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. 30, 2007
Filed:
Jun. 12, 2003
John C. Thacker, Los Altos, CA (US);
Steven R. Peterson, Merion Station, PA (US);
Scott Blanchard, Mesa, AZ (US);
Gregory E. Edlund, Torrance, CA (US);
John C. Thacker, Los Altos, CA (US);
Steven R. Peterson, Merion Station, PA (US);
Scott Blanchard, Mesa, AZ (US);
Gregory E. Edlund, Torrance, CA (US);
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, MD (US);
General Dynamics Decision Systems, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ (US);
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a satellite communications system between satellites and terminal units that are sufficiently small to be handheld units and that operate within the earth power flux density limit. This is accomplished by using spreading spectrum waveform protocols that make efficient use of the allocated bandwidth. In one embodiment, a satellite communications system comprises at least one satellite, and at least one ground station each corresponding to one of the at least one satellite. Each ground station includes a spread spectrum transmitter and a spread spectrum receiver. Each of a plurality of mobile terminals includes a spread spectrum transmitter and a spread spectrum receiver. The spread spectrum transmitter of the at least one ground station is configured to communicate via the corresponding satellite with the spread spectrum receivers of the mobile terminals, and the spread spectrum receiver of the at least one ground station is configured to communicate via the satellite with the spread spectrum transmitter of the mobile terminals, using spread spectrum signals generated from baseband information signals narrower in bandwidth than the spread spectrum signals.