Mobile Satellite Ventures LP (MSV) announced April 27 that the U.S. Patent Office awarded the company a patent for next-generation satellite networks in which the space-based transmitter and receiver functions are performed by different satellites.

U.S. Patent No. 7,006,789, “Space-Based Network Architectures for Satellite Radiotelephone Systems,” is the latest in a series of patent filings by MSV covering the development and operation of an ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) network.