Patent ID: 8855552

Claim:
A method for communicating data in a multibeam satellite system utilizing frequency re-use comprising: establishing service beams including uplink service beams and downlink service beams between a satellite and a plurality of subscriber terminals, each downlink service beam being associated with a different service beam coverage area, to form a plurality of service beam coverage areas; wherein a plurality of the uplink service beams are transmitted to the satellite by re-using at least one common uplink frequency channel, and a plurality of the downlink service beams are transmitted from the satellite by re-using at least one common downlink frequency channel; establishing at least one uplink feeder beam and at least one downlink feeder beam between the satellite and a gateway terminal, the at least one downlink feeder beam being associated with a feeder beam coverage area separated from the plurality of service beam coverage areas, the at least one uplink feeder beam being received at the satellite to form a plurality of the downlink service beams, a plurality of the uplink service beams being received at the satellite to form the at least one downlink feeder beam; and wherein the at least one uplink feeder beam is transmitted to the satellite by further re-using the at least one common uplink frequency channel, and the at least one downlink feeder beam is transmitted from the satellite by further re-using the at least one common downlink frequency channel.