Direct optical to rf transceiver for a wireless system
AssigneeVerizon Patent and Licensing Inc.
InventorDonna L. Polehn
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hybrid optical-RF device, called a “stamp cell” herein, may be a small, passive repeating device that is designed to be placed close to User Equipment (UE) such that the UE only needs to reach a few meters using high frequency RF signals. The stamp cell may directly convert the received RF signal to an optical signal which may be transmitted to an optical receiver mounted on a traditional cell tower. Similarly, in the downlink direction, the stamp cell may receive optical signals from the cell tower and convert the optical signals to high frequency RF signals, which may be received by the UE.
Claims20
A device comprising:
- an optical component that generates a reflected version of a first optical channel received by the device;
- a transmitter that generates a second optical channel based on an electrical current that has been generated based on radio frequency (“RF”) signals received by the device, the electrical current having a bandwidth corresponding to a particular frequency differential;
- and
- an optical splitter that transmits an output optical signal that is based on at least:
- the reflected version of the first optical channel, and
- the second optical channel,
- wherein the first and second optical channels are spaced by the same particular frequency differential as the particular frequency differential with which the electrical current corresponds.
A method, comprising:
- reflect, by an optical component of a device, a first optical channel to generate a reflected version of the first optical channel;
- generating, by a transmitter of the device, a second optical channel based on an electrical current that has been generated based on a set of radio frequency (“RF”) signals, the electrical current having a bandwidth corresponding to a particular frequency differential;
- and
- transmitting, by an optical splitter of the device, an output optical signal that is based on at least:
- the reflected version of the first optical channel, and
- the second optical channel,
- wherein the first and second optical channels are spaced by the same frequency differential as the particular frequency differential with which the electrical current corresponds.
A system, comprising:
- a device, comprising:
- an antenna configured to:
- receive radio frequency (“RF”) signals, and
- convert the received RF signals into an electrical current, the electrical current having a bandwidth corresponding to a particular frequency differential;
- an optical component configured to generate a reflected version of a first optical channel received by the device;
- a transmitter configured to generate a second optical channel based on the electrical current;
- and
- an optical splitter configured to transmit an output optical signal that is based on at least:
- the reflected version of the first optical channel, and
- the second optical channel,
- wherein the first and second optical channels are spaced by the same particular frequency differential as the particular frequency differential with which the electrical current corresponds.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.