Spatiotemporal optical signal repeater
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorsTeresa A. Nick, Timothy Andrew Large, Shashank Gupta
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optical repeater for communicating optical signals between a transmission device and a reception device through an optical transmission medium includes an optical receiver and an optical transmitter each positioned on a transmission path of the optical signals. The optical receiver is configured to detect an input spatiotemporal pattern transmitted from the transmission device, and the optical transmitter is configured to transmit an output spatiotemporal pattern to the reception device, the output spatiotemporal pattern being based at least in part on the input spatiotemporal pattern.
Claims20
An optical repeater for communicating optical signals between a transmission device and a reception device through an optical transmission medium, the optical repeater comprising:
- an optical receiver positioned on a transmission path of the optical signals and being configured to detect an input spatiotemporal pattern transmitted from the transmission device, the input spatiotemporal pattern comprising a plurality of input cells arranged at different spatial locations in a transverse cross-section of the optical transmission medium;
- and
- an optical transmitter positioned on the transmission path of the optical signals and electronically connected to the optical receiver, the optical transmitter being configured to transmit an output spatiotemporal pattern to the reception device, the output spatiotemporal pattern comprising a plurality of output cells arranged at different spatial locations in a transverse cross-section of the optical transmission medium, wherein the output spatiotemporal pattern is based at least in part on the input spatiotemporal pattern.
An optical communication system, comprising:
- an optical transmission medium for transmitting optical signals from a transmission device through a first portion of the optical transmission medium to a reception device through a second portion of the optical transmission medium;
- and
- an optical repeater positioned on a transmission path of the optical signals between the first portion and the second portion of the optical transmission medium, the optical repeater including:
- an optical receiver coupled to the first portion and configured to detect an input spatiotemporal pattern transmitted from the transmission device, the input spatiotemporal pattern comprising a plurality of input cells arranged at different spatial locations in a transverse cross-section of the optical transmission medium;
- an optical transmitter coupled to the second portion and configured to transmit an output spatiotemporal pattern to the reception device, the output spatiotemporal pattern comprising a plurality of output cells arranged at different spatial locations in a transverse cross-section of the optical transmission medium;
- and
- a repeater circuit electronically connecting the optical receiver and the optical transmitter and configured to generate the output spatiotemporal pattern based at least in part on the input spatiotemporal pattern.
A method of communicating spatiotemporal patterns, comprising:
- receiving, with an optical receiver, an input spatiotemporal pattern transmitted from a transmission device through an optical transmission medium, the input spatiotemporal pattern comprising a plurality of input cells arranged at different spatial locations in a transverse cross-section of the optical transmission medium;
- detecting, with the optical receiver, the input spatiotemporal pattern with a plurality of input cells with a plurality of light receptors arranged at spatial locations across the transverse cross-section of the optical transmission medium corresponding to the different spatial locations of the plurality of input cells of the input spatiotemporal pattern;
- generating, with an optical transmitter, an output spatiotemporal pattern based at least in part on the input spatiotemporal pattern by driving a plurality of light emitters arranged at spatial locations across the transverse cross-section of the optical transmission medium to generate a plurality of output cells arranged at different spatial locations in the transverse cross-section of the optical transmission medium;
- and
- transmitting the output spatiotemporal pattern from the optical transmitter to a reception device through the optical transmission medium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.