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.
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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.
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.
0. 126. A terminal interface subsystem comprising:
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.
0. 127. A terminal interface subsystem comprising:
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.
29. A terrestrial terminal interface subsystem for a wireless communications system, the subsystem comprising:
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.
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.
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.
0. 140. A method of providing communications between a communications network and a plurality of wireless terminals served by a base station, the method comprising:
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.
96. A terrestrial terminal interface subsystem for a wireless communications system, the subsystem comprising:
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.
70. 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 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.
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:
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.
5. A system according to
0. 6. A system according to
0. 7. A system according to
8. A system according to claim 7 1, wherein the interface converter is operative to transfer information from a single satellite communication channel to a plurality of terrestrial wireless communications channels.
9. A system according to claim 6 1, wherein the interface converter provides unidirectional communications.
10. A system according to claim 6 1, wherein the interface converter provides bidirectional communications.
11. A system according to
12. A system according to
13. A system according to
14. A system according to claim 1 4, wherein the mobile communications satellite is further operative to communicate with terrestrial terminals without use of the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem.
15. A system according to claim 1 4:
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.
16. A system according to claim 1 4:
wherein the mobile communications satellite is operative to receive information from wireless terminals without use of the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem and to convey the received information to the satellite gateway; and
wherein the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem is operative receive information intended for wireless terminals from the mobile communications satellite and to convey the received information to terrestrial wireless terminals.
17. A system according to
wherein the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem is operative to receive information intended for wireless terminals from the mobile communications satellite and to convey the received information to terrestrial wireless terminals; 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.
18. A system according to
19. A system according to
20. A system according to
a satellite radio, antenna;
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;
a first power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the first modulator; and
a terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna coupled to the output of the first power amplifier.
21. A system according to
22. A system according to
a second low noise amplifier coupled to the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
a second demodulation and regeneration unit having an input coupled to an output of the second low noise amplifier;
a second modulator having an input coupled to an output of the second demodulation and regeneration unit; and
a second power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the second modulator and an output coupled to the satellite radio antenna.
23. A system according to
24. A system according to
25. A system according to
26. A system according to
a terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
a low noise amplifier coupled to the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
a demodulation and regeneration unit having an input coupled to an output of the low noise amplifier;
a modulator having an input coupled to an output of the demodulation and regeneration unit;
a power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the second modulator; and
a satellite radio antenna coupled to an output of the power amplifier.
30. A subsystem according to
a satellite radio antenna;
a 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 via the 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 plurality of terrestrial wireless terminal communications channels to a lesser number of satellite communications channels.
0. 31. A subsystem according to
32. A subsystem according to
33. A subsystem according to
34. A subsystem according to
35. A subsystem according to
36. A subsystem according to
37. A subsystem according to
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;
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.
38. A subsystem according to
39. A subsystem according to
a second low noise amplifier coupled to the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
a second demodulation and regeneration unit having an input coupled to an output of the second low noise amplifier;
a second modulator having an input coupled to an output of the second demodulation and regeneration unit; and
a second power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the second modulator and an output coupled to the satellite radio antenna.
40. A subsystem according to
41. A subsystem according to
42. A subsystem according to claim 37 39, wherein the first modulator is operative to control power of a signal transmitted from the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna responsive to the second demodulation and regeneration unit.
43. A subsystem according to
a lownoise low noise amplifier coupled to the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
a demodulation and regeneration unit having an input coupled to an output of the low noise amplifier;
a modulator having an input coupled to an output of the demodulation and regeneration unit; and
a power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the second modulator and an output coupled to the satellite radio antenna.
45. An apparatus according to
47. An apparatus according to
49. A method according to
conveying a first radio signal from the mobile communications satellite to earth the base station using a first radio interface; and
conveying a second radio signal from the first radio signal from the terrestrial base station to a wireless terminal using a second radio interface, the second radio signal including information from the first radio signal.
51. A method according to
conveying a first radio signal from a wireless terminal to the terrestrial base station using a first radio interface; and
conveying a second radio signal from earth the base station to the mobile communications satellite using a second radio interface, the second radio signal including information from the first radio signal.
