Satellite-based communications system having an on-board internet web proxy cache

This invention relates generally to a communications system, and more particularly to a satellite-based communications systems where the satellite includes an on-board cache for Internet web information. A method and system for communicating internet data in a satellite-based communications system. A request for a selected web page is transmitted from either a standard terminal or an enhanced terminal to the satellite. The satellite initially determines whether the transmission came from a standard user or an enhanced terminal. If the request was from a standard terminal, the satellite relays the request for the web page directly to the ground station, which retrieves the requested web page from a local cache or the internet, and transmits the requested web page to the satellite, where the satellite in turn retransmits it to the user terminal. If the original request was transmitted from an enhanced terminal, then the satellite determines whether or not it already has a copy of the requested web page in its on-board memory cache. If the satellite has a copy in its memory cache, the requested web page is retrieved from its memory cache and transmitted to the enhanced terminal. If the satellite does not have a copy of the requested web page, it requests the page from the ground station if the same fashion as with the standard terminal.