Patent ID: 11881927
Assignee: PLANET LABS PBC
Field: Telecommunications (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A computing system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer readable media that collectively store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:
obtaining a request for image data, wherein the request is associated with a priority indicating how quickly image data is to be acquired;
determining a selected imaging satellite from a plurality of imaging satellites to acquire the image data based at least in part on an availability of the selected imaging satellite to acquire the image data;
determining, based at least in part on the priority, a selected communication pathway of a plurality of communication pathways for servicing the request for image data, wherein the selected communication pathway comprises communication to one or more relay satellites in low-earth orbit when it is determined that the one or more relay satellites provide a quicker route than directly linking to the selected imaging satellite; and
sending an image acquisition command to the selected imaging satellite to service the request for image data in accordance with the selected communication pathway.