Patent ID: 6907429

Claim:
An internet access system, comprising: an access point system that links a plurality of web browsers to a satellite link on a client side of the satellite link; and a gateway computer system that connects the satellite link to a wide area network on an internet side of the satellite link; wherein the access point system and the gateway computer system are configured such that page requests from the web browsers pass over the satellite link from the access point system to the gateway computer system for transmission on the wide area network, and such that responses to the page requests pass back over the satellite link from the gateway computer system to the access point system; and wherein the access point system and the gateway computer system collectively implement an object prefetching process in which, when a web browser requests a web page that includes an inline object of at least one type, the inline object is prefetched by the gateway computer system and is transmitted over the satellite link to the access point system without waiting for a request from the web browser for the inline object.