Patent ID: 7792070

Claim:
A communications network, comprising: a spacecraft; at least one gateway communicatively coupled to the spacecraft by a feeder link operating within at least one selected first sub-band of frequencies within a bandwidth; a first user terminal communicatively coupled to the spacecraft by a first user link, said first user link operable at any frequency band within said first sub-band; a second user terminal communicatively coupled to the spacecraft by a second user link, said second user link operable at any frequency band within a second sub-band of frequencies within the bandwidth, said second sub-band having no frequency in common with the first sub-band, wherein the communications network is adapted to provide for simultaneous operation of at least a portion of the feeder link and at least a portion of the first user link at a common polarization and frequency within the bandwidth; and an antenna subsystem disposed on the spacecraft, said antenna subsystem providing a first antenna beam pattern associated with the first user link, and a second antenna beam pattern associated with the second user link, said first and second antenna beam patterns defining respective first and second service regions, wherein every gateway is located within the second service region.