Patent ID: 7706748

Claim:
A method of operating a communications system including a satellite and a satellite gateway, the method comprising: providing a feeder link between the satellite and the satellite gateway, wherein the feeder link is provided over a feeder link frequency band for communication of information between the satellite gateway and the satellite, wherein the feeder link comprises a frequency segment including at least first and second bands of frequencies that provide information between the satellite gateway and the satellite and wherein the first and second bands of frequencies are non-contiguous and separated by a third band of frequencies that does not provide any information between the satellite gateway and the satellite; providing a service link between the satellite and at least one radioterminal in a coverage area of the satellite, wherein the service link is provided over a service link frequency band and wherein the feeder link and service link frequency bands are different and non-overlapping; and linearly frequency translating the frequency segment of the feeder link including the first, second, and third bands from the feeder link frequency band to the service link frequency band to provide a frequency segment of the service link including fourth and fifth bands of frequencies including the information provided by the respective first and second bands of frequencies, wherein the fourth and fifth bands of frequencies are non-contiguous and separated by a sixth band of frequencies corresponding to the third band of frequencies that does not provide any information.