Patents Examined by Casey Kretzer
  • Patent number: 8861979
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a coherent receiver apparatus and a chromatic dispersion compensation method. The apparatus includes a polarization beam splitter and a chromatic dispersion compensation module. An optical splitter is disposed in front of the polarization beam splitter, and a chromatic dispersion monitoring module is connected between the optical splitter and the chromatic dispersion compensation module. The optical splitter is configured to split a modulated optical signal received by the coherent receiver apparatus and then transmit the split modulated optical signal to the chromatic dispersion monitoring module and the polarization beam splitter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2014
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Ning Liu
  • Patent number: 8849121
    Abstract: A control device (13) for scheduling the transmission of signals from a plurality of transmitters (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21). The control device (13) comprises an evaluation element (22) arranged to determine the power level of the signals received from each of the transmitters and a scheduling element (23) adapted to determine a transmit schedule comprising the order that the plurality of transmitters should transmit based on the power levels of the signals received from the transmitters (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21). A method of operation and a node incorporating the control device is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (Publ)
    Inventors: Einar In De Betou, Peter Ohlen
  • Patent number: 8849129
    Abstract: A DP-QPSK optical transmitter includes an outer MZM comprising a first parent MZM comprising a first child MZM and a second child MZM that modulates a QPSK signal with a first polarization. A second parent MZM includes a first child MZM and a second child MZM that modulates a QPSK signal with a second polarization. The outer Mach-Zehnder modulator multiplexes the first and second polarization embedded into a dual-polarization QPSK signal generation. A first optical detector detects the QPSK signal generated by the first parent MZM with the first polarization. A second optical detector optical detects the QPSK signal generated by the second parent Mach-Zehnder modulator with the second polarization. A bias control circuit generates bias signals on at least one output that stabilize the DP-QPSK signal in response to signals generated by the first and second optical detector using electrical time division multiplexing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: Finisar Corporation
    Inventors: Suhas P. Bhandare, Heider N. Ereifej, Kyu Kim, Mark Colyar
  • Patent number: 8837944
    Abstract: In an optical communication system that communicates between an optical line terminal (OLT) and a plurality of optical network units (ONU), an ONU can decide an operation time period of communicating with the OLT and an idle time period of reduced or suspended communication with the OLT by using a timer. The OLT can decide a software renewal time period based on the operation time period and the idle time period. Accordingly, the ONU can supply electrical power to its own communication circuit during the operation time period or the software renewal time period, or cut off or reduce the electrical power if a present time does not occur in either the operation time period or the software renewal time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro Sarashina, Satoshi Furusawa
  • Patent number: 8837943
    Abstract: A communication system has a plurality of nodes adapted to provide for a communication with one or more devices, a central node, a passive optical network having a multiplexer/demultiplexer device adapted to demultiplex a first optical signal from the central node to the plurality of nodes, and to multiplex second optical signals from one or more of the nodes, each node having allocated a wavelength for generating its optical signal, wherein for directly transmitting signals from one node to at least one of the other nodes, the one node is adapted to generate an optical signal at the wavelength allocated to the at least one of the other nodes, the optical signal including the signal to be transmitted, and wherein the multiplexer/demultiplexer device of the passive optical network is adapted to combine the optical signal from the one node with the first optical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
    Inventors: Changsoon Choi, Qing Wei, Thorsten Biermann
  • Patent number: 8805194
    Abstract: An optical transmission device includes a signal generator configured to generate a first signal corresponding to an amount of residual chromatic dispersion that occurs in a light signal transmitted from the optical transmission device to a downstream device, and a superimposer configured to superimpose the first signal on the light signal transmitted from the optical transmission device and transmit the light signal superimposed by the first signal to the downstream device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Takashi Toyomaki
  • Patent number: 8805204
