Patents Examined by Brian Healy
  • Patent number: 8447149
    Abstract: An optoelectronic transmission device includes a base, an optical signal source positioned on the base, a light detector positioned on the base, a carrier covering the optical signal source and the light detector, a first lensed optical fiber and a second lensed optical fiber. The carrier has a first through hole, a second through hole and a reflective surface. The first lensed optical fiber is received in the first through hole. The first lensed optical fiber has a first lens opposing the reflective surface for directing first light reflected by the reflective surface into the first lensed optical fiber. The second lensed optical fiber is received in the second through hole. The second lensed optical fiber has a second lens opposing the reflective surface for directing a second light transmitted by the second lensed optical fiber to the reflective surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2013
    Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Chia-Ling Hsu
  • Patent number: 8447155
    Abstract: An optical device for generating a frequency comb includes an optical source and a first waveguide comprising a nonlinear optical medium operable to mix at least two input optical waves to generate a plurality of first optical waves. The optical device also includes a second waveguide concatenated to the first waveguide and characterized by a first dispersion characteristics and operable to compress the waveforms of the plurality of first optical waves and to reduce a frequency chirp introduced by the first waveguide. The optical device additionally includes a third waveguide concatenated to the second waveguide. The third waveguide comprises a nonlinear optical medium and is operable to mix the plurality of first optical waves to generate a plurality of second optical waves and to increase a total number of second optical waves with respect to a total number of first optical waves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2013
    Assignee: Ram Photonics, LLC
    Inventors: Ping Piu Kuo, Yauheni Myslivets
  • Patent number: 8447147
    Abstract: Some embodiments include communication methods, methods of forming an interconnect, signal interconnects, integrated circuit structures, circuits, and data apparatuses. In one embodiment, a communication method includes accessing an optical signal comprising photons to communicate information, accessing an electrical signal comprising electrical data carriers to communicate information, and using a single interconnect, communicating the optical and electrical signals between a first spatial location and a second spatial location spaced from the first spatial location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2013
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Chandra Mouli
  • Patent number: 8444326
    Abstract: An optical fiber coupling device, comprises a coupling assembly that includes a first ferrule and a second ferrule and an optical fiber having a first end mounted in the first ferrule and a second end mounted in the second ferrule. The first ferrule is disposed in an axial bore of a first barrel and the second ferrule is disposed in an axial bore of a second barrel. The coupling assembly is disposable in a coupling housing configured to receive at least two optical fiber connectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2013
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventor: James R. Bylander
  • Patent number: 8442364
    Abstract: An optical waveguide device includes an optical branch device for branching a first input light and outputting the branched first input light to a first and a second optical waveguides, another optical branch device, arranged between the first and the second optical waveguides, for branching a second input light and outputting the branched second input light to a third and a fourth optical waveguides, an optical coupler which couples the lights traveling along the first and the third optical waveguides, then branches the coupled lights, and outputs them; and another optical coupler which couples the lights traveling along the second and the fourth optical waveguides, then branches the coupled lights, and outputs them, wherein optical path lengths of either a pair of the first and the second optical waveguides or a pair of the third and the fourth optical waveguides are set to be equal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2013
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Shinya Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8441602
    Abstract: Improved apparatus and method for collecting and directing light from a source via a light guide and modulated display assembly in an efficient manner through the design and use of prismatic optical structures, diffusers and/or light redirectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2013
    Assignee: Pixtronix, Inc.
