Satellite Spotbeam Grouping for Content Delivery

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Solution Overview

Problem

In satellite telecommunication systems, content providers face challenges in managing and transmitting content across multiple overlapping spotbeams, requiring connections with multiple satellites and complex resource management to ensure content delivery to users in various coverage areas.

Innovation Solution

A method that defines a logical satellite coverage area using a single group identifier, allowing content providers to select regions for content transmission without knowledge of associated satellites, by analyzing and recording spotbeam identifiers and dynamic associations between terminals and spotbeams, enabling efficient content delivery across overlapping coverage areas.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If content providers maintain connections with all satellites to ensure content delivery across spotbeams, then content delivery reliability is improved, but system complexity and operational burden increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontent delivery reliabilityVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a resource manager as an intermediary component that centralizes the management of spotbeam and satellite information. The resource manager maintains the connections and data structures (spotbeam information, satellite information, terminal information) that enable content providers to deliver content reliably without directly managing satellite connections. This mediator absorbs the system complexity while preserving content delivery reliability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If content providers maintain connections with multiple satellites for content transmission, then content delivery coverage is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontent delivery coverageVSAvoidoperational burden
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables self-service operation where the resource manager automatically performs the complex tasks of identifying spotbeams, determining associated satellites, and managing content distribution. Content providers simply need to provide content; the system automatically handles the distribution across multiple satellites and spotbeams using the stored information structures, eliminating the need for content providers to manually manage satellite connections.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

3Adaptability or versatility

If spotbeams from different satellites share the same coverage area, then system versatility is improved, but difficulty of detecting and measuring increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesystem versatilityVSAvoidspotbeam identification complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the identification and management of spotbeams by maintaining separate, structured information records for each spotbeam, satellite, and terminal. The resource manager stores spotbeam information (including spotbeam identifiers and associated satellite identifiers) in an organized manner, allowing systematic detection and measurement of spotbeam characteristics even when multiple spotbeams overlap in coverage. This segmentation of information management reduces the complexity of detecting and measuring spotbeam parameters.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP3704811B1A satellite telecommunication system
Publication Date: 2021.08.11 BRITISH TELECOM PLC
  • EP3704811B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3704811B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3704811B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

This invention relates to a method in a satellite telecommunications system, and a device for performing said method, the satellite telecommunications system including one or more satellites, wherein the one or more satellites are configured to transmit data via a first plurality of spotbeams, the method comprising the steps of: analysing data relating to the first plurality of spotbeams; identifying a set of spotbeams of the first plurality of spotbeams based on the analysis; assigning a group identifier to each spotbeam of the set of spotbeams; and sending an update message to the one or more satellites associated with each spotbeam of the set of spotbeams, the update message including the group identifier.