Patent ID: 8433332

Claim:
A system for dynamically assigning bandwidth resources to a plurality of beams in a satellite communications network, the system comprising: a request compilation module configured to: receive bandwidth resource requests from a first plurality of terminals in the satellite communications network, the first plurality of terminals located within a first geographical region serviced by a first beam of the plurality of beams; receive resource requests from a second plurality of terminals of the satellite communications network, the second plurality of terminals located within a second geographical region serviced by a second beam of the plurality of beams; and generate per-beam bandwidth resource request data based at least in part on the received bandwidth resource requests, the per-beam resource request data including first resource request data associated with the first plurality of terminals and second resource request data associated with the second plurality of terminals; an allocation module configured to identify allocatable bandwidth resources comprising a plurality of time slots of a frequency bandwidth for a defined time duration; and an assignment module, communicatively coupled with the allocation module and the request compilation module, and configured to: assign a first subset of the plurality of time slots of the allocatable bandwidth resources to the first beam of the plurality of beams according to the first resource request data; and assign a second subset of the plurality of time slots of the allocatable bandwidth resources to the second beam of the plurality of beams according to the second resource request data.