Appeal No. 95-2552
Application 07/886,228
This is a decision on appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the final rejection of claims 1-7,
15-18, 20-25, and 27-31, all of the claims pending in the application. Claims 8-14, 19, and 26 have
been cancelled.
The invention is directed to a communication system including a constellation of a plurality of
artificial satellites in a particular orbit and a method of deploying such a constellation of satellites. The
constellation of satellites is said to exploit the natural spacing of approximately 120E in longitude of the
important land masses of Europe, North America, and the Far East. The system is said to provide higher
elevation angles of the line-of-sight to the satellite which reduces shadowing from mountains and
buildings and propogation impairments due to foliage particularly when used with mobile stations (e.g.,
land vehicles) and which makes it possible to use simpler upward-pointing antennas on the mobile
ground station.
Independent claims 1, 15, and 27 are reproduced below.
1. A communication system including a constellation of a plurality of artificial satellites
orbiting the Earth, each artificial satellite having communication means providing communication
with the Earth, characterized in that the plurality of artificial satellites are in
triply-geosynchronous (TGS) orbits having a period of eight sidereal hours, or
twice-triply-geosynchronous (TTGS) orbits having a period of sixteen sidereal hours, which
orbits are inclined with respect to the Equator and synchronized with the Earth's rotation such
as to exploit the natural spacing of approximately 120E in longitude of the major land masses of
Europe, North America and the Far East for communication with the artificial satellites to
provide for higher elevation angles in such land masses than in other areas.
15. A communication system including a constellation of a plurality of artificial satellites
orbiting the Earth, each satellite having communication means providing communication with
the Earth; characterized in that the satellites are in inclined elliptical orbits having their perigee
and apogee offset from the extreme latitudes so as to obtain longer stays of the satellites over
predetermined areas in one hemisphere than would be possible with such elliptical orbits in which
the perigee and apogee are not offset from the extreme latitudes.
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