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:
Jan. 31, 2006
Filed:
Jul. 17, 2002
Michael DE LA Chapelle, Bellevue, WA (US);
David C. Morse, Bellevue, WA (US);
Leonard J. Quadracci, Seattle, WA (US);
Michael de La Chapelle, Bellevue, WA (US);
David C. Morse, Bellevue, WA (US);
Leonard J. Quadracci, Seattle, WA (US);
The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US);
Abstract
A method of coordinating communications between ground stations and fixed beam satellites is provided, wherein each beam of a satellite antenna is assigned a color to create a color pattern that matches a frequency reuse pattern for the antenna, thereby using the same frequencies in a different beam with the same color. In operation, a ground station requests a virtual channel number from a resource manager, which sends a virtual channel number that is not used by another ground station within a beam diameter of the requesting ground station. The ground station then determines the position of the satellite, the beam and beam color, and further computes the frequency, polarization, and time slot, among other information, to communicate with the satellite. A method is also provided for managing virtual channels that comprises a network manager that groups ground stations and limits the number of virtual channels per group.