    Abstract: In general, optical communication systems and methods may generate higher-level nmQAM from nQAM signals using one or more delay line interferometers (DLIs) arranged in various configurations. The nQAM signals may be generated by a lower-level modulator, such as a BPSK modulator, QPSK modulator or lower-level QAM modulator, with binary driving signals. Different parameters of the DLIs, such as free spectral range (FSR), phase shift, and amplitude imbalance, may be selected to accomplish the desired higher-level nmQAM depending upon the nQAM signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Tyco Electronics Subsea Communications LLC
    Inventors: Hongbin Zhang, Jin-Xing Cai, Yu Sun, Carl R. Davidson, Yi Cai, Georg Heinrich Mohs
  • Patent number: 8805183
    Abstract: An OLT operable in a PON and structured to perform OTDR measurements. The OLT comprises an electrical module for generating continuous downstream signals and processing received upstream burst signals according to a communication protocol of the PON; an optical module for transmitting continuous optical signals over a first wavelength, receiving optical upstream burst signals over a second wavelength, and transmitting optical upstream burst signals over a third wavelength, wherein the optical module further includes an ONU traffic processing module being electrically coupled to the optical module and the electrical module, wherein the ONU traffic processing module is configured to emulate one of a plurality of ONUs of the PON, to generate an analysis pattern to be transmitted as an optical upstream burst signal over a third wavelength, and analyze an analysis pattern received in an optical upstream burst signal for the purpose of performing the OTDR measurements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventor: Amiad Dvir
  • Patent number: 8792789
    Abstract: A method is provided for performing chromatic dispersion (CD) compensation. A zero-forcing filter is calculated with a number of taps (n) required to nullify a chromatic dispersion frequency response of an optical channel. The number of taps in the zero-forcing filter is truncated to a number equal to (n?x), where x is an integer greater than 0. In one aspect, the chromatic dispersion frequency response of the optical channel is partitioned into a plurality of constituent chromatic dispersion responses, and a zero-forcing filter is calculated for each of the plurality of constituent chromatic dispersion responses. The number of taps in each of the plurality of zero-forcing filters is truncated, and the CD compensation filter is formed for each of the plurality of truncated tap zero-forcing filters. In another aspect, the tap values of the zero-forcing filter are quantized to a finite quantization set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Applied Micro Circuits Corporation
    Inventors: Badri Varadarajan, Daruish Dabiri, Subhash Roy
  • Patent number: 8792787
    Abstract: A packet switch/router including a first stage switch fabric receiving an electrical signal, a mid-stage buffer receiving and storing the electrical signal from the first stage switch fabric, and a second stage switch fabric receiving the electrical signal from the mid-stage buffer. Each switch fabric includes N layers of N×N arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs), and each AWG has ingress ports and egress ports. A wavelength tunable device, such as a tunable laser, communicates with a source ingress port of an AWG and converts the received electrical signal to an optical signal having a wavelength selected for routing a packet from the source ingress port to a target egress port of the arrayed waveguide grating. A photoreceiver, such as a burst-mode photoreceiver, receives the propagated optical signal from the target egress port and converts the optical signal to the electrical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Xiaoxue Zhao, Bikash Koley, Vijay Vusirikala, Edward Crabbe, Paul Phillip Germano, Hong Liu, Philip Michael Wells
  • Patent number: 8792791
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an improved quantum signal transmitter, which has a plurality of quantum output channels having at least one optical source and at least one optical splitter acting on the output of said at least one source. Such a transmitter can easily be used with existing passive optical network (PON) systems and can be a compact piece of equipment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Qinetiq Limited
    Inventors: Simon Robert Wiseman, Brian Sinclair Lowans, Stephen Gerard Ayling, Ewan David Finlayson
  • Patent number: 8787769
    Abstract: In order to compensate for chromatic dispersion caused by optical fiber transmission in a communication system with coherent detection using optical signals, specific frequency band signals are used to enable estimation of a chromatic dispersion value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
    Inventors: Koichi Ishihara, Takayuki Kobayashi, Riichi Kudo, Yasushi Takatori, Munehiro Matsui, Masato Mizoguchi, Tadao Nakagawa, Etsushi Yamazaki, Akihide Sano, Yutaka Miyamoto, Eiji Yoshida, Shogo Yamanaka
  • Patent number: 8781325
    Abstract: A method of generating a multi-subcarrier optical signal is disclosed. A local oscillator oscillates one or more data signals to generate one or more oscillating data signals. A series of modulators phase modulate a lightwave to generate a phase modulated lightwave, wherein the series of modulators are driven by the one or more oscillating data signals. The intensity modulator modulates the phase modulated lightwave, the intensity modulator being driven by one of the oscillating data signals, to generate the multi-subcarrier optical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignees: ZTE Corporation, ZTE (USA) Inc.
