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US 8,948,197 B2Granted
System and method for communicating optical signals via communication cable medium
AssigneeCosemi Technologies, Inc.
InventorsWenbin Jiang, Chien-Yu Kuo, Nguyen X. Nguyen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A data communication system is disclosed including a cable medium and modulator adapted to carry data and power between a high speed data source and a high speed data sink. Relatively high speed data (e.g. the TMDS data of an HDMI interface) may be carried on optical waveguides in the cable medium. Relatively low-speed data (e.g., DDC data and clock, and CEC of an HDMI interface) may be carried on a separate set of optical waveguides or wire mediums. The optical waveguides allow for substantially less signal distortion of the high-speed data, thereby allowing the cable medium to achieve much higher lengths without significantly affecting the high-speed signaling.
Claims19
A data communication cable medium, comprising:
- a first cable connector comprising a first set of electrical contacts configured to receive relatively high-speed data from a high-speed data source, and a second set of electrical contacts configured to receive relatively low-speed forward data from the high-speed data source and produce relatively low-speed reverse data for the high-speed data source;
- a second cable connector comprising a third set of electrical contacts configured to produce the relatively high-speed data for a high-speed data sink, and a fourth set of electrical contacts adapted to receive the relatively low-speed reverse data from the high-speed data sink and produce the relatively low-speed forward data for the high-speed data sink;
- a cable including first and second ends coupled to the first and second cable connectors, respectively, the cable comprising:
- one or more optical waveguides for communicating the relatively high-speed data from the first cable connector to the second cable connector;
- and
- one or more electrical wire mediums for communicating the relatively low-speed forward and reverse data between the first cable connector and the second cable connector;
- an optical modulator situated within the first cable connector, wherein the optical modulator is configured to modulate the relatively high-speed data received from the first set of electrical contacts onto one or more optical carriers for transmission via the one or more optical waveguides;
- and
- an optical demodulator situated within the second cable connector, wherein the optical demodulator is configured to demodulate the relatively high-speed data from the one or more optical carriers received from the one or more optical waveguides to produce the relatively high- speed data on the third set of electrical contacts.
6 more elements
A data communication cable medium, comprising:
- a first cable connector comprising:
- a first set of electrical contacts configured to receive relatively high-speed data from a high-speed data source;
- a second set of electrical contacts configured to receive relatively low-speed forward data from the high-speed data source and produce relatively low-speed reverse data for the high-speed data source;
- and
- a third set of electrical contacts configured to receive power signals from or produce power signals for the high-speed data source;
- a second cable connector comprising:
- a fourth set of electrical contacts configured to produce the relatively high-speed data for a high-speed data sink;
- a fifth set of electrical contacts adapted to receive the relatively low-speed reverse data from the high-speed data sink and produce the relatively low-speed forward data for the high-speed data sink;
- and
- a sixth set of electrical contacts adapted to produce power signals for or receive power signals from the high-speed data sink;
- a cable including first and second ends coupled to the first and second cable connectors, respectively, the cable comprising:
- one or more optical waveguides for communicating the relatively high-speed data from the first cable connector to the second cable connector;
- and
- one or more electrical wire mediums for communicating the relatively low-speed forward and reverse data and power signals between the first cable connector and the second cable connector;
- an optical modulator situated within the first cable connector, wherein the optical modulator is configured to modulate the relatively high-speed data received from the first set of electrical contacts onto one or more optical carriers for transmission via the one or more optical waveguides;
- and
- an optical demodulator situated within the second cable connector, wherein the optical demodulator is configured to demodulate the relatively high-speed data from the one or more optical carriers received from the one or more optical waveguides to produce the relatively high- speed data on the fourth set of electrical contacts.
14 more elements
A data communication cable medium, comprising:
- a first cable connector comprising a first set of electrical contacts configured to receive relatively high-speed data from a high-speed data source, and a second set of electrical contacts configured to receive relatively low-speed forward data from the high-speed data source and produce relatively low-speed reverse data for the high-speed data source;
- a second cable connector comprising a third set of electrical contacts configured to produce the relatively high-speed data for a high-speed data sink, and a fourth set of electrical contacts adapted to receive the relatively low-speed reverse data from the high-speed data sink and produce the relatively low-speed forward data for the high-speed data sink;
- a cable including first and second ends coupled to the first and second cable connectors, respectively, the cable comprising:
- a first set of one or more optical waveguides for communicating the relatively high-speed data from the first cable connector to the second cable connector;
- and
- a second set of one or more optical waveguides for communicating the relatively low-speed forward and reverse data between the first cable connector and the second cable connector;
- a first optical modulator situated within the first cable connector, wherein the first optical modulator is configured to modulate the relatively high-speed data received from the first set of electrical contacts onto one or more optical carriers for transmission via the first set of one or more optical waveguides;
- a first optical demodulator situated within the second cable connector, wherein the first optical demodulator is configured to demodulate the relatively high-speed data from the one or more optical carriers received from the first set of one or more optical waveguides to produce the relatively high-speed data on the third set of electrical contacts;
- a second optical modulator situated within the first cable connector, wherein the second optical modulator is configured to modulate the relatively low-speed forward data received from the second set of electrical contacts onto one or more optical carriers for transmission via the second set of one or more optical waveguides;
- a second optical demodulator situated within the first cable connector, wherein the second optical demodulator is configured to demodulate the relatively low-speed reverse data from the one or more optical carriers received from the second set of one or more optical waveguides to produce the relatively low-speed reverse data on the second set of electrical contacts;
- a third optical modulator situated within the second cable connector, wherein the third optical modulator is configured to modulate the relatively low-speed reverse data received from the fourth set of electrical contacts onto the one or more optical carriers for transmission via the second set of one or more optical waveguides;
- and
- a third optical demodulator situated within the second cable connector, wherein the third optical demodulator is configured to demodulate the relatively low-speed forward data from the one or more optical carriers received from the second set of one or more optical waveguides to produce the relatively low-speed forward data on the fourth set of electrical contacts.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.