Time multiplex communication system for use with a space satellite

Claim 1

A time division multiplex communication system in which the same transmission medium is utilized by a plurality of stations in a predetermined sequence in a burst in a time division system, each burst including a station discriminating signal for discriminating the stations, said communication system comprising a detector for detecting the station discriminating signal; clock means for providing local clock signals; a counter connected to the clock means for counting local clock signals and counting intervals between bursts to indicate the time for producing forecast instant burst start time signals; memory means connected to the detector and the counter, said memory means comprising first memory means for storing the intervals between bursts and a value indicating the interval from a specified time of each burst to the forecast instant burst start time signal of the nextsucceeding burst and for reading out an address corresponding to the burst after a burst start time signal and before a specific time instant and setting the forecast value of said nextsucceeding burst in said counter, said first memory means designating the address of the next-preceding burst after the lapse of a specific period of time, and second memory means for storing whether of not a burst is in operation, whether or not there is synchronization for a burst, the station discriminating signals, the patterns of the bursts, the order of arrival of the bursts and an indication of the number of the next-succeeding burst; coincidence means coupled between the memory means and the detector for comparing the station discriminating signals read out from the memory means and the station discriminating signal of a received burst and providing a coincidence signal when there is coincidence between such signals; a shift register connected between the coincidence means and the memory means for storing a collated coincidence signal from the coincidence means and a detected PCM signal train to detect the instant of proper receipt of the station discriminating signal, the second memory means storing an indication of how many times the instant of proper receipt of the station discriminating signal of the burst was not detected; correcting means connected to the first memory means of the memory means for correcting the values stored in the first memory means; and correcting means connected to the second memory means of the memory means for correcting the values stored in the first memory means.