Patent ID: 8918047

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a communication at a balloon in a balloon network, wherein the communication is received by way of a transmission from a ground-based station; selecting a routing process for the communication based on at least one parameter associated with the communication, wherein the routing process is selected from a plurality of routing processes comprising a first routing process and a second routing process, wherein: the first routing process includes a satellite network when determining how to route the communication, the satellite network comprising one or more satellites, and the second routing process includes the balloon network when determining how to route the communication; and using the selected routing process to determine a target path for the communication; wherein the first routing process comprises at least a first transmission of the communication, a second transmission of the communication, and a third transmission of the communication that occurs after the second transmission, and wherein: (a) the first transmission comprises sending the communication from the balloon network to the satellite network; (b) the second transmission comprises sending the communication from the satellite network to the balloon network; (c) the third transmission comprises sending the communication from the balloon network to a second ground-based station; and wherein the second the second routing process does not include the satellite network.