving data from a remote application program, the data including message data for communication to a central application program operatively associated with the remote application program; a plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes, wherein the gateway nodes are distributed over the surface of the earth, in the air or in space; a hub for communicating with the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes to receive the message data for communication to the central application program; and two or more access nodes for receiving the message data from at least one of the plurality of user nodes via a first communications interface, wherein the two or more access nodes comprises at least one satellite based access node and at least one terrestrial based access node and each of the at least one satellite based access node and the at least one terrestrial based access node implements the same first communications interface, and the two or more access nodes communicates the received message data to the hub, wherein the at least one satellite based access node communicates the message data to the hub via a second communications interface to one or more of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes and the at least one terrestrial based access node communicates the message data to the hub either via the second communications interface to one or more of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes or via a direct connection to the hub, wherein at least one of the first communications interface and the second communications interface operates in the range of 30 MHz to 1 GHz, and wherein, to route a message to the hub from one of the two or more access nodes via one or more of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes, the one access node is configured to select one or more geographically distributed gateway nodes that are expected to reduce the message delivery latency to the hub for the message data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29)
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12. A communication system comprising:
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a central application program operatively associated with one or more remote application programs; a plurality of user nodes, each user node for communicating data to the remote application program, the data including message data communicated from the central application program operatively associated with the remote application program; a plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes, wherein the gateway nodes are distributed over the surface of the earth, in the air or in space; a hub for receiving data from the central application program for communication to the one or more remote application programs and communicates the received data to a selected one or more of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes; and two or more access nodes wherein the two or more access nodes comprises at least one satellite based access node and at least one terrestrial based access node, and the at least one satellite based access node is configured to receive the data from the selected one or more of the geographically distributed gateway nodes using a first communications interface, and communicates the received data to the one or more user nodes using a second communications interface, wherein at least one of the first communications interface and the second communications interface operates in the range of 30 MHz to 1 GHz, and wherein the at least one terrestrial based access node is configured to receive data either directly from the hub or from the selected one or more of the geographically distributed gateway nodes using the same first communications interface, and the one or more terrestrial based access node communicates the received data to the one or more user nodes using the second communications interface; and
wherein, to route a message to one of the two or more access nodes via one of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes, the hub is configured to select the geographically distributed gateway node that is expected to reduce the message delivery latency for the received data. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 28, 30)
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20. A communication method comprising:
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a plurality of user nodes, each user node receiving data from a remote application program, the data including message data for communication to a central application program operatively associated with the remote application program; two or more access nodes receiving the message data from the user node via a first communications interface, wherein the two or more access nodes comprises at least one satellite based access node and at least one terrestrial based access node and the least one satellite based access node communicates the message data via a second communications interface to one or more of a plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes, wherein the one or more geographically distributed gateway nodes are distributed over the surface of the earth, in the air or in space, and the at least one terrestrial based access node communicates the message data via a second communications interface to one or more of a plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes, or directly to a hub for communication to the central application program, wherein at least one of the first communications interface and the second communications interface operate in the range of 30 MHz to 1 GHz; and a hub communicating with one or more of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes to receive the message data for communication to the central application program; and
wherein communicating the message data via a second communications interface to one or more of a plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes comprises the access node selecting one or more geographically distributed gateway nodes that are expected to reduce the message delivery latency to the hub for the message data. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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21. A communication method comprising:
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providing a plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes wherein the gateway nodes are distributed over the surface of the earth, in the air or in space; receiving data by a hub, from a central application program for communication to one or more remote application programs and communicating the received data to a selected one or more of the plurality of geographically distributed gateway nodes; two or more access nodes wherein the two or more access nodes comprises at least one satellite based access node and at least one terrestrial based access node, and the at least one satellite based access node receives data from the selected one or more of the geographically distributed gateway nodes using a first communications interface, and communicates the received data to one or more user nodes using a second communications interface, and the least one terrestrial based access node receives data either directly from the hub, or from the selected one or more of the geographically distributed gateway nodes using the first communications interface and the least one terrestrial based access node communicates the received data to the one or more user nodes using the second communications interface, wherein the one or more user nodes communicate the data to the remote application programs and at least one of the first communications interface and the second communications interface operate in the range of 30 MHz to 1 GHz, wherein the hub selects the geographically distributed gateway node that is expected to reduce the message delivery latency for the received data. - View Dependent Claims (22, 32)
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33. A communication system, including:
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a plurality of user nodes, each user node for receiving data from a remote application program, the data including message data for communication to a central application program operatively associated with the remote application program; a plurality of gateway nodes, wherein the gateway nodes are distributed in the air or in space; a hub for communicating with the plurality of gateway nodes to receive the message data for communication to the central application program; and at least one terrestrial access node for receiving the message data from at least one of the plurality of user nodes via a first communications interface, and the at least one terrestrial based access node communicates the message data to at least one of the plurality of gateway nodes via a second communications interface, wherein, the at least one terrestrial access node is configured to select one or more geographically distributed gateway nodes that are expected to reduce the message delivery latency to the hub for the message data. - View Dependent Claims (34)
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35. A communication system comprising:
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a central application program operatively associated with one or more remote application programs; a plurality of user nodes, each user node for communicating data to the remote application program, the data including message data communicated from the central application program operatively associated with the remote application program; a plurality of gateway nodes, wherein the gateway nodes are distributed in the air or in space; a hub for receiving data from the central application program for communication to the one or more remote application programs and communicating the received data to a selected one or more of the plurality of gateway nodes; and at least one terrestrial based access node configured to receive data from one or more of the gateway nodes using a first communications interface, and to communicate the received data to the one or more user nodes using a second communications interface, wherein, the hub is configured to select the geographically distributed gateway node that is expected to reduce the message delivery latency for the received data. - View Dependent Claims (36)
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Specification