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:
Dec. 13, 2005
Filed:
Sep. 18, 2000
Robert E. Vaughan, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Harold Rosen, Santa Monica, CA (US);
Robert E. Vaughan, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Harold Rosen, Santa Monica, CA (US);
The DIRECTV Group, Inc., El Segundo, CA (US);
Abstract
A multimode transmission system using TDMA provides a plurality of satellite services to a ground station terminal. These services include timing beacon synchronization, multi-cast/broadcast data service, calibration data, and point-to-point data service. The multimode transmission system uses a TDM switch to generate a TDMA signal having a plurality of TDMA transmission frames. Each TDMA transmission frame includes a plurality of downlink frame time slots. Each time slot may be of variable length and is dynamically allocated to an individual satellite service based upon demand. The TDMA signal is then broadcast using an advanced transmit antenna system, which requires beam-shaping and beam power control features, to enable TDMA switching between shaped beams and spot beam modes of the antenna. These antenna features allow for the dynamic partitioning of satellite system capacity between wide-area broadcasts and localized point-to-point service and efficient utilization of the satellite transmission power.