Patent ID: 8310980

Claim:
A method of providing a signal in a broadband satellite system, the broadband satellite system comprising a satellite, a gateway, and a plurality of users located in a geographic area, the satellite for receiving and re-transmitting a plurality of satellite beams, the satellite comprising a plurality of antennas, each beam comprising a plurality of channels, wherein there are fewer satellite beams than users and the number of satellite beams is K; the method comprising the steps of: (a) determining by the gateway or by the satellite a transmitting radiation pattern of the plurality of satellite antennas; (b) determining by the gateway or by the satellite a line of sight channel characteristic; (c) determining by the gateway or by the satellite a multiuser diversity by selecting a first group of users from the plurality of users, the first group of users having a predetermined signal-to-noise ratio or a predetermined signal-to-noise-interference-ratio, the first group of users being smaller than the plurality of users; (d) assigning by the gateway or by the satellite a precoding beam forming scheme comprising the transmitting radiation pattern, the line of sight characteristic for each channel, and the first group of users; (e) applying by the gateway or by the satellite the precoding beam forming scheme to the broadband satellite system regardless if the broadband satellite system has full channel knowledge or partial channel knowledge of the plurality of users; and (f) transmitting the plurality of satellite beams toward the plurality of users by the gateway via the satellite.