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US 6,486,462 B1Granted
Tunable optical add-drop multiplexer
AssigneeOccam Networks
InventorMark Rumer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An optical add/drop multiplexer to be tuned locally or remotely, to compensate for drift in operation, and to facilitate installation or replacement at remote terminals.
Claims16
A multiplexer, comprising:
- a prismatic element tunable, under the control of a feedback control signal, to refract light at a wavelength of interest from an input light signal incident thereupon in a desired direction;
- at least one first light collecting element coupled to receive one or more first light signals at the wavelength of interest from the prismatic element;
- at least one photodiode coupled to receive the one or more first light signals at the wavelength of interest from the at least one light collecting element and configured to convert the one or more first light signals into an electrical signal;
- at least one second light collecting element coupled to receive light signals at wavelengths other than the wavelength of interest from the prismatic element and to transmit such light signals along a light path output.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- monitoring the operation of a prismatic element,
- transforming the observation of the prismatic element into an electrical signal,
- amplifying the electrical signal with a differential amplifier,
- summing the amplified signal with a source tuning signal, and
- using that summed signal to keep the prismatic element tuned.
2 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a prismatic element tunable, under the control of a feedback control signal, to refract light at a wavelength of interest from an input light signal incident thereupon in a desired direction;
- at least one first light collecting element coupled to receive one or more first light signals at the wavelength of interest from the prismatic element;
- at least one photodiode coupled to receive the one or more first light signals at the wavelength of interest from the at least one light collecting element and configured to convert the one or more first light signals into an electrical signal;
- at least one second light collecting element coupled to receive light signals at wavelengths other than the wavelength of interest from the prismatic element and to transmit such light signals along a light path output;
- at least one remote terminal comprising a multiplexer;
- at least one optical fiber coupled to transmit light to and receive light from the prismatic element;
- and
- at least one central office coupled to the optical fiber to transmit light to and receive light from the at least one remote terminal.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.