Multicast control systems and methods for dynamic, adaptive time, bandwidth,frequency, and satellite allocations

A method for dynamically allocating network transport resources in a diverse satellite communications network including a plurality of satellites and a plurality of uplink stations, the method comprising:

• allocating a satellite from the plurality of satellites for a file transmission;
• allocating a channel of the satellite, a bandwidth, and a time slice for the file transmission;
• providing information concerning the satellite, channel, bandwidth, and time slice allocations to a plurality of geographically distributed controllers, each of which are coupled to one of the plurality of uplink stations;
• and
• using the controllers to adjust the allocated bandwidth, time slice, or both in order to optimize file transmission over the network;
• wherein allocating a satellite from the plurality of satellites comprises receiving a request from one of the plurality of geographically distributed controllers to transmit a file to a client list and determining which of the plurality of satellites serves clients on the client list.

A method for managing multicast file distribution over a diverse satellite communications network including a plurality of satellites and a plurality of uplink stations, the method comprising:

• storing at a first server information concerning:
• the capacity of each satellite, and
• the client pool served by each satellite;
• receiving at the first server requests for access to satellites within the network, wherein each request includes a client list and contains at least some information relevant to setting a priority to be assigned the request;
• for each request, identifying the client pools to which the clients on the client list belong;
• for each client pool identified, forwarding to a local server information assigning a selected request a priority, a satellite, a channel, a time slice, and a transfer rate for a particular request for file transmission;
• and
• causing the local server to either adopt the time slice and transfer rate or to assign the request a different transfer rate, one or more different time slices, or both.

A system for allocating network transport resources in a diverse satellite communications network including a plurality of satellites and a plurality of uplink stations, the system comprising:

• a master arbitration server that:
• allocates a satellite from the plurality of satellites,
• allocates a channel of the satellite, a time slice, and a transfer rate,
• and provides information on these allocations to each of at least two local arbitration servers:
• the at least two local arbitration servers, each communicating with a satellite of the plurality of satellites and adapted to:
• dynamically evaluate each request for transmission to determine whether to overlay upon the allocations by the master arbitration server an adjusted allocation changing the time slice, the transfer rate, or both associated with each request;
• and
• communicate with the master arbitration server regarding any changes to the time slice, the transfer rate, or both.