US 11,949,496 B1
Low latency schedule-driven handovers
Chen Chen, Irvine, CA (US); Pavel Chikulaev, Redmond, WA (US); Sergii Ziuzin, Redmond, WA (US); David Sacks, Redmond, WA (US); Peter J. Worters, San Carlos, CA (US); Darshan Purohit, Fremont, CA (US); Yashodhan Dandekar, Cupertino, CA (US); Vladimir Skuratovich, Seattle, WA (US); Andrei Pushkin, Woodinville, WA (US); and Phillip E. Barber, Sammamish, WA (US)
Assigned to Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, CA (US)
Filed by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, CA (US)
Filed on Jun. 2, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/337,218.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/035,461, filed on Jun. 5, 2020.
Int. Cl. H04B 7/185 (2006.01); H04W 36/00 (2009.01); H04W 36/08 (2009.01); H04W 88/16 (2009.01)
CPC H04B 7/18541 (2013.01) [H04B 7/18513 (2013.01); H04W 36/0016 (2013.01); H04W 36/08 (2013.01); H04W 88/16 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a satellite, a schedule of communications between the satellite and one or more gateways, wherein the schedule of communications is based at least in part on ephemeris data associated with the satellite;
requesting, by the satellite, based on the schedule, a handover from a communication link between the satellite and a gateway to a different communication link between the satellite and one of the gateway or a different gateway;
performing the handover from the communication link between the satellite and the gateway to the different communication link between the satellite and the one of the gateway or the different gateway; and
after the handover, transmitting, by the satellite, one or more packets via the different communication link between the satellite and one of the gateway or the different gateway.