53. A method according to
54. A method according to
55. A method according to
0. 56. A method according to
57. A method according to
wherein conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the terrestrial base station via a mobile communications satellite comprises transferring information from a single satellite communication channel to a plurality of terrestrial wireless communications channels.
58. A method according to
59. A method according to
wherein conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the terrestrial base station via a mobile communications satellite comprises conveying terminal communications from the terrestrial base station to the mobile communications satellite; and
wherein the method further comprises conveying terminal communications from the mobile communications satellite to wireless terminals without use of a terrestrial base station.
60. A method according to
wherein conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the terrestrial base station via a mobile communications satellite comprises conveying terminal communications from the mobile communications satellite to the terrestrial base station; and
wherein the method further comprises conveying terminal communications from wireless terminals to the mobile communications satellite without use of a terrestrial base station.
61. A method according to
62. A method according to
63. A method according to
receiving a signal from the mobile communications satellite at an earth-based a satellite radio antenna;
low-noise 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 wireless communications radio antenna to a wireless terminal.
64. A method according to
receiving a radio signal from a wireless terminal at the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
low noise amplifying the received radio signal;
demodulating the amplified radio signal and generating a signal from the demodulated signal in a format suitable for transmission to the mobile communications satellite;
modulating the generated signal;
amplifying the modulated signal; and
transmitting the amplified signal from an earth-based a satellite radio antenna.
0. 66. An apparatus according to
0. 67. An apparatus according to
68. An apparatus according to
means for conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the base station via a mobile communications satellite using a first radio interface; and
means for conveying the terminal communications between the base station and wireless terminals using a second radio interface, wherein terminal communications 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, and
wherein the means for conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the terrestrial base station via a mobile communications satellite using a first radio interface comprises means for transferring information from a single satellite communication channel to a plurality of terrestrial wireless communications channels.
69. An apparatus according to
74. A system according to
0. 75. A system according to
0. 76. A system according to
77. A system according to
a satellite gateway coupled to a communications network and operative to communicate with a mobile communications satellite; and
a 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 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 terminal interface subsystem; and
wherein the 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 single satellite communication communications channel to a plurality of terrestrial wireless communications channels.
78. A system according to claim 75 70, wherein the interface converter provides unidirectional communications.
79. A system according to claim 75 70, wherein the interface converter provides bidirectional communications.
80. A system according to
81. A system according to
82. A system according to
83. A system according to
84. A system according to
wherein the mobile communications satellite is operative to receive information from wireless terminals without use of the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem and to convey the received information to the satellite gateway; and
wherein the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem is operative receive information intended for wireless terminals from the mobile communications satellite and to convey the received information to terrestrial wireless terminals.
85. A system according to
wherein the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem is operative to receive information intended for wireless terminals from the mobile communications satellite and to convey the received information to terrestrial wireless terminals; 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.
86. A system according to
87. A system according to
88. A system according to
a satellite radio antenna;
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;
a first power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the first modulator; and
a terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna coupled to the output of the first power amplifier.
89. A system according to
90. A system according to
a second low noise amplifier coupled to the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
a second demodulation and regeneration unit having an input coupled to an output of the second low noise amplifier;
a second modulator having an input coupled to an output of the second demodulation and regeneration unit; and
a second power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the second modulator and an output coupled to the satellite radio antenna.
91. A system according to
92. A system according to
93. A system according to
94. A system according to
a terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
a low noise amplifier coupled to the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
a demodulation and regeneration unit having an input coupled to an output of the low noise amplifier;
a modulator having an input coupled to an output of the demodulation and regeneration unit;
a power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the modulator; and
a satellite radio antenna coupled to an output of the power amplifier.
97. A subsystem according to
a satellite radio antenna;
a 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 via the wireless communications radio antenna using a second radio interface;
a first 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 wireless communications radio antenna,
wherein the interface converter is operative to transfer information from a plurality of terrestrial wireless terminal communications channels to a lesser number of satellite communications channels.
