Patents by Inventor Naoki Ooba

Naoki Ooba has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10254625
    Abstract: An optical signal processing device with a transponder aggregator function by which theoretical loss is not increased even if the number of necessary transponders is increased. Optical signals inputted from input ports are inputted to a PLC. The PLC has SBTs. The input ports are connected to the input-end SBT, and a plane wave is outputted from an output end of the PLC to the space side at an angle different for each input port. Optical signals outputted by the PLC are changed in their optical paths on the x-z plane by a cylindrical lens (Lsp) designed to refract optical signals in the x-axis direction, and are reflected by an LCOS at different regions corresponding to the positions of the input port. The reflected optical signals are incident on the output-end SBTs on the PLC, and are outputted to output ports via demultiplex parts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
    Inventors: Kenya Suzuki, Kei Kuwabara, Yuichi Higuchi, Mitsumasa Nakajima, Yuichiro Ikuma, Osamu Moriwaki, Tetsuo Takahashi, Naoki Ooba, Yuzo Ishii
  • Publication number: 20180164656
    Abstract: The present invention provides an optical signal processing device with a transponder aggregator function by which theoretical loss is not increased even if the number of necessary transponders is increased. Optical signals inputted from input ports are inputted to a PLC. The PLC has SBTs. The input ports are connected to the input-end SBT, and a plane wave is outputted from an output end of the PLC to the space side at an angle different for each input port. Optical signals outputted by the PLC are changed in their optical paths on the x-z plane by a cylindrical lens (Lsp) designed to refract optical signals in the x-axis direction, and are reflected by an LCOS at different regions corresponding to the positions of the input port. The reflected optical signals are incident on the output-end SBTs on the PLC, and are outputted to output ports via demultiplex parts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2016
    Publication date: June 14, 2018
    Applicant: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
    Inventors: Kenya Suzuki, Kei Kuwabara, Yuichi Higuchi, Mitsumasa Nakajima, Yuichiro Ikuma, Osamu Moriwaki, Testsuo Takahashi, Naoki Ooba, Yuzo Ishii
  • Patent number: 9723387
    Abstract: To provide an optical signal processing device that can collect light from an input waveguide to form a beam array having a small diameter. The optical signal processing device includes input waveguides 302a to 302c, an array waveguide 305 and a slab waveguide 304 that is connected to a first arc 304a having the single point C as a center and input waveguides 302a to 302c and that is connected to a second arc 404b having the single point C as a center and an array waveguide 305.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenya Suzuki, Kazunori Seno, Naoki Ooba, Tetsuo Takahashi, Toshio Watanabe, Takeshi Kawai, Mitsunori Fukutoku, Yuzo Ishii, Koichi Hadama, Yuichi Higuchi
  • Patent number: 9500811
    Abstract: Disclosed is an optical circuit including a transparent plate, which is light-transmittable, and a light shielding plate, which is adhered to the transparent plate with an adhesive and has an opening through which incident light passes, and in which the aspect facing to the opening has, on the side opposite to the transparent plate, projections in an overhang shape toward the center of the opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignees: NTT Electronics Corporation, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Tomita, Kenji Kobayashi, Naoki Ooba, Toru Miura
  • Publication number: 20160286288
    Abstract: An optical switch with a flat transmission property is provided. The optical switch includes an input port, an output port, a diffractive grating configured to perform wavelength demultiplexing on an optical signal from the input port, and LCOS configured to deflect the wavelength-demultiplexed optical signal to the output port. The diffractive grating is pre-arranged such that a shape of the optical signal as entering the LCOS is asymmetric with respect to an axis in the LCOS surface that is orthogonal to a wavelength axis of the diffractive grating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2014
    Publication date: September 29, 2016
    Inventors: Kenya Suzuki, Kazunori Seno, Yuzo Ishii, Koichi Hadama, Naoki Ooba
  • Patent number: 9307301
    Abstract: The discloser provides a multi-input and multi-output optical switch capable of switching over all WDM wavelengths. An optical switch according to one embodiment includes: an optical demultiplexing element (3) that demultiplexes an optical signal from at least one input port into individual wavelengths; a first optical deflection element (5), which deflects an incident optical signal, that deflects the wavelength-separated optical signal incoming from the optical demultiplexing element to change a traveling direction for each wavelength to a switch axis direction perpendicular to a wavelength dispersion axis direction; a second optical deflection element (8) that deflects the optical signal incoming from the first optical deflection element to change the traveling direction to the switch axis direction for output to at least one of the output ports; and an optical multiplexing element (10) that multiplexes the optical signal with the different wavelengths incoming from the second optical deflection element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2016
    Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
    Inventors: Kenya Suzuki, Kazunori Seno, Naoki Ooba, Toshio Watanabe, Tetsuo Takahashi
