Patent ID: 8360367

Claim:
A high data rate ground-to-ground, satellite-to-ground or ground-to-satellite communication system comprising: a full constellation of satellites providing contiguous/overlapping, continuous coverage of the whole earth or portion thereof, the constellation being configured to provide k-fold continuous, contiguous/overlapping or non-contiguous coverage of earth or any planet from low, intermediate, or high altitude satellites for circular or elliptical orbits making an angle greater than or equal to 0° and less than or equal to 360° with an equatorial plane for full earth coverage or for coverage for latitudes from 0° to a latitude L in the Northern and Southern hemispheres or for latitudes greater than or equal to L in the Northern and Southern hemisphere, a number of satellites and an angular coverage of the satellites being arranged to provide k-fold contiguous/overlapping coverage over a first plane of the earth and contiguous/overlapping or non-contiguous coverage over a second plane, wherein k is a positive integer, a configuration of the constellation and a minimum number of satellites being determined to produce a required coverage; a satellite transmitting and receiving station on at least one satellite, the station configured to transmit signals to and receive signals from the earth and adjacent satellites; and a cell phone transmitting and receiving station in a cell phone area, the station being configured to transmit signals to and receive signals from satellites, the satellites being positioned, spaced and configured to use direct line of sight between a transmitting cell phone station and a receiving satellite, and between adjacent satellites to transfer calls from a receiving satellite to a transmitting satellite with a line of sight view of the receiving cell phone station.