Optical computer including parallel residue to binary conversion

A hybrid optical-electrical computing system comprising:

• (a) input means for generating first light beams along selected ones of a first plurality of light transmitting paths, each of said first light beams representative of a digit of a number,
• (b) converter means for converting said first light beams into second light beams selected among a second plurality of light transmitting paths, each of said second light beams representative of a residue of said number modulo a given modulus among a plurality of mutually prime moduli, said converter means generating, for each number, a group of second light beams corresponding to an ordered group of residues modulo each of said mutually prime moduli, and
• (c) data processing means including:
• (1) optical computing means coupled to receive said group of second light beams from said converter means for performing parallel residue arithmetic operations corresponding to each ordered group of residues;
• said optical computing means generating third light beams selected among a third plurality of light transmitting paths, each of said third light beams representative of a computed number resulting from said arithmetic operations and corresponding to said ordered group of residues modulo each of said mutually prime moduli;
• (2) residue-to-binary converter means for converting said third light beams into binary electrical signals representative of a binary value of said computed number;
• and
• (3) electrical computing means connected for receiving said binary electrical signals for performing at least one of logical and additional arithmetic operations.

An opto-electric residue-to-binary converter comprising:

• (1) a plurality of converter units, one converter unit corresponding to each binary digit and providing a binary electrical output signal corresponding thereto;
• (2) a plurality of groups of light sources for each converter unit, each group within a converter unit having a corresponding plurality of individually energizable light sources representative of residues of a number modulo a given modulus, the residues of each group being mutually prime relative to one another wherein said number is represented in a residue number representation by said energizable light sources;
• (3) means for connecting each converter unit in parallel such that corresponding individually energizable light sources within each converter unit are simultaneously energized for converting said number from said residue number representation into binary;
• (4) each of said converter units further comprising:
• (a) a plurality of light transmitting paths for each group of light sources,
• (b) a plurality of photo-electric detectors each receiving light from selected ones of said light transmitting paths, each photo-electric detector generating an electrical signal having an amplitude corresponding to the intensity of light received along said selected ones of said plurality of light transmitting paths,
• each of said photo-electric detectors receiving light from said selected light transmitting paths such that for every given binary digit of said binary electric signal, a given binary state of said binary digit corresponds to a unique selection of said light transmitting paths corresponding to the residues of said number modulo said mutually prime moduli, and
• (d) a plurality of threshold detectors, one of said threshold detectors corresponding to each of said photo-electric detectors and connected for receiving said electrical signal therefrom and each threshold detector generating a given binary state of said binary electrical output signal only if the amplitude of said electrical signal from said corresponding photoelectric detector is above a predetermined threshold.

An opto-electric residue-to-binary converter comprising:

• (1) a plurality of converter units, one converter unit corresponding to each binary digit and providing a binary electrical output signal corresponding thereto;
• (2) a plurality of individually energizable light sources representative of residues of a number modulo a plurality of mutually prime moduli wherein said number is represented in a residue number representation by said energizable light sources;
• (3) means for connecting each converter unit in parallel such that corresponding individually energizable light sources within each converter unit are simultaneously energized for converting said number from said residue number representation into binary;
• (4) a plurality of light transmitting paths, each light transmitting path connected to transmit light from one of said light sources;
• (5) a first and second plurality of photo-electric detectors, each detector receiving light from selected ones of said plurality of light transmitting paths and generating an electrical signal having an amplitude corresponding to the combined intensity of light received along said selected one of said light transmitting paths, said first plurality of photo-electric detectors connected only to a first group of said plurality of light transmitting paths corresponding to a first pair of moduli among said mutually prime moduli and said second plurality of photo-electric detectors connected only to a second group of said plurality of light transmitting paths corresponding to a second pair of moduli, at least one modulus of which is different from said first pair of moduli;
• (6) a third plurality of photo-electric detectors generating electrical signals having an amplitude corresponding to the intensity light incident thereon;
• (7) a first, second and third plurality of threshold units corresponding to said first, second and third plurality of photo-electric detectors and connected for receiving corresponding electrical signals therefrom, each of said threshold units generating an electrical threshold signal if the amplitude of the corresponding receive signal is greater that a predetermined threshold;
• (8) a first and second plurality of electro-optic converters corresponding to said first and second plurality of threshold units and connected to receive said electrical threshold signal therefrom, said first and second plurality of electro-optical converters generating light beams in response to said electrical threshold signals;
• (9) an additional plurality of light transmitting paths connected between selected one of said first and second plurality of electro-optical converters and said third plurality of photo-electric detectors for transmitting said light beams therealong;
• and
• (10) said third plurality of threshold units generating a given state of a binary electrical signal in response to said electrical threshold signals therefrom.

