Patent ID: 8345650
Filing Date: 2013-01-01
Classification: H04B,H04L

Abstract:
1. A system for providing end-to-end layer- 2 connectivity throughout a non-routed ground segment network connected to one or more satellites, the system comprising: a bent pipe satellite configured to receive signals from one or more user terminals and to relay the signals at layer-1 of the OSI-model (L1) to a first non-autonomous gateway configured for processing primarily below layer-3 of the OSI-model (L3); wherein the first non-autonomous gateway is configured to demodulate the signals relayed from the bent pipe satellite and to generate from the demodulated signals data packets having packet headers for layer-2 of the OSI-model (L2), wherein the packet headers contain virtual tagging tuples, each data packet including a virtual tagging tuple; a ground-based L2 switch in communication with the first non-autonomous gateway, the ground-based L2 switch configured to receive the data packets and to transmit the data packets; and a second non-autonomous gateway in communication with the ground-based L2 switch, the second non-autonomous gateway configured to receive the data packets from the ground-based L2 switch and to transmit the data packets to an entity based on each of the virtual tagging tuples associated with each of the data packets.