The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 10, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 20, 1999
Santanu Dutta, Cedar Rapids, IA (US);
AMSC Subsidairy Corporation, Reston, VA (US);
Abstract
In a communication system for communicating on at least one channel group, a demodulator is disclosed. The channel group has at least one forward channel and at least one return channel, where a central station transmits data over the forward channel to a plurality of terminals at a forward data rate, and transmissions by each terminal to the central station are performed on any one of the return channels at a return data rate. The demodulator comprises a burst demodulator that demodulates received, discrete signaling packets of information over the return channels. The demodulator also comprises a message demodulator that is responsively connected to the burst demodulator, such that when the message demodulator is activated, the burst demodulator becomes deactivated when the return channel operates in a messaging mode. Thus, a feature of the demodulator is that it is a dual function demodulator that functions either as a burst demodulator, or as a continuous or message demodulator. Switching to one or the other operational modes is controlled by a network management subsystem.