United States Patent 11» Liron [58] TRAFFIC ROUTING COMMUNICATION SYS [75] Inventor: Moshe L. Liron, Palo Alto, Calif, [73] Assignee: ‘Teledesic LLC, Belevue, Was [+]. Notice: This patent is subject to teeminal dis- [21] Appl. No.: 08/960,487 [22] Filed: Oct. 29, 1997 Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation of application No. 08481573, Jun. 7, 1995, Pat No. 5.240 16d, which ia eontinuation in part of appli Cation No, 07/016.201, Feb. 18, 1987, and application Ro, {8/203 140, Feb. 38, 1998, abandoned [51] Int. cL? HosB 7/185 [52] US.Ch 370/316; 370/356; 370/394 [58] Field of Search 370/316, 351, 370/355, 356, 389, 304, 254, 255, 352: 32/35 [56] References Cited USS. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,471,467 1/1995 Johann 370 Soooe3s 2/1997 Bertin et a say 57104164 4/1998 Liron 370316 Primary Examiner—Chi H. Pham Assistant Examiner—Kim T, Nguyen ‘Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Chiistensen O’Connor Jobason & Kindness PLLC USO06084864A_ uy) Patent Number: 6,084,864 [45] Date of Patent: *Jul. 4, 2000 57] ABSTRACT Methods and apparatus which route, control and manage traffic throughout a Satellite Communication System oper- ating in low Earth orbit are disclosed. Voice, video and data trafic from terrestrial gateways (G) and from portable (P), mobile (M) or fixed (F) terminals are directed up through the constellation of satellites (S) and back down to destinations ‘on Earth, The satellites provide continuous worldwide com- munication services. while insuring uniform end-to-end transmission delays. The satelite network is highly adaptive to the constantly changing network topology, and will offer 4 synchronous circuit switched communication service that provides sequential delivery of user data, regartless of the type of the data transmiited. The network employs datagram switching, as opposed to conventional virtual circuit switch- ing techniques. Packets associated wit a single phone call do not necessarily travel along the same route, and conse quently arrive at their common destinations’ at different times with variable. transmission delay. Packets (26) received from a portable (P), mobile (M) or fixed (F) terminal, from a satelite (S), or from a stationary gateway (G) ate dispatched from an origin node (OUR_NODE) to 2 destination node (DEST NODE) according to address instructions carried in the packet header (28) At each node, propagation delay vectors OUR_DELAY_EST [DEST NODE, ] are calculated using local computers, ‘These delay vectors estimate a time delay which the packet (26) {encounters in traveling from the origin node (OUR_NODE) to the destination noc: (DEST_NODE). An optimal route (opt_Link) is then selected from the set of calculated delay ‘vectors, and the packet (26) is routed tothe destination node (DEST_NODE) via the pathway (opt_link) that insures both the lowest end-fo-cnd delay and the best overall traic ‘management of the network. 6 Claims, 101 Drawing Sheets Microfiche Appendix Included @ Microfiche, 161 Pages) prvaweplcker roornc ‘ ovroua ours (our Lm) seurcriow ‘ora Teure Lub DisrR.aUTON se “four ‘BLES wm) f 0 aT te oat — len |T | [ost] w oy 7 ca ns tal ede ttm Le ce = manne , ns tale a ‘aUS. Patent Jul. 4, 2000 Sheet 1 of 101 6,084,864 10 NODE HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE f 12: 14 16 Ute INTERNODE Rez IN! TERNODE—/ COMMON CONTROL MESSACES: MESSACES FROM OTHER —] Pe 10 OTHER oars _t FAST PACKET SWITCH }—>[Tz 1, sans s b— Tr fo K— Tr ft FROM GATEWAYS 10 GATEWAYS AND TERMINALS AND TERMINALS CPFM —— CONTROL FLOW —— DATA FLOW Fig. 7US. Patent Jul. 4, 2000 Sheet 2 of 101 6,084,864 POWER CONTROL ia POSITIONING TOPOLOGY DIAGNOSTICS OVERLOAD (MANAGEMENT & RECOVERY CONTROL puacrostics ROUTING CONTROL BILLING pistRiBUTED CAL OPERATING PROGRAM PROCESSING SYSTEM MANAGEMENT be CONGESTION TINK LOAD ‘SERVICE fran CONTROL ‘SHARING ADMIN, id (i) MESSAGE CoM 8. a5 d i DISTRIBUTED INTERNAL REMOTE OSS DATABASES NET LEVEL PROCESSES AGENT PROCESSES PROCESSES MAJOR NODE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS Hig. 2