Appeal No. 2003-0289
Application No. 09/234,702 Page 9
the first. Chennakeshu does allow for the mobile unit to be
connected to two satellites “substantially” simultaneously,
either during transition between two satellites or if both
satellites offer sufficient signal quality (col. 7, lines 50-54).
In this alternate embodiment of Chennakeshu, the mobile unit will
communicate with one satellite on each even-numbered TDMA frame,
and communicate with the other satellite on every odd-numbered
TDMA frame (col. 7, lines 55-60). These two separate
transmissions will then be integrated into a singular
communication at an earth station to increase the effective
signal margin (col. 7, lines 60-65). Thus, we find that in
Chennakeshu, the user terminal uses two threshold tests and does
not interrupt the radio path of one satellite before accessing
the next satellite.
From our review of Sherman, we find that the reference
relates to a multiple satellite communication system, in
particular, related to “traffic control in a satellite network
for optimizing link allocation” (col. 1, lines 7-9). A traffic
controller allocates traffic to the satellites using gateways for
power allocation reasons designed to meet a desired quality of
service (col. 3, lines 65-67, and col. 4, lines 51-54). The user
in Fig. 1 can be served by a gateway using “one” of three
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