Patent ID: 6898428

Claim:
A communication system comprising: one or more gateways coupled to a terrestrial network; one or more subscriber terminals that are to be coupled to the terrestrial network; a communication satellite providing forward and return communication links between the one or more gateways and the one or more subscriber terminals that each comprise a switching network that selectively couples signals between selected gateways and selected subscriber terminals using predetermined beams wherein the forward communication link implemented in the communication satellite comprises: a plurality of first switches that receives data transmitted from a respective plurality of gateways; one or more forward channel gateway multiplexers selectively coupled to one of the plurality of first switches; a plurality of second switches selectively coupled to outputs of the plurality of first switches and selectively coupled to outputs of the one or more forward channel gateway multiplexers; and one or more regional multiplexers selectively coupled to the plurality of second switches that output data to a plurality of regions servicing the one or more subscriber terminals.