Tags: Satellite Phone, Satellite TV, Apple
Publication: PatentlyApple.com
Publication Date: 02/28/2013

Four Generations of iPhone. Image credit: Yutaka Tsutano

A future iPhone with satellite capabilities could be the next development for Apple. According to reports, on Feb. 28, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals technology, which would support the conjecture.

Satellite phones have extended reception capabilities over a large footprint that enables users to transmit and receive communication signals in remote areas where terrestrial cellular service is unavailable. Apple’s patent filing states that the use of satellites for personal and business communications is an important technique in global communication networks, according to reports.

Apple’s development provides a method and system that result in the adjustment of timing offsets between mobile stations and the sharing or reallocation of timing misalignments among the diversity paths through the diverse satellite paths. Once the timing misalignments have been reallocated, various zoning and scheduling methods are employed in order to schedule the transmissions of various mobile stations within a common zone.

However, the filing doesn’t apply just to mobile-to-satellite communication link, but to all RF communication links. Thus, Apple could potentially explore the possibilities of using satellite technology to deliver movie and TV services.

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