    Inventors: Je Hong Kim, Jignesh Gandhi
  • Patent number: 8436961
    Abstract: A backlight unit including holding members capable of preventing occurrence of a noise caused when the members are brought into contact with an optical member such as a diffusion plate. A backlight unit (4) includes a chassis (14) including a surface (14a) housing light sources (12), an optical member (11) having a flat plate shape and disposed above the light sources, and members (25) holding the optical member and attached to the housing surface, wherein each of the holding members includes a portion (25a) holding the optical member, and paired leg portions (25b and 25c) extending from the holding portion, elastically deformable in a direction in which the leg portions approach/leave each other and including paired foot portions (25d) disposed at lower ends of the leg portions, at least one of the paired foot portions being placed in a manner slidable on the housing surface in the approaching/leaving direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2013
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Takahiro Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 8430576
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention describe optical cable housings including fiber termination units to couple optical fiber components to lenses. As in prior art solutions, embodiments of the invention utilize said fiber termination units to couple and optically align the optical fiber to the lenses; however, embodiments of the invention include flat-sided structures to more securely couple the optical fiber to the lenses; furthermore, said structures are more suitable for mass manufacturing compared to prior art solutions. Discussion herein of connectors and receptacles refers to providing a mechanical and communicative connection. The mating of the connector/receptacle may be facilitated via housing and alignment structural features, and typically includes contact of the electrical contacts and alignment of fiber optical signal transmission elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Jamyuen Ko
  • Patent number: 8432527
    Abstract: Light guide devices comprising an intermediate layer of low refractive index between higher refractive index elements are described. The light guide devices are suitable for use in backlights.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: ITI Scotland Limited
    Inventor: Andrew Michael Tomlinson
  • Patent number: 8432502
    Abstract: A low-power-consuming display device including a liquid crystal material which exhibits a blue phase is provided. A display device includes a first substrate having a pixel portion in which a pixel including a transistor is provided; a second substrate which faces the first substrate; and a liquid crystal layer between the first substrate and the second substrate; in which the liquid crystal layer includes a liquid crystal material which exhibits a blue phase; a gate of the transistor is electrically connected to a scan line, one of a source and a drain of the transistor is electrically connected to a signal line, and the other of the source and the drain of the transistor is electrically connected to an electrode; and the transistor includes an oxide semiconductor layer a hydrogen concentration of which is 5×1019/cm3 or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Hajime Kimura, Takeshi Nishi
  • Patent number: 8433166
    Abstract: A multi-core optical fiber 1A in which a plurality of cores can easily be identified even in the case where they are symmetrically arranged in its section has seven cores 10 to 16, a visual recognition marker 20, and a shared cladding 30 enclosing the seven cores 10 to 16 and the visual recognition marker 20. The cores 10 to 16 and the visual recognition marker 20 extend along the fiber-axis direction. The respective refractive index of the cores 10 to 16 is higher than the refractive index of the cladding 30. The refractive index of the visual recognition marker 20 differs from that of the cladding 30. In the cross-section perpendicular to the fiber-axis, the cores 10 to 16 are arranged such that they have 6-fold rotational symmetry and line symmetry. The visual recognition marker 20 is arranged at a position which breaks such symmetry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuji Nagashima, Toshiki Taru, Takashi Sasaki
  • Patent number: 8428408
    Abstract: Regarding an optical pulse reshaping device of CPF type, there are subjects to reduce the number of stages by enhancing a compression efficiency as extremely higher for one stage of the CPF with maintaining a quality of an output pulse as high, and to be able to improve a degree of multiplexing by obtaining an output pulse having a Gaussian function for both of a time waveform therefor and a frequency waveform therefor. By using a normal dispersion HNLF in place of a zero dispersion HNLF, which configures the conventional CPF, it becomes able to overcome the above mentioned subjects. Moreover, it becomes able to reduce the number of fusion splice for a fiber, and to reduce a propagation loss of the CPF, by enhancing the compression efficiency as higher.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Takashi Inoue
  • Patent number: 8428419
    Abstract: A fiber distribution hub (FDH) includes an internal spool for wrapping a fiber optic cable. The internal spool is adapted to rotate within the FDH and thereby pay out or retrieve the fiber optic cable from/to the FDH. A first end of the fiber optic cable can be extended through an entrance location of the FDH and can be further extended beyond the FDH to a connection point. The second end of the fiber optic cable can be connected to a fiber optic adapter within the FDH and can be disconnected from the fiber optic adapter when the internal spool is rotated. The fiber optic cable can be a fiber optic feeder cable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: ADC Telecommunications, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas G. LeBlanc, Soutsada Vongseng
  • Patent number: 8428404
    Abstract: A hybrid integrated module includes a semiconductor die mechanically coupled face-to-face to an integrated device in which the substrate has been removed. For example, the integrated circuit may include an optical waveguide that conveys an optical signal, which is fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer in which the back-side silicon substrate or handler has been completely removed. Moreover, an optical device may be disposed on the bottom surface of an oxide layer (such as a buried-oxide layer) in the integrated device, and the geometry and materials in the integrated device may be selected and/or defined so that the optical signal is evanescently coupled between the optical waveguide and the optical device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Oracle America, Inc.
