Wireless communications systems and methods using satellite-linked remote terminal interface subsystems
First Claim
1. A wireless communications system, comprising:
- a satellite gateway coupled to a communications network and operative to communicate with a mobile communications satellite; and
a terrestrial terminal interface subsystem operative to communicate with the satellite gateway via the mobile communications satellite using a first radio interface over a first frequency band and to communicate with wireless terminal over a geographic area terminals using a second radio interface over substantially the first frequency band, wherein the terminal interface subsystem comprises an interface converter operative to convert between the first and second radio interfaces; and
wherein the interface converter is operative to transfer information from a plurality of wireless communications channels to a lesser number of satellite communications channels.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A satellite gateway is coupled to a communications network and is operative to communicate with a communications satellite. A terrestrial terminal interface subsystem is operative to communicate with the satellite gateway via the communications satellite using a first radio interface and to communicate with terminals over a geographic area using a second radio interface. The communications network may be a wireless communications network, and the satellite gateway is configured to communicate with a base station controller of the wireless communications network, such that the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem may provide one or more satellite-linked terrestrial base stations.
147 Citations
152 Claims
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1. A wireless communications system, comprising:
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a satellite gateway coupled to a communications network and operative to communicate with a mobile communications satellite; and
a terrestrial terminal interface subsystem operative to communicate with the satellite gateway via the mobile communications satellite using a first radio interface over a first frequency band and to communicate with wireless terminal over a geographic area terminals using a second radio interface over substantially the first frequency band, wherein the terminal interface subsystem comprises an interface converter operative to convert between the first and second radio interfaces; and
wherein the interface converter is operative to transfer information from a plurality of wireless communications channels to a lesser number of satellite communications channels. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A terrestrial terminal interface subsystem for a wireless communications system, the subsystem comprising:
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a satellite radio antenna;
a terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna; and
an interface converter operative to communicate with a mobile communications satellite via the satellite radio antenna using a first radio interface over a first frequency band and to communicate with wireless terminals over a geographic area via the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna using a second radio interface over substantially the same first frequency band, wherein the interface converter is operative to transfer information from a single satellite communication channel to a plurality of wireless communications channels. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. An apparatus, comprising:
a satellite gateway operative to communicate with a communications network and to communicate via a mobile communications satellite with a terrestrial terminal interface system that serves wireless terminals in a geographic area , wherein communication between the terrestrial terminal interface system and the mobile communications satellite, and communication between the terrestrial terminal interface system and wireless terminals occurs occur over substantially the same frequency band, and wherein the terminal interface system is operative to transfer information from a plurality of wireless communications channels to a lesser number of satellite communications channels. - View Dependent Claims (45)
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46. An apparatus, comprising:
a mobile communications satellite operative to convey terminal communications between an earth-based communications network and a terrestrial wireless base station that communicates with wireless terminals in a geographic area , wherein communication between the terrestrial wireless base station and the mobile communications satellite, and communication between the wireless base station and the wireless terminals occurs occur over substantially the same frequency band, and wherein the wireless base station is operative to transfer information from a plurality of wireless communications channels to a lesser number of satellite communications channels. - View Dependent Claims (47)
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48. A method of providing communications between a communications network and a plurality of wireless terminals served by a terrestrial base station, the method comprising:
- conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the terrestrial base station via a mobile communications satellite, wherein communication between the terrestrial base station and the mobile communications satellite, and communication between the terrestrial base station and wireless terminals served by the terrestrial base station occurs occur over substantially the same frequency band, wherein conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the base station via a mobile communications satellite comprises transferring information from a plurality of wireless communications channels to a lesser number of satellite communications channels.