0. 98. A subsystem according to
99. A subsystem according to
100. A subsystem according to
101. A subsystem according to
102. A subsystem according to
103. A subsystem according to
104. A subsystem according to
105. A subsystem according to
a second low noise amplifier coupled to the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
a second demodulation and regeneration unit having an input coupled to an output of the second low noise amplifier;
a second modulator having an input coupled to an output of the second demodulation and regeneration unit; and
a second power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the second modulator and an output coupled to the satellite radio antenna.
106. A subsystem according to
107. A subsystem according to
108. A subsystem according to
109. A subsystem according to
a low noise amplifier coupled to the terrestrial wireless communications radio antenna;
a demodulation and regeneration unit having an input coupled to an output of the low noise amplifier;
a modulator having an input coupled to an output of the demodulation and regeneration unit; and
a power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the second modulator and an output coupled to the satellite radio antenna.
0. 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:
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.
0. 111. A method according to
conveying a first radio signal from the communications satellite to earth using a first radio interface; and
conveying a second radio signal from the first radio signal from the terrestrial base station to a wireless terminal using a second radio interface, the second radio signal including information from the first radio signal.
0. 112. A method according to
0. 113. A method according to
conveying a first radio signal from a wireless terminal to the terrestrial base station using a first radio interface; and
conveying a second radio signal from earth to the communications satellite using a second radio interface, the second radio signal including information from the first radio signal.
0. 114. A method according to
0. 115. A method according to
0. 116. A method according to
0. 117. A method according to
0. 118. A method according to
0. 119. A method according to
0. 120. A method according to
0. 121. A method according to
wherein conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the terrestrial base station via a communications satellite comprises conveying terminal communications from the terrestrial base station to the communications satellite;and
wherein the method further comprises conveying terminal communications from the communications satellite to wireless terminals without use of a terrestrial base station.
0. 122. A method according to
wherein conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the terrestrial base station via a communications satellite comprises conveying terminal communications from the communications satellite to the terrestrial base station; and
wherein the method further comprises conveying terminal communications from wireless terminals to the communications satellite without use of a terrestrial base station.
0. 123. A method according to
0. 124. A method according to
0. 125. A method according to
receiving a radio signal from a wireless terminal at the terrestrial radio antenna;
low noise amplifying the received radio signal;
demodulating the amplified radio signal and generating a signal from the demodulated signal in a format suitable for transmission to the communications satellite;
modulating the generated signal;
amplifying the modulated signal; and
transmitting the amplified signal from an earth-based satellite radio antenna.
0. 128. A terminal interface subsystem according to
0. 129. A terminal interface subsystem according to
0. 130. A terminal interface subsystem according to
0. 131. A terminal interface subsystem according to
0. 132. A terminal interface subsystem according to
0. 133. A terminal interface subsystem according to
a first 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 wireless communications radio antenna.
0. 134. A terminal interface subsystem according to
0. 135. A terminal interface subsystem according to
a second low noise amplifier coupled to the wireless communications radio antenna;
a second demodulation and regeneration unit having an input coupled to an output of the second low noise amplifier;
a second modulator having an input coupled to an output of the second demodulation and regeneration unit; and
a second power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the second modulator and an output coupled to the satellite radio antenna.
0. 136. A terminal interface subsystem according to
0. 137. A terminal interface subsystem according to
0. 138. A terminal interface subsystem according to
0. 139. A terminal interface subsystem according to
a low noise amplifier coupled to the wireless communications radio antenna;
a demodulation and regeneration unit having an input coupled to an output of the low noise amplifier;
a modulator having an input coupled to an output of the demodulation and regeneration unit; and
a power amplifier having an input coupled to an output of the modulator and an output coupled to the satellite radio antenna.
0. 141. A method according to
conveying a first radio signal from the communications satellite to the base station using a first radio interface; and
conveying a second radio signal from the first radio signal from the base station to a wireless terminal using a second radio interface, the second radio signal including information from the first radio signal.
0. 142. A method according to
0. 143. A method according to
conveying a first radio signal from a wireless terminal to the base station using a first radio interface; and
conveying a second radio signal from the base station to the communications satellite using a second radio interface, the second radio signal including information from the first radio signal.