    Inventor: Jianjun Yu
  • Patent number: 8755686
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a method and device for processing an alarm in a ring optical transport network. The method comprises detecting alarm information in the ring network in real-time, and when generation of only an working ODUk alarm in the ring network is detected, performing a switching process of a 1+1 protection protocol on services carried on a working channel on which an alarm is generated; in the event that one working ODUk alarm has existed in the ring network, when generation of an alarm at a protection ODUk corresponding to the working ODUk on which the alarm has been generated is also detected, or when an optical multiplexed segment layer alarm is generated in the ring network, triggering a switching process of a channel shared protection protocol. The device comprises an alarm detection module and a switching triggering module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: ZTE Corporation
    Inventor: Sen Fu
  • Patent number: 8737845
    Abstract: An optical engine for providing a point-to-point optical communications link between a first computing device and a second computing device. The optical engine includes a modulated hybrid micro-ring laser formed on a substrate and configured to generate an optical signal traveling parallel to the plane of the substrate. The optical engine further includes a waveguide, also formed in a plane parallel to the plane of the substrate, that is configured to guide the optical signal from the modulated ring laser to a defined region, a waveguide coupler at the defined region configured for coupling the optical signal into a multi-core optical fiber, and a multi-core optical fiber at the defined region that is configured to receive and transport the optical signal to the second computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Marco Fiorentino, Qianfan Xu, Sagi Varghese Mathai, Raymond G. Beausoleil
  • Patent number: 8724988
    Abstract: A synchronous packet switch comprises output modules, input modules, optical connections and a switch control unit. The output modules comprise optical receivers each configured to receive optical signals at a different wavelength. The input modules receive electric signals carrying data cells to be routed. Each input module comprises optical transmitters, each configurable to generate an optical signal at a different wavelength, and routing apparatus comprising output ports. Each output module has at least one output port allocated to it. The routing apparatus is configurable to route a received optical signal to a selected output port. The optical connections are arranged to couple output ports to respective output modules. The switch control unit controls routing of the optical signals from the transmitters to the output modules and generates a routing control signal for configuring the routing apparatus to route an optical signal from a transmitter to a selected output port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Nicola Andriolli, Antonella Bogoni, Alberto Bianchi, Piero Castoldi, Luca Poti, Pier Giorgio Raponi
  • Patent number: 8724999
    Abstract: An optical communication system includes a polarization multiplexed orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing POLMUX-OFDM transmitter for generating a POLMUX-OFDM double sideband signal, an optical processing path for processing the double sideband signal from the transmitter; an analog-to-digital convert ADC-OFDM receiver coupled to the optical processing path for receiving the double sideband signal processed by the optical path; and a block-diagonal multiple-input multiple-output MIMO equalizer responsive to the receiver for enabling correct operation for a completely random incoming signal polarization state without adaptive polarization control at said receiver, which enables complexity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: NEC Laboratories America, Inc.
    Inventors: Neda Cvijetic, Yue-Kai Huang, Narayan Prasad, Ting Wang
  • Patent number: 8705955
    Abstract: An optical access network has a first and a second network-side termination node, the first including a first transceiver arrangement connected to a first optical link, configured to send a first signal to a customer side termination node including a transceiver for receiving the first signal, and the second including a second transceiver arrangement connected to a second optical link and configured for sending a second signal to a transceiver of a customer-side termination node via the second link. The transceiver of the customer side termination node has a loopback element emitting a monitoring signal back to the network side termination nodes. Both network-side termination nodes have a link failure detector receiving the monitoring signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Adva AG Optical Networking
    Inventors: Klaus Grobe, Joerg-Peters Elbers
  • Patent number: 8699885
    Abstract: There are disclosed techniques for power control in an Optical Network Unit (ONU) of a Passive Optical Network (PON). In one embodiment, the supply of power to an optical transmitter is controlled in accordance with information defining a plurality of transmission windows during which data can be transmitted from the ONU, in order to achieve the following: (1) to provide power to the optical transmitter beginning at a predetermined time in advance of a transmission window to ensure a laser in the optical transmitter is ready to begin transmitting the data at the start of the transmission window; and (2) to refrain from providing full power to the optical transmitter between transmission windows when the duration of time between the transmission windows is greater than a predetermined length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Cortina Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Dongsheng Zhang, Eugene W. Lee
  • Patent number: 8693888
    Abstract: Various embodiments of a 16-QAM (quadrature-amplitude-modulation) constellation having one or more subsets of its sixteen constellation points arranged within respective one or more relatively narrow circular bands. Each of the subsets includes constellation points of at least two different amplitudes and may have between about six and about ten constellation points. Each of the circular bands may have a width that is between about 3% and about 20% of the maximum amplitude in the constellation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventor: Timo J. Pfau