ViaSat has been granted a patent for methods, apparatuses, and systems that improve the utilization of a communications system, such as a satellite communications system. The patent involves using delayed reliability techniques as part of a multicast transport protocol. This allows for efficient data transmission to requesting users and users where the data is being speculatively prepositioned. The patent also includes a method for recreating missing data blocks of a content object using cached data blocks in client storage. GlobalData’s report on ViaSat gives a 360-degree view of the company including its patenting strategy. Buy the report here.
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According to GlobalData’s company profile on ViaSat, Satellite communication systems was a key innovation area identified from patents. ViaSat's grant share as of September 2023 was 53%. Grant share is based on the ratio of number of grants to total number of patents.
Improved multicast transport protocol for satellite communications system
A recently granted patent (Publication Number: US11777654B2) describes a method for a communication system that involves a server side and multiple user systems connected through a shared forward link. The method includes receiving data blocks of a content object that is requested by one user system but not by another. The data blocks are then multicast to both user systems over the shared forward link. However, the second user system caches fewer than all of the data blocks in its client storage, making the content object inaccessible to it.
Subsequently, the second user system sends a request for the missing data blocks of the content object. In response to this request, the server system communicates at least one index to the second user system. This index facilitates the recreation of at least a portion of the content object using the cached data blocks in the client storage of the second user system.
The patent also describes additional features of the method. For instance, the request from the second user system can include an identification of the missing data blocks. The second user system can identify these missing data blocks either before or during the generation of the request.
Furthermore, the method includes the ability to multicast an object repair message in response to receiving a reliability message from the first user system. The second user system can then cache additional data blocks from this object repair message. The identification of missing portions of the data blocks not received in the multicast communication or the object repair message can be updated by the second user system.
In addition, the method allows for the communication of the missing data blocks of the content object to the second user system upon receiving the request. The request can be a positive acknowledgement of each successfully received data block or a negative acknowledgement of each missing data block not cached by the second user system.
The patent also covers a server system that facilitates the multicasting process described in the method. It includes a server optimizer and a multicaster module, which work together to receive data blocks from a content source and multicast them to the user systems. The server optimizer is responsible for receiving the request for missing data blocks from the second user system and communicating the necessary index for content object recreation.
Lastly, the patent mentions a computing device that includes a memory and a processor. The processor executes program code stored in memory to carry out the method described above.
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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData Patent Analytics tracks bibliographic data, legal events data, point in time patent ownerships, and backward and forward citations from global patenting offices. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