0. 144. A method according to
0. 145. A method according to
0. 146. A method according to
0. 147. A method according to
0. 148. A method according to
0. 149. A method according to
0. 150. A method according to
0. 151. A method according to
0. 152. A method according to
receiving a radio signal from a wireless terminal at the wireless communications radio antenna;
low noise amplifying the received radio signal;
demodulating the amplified radio signal and regenerating the demodulated signal to recover a bitstream or other datastream in a format suitable for modulation and transmission to the communications satellite;
modulating the bitstream or datastream;
amplifying the modulated signal; and
transmitting the amplified signal from the satellite radio antenna.
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Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 6,856,787. The reissue applications are application Ser. No. 11/431,160 (the present application), application Ser. No. 12/266,713(a first divisional of the present application) and application Ser. No. 12/329,137(a second divisional of the present application).
The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/356,264 entitled “WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND METHODS USING SATELLITE-LINKED REMOTE TERMINAL INTERFACE SUBSYSTEMS,” filed Feb. 12, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to wireless communications apparatus and methods, and more particularly, to wireless communications system and methods using satellite and terrestrial components.
Cellular satellite communications systems and methods are also widely used to provide wireless communications. Cellular satellite communications systems and methods generally employ at least one space-based component, such as one or more satellites that are configured to wirelessly communicate with a plurality of radiotelephones or other types of cellular terminals. The overall design and operation of cellular satellite communications systems and methods are well known to those having skill in the art, and need not be described further herein.
Hybrids of satellite and terrestrial systems may also be used. For example, as is well known to those having skill in the art, terrestrial networks can enhance cellular satellite communications system availability, efficiency and/or economic viability by terrestrially reusing at least some of the frequency bands that are allocated to cellular satellite communications systems. In particular, it is known that it may be difficult for cellular satellite communications systems to reliably serve densely populated areas, because the satellite signal may be blocked by high-rise structures and/or may not penetrate into buildings. As a result, the satellite spectrum may be underutilized or unutilized in such areas. The use of terrestrial retransmission can reduce or eliminate this problem.
Moreover, the capacity of the overall system can be increased significantly by the introduction of terrestrial retransmission, since terrestrial frequency reuse can be much denser than that of a satellite-only system. In fact, capacity can be enhanced where it may be mostly needed, i.e., densely populated urban/industrial/commercial areas. As a result, the overall system can become much more economically viable, as it may be able to serve a much larger subscriber base. One example of terrestrial reuse of satellite frequencies is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,332 to the present inventor Karabinis entitled Satellite Telecommunications Repeaters and Retransmission Methods.
According to some embodiments of the present invention, a wireless communications system includes a satellite gateway coupled to a communications network and operative to communicate with a communications satellite. The system further includes a terrestrial terminal interface subsystem operative to communicate with the satellite gateway via the communications satellite using a first radio interface and to communicate with wireless terminals over a geographic area using a second radio interface. For example, in some embodiments, the communications network comprises 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.
In some embodiments, the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem comprises an interface converter operative to convert between the first and second radio interfaces. The interface converter may be operative to transfer information from a plurality of terrestrial wireless communications channels to a lesser number of satellite communications channels. The interface converter may also be operative to transfer information from a single satellite communication channel to a plurality of terrestrial wireless communications channels.
According to further embodiments of the present invention, the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem includes a satellite radio antenna and a terrestrial radio antenna co-located at a single terrestrial base station. The terrestrial terminal interface subsystem may also comprise a plurality of terrestrial base stations located at respective ones of a plurality of geographically distributed sites and served by a single satellite link.
In yet additional embodiments, the communications satellite is further operative to communicate with wireless terrestrial terminals without use of the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem. In particular, the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem or the satellite or both may communicate with wireless terminals. For example, in some embodiments, the 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, while 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 communications satellite. In this manner, for example, “receive only” terrestrial base stations may be used to provide uplinks from wireless terminals to a communications network, while downlinks are provided directly from the satellite to the wireless terminals. In other embodiments, the communications satellite is operative to receive information from wireless terminals without use of the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem and to convey the received information to the satellite gateway, while the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem is operative to receive information intended for wireless terminals from the communications satellite and to convey the received information to terrestrial terminals. In this manner, for example, “transmit-only” terrestrial base stations may be used to provide downlinks from a communications network to wireless terminals, while uplinks may be provided directly from the wireless terminals to the satellite.
