Abstract: A mobile satellite telecommunications system is disclosed comprising at least a user terminal and a satellite which is in earth orbit and at least a gateway bidirectionally coupled to a data communications network. The user terminal comprises a controller responsive to at least one criterion having been met for activating an indicator to inform a user of a potential for reduced user terminal performance.

Abstract: A satellite communication system includes a plurality of satellites, such as low earth orbit satellites, and a plurality of gateways. The satellite communication system is bidirectionally coupled to a terrestrial communication system through at least the plurality of gateways. The satellite communication system and the terrestrial communications system together form a data communication network having a plurality of nodes including source nodes, destination nodes and intermediate nodes. Multiple copies of a packet can coexist within the data communication network, and the packet and its one or more copies are routed, using at least in part satellite-resident routers and gateway-resident routers, over a plurality of different paths between a particular source node and a particular destination node. At least one duplicate copy of a given packet is simply not used during the execution of a packet reordering procedure in the destination node, or at an intermediate node.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for operating a mobile satellite telecommunications (MSTS) system, as is a system that operates in accordance with the method. In a MSTS having at least one user terminal, at least one satellite in earth orbit, and at least one gateway bidirectionally coupled to a data communications network, in response to a determination that at least one criterion being met, an indicator of the user terminal is activated for informing a user of a potential for reduced user terminal performance. The least one criterion can include comprised of a number of satellites through which a communication between the user terminal and the gateway is conducted, such as an occurrence of there being only one satellite through which the communication between the user terminal and the gateway is conducted, or a prediction of an occurrence that there will be only one satellite through which the communication between the user terminal and the gateway will be conducted.

Abstract: A method includes transmitting a Domain Name Service (DNS) query from a user terminal; receiving the DNS query with at least one satellite in earth orbit; and applying the DNS query to a DNS server that is on-board the at least one satellite to obtain a corresponding Internet Protocol (IP) address. The method further operates, in the event the DNS server is unable to obtain the corresponding IP address, to transmit the DNS query to another DNS server, which may be located in another satellite, such as a higher altitude satellite, or to a terrestrial DNS server, such as one at a gateway or one reachable through the Internet. The method further operates to update the DNS server database that is on-board the satellite with information received from a terrestrial DNS server and/or from a space-based DNS server.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for operating a satellite telecommunications system, including transmitting a message from a user terminal, the message comprising a Uniform Resource Locator (URL); receiving the message with a satellite, selecting a gateway to receive the message based on the URL, and forwarding the message to the selected gateway; at the selected gateway, performing a Domain Name Service (DNS) query in response to the URL received in the message to obtain an Internet protocol (IP) address of a destination server identified by the URL; and replacing the URL with the IP address and sending the message from the gateway to the destination server having the IP address. The gateway is selected in response to a portion of the URL that identifies a country where the destination server identified by the URL is located, and the message is forwarded to the gateway that serves the identified country.

Abstract: Methods are provided for operating a mobile satellite telecommunications system, as is a system that operates in accordance with the methods. A first method has steps of providing at least one user terminal, at least one satellite in earth orbit and at least one gateway bidirectionally coupled to a data communications network and, responsive to applications, selecting with the user terminal individual ones of a plurality of Quality of Service (QoS) modes for servicing different application requirements. The method further includes communicating a request for a selected one of the QoS modes at least to the gateway. Another method operates in response to stored satellite ephemeris information for selecting a path through the satellite constellation to a destination gateway for routing a communication to or from the data communication network and the user terminal, and for transmitting a description of the selected path from the user terminal to at least one of the constellation of satellites.