- View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. An apparatus for providing communications between a communications network and a plurality of wireless terminals served by a terrestrial base station, the apparatus comprising:
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means for conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the terrestrial base station via a mobile communications satellite using a first radio interface; and
means for conveying the terminal communications between the terrestrial base station and wireless terminals using a second radio interface, wherein at least part of the terminal communications occurs between the communications network and the base station via the mobile communications satellite and communications between the base station and wireless terminals occur over substantially the same frequency band, wherein the means for conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the base station via a mobile communications satellite using a first radio interface comprises means for conveying terminal communications between the communications network and a plurality of base stations, and wherein the means for conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the base station via a mobile communications satellite using a first radio interface comprises means for transferring information from a plurality of wireless communications channels to a lesser number of satellite communications channels. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68, 69)
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70. A wireless communications system, comprising:
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a satellite gateway coupled to a communications network and operative to communicate with a mobile communications satellite; and
a terrestrial terminal interface subsystem operative to communicate with the satellite gateway via the mobile communications satellite using a first radio interface and to communicate with wireless terminals over a geographic area using a second radio interface, wherein the mobile communications satellite is operative to receive information intended for wireless terminals from the satellite gateway and to convey the received information to the wireless terminals without use of the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem; and
wherein the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem is operative to receive information from wireless terminals and to convey the received information to the communications network without use of the mobile communications satellite, wherein the terminal interface subsystem comprises an interface converter operative to convert between the first and second radio interfaces, and wherein the interface converter is operative to transfer information from a plurality of wireless communications channels to a lesser number of satellite communications channels. - View Dependent Claims (71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95)
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96. A terrestrial terminal interface subsystem for a wireless communications system, the subsystem comprising:
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a satellite radio antenna;
a terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
an interface converter operative to communicate with a mobile communications satellite via the satellite radio antenna using a first radio interface and to communicate with wireless terminals over a geographic area via the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna using a second radio interface;
a first low-noise low noise amplifier coupled to the satellite radio antenna;
a first demodulation and regeneration unit having an input coupled to an output of the first low noise amplifier;
a first modulator having an input coupled to an output of the first demodulation and regeneration unit; and
a first power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the first modulator and an output coupled to the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna, wherein the interface converter is operative to transfer information from a single satellite communications channel to a plurality of wireless terminal communications channels. - View Dependent Claims (97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109)
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110. A method of providing communications between a communications network and a plurality of wireless terminals served by a terrestrial base station, the method comprising:
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conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the terrestrial base station via a communications satellite, wherein conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the terrestrial base station via a communications satellite comprises;
receiving a signal from the communications satellite at an earth-based satellite radio antenna;
low-noise amplifying the received signal;
demodulating the amplified signal and generating a signal from the demodulated signal in a format suitable for transmission to a wireless terminal;
modulating the demodulated and regenerated signal;
amplifying the modulated signal; and
transmitting the amplified signal from a terrestrial radio antenna to a wireless terminal. - View Dependent Claims (111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125)
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126. A terminal interface subsystem comprising:
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a satellite radio antenna;
a wireless communications radio antenna; and
an interface converter operative to communicate with at least one satellite via the satellite radio antenna using frequencies of a predetermined frequency band and to communicate with wireless terminals via the wireless communications radio antenna using frequencies of the predetermined frequency band, wherein the interface converter is operative to transfer information from a single satellite communications channel to a plurality of wireless communications channels and wherein the predetermined frequency band is a mobile satellite frequency band.
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127. A terminal interface subsystem comprising:
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a satellite radio antenna;
a wireless communications radio antenna; and
an interface converter operative to communicate with at least one satellite via the satellite radio antenna using frequencies of a predetermined frequency band and to communicate with wireless terminals via the wireless communications radio antenna using frequencies of the predetermined frequency band, wherein the interface converter is operative to transfer information from a plurality of wireless communications channels to a lesser number of satellite communications channels and wherein the predetermined frequency band is a mobile satellite frequency band. - View Dependent Claims (128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139)
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140. A method of providing communications between a communications network and a plurality of wireless terminals served by a base station, the method comprising:
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conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the base station via a communications satellite, wherein conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the base station via a communications satellite comprises;
receiving a signal from the communications satellite at a satellite radio antenna;
low-noise amplifying the received signal;
demodulating the amplified signal and regenerating the demodulated signal to recover a bitstream or other datastream in a format suitable for modulation and transmission to a wireless terminal;
modulating the bitstream or datastream;
amplifying the modulated signal; and
transmitting the amplified signal from a wireless communications radio antenna to a wireless terminal. - View Dependent Claims (141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152)
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Specification