A method of optical computing comprising the steps of:

• (a) generating first light beams along selected ones of a first plurality of light transmitting paths, each of said first light beams representative of a digit of a number,
• (b) converting said first light beams into second light beams selected among a second plurality of light transmitting paths, each of said second light beams representative of a residue of said number modulo a given modulus among a plurality of mutually prime moduli, and generating, for each number, a group of second light beams corresponding to an ordered group of residues modulo each of said mutually prime moduli,
• (c) performing parallel residue arithmetic operation corresponding to each ordered group of residues utilizing computing means coupled to receive said group of second light beams,
• (d) generating third light beams selected among a third plurality of light transmitting paths, each of said third light beams representative of a computed number resulting from said arithmetic operations and corresponding to said ordered group of residues modulo each of said mutually prime moduli;
• and
• (e) converting said third light beams into binary electrical signals representative of a binary value of said computed number.

A method of opto-electric residue-to-binary converting comprising the steps of:

• (1) providing a plurality of converter units, one converter unit corresponding to each binary digit and providing a binary electrical output signal corresponding thereto;
• (2) providing a plurality of groups of light sources for each converter unit, each group within a converter unit having a corresponding plurality of individually energizable light sources representative of residues of a number modulo a given modulus, the residues of each group being mutually prime relative to one another wherein said number is represented in a residue number representation by said energizable light sources;
• (3) connecting each converter unit in parallel such that corresponding individually energizable light sources within each converter unit are simultaneously energized for converting said number from said residue number representation into binary;
• (4) for each of said converter units further providing:
• (a) a plurality of light transmitting paths for each group of light sources,
• (b) a plurality of photo-electric detectors each receiving light from selected ones of said light transmitting paths, each photo-electric detector generating a electrical signal having an amplitude corresponding to the intensity of light received along said selected ones of said plurality of light transmitting path;;
• (c) each of said photo-electric detectors receiving light from said selected light transmitting paths such that for every given binary digit of said binary electrical output signal, a given binary state of said binary digit corresponds to a unique selection of said light transmitting paths corresponding to the residues of said number modulo said mutually prime moduli;
• and
• (d) a plurality of threshold detectors, one of said threshold detectors corresponding to each of said photo-electric detectors and connected for receiving said electrical signal therefrom and each threshold detector generating a given binary state of said binary electrical output signal only if the amplitude of said electrical signal from said corresponding photoelectric detector is above a predetermined threshold.

An opto-electric residue-to-binary converter comprising:

• a plurality of converter units, each converter unit corresponding to each binary digit and providing a binary electrical output signal corresponding thereto;
• a plurality of groups of light sources for each converter unit, each group within a converter unit having a corresponding plurality of individually energizable light sources representative of residues of a number modulo a given modulus, the residues of each group being mutually prime relative to one another wherein said number is represented in a residue number representation by said energizable light sources;
• means for connecting each converter unit in parallel such that corresponding individually energizable light sources within each converter unit are simultaneously energized for converting said number from said residue number representation into binary;
• each of said converter units further comprising:
• a plurality of light transmitting paths for each group of light sources,
• a plurality of opto-electronic AND gates each receiving light from selected ones of said light transmitting paths, each of said photo-electronic AND gates receiving light from said selected light transmitting paths such that for every given binary digit of said binary electric signal, a given binary state of said binary digit corresponds to a unique selection of said light transmitting paths corresponding to the residues of said number modulo said mutually prime moduli, each of said plurality of opto-electronic AND gates outputting a given binary state of said binary electrical signal.