Method and apparatus for generating and securely distributing long-term satellite tracking information

• US 7,548,816 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2006
• Issued: 06/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Global Locate Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Podshivalov, Sergei, Abraham, Charles, Riben, Matthew, van Diggelen, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu; Yonel
• Application Number:
  US11/277,943
• Publication Number:
  US 20070192029A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,175 Days
• Field of Search: 701/200, 701/208, 701213-215, 342/357.06, 342/357.12, 340/988
• US Class Current: 701/213
• CPC Class Codes: B64G 1/1014 Navigation satellites
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/05 providing aiding data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/24 Acquisition or tracking or demodulation of signals transmitted by the system synchronisation aspects of direct sequence spread spectrum modulation H04B1/7073
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/258 relating to the satellite constellation, e.g. almanac, ephemeris data, lists of satellites in view
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/27 creating, predicting or correcting ephemeris or almanac data within the receiver

Abstract

A method and apparatus for generating and distributing satellite tracking data to a remote receiver is disclosed. The method for includes extracting from memory at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data, generating formatted data from the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data, the formatting data being in a format supported by the remote receiver, applying security to the formatted data to prevent unauthorized access to and/or tampering with the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data; and transmitting the formatted data to the remote receiver.

Claims

1. A method for distributing long term satellite tracking data to a remote receiver comprising:

extracting from memory at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data;

generating formatted data from the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data, the formatting data being in a format supported by the remote receiver;

applying security to the formatted data to prevent unauthorized access to the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data; and

transmitting the formatted data to the remote receiver.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein applying security to the formatted data comprises encrypting the formatted data to prevent unauthorized access to the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein applying security to the formatted data operates to ensure to the remote receiver that the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is unadulterated.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the long-term-satellite-tracking data comprises at least one of:

a plurality of satellite positions with respect to time for a period of time into the future, and a plurality of satellite clock offsets with respect to time for a period of time into the future.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the long-term-satellite-tracking data comprises at least one of:

data representative of satellite positions, velocities or acceleration;

data representative of satellite clock offsets, drift, or drift rates.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the long-term-satellite-tracking data is valid for a first period of time, wherein the at least a portion of the long term satellite tracking data is valid for a second period of time, and wherein the first period is longer than the second period.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein applying security to the formatted data comprises applying any of cryptosecurity, transmission security, emission security, and traffic-flow security to prevent unauthorized access to the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein applying security to the formatted data comprises applying a security protocol and a communication protocol to the formatted data, wherein the security protocol is combined with a communication protocol.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the remote receiver a request for security credentials for removing the security from the formatted data; and

sending to the remote receiver the security credentials.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

ensuring that, prior to sending the security credentials, payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is accounted for.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is a fee arrangement.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

sending to the remote receiver a request for information to substantiate that the remote receiver authorized to access the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data; and

receiving from the remote receiver the information to substantiate that the remote receiver authorized to access the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

ensuring that, prior to sending the security credentials, payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is accounted for, wherein the information to substantiate that the remote receiver authorized to access the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data comprises information to validate the payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the formatted data comprises:

transmitting the formatted data over a wireless communications link.

15. A method for obtaining at a remote receiver long-term-satellite-tracking data distributed over a communications link, the method comprising:

receiving at the remote receiver formatted data, wherein the formatted data comprises at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data that is extracted from memory of a device remote from the remote receiver, formatted in a format supported by the remote receiver, and applied with security to prevent unauthorized access to the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data; and

removing the security from the formatted data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the security comprises encryption, and wherein removing the security comprises decrypting the encryption to access the formatted data.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein removing the security from the formatted data comprises ensuring that the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is unadulterated.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein removing the security from the formatted data comprises removing any of cryptosecurity, transmission security, emission security, and traffic-flow security used to prevent unauthorized access to the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

sending from the remote receiver a request for security credentials for removing the security from the formatted data; and

receiving at the remote receiver the security credentials, wherein removing the security from the formatted data comprises substantiating the security credentials to remove the security from the formatted data.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

supplying, in response to a request for information to substantiate that the remote receiver authorized to access the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data, payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is accounted for.

21. An apparatus for distributing long term satellite tracking data to a remote receiver comprising:

memory for storing long-term-satellite-tracking data and executable instructions; and

logic for executing the executable instructions to;

extract from the memory at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data;

generate formatted data from the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data, the formatting data being in a format supported by the remote receiver;

apply security to the formatted data to prevent unauthorized access to the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data; and

transmit the formatted data to the remote receiver.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the executable instructions to apply security to the formatted data comprises executable instructions to encrypt the formatted data to prevent unauthorized access to the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the executable instructions to apply security to the formatted data comprises executable instructions to ensure to the remote receiver that the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is unadulterated.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the long-term-satellite-tracking data comprises at least one of:

data representative of satellite positions, velocities or acceleration;

data representative of satellite clock offsets, drift, or drift rates.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the executable instructions to apply security to the formatted data comprises executable instructions to apply any of cryptosecurity, transmission security, emission security, and traffic-flow security to prevent unauthorized access to the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the executable instructions to apply security to the formatted data comprises executable instructions to apply a security protocol and a communication protocol to the formatted data, wherein the security protocol is combined with a communication protocol.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the logic is further operable to execute executable instructions to:

receive from the remote receiver a request for security credentials for removing the security from the formatted data; and

send to the remote receiver the security credentials.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the logic is further operable to ensure that, prior to sending the security credentials, payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is accounted for.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is a fee arrangement.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the logic is further operable to execute executable instructions to:

send to the remote receiver a request for information to substantiate that the remote receiver authorized to access the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data; and

receive from the remote receiver the information to substantiate that the remote receiver authorized to access the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the logic is further operable to execute executable instructions to:

ensure that, prior to sending the security credentials, payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is accounted for, wherein the information to substantiate that the remote receiver authorized to access the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data comprises information to validate the payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

32. A method for distributing long term satellite tracking data to a remote receiver comprising:

extracting from memory at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data;

generating formatted data from the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data, the formatting data being in a format supported by the remote receiver;

establishing a secure communication link with the remote receiver to prevent unauthorized access to the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data; and

transmitting the formatted data to the remote receiver via the secure communication link.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein establishing a secure communication link operates to ensure to the remote receiver that the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is unadulterated.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein establishing a secure communication link comprises using any of transmission security and traffic-flow security to prevent unauthorized access to the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

35. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

applying security to the formatted data to prevent unauthorized access to the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein applying security to the formatted data comprises encrypting the formatted data.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein applying security to the formatted data operates to ensure to the remote receiver that the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is unadulterated.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein applying security to the formatted data comprises applying a security protocol and a communication protocol to the formatted data, wherein the security protocol is combined with a communication protocol.

39. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

receiving from the remote receiver a request for security credentials for removing the security from the formatted data; and

sending to the remote receiver the security credentials.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

ensuring that, prior to sending the security credentials, payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is accounted for.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is a fee arrangement.

42. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

sending to the remote receiver a request for information to substantiate that the remote receiver authorized to access the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data; and

receiving from the remote receiver the information to substantiate that the remote receiver authorized to access the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

43. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

ensuring that, prior to sending the security credentials, payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data is accounted for, wherein the information to substantiate that the remote receiver authorized to access the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data comprises information to validate the payment for the remote receiver to obtain the at least a portion of long-term-satellite-tracking data.

44. The method of claim 32, wherein the transmitting the formatted data comprises:

transmitting the formatted data over a wireless communications link.