| 摘要 |
A method and apparatus for paging a user terminal (UT) (124, 126) in a satellite communications system (100) having a at least one gateway (120, 12 2) and one or more satellites (116, 118), wherein each satellite produces a plurality of beams (401-416, 501-516) and each beam includes a plurality of channels, and wherein the one or more satellites (116, 118) produce a total number of beams m. The method of the present invention includes the step of recalling a location of the UT that corresponds to a known location of the U T at a time t1 (704). The method also includes the step of determining a group (g1) of beams that covers the recalled location of the UT at a time t2 (706) , where g1 < n and t2 > t1. A strongest beam of the group (g1) of beams at time t2 is then determined (708). In one embodiment, the strongest beam is select ed by determining which beam of the group (g1) of beams theoretically has a highest power relative to the recalled location at time t2 (710). A page is then sent (712) from the gateway to the UT (124, 126) on a paging channel of the strongest beam. Accordingly, the present invention can be used to page a user terminal using a single channel of a single beam.
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