Patent ID: 8121140

Claim:
A method for transmitting messages over a datalink communication system, the method comprising: assigning each message a cost index value based on prescribed factors for at least one message transmission attribute of the message, wherein the prescribed factors include at least a message priority level, and wherein assigning each of the messages the cost index value further comprises defining the cost index value based on a message transmission schedule including at least one of a geographic region, available transmission mediums and message transmission cost within the geographic region; assigning each of a plurality of mobile communication sub-networks a service cost index; selecting a first mobile communications sub-network from the plurality of mobile communications sub-networks currently available based on a comparison between the cost index value assigned to the message and the service cost index values assigned to each of the plurality of mobile communication sub-networks, wherein each mobile communications sub-network is associated with one of a plurality of service providers; and transmitting each message that satisfies the message transmission attribute over the first mobile communications sub-network associated with a datalink communication system; and queuing the messages for later transmission once the cost index value is below an attribute threshold level.