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:
May. 18, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 16, 1999
Jaime L. Prieto, Jr., Torrance, CA (US);
Jason R. Kincaid, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Northrop Grumman Corporation, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Abstract
A downlink scheduler ( ) is provided for scheduling the downlink transmission of data cells in a spot beam processing satellite ( ). The downlink scheduler ( ) includes a beam selector ( ) for selecting one of the spot beams associated with the satellite ( ), a plurality of wholesale selectors ( ) for selecting one of a plurality of wholesalers, such that each of the wholesale selectors ( ) is associated with one of the spot beams, and a plurality of retail selectors ( ) for selecting one of a plurality of retail connections, such that each of the retail selectors ( ) is associated with one of the wholesalers. Each of the selectors may use a packet fair queuing (PFQ) method to make its selection. The downlink scheduler ( ) then passes at least one data cell from a selected retail connection to a downlink modulator ( ), thereby scheduling the downlink transmission of data cells in the satellite.