Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for selectively retrieving information from a source computer using a terrestrial or satellite interface

US6115750A · kind A · utility

56Cited by
81References
31Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 18, 1998
Grant dateSep 5, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 18, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2212/00
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A requesting terminal includes an interface that allows a user to select whether data downloaded from a network (such as the Internet) is transmitted to the requesting terminal via a high-speed link, such as a satellite link, or a lower speed link, such as a terrestrial link. Preferably, the terrestrial link (which may comprise a conventional dial-up Internet connection) is a two-way link, wherein the requesting terminal transmits data requests to the network via the terrestrial link. The data requests generated by the requesting terminal are modified to designate whether the requested data should be downloaded from the network via the terrestrial link or the satellite link. The terrestrial link may also be automatically selected for certain applications.

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