    Inventors: Ivan Shubin, John E. Cunningham, Ashok V. Krishnamoorthy
  • Patent number: 8427601
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal panel in the pixel electrode and common electrodes formed within a pixel comprise repeating structures. The angular range of light incident from the light source is narrower along a direction of the repeating structures than along an orthogonal direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: NLT Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kouji Mimura, Ken Sumiyoshi
  • Patent number: 8425126
    Abstract: A multi-core optical fiber which has a plurality of core portions arranged separately from one another in a cross-section perpendicular to a longitudinal direction, and a cladding portion located around the core portions, the multi-core optical fiber comprises a cylindrical portion of which diameter is even, and a reverse-tapered portion gradually expanding toward at least one edge in the longitudinal direction, wherein a gap between each adjacent ones of the core portions in the reverse-tapered portion is greater than that in the cylindrical portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Katsunori Imamura
  • Patent number: 8428411
    Abstract: The present invention embraces a single-mode optical fiber typically having reduced bending losses. The optical fiber includes a central core, an intermediate cladding, a buried trench, and an outer cladding. The optical fiber typically has (i), at a wavelength of 1310 nanometers, a mode field diameter with a nominal value of between about 8.6 microns and 9.5 microns (and a tolerance of ±0.4 micron), (ii) a cable cut-off wavelength of no more than 1260 nanometers, and (iii), for a bending radius of 15 millimeters at a wavelength of 1550 nanometers, bending losses of no more than 0.03 dB/turn.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Draka Comteq, B.V.
    Inventors: Louis-Anne de Montmorillon, Simon Richard, Pierre Sillard
  • Patent number: 8421955
    Abstract: An LCD device using LEDs as light sources provided herein is capable of reducing the manufacturing cost and the power consumption by a reduction in the number of LEDs used. A backlight according to the present invention includes LEDs mounted on a wiring board and a light guide plate having a matrix array of light guide plate blocks assigned the LEDs. The number of LEDs assigned to the block located in a peripheral area is smaller than the number assigned to the block located around the center to reduce the number of LEDs used in the backlight. If a ratio of the brightness in a peripheral area of the screen to the brightness in a central area is 60% or higher, the human eye does not perceive non-uniform luminance. Thus, the manufacturing cost and the power consumption of the LCD device can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Assignee: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hidenao Kubota, Satoshi Ouchi
  • Patent number: 8422845
    Abstract: A photo-electric integrated circuit device comprises an on-die optical input/output device. The on-die optical input/output device comprises a substrate having a trench, a lower cladding layer disposed in the trench and having an upper surface lower than an upper surface of the substrate, and a core disposed on the lower cladding layer at a distance from sidewalls of the trench and having an upper surface at substantially the same level as the upper surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Pil-Kyu Kang, Dae Lok Bae, Gil Heyun Choi, Jong Myeong Lee
  • Patent number: 8422846
    Abstract: A fiber management device includes a first member having a floor, a first end, a second end and first and second sides, the first end including at least one holder for securing at least one optical fiber adapter to the first member, the second end including a frame holding a plurality of fiber optic connectors, the first side and second sides including first and second fiber guide structures. A first optical fiber connector is in the at least one holder, and includes a first plurality of optical fibers forming a first loop on the floor that contacts the first fiber guide structure and the second fiber guide structure. A second member includes a housing releasably connected to the first member and defining with the first member an enclosure for the first loop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Inventors: Gil Ruiz, Thomas Crain, Gary F. Gibbs, Joseph C. Livingston, Aly Fahd