According to some method embodiments of the present invention, communications between a communications network and a plurality of wireless terminals served by a terrestrial base station may be provided by conveying terminal communications between the communications network and the terrestrial base station via a communications satellite. The communication via the satellite can be bidirectional or unidirectional.
The present invention may be embodied in variety of forms, including, but not limited to, wireless communications systems, components of wireless communications systems, combinations of components of wireless communications systems, and wireless communications methods. For example, the present invention may be embodied as earth-based components and combinations thereof configured to interoperate with space-based components, as spaced-based components, and as combinations of earth-based and space-based components.
The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which typical embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
As used herein, the term “cellular terminal” refers to wireless terminals including, but not limited to: radiotelephone terminals (“cell phones”) with or without a multi-line display; Personal Communications System (PCS) terminals that may combine a radiotelephone with data processing, facsimile and/or data communications capabilities; Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) that can include a radio frequency transceiver and a pager, Internet/intranet access, Web browser, organizer, calendar and/or a global positioning system (GPS) receiver; and/or conventional laptop and/or palmtop computers or other appliances, which include a radio frequency transceiver. These devices may be capable of wireless voice and/or data communications.
As shown, the terrestrial terminal interface subsystem 240 includes a satellite antenna 241 and a terrestrial antenna 243 that are connected to an interface converter 242. The interface converter 242 is configured to receive information from cellular terminals 60 according to a first radio interface and to transmit the received information to the satellite 230 according to a second radio interface, and to receive information from the satellite 230 according to the second radio interface and to transmit the received information to the cellular terminals 60 according to the first radio interface. For example, the first radio interface may conform to a conventional standard, such as a GSM standard that uses Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK) modulation. The second radio interface may support a higher data rate using, for example, M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), such that information received from or intended for cellular terminals 60 may be “concentrated” for transmission over the satellite link. In other embodiments, the first and second radio interfaces may be the same or substantially similar.
It will be appreciated that the interface converter 242 may include a variety of different components. For example, in embodiments described below with reference to
As also shown in
It will be appreciated that the satellite link through the satellite 330 may generally support a higher data rate than radio links to individual cellular terminals, due to, for example, a less obstructive radio signal propagation environment and/or less interference and/or higher available transmit power. The concentrator/deconcentrator 342, 322 takes advantage of this higher data rate capability by combining information received from or intended for terminals in a signal formatted according to a higher data rate signaling format for transfer through the satellite link.
The information recovered from the demodulator & regenerator component 415 may then be reformatted and remodulated by a modulator component 425. The remodulated signal is then filtered and amplified by a filter 430 and a power amplifier 435 to produce a signal for transmission to the cellular terminal 70 via the terrestrial antenna 402. Power information obtained by the demodulator & regenerator component 415 may be used by a modulator component 475 to control the power of a signal transmitted to the satellite 80.
Signals received from the cellular terminal 70 via the terrestrial antenna 402 are processed by a bandpass filter 455 and an LNA 460. The signal produced by the LNA 460 is processed by a demodulator & regenerator component 465 to recover information in a format suitable for remodulation and transmission to the satellite 80. The demodulator & regenerator component 465 may, for example, produce respective datastreams that correspond to respective GSM carriers received from the terrestrial antenna 402. As shown, the demodulator & regenerator component 465 may be operatively associated with an interference reducer, such as a decision feedback canceller 470, that cancels interference in the signals received by the terrestrial antenna 402, e.g., interference generated by transmissions from the satellite antenna 401. For example, an interference reducer along the lines described in the aforementioned U.S. Ser. No. 60/322,240 and U.S. Ser. No. 10/074,097 may be used.
The information recovered from the demodulator & regenerator component 465 is remodulated in a modulator component 475, producing a remodulated signal corresponding to the multiple GSM carriers. This signal is then filtered and amplified by a filter 480 and a power amplifier 485 to produce a signal for transmission to the satellite 80 via the satellite antenna 401. As described above with reference to
It will be appreciated that the embodiments of
In the drawings and foregoing description thereof, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention. Terms employed in the description are used in a generic and descriptive sense and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims.
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