System and method for acceleration of a secure transmission over satellite

Abstract

A broadband communication system with improved latency is disclosed. The system employs acceleration of secure web-based communications over a satellite communication network. In accordance with aspects of the invention, secure protocol acceleration is employed such that required protocol signals transmitted from a computer employing a web browser may be intercepted by a remote terminal. To insure that the browser will continue transmitting data, the remote terminal generates required acknowledgment and security signals to continue the secure communication, which may then transmitted back to the computer. Meanwhile, the received protocol signals may be converted by the remote terminal for transmission through the satellite communications system in a format appropriate for that communication medium. Aspects of the invention further include a hub or similar device for communicating with the satellite communications system, and a secure connection between that device and the web server may be maintained by similarly simulating a continuous secure connection between the computer and the web server. Transmissions from the web server to the browser may be preformed in a similar manner. Further aspects of the invention related to distributed certificate sharing which may involve the generation of multiple certificates for the various links between the components employed in the communication system and the manual and/or automatic addition of a certificate authority.