  • Patent number: 9201194
    Abstract: Provided is an optical module capable of inhibiting both the displacement of an optical axis caused by thermal changes and property degradation in an optical functional circuit. The optical module includes: a planar lightwave circuit including a waveguide-type optical functional circuit and a waveguide region where only an optical waveguide is formed in contact with a side, wherein an emission end face where output light is emitted from the optical functional circuit, or an entrance end face where input light is entered to the optical functional circuit is formed in contact with the side; a fixing mount employed to hold the planar lightwave circuit only in the portion where the waveguide area is located; and an auxiliary mount employed to hold the planar lightwave circuit in contact with a side that is opposite the side where the emission end face or the entrance end face.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignees: NTT Electronics Corporation, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
    Inventors: Naoki Ooba, Hiroshi Tomita, Kenji Kobayashi, Yuko Kawajiri, Kenya Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20150247970
    Abstract: Disclosed is an optical circuit including a transparent plate, which is light-transmittable, and a light shielding plate, which is adhered to the transparent plate with an adhesive and has an opening through which incident light passes, and in which the aspect facing to the opening has, on the side opposite to the transparent plate, projections in an overhang shape toward the center of the opening.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2013
    Publication date: September 3, 2015
    Applicants: NTT ELECTRONICS CORPORATION, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroshi Tomita, Kenji Kobayashi, Naoki Ooba, Toru Miura
  • Publication number: 20150237420
    Abstract: To provide an optical signal processing device that can collect light from an input waveguide to form a beam array having a small diameter. The optical signal processing device includes input waveguides 302a to 302c, an array waveguide 305 and a slab waveguide 304 that is connected to a first arc 304a having the single point C as a center and input waveguides 302a to 302c and that is connected to a second arc 404b having the single point C as a center and an array waveguide 305.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2013
    Publication date: August 20, 2015
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenya Suzuki, Kazunori Seno, Naoki Ooba, Tetsuo Takahashi, Toshio Watanabe, Takeshi Kawai, Mitsunori Fukutoku, Yuzo Ishii, Koichi Hadama, Yuichi Higuchi
  • Patent number: 9036958
    Abstract: In an optical component, a part of a waveguide type optical device is fixed to a convex portion of a mount. The optical component includes an optical device support base, a pressure member and a pressure support base. The optical device support base is interposed between the mount and the presser member enough to be slidable in a direction parallel to surfaces of the mount and the presser member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignees: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION, NTT ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Motohaya Ishii, Naoki Ooba, Kazunori Seno, Yoshiyuki Doi, Ken Tsuzuki, Takao Fukumitsu, Atsushi Murasawa, Fumihiro Ebisawa, Hiroshi Terui, Tomoyo Shibazaki, Yuichi Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 8983252
    Abstract: Conventionally, there has been a problem that a structure in which optical signals outputting from a substrate facet in a PLC are optically coupled to a different bulk type optical device is so complicated that its assembly is laborious. There also has been a problem that a structure in which an output facet of a PLC is polished with an angle results in an increase in coupling loss in free space optics. With a lens bonded to an angled facet of a PLC, an optical circuit of the present invention achieves an optical coupling, with low loss, to a bulk-type optical device or another PLC with a simple structure. Moreover, a lens part and an optical fiber part are respectively bonded to different core apertures exposed on a single angled facet. Thereby, optical signals can be inputted to and outputted from the PLC through the single facet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
    Inventors: Motohaya Ishii, Naoki Ooba, Kenya Suzuki, Shinji Mino
  • Publication number: 20140205291
    Abstract: The discloser provides a multi-input and multi-output optical switch capable of switching over all WDM wavelengths. An optical switch according to one embodiment includes: an optical demultiplexing element (3) that demultiplexes an optical signal from at least one input port into individual wavelengths; a first optical deflection element (5), which deflects an incident optical signal, that deflects the wavelength-separated optical signal incoming from the optical demultiplexing element to change a traveling direction for each wavelength to a switch axis direction perpendicular to a wavelength dispersion axis direction; a second optical deflection element (8) that deflects the optical signal incoming from the first optical deflection element to change the traveling direction to the switch axis direction for output to at least one of the output ports; and an optical multiplexing element (10) that multiplexes the optical signal with the different wavelengths incoming from the second optical deflection element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Publication date: July 24, 2014
    Inventors: Kenya Suzuki, Kazunori Seno, Naoki Ooba, Toