Patent · US Expired

Methods and apparatus for mobile station to mobile station communications in a mobile satellite communication system

US5943324A · kind A · utility

56Cited by
33References
37Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 13, 1998
Grant dateAug 24, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 13, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04B7/18558
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for mobile station to mobile station communications in a mobile satellite communications system include an asymmetrical TDMA formatting scheme. According to exemplary embodiments, a first mobile station broadcasts a first signal to an orbiting satellite using a first TDMA format. The satellite receives the first signal, maps the first TDMA format to a second TDMA format and broadcasts a second signal having the second TDMA format to a second mobile station. Advantageously, exemplary embodiments utilize an elastic buffer to allow the satellite to map the uplink TDMA format to the downlink TDMA format without having to demodulate and re-modulate communications signals.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.