Patent ID: 7706315

Claim:
A gateway for transmitting a packet via a satellite to a selected user terminal of a plurality of user terminals, the gateway comprising: a receiver configured to receive a transmission signal, from the selected user terminal, including information identifying reception quality for the user terminal from the satellite; one or more processor modules, communicatively coupled with the receiver, and configured to: utilize the identified reception quality information to identify a modulation and coding format for the user terminal from a plurality of modulation and coding formats; dynamically assign the modulation and coding format to the packet addressed to the selected user terminal; and generate a frame to carry the packet to the selected user terminal via the satellite, wherein generating the frame comprises: generating a frame header identifying a size associated with a payload portion of the frame, identifying the modulation and coding format, and identifying a start of frame location; and encapsulating the packet addressed to the user terminal within the payload portion of the frame; and a transmitter, communicatively coupled with the one or more processor modules, and configured to transmit the payload portion of the frame according to the dynamically assigned modulation and coding format addressed to the selected user terminal.