Patent ID: 7584297

Claim:
A method for optimizing communication through a single gateway via a single satellite to other terrestrial locations in the presence of communication impairments, said method comprising: receiving data traffic at said single gateway, said data traffic being destined for one or more users via said single satellite; allocating gateway traffic capacity simultaneously between at least two geographically-separated interdependently operative apertures of said single gateway according to said communication impairments with said single satellite, each of said apertures simultaneously carrying traffic of said single gateway to said single satellite while always being limited to carrying less than all traffic of said gateway; analyzing uplink availability of each aperture based on current communication impairments via said single satellite; prioritizing communication to establish a user priority according to user; and assigning, to each user by said priority, selected available variable bandwidth according to link availability across said apertures; and transmitting allocated user traffic via each said aperture simultaneously as single gateway traffic.