BROADBAND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS USING LOW AND HIGH BANDWIDTH REQUEST AND BROADCAST LINKS

摘要

Broadband data transmission systems and methods that provide point-to-multipoint broadcasting capability to implement Internet access and multimedia distribution services for a very large number of users. An exemplary system (10) comprises a two-way communication link (40) having at least one satellite (11), at least one user terminal (32) that has two way communication with the two-way communication link (40), and at least one gateway (15) that has access to data and has two-way communication with the two-way communication link (40). The terminal and gateway may each include a cache (17 and 33 respectively). Software at the gateway operates to deliver requested data and related data to users using the user's request history and/or user profile. The requested (and related) data (such as a predetermined number of most-requested web pages) may be broadcast at predetermined intervals to simulate real-time broadcasts.