System and method for hybrid satellite and terrestrial communication

Abstract

A system for communicating information between a central site and a remote site includes a central network access device operable to receive a broadcast signal from the central site and to condition the broadcast signal to facilitate its transmission to the remote site using a satellite system. The central network access device further operable to receive from a wide area network an incoming signal originating from the remote site, and to condition the incoming signal for receipt by the central site.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A system for communicating information between a central site and a remote site, comprising a central network access device operable to receive a broadcast signal from the central site and to condition the broadcast signal to facilitate its transmission to the remote site using a satellite system, the central network access device further operable to receive from a wide area network an incoming signal responsive to the broadcast signal and originating from the remote site, the central network access device further operable to condition the incoming signal for receipt by the central site.  
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the wide area network comprises a frame relay network and wherein the incoming signal comprises a frame relay signal.  
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the central network access device comprises a signal encapsulator operable to place the broadcast signal into a frame relay format prior to its transmission over the satellite system.  
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the wide area network comprises an asynchronous transfer mode network and wherein the incoming signal comprises an asynchronous transfer mode signal.  
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the central network access device comprises a signal encapsulator operable to place the broadcast signal into an asynchronous transfer mode format prior to its transmission over the satellite system.  
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a plurality of remote sites, each operable to receive the broadcast signal from a satellite system and to transmit an incoming signal to the central site over a wide area network; and    a network manager operable to assign to the broadcast signal a common connection identifier operable to specify a connection between the central site and the plurality of remote sites, and to assign to each incoming signal a unique connection identifier operable to specify a connection between the central site and the remote site originating the incoming signal, the network manager further operable to monitor and report on network statistics.    
     
     
         7 . A system for communicating information between a central site and a remote site, comprising a remote network access device operable to receive from a satellite system a broadcast signal originated at the central site and to condition the broadcast signal for receipt by the remote site, the remote network access device further operable to receive an incoming signal responsive to the broadcast signal from the remote site and to condition the incoming signal to facilitate its transmission to the central site using a wide area network.  
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein: 
 the broadcast signal comprises an encapsulated signal; and    the remote network access device comprises a signal encapsulator operable to receive the broadcast signal and to extract information from the broadcast signal to facilitate performance monitoring or flow control of the broadcast signal.    
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the wide area network comprises a frame relay network and wherein the incoming signal comprises a frame relay signal.  
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the wide area network comprises an asynchronous transfer mode network and wherein the incoming signal comprises an asynchronous transfer mode signal.  
     
     
         11 . A system for communicating information between a central site and a plurality of remote sites comprising: 
 a central network access device operable to receive a broadcast signal from the central site and to process the broadcast signal to facilitate its transmission to at least one of the plurality of remote sites using a satellite system; and    a plurality of remote network access devices, each associated with a remote site and operable to receive the broadcast signal from the satellite system and to process the broadcast signal for receipt by an associated remote site, each remote network access device further operable to receive an incoming signal responsive to the broadcast signal from the associated remote site and process the incoming signal to facilitate its transmission to the central site using a wide area network.    
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein: 
 the wide area network comprises a frame relay network; and    at least one of the plurality of incoming signals comprises a frame relay signal.    
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the central network access device comprises a signal encapsulator operable to place the broadcast signal into a frame relay format prior to its transmission over the satellite system.  
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein: 
 the wide area network comprises an asynchronous transfer mode network; and    at least one of the plurality of incoming signals comprises an asynchronous transfer mode signal.    
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the central network access device comprises a signal encapsulator operable to place the broadcast signal into an asynchronous transfer mode format prior to its transmission over the satellite system.  
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , further comprising a network manager operable to assign to the broadcast signal a common connection identifier operable to specify a connection between the central site and the plurality of remote sites, and to assign to each incoming signal a unique connection identifier operable to specify a connection between the central site and the remote site originating the incoming signal, the network manager further operable to monitor and report on network statistics.  
     
     
         17 . A method of communicating information between a central site and a remote site using a hybrid satellite and terrestrial communication system, the method comprising: 
 conditioning a broadcast signal from the central site for transmission over a satellite system;    transmitting the broadcast signal over the satellite system to the remote site;    receiving an incoming signal from a wide area network, the incoming signal originating at the remote site and responsive to the broadcast signal; and    conditioning the incoming signal for receipt by the central site.    
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein conditioning the broadcast signal comprises placing the broadcast signal into a wide area network format prior to transmitting the broadcast signal over the satellite system.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the plurality of remote sites are associated with the central site, and further comprising: 
 assigning a broadcast identifier applicable to all associated remote sites;    placing the broadcast signal into a wide area network format;    encoding an address portion of the formatted broadcast signal with the broadcast identifier; and    transmitting the broadcast signal over the satellite system to all associated remote sites.