Optical transceiver with improved range and data communication rate

A method of receiving optically serial communication at various baud rates, comprising the following steps:

• providing a photo detector for receiving light pulses and converting the light pulses to electrical pulses;
• amplifying the electrical pulses;
• filtering lower frequency electrical pulses out of the electrical pulses by feeding back the lower frequency pulses to the amplifier;
• generating a clock signal at one of a number of baud rates selectable by a control signal;
• with the clock signal generated at the selected baud rate, converting the electrical pulses into a stream of bits having the selected baud rate.

An optical communication transceiver for receiving and sending serial communication at various selectable baud rates, comprising:

• (a) a serial interface device for transmitting and receiving a serial bit stream at a baud rate selectable by a control signal;
• (b) an encoder for encoding the serial bit stream from the serial interface device into electrical pulses, the serial bit stream having a baud rate set by the serial interface device;
• (c) an optical transmitter coupled to the encoder for transforming the electrical pulses of the encoder into light pulses for transmission;
• (d) an optical receiver for receiving light pulses and transforming them into electrical pulses;
• and
• (e) a decoder for decoding the electrical pulses from the optical receiver into a serial bit stream for the serial interface device, the serial bit stream having a baud rate set by the serial interface device.

A method of communicating information optically, comprising:

• electronically selecting a baud rate;
• generating a serial bit stream at the selected baud rate, each bit occupying its full bit time;
• encoding the serial bit stream into electrical pulses, each pulse occupying a fraction of the serial bit time;
• and
• driving an LED with the electrical pulses to generate light pulses.

An optical communication device for receiving serial communication at various baud rates, comprising:

• a photo detector for receiving light pulses and converting the light pulses to electrical pulses;
• a converter for converting the electrical pulses into digital pulses;
• a baud rate generator for generating a clock signal at one of a number of baud rates selectable by a control signal;
• and
• means responsive to the clock signal generated at the selected baud rate for converting the digital pulses into a stream of bits having the selected baud rate.