US 7,443,814 B2Granted

Method and apparatus for segmentation, reassembly and inverse multiplexing of packets and ATM cells over satellite/wireless networks

AssigneeViaSat, Inc.

InventorsAnil K. Agarwal, Udayan N. Borkar, Moorthy N. Hariharan, Shekhar V. Patankar

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A method of transmitting information arranged in packets from one location to a second location via a wireless/satellite network, comprising: (a) examining each packet to determine whether its size is equal to a minimum (STEP 11A1) and (STEP 11A2); (b) if a minimum size, generating a first SAR header (STEP 11A4) and applying the header to packet to form a SAR segment (STEP 11A7); (c) if greater than a minimum size, dividing the packet into uniform sized segments (STEP 11A5), generating a second SAR header unique for each segment (STEP 11A6) and applying the header to respective segment to form SAR segments (STEP 11A7); (d) forwarding the SAR segments to modems for transmission to terminals at the second location (STEP 11A7).

Claims17

Dependent claims

A communication system for efficiently transmitting information signals that were formatted in variable sized packets of more than a minimum size by using time division transmission of packet segments and allocating available bandwidth on demand, said system comprising:

a satellite/wireless network;
at least two sites, each comprising a plurality of terminals operative to transmit and receive signals via said satellite/wireless network and a local area network for interconnecting said terminals at a common site, each said terminals comprising:
(a) a modem for transmitting signals from a terminal on predetermined channels having a predetermined bandwidth;
(b) means for time dividing data signals input to said terminal from an external location and for assembling said time divided data signals as bursts within repeated frames, each frame having a unique frame header;
(c) means for dividing information signals arranged in variable sized packets into a plurality of segments;
(d) means for combining each segment in said plurality of segments with a unique segment and reassembly header to form a SAR segment;
(e) means for combining said SAR segments representing a single packet with a unique frame header to form a SAR frame;
and
(f) means for selectively appending a terminal ID header to each said SAR frame for transmission in a burst from a modem.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/809,899Filed 26 Mar 2004 · continuation
Priority: 17 Jul 1997
Published: US 2004/0179486 A116 Sep 2004
Granted: 28 Oct 2008
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification45 codes

H04W 28/06
Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control: optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing ,…
H03M 7/30
Conversion of a code where information is represented by a given sequence or number of digits to a code where the same , similar or subset of…:…
H03M 13/15
Linear codes: cyclic codes, i.e. cyclic shifts of codewords produce other codewords, e.g. codes defined by a generator polynomial,…
H03M 13/1515
Using error location or error correction polynomials: reed-Solomon codes

Family

Application60/052,539Us provisional application · filed 17 Jul 1997
Application09/462,896Parent of this continuation · filed 3 Mar 2000
US 2004/0179486 A1Pre-grant publication · published 16 Sep 2004
US 6,819,658 B1Parent of this continuation
US 7,443,814 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.