Patent ID: 8311491

Claim:
In a satellite communication network, a gateway for communicating with a plurality of user terminals via a satellite comprising: a control unit configured to: receive signal quality-of-reception parameters for a downlink signal from a user terminal from the plurality of user terminals over a return-channel, wherein the signal quality-of-reception parameters is at least based on a carrier-to-noise ratio measured by the user terminal for the downlink signal; determine downlink signal attributes for the user terminal based on the signal quality-of-reception parameters for the downlink signal received by the user terminal; and generate a control signal for assignment of data packets destined for the user terminal from the plurality of user terminals to at least one attribute from the downlink signal attributes for the user terminal; a router communicatively coupled to the control unit and configured to: receive the data packets destined for the user terminal from the plurality of user terminals, the data packets having an address of the user terminal; receive the control signal from the control unit for assignment of the data packets to the at least one attribute from the downlink signal attributes; and route the data packets for the user terminal for assignment of the data packet to the at least one attribute from the downlink signal attributes for the user terminal based on the destination user terminal for the data packet and the control signal received from the control unit; and a modulator communicatively coupled to the router and the control unit and configured to: receive the data packets from the router destined for the user terminal; determine a modulation and coding for the data packets based on the control signal generated by the control unit for the user terminal using the downlink signal attributes, wherein the at least one attribute of the downlink signal attributes is a modulation and coding attribute; and apply the modulation and coding to the data packets for the user terminal.