The Directv Group, Inc.

Hughes Electronics Corporation

Patrick J Loner

Robert G Arsenault

Gustave R Stroes

Ernest C Chen

Joseph Santoru

Jim C Williams

James H Schaffner

Guangcai Zhou

John P Godwin

Leon J Stanger

Tung-Sheng Lin

Shamik Maitra

Dennis Lai

Donald J Breier

Navid Motamed

A method and apparatus for adaptively controlling a transmission signal for transmission to at least one receiver in a terrestrial region is disclosed. The method selects a transmission signal mode having a modulation scheme, code scheme, and code rate from a plurality of transmission signal modes according to received information, generates a transmission signal according to the selected mode, and transmits the generated transmission signal to the receiver.

Adaptive coding and modulation for spot beam satellite broadcast

A satellite systemhaving a first satelliteat a first orbital slot B has a first transponderand a second generating a first downlink signalB at a first frequency and a second downlink signalC at a second frequency. An outdoor unit is directed toward the first satelliteand includes a support structure, a reflectorcoupled to the support structure and reflecting the first downlink signal and the second downlink signal. A first feedB is coupled to the support structure and receives the first downlink signal. A second feedA is coupled to the support structure and receives the second downlink signal. A secondary reflectorreflects the second downlink signal to the second feed

Method and apparatus for receiving dual band signals from an orbital location using an outdoor unit with a subreflector and additional antenna feed

A method and system for detecting satellite signal lock in a satellite receiver system is disclosed. The system may include a first filter that isolates a noise frequency from the satellite signal, and/or a second filter that isolates a service frequency from the satellite signal. A comparator may then determine whether the output of the first and/or second filters is greater than a threshold level associated with an incipient loss of lock on the broadcast signal. The method includes the steps of filtering a received broadcast satellite signal to generate a service signal having a center frequency between a first transponder center frequency of a first transponder band and a second transponder center frequency of a second transponder band that overlaps the first transponder band, and comparing the output of the filter to a threshold value. In either the method or the apparatus, a command may be issued if the signal value is below the threshold value, thereby informing the user of the loss of signal lock.

Method and apparatus for in-line detection of satellite signal lock

A systemthat includes a first satelliteat a first orbital slot B includes a first transpondergenerating a first downlink signal at a first frequency and a second downlink signal at a second frequency. An outdoor unitis directed toward the first satellite. The outdoor unit includes a support structureand a reflectorcoupled to the support structureand reflecting the first downlink signal from a first satellite. A first reflector reflects the second downlink signal from the first satellite. A first feedis coupled to the support structure and receives the first downlink signal. A reflectorhaving frequency selective surfacecoupled to the support structurereflects the second downlink signal and passes the first downlink signal therethrough. The second feedB is coupled to the support structureand receives the second downlink signal reflected from the frequency selective surface

Method and apparatus for receiving dual band signals from a common orbital location with an outdoor unit using a frequency selective subreflector and additional antenna feed

A system and a methodology uses data provided from consumer terminals in a satellite system to reconfigure a satellite to thereby optimize the strength of signals transmitted by the satellite. The data from the consumer terminals may be used to provide diagnostic information about the reception of signals at various points in an area covered by a satellite broadcasting system and to compensate for attenuation of signals transmitted by the satellite due to weather storms, or other atmospheric conditions. Such use of consumer terminals eliminates the need to place expensive monitoring stations throughout an area covered by a satellite broadcasting system, resulting in substantial reduction in overall system cost. Additionally, given the widespread distribution of consumer terminals, greater monitoring coverage is achieved than with a limited number of monitoring stations.

Method of using feedback from consumer terminals to adaptively control a satellite system

A satellite systemhaving a first satelliteat a first orbital slot B has a first transponderand a second generating a first downlink signalB at a first frequency and a second downlink signalC at a second frequency. An outdoor unit is directed toward the first satelliteand includes a support structure, a reflectorcoupled to the support structure and reflecting the first downlink signal and the second downlink signal. A first feedB is coupled to the support structure and receives the first downlink signal. A second feedC is concentric with the first feedB and is coupled to the support structure and receives the second downlink signal.

Method and apparatus for receiving dual band signals from an orbital location using an outdoor unit with a concentric antenna feed

A system for transmitting data to a plurality of satellites is provided. A first satellite in an orbital slot has an associated receive antenna, and is configured to receive signals in a first range of frequencies. A second satellite in the orbital slot has an associated receive antenna. The second satellite is separated from the first satellite by at least a first separation angle, and is configured to receive signals in the first range of frequencies. A first earth uplink antenna, located at a first earth location, is capable of transmitting a first uplink beam at the receive antenna of the first satellite. A second earth uplink antenna, collocated at the first earth location, is capable of transmitting a second uplink beam at the receive antenna of the second satellite. The first uplink beam includes first signals at the first range of frequencies, and the second uplink beam includes second signals at the first range of frequencies. Further, the first uplink beam is substantially attenuated beyond the first separation angle in the direction of the second satellite, and the second uplink beam is substantially attenuated beyond the first separation angle in the direction of the first satellite.

Systems and methods for sharing uplink bandwidth among satellites in a common orbital slot

A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a computer memory structure adaptively controlling a transmission signal from a satellite to at least one terrestrial receiver in a terrestrial region is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of receiving information describing a deleterious time-varying propagation characteristic of the transmission signal to the terrestrial region; generating the transmission signal having a transmission characteristic which mitigates the undesirable aspects of the time-varying propagation characteristic; and transmitting the generated transmission signal from the satellite to the terrestrial receiver. The article of manufacture comprises a controller device tangibly embodying instructions to perform the method steps described above. The apparatus comprises a receiver for receiving information describing a time-varying signal propagation characteristic of the signal to the terrestrial region; a signal generator for adaptively generating a transmission signal having a transmission characteristic mitigating the propagation characteristic; and a transmitter for transmitting the generated transmission signal.

Adaptive transmission system

A method and system for detecting satellite signal lock in a satellite receiver system is disclosed. The system includes a first filter that isolates a noise frequency from the satellite signal, a second filter that isolates a service frequency from the satellite signal, circuits that derive a value indicative of the difference between a noise component and a service frequency component and output a difference signal level, a first comparator that determines whether the difference signal level is greater than a first threshold level, and a second comparator that determines whether the difference signal level is greater than a second threshold level. The method includes the steps of establishing a first threshold value between a satellite signal power level and the noise power level, combining a value indicative of a noise frequency signal component with a value indicative of a service frequency component to obtain a difference signal value, comparing the difference signal value with the first threshold value, and issuing a command if the difference signal value is below the first threshold value to inform the user of the loss of signal lock.

A low profile, low cost receiver/transmitter system includes a planar waveguide-to-microstrip adapter, a dielectric loaded waveguide fed slot array antenna, and a downconverter all formed on a single dielectric substrate made of polytetrafluoroethylene. The waveguide antenna includes a set of slots disposed in a surface thereof to receive/transmit a microwave/millimeter wave signal. The waveguide-to-stripline adapter is connected to the waveguide antenna and includes a taper section attached to a microstrip line. The taper section, which may be linear or may follow some other more complex taper function such as a Chebyshev function, adapts a signal propagating within the waveguide antenna to the microstrip line or vise versa.

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Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

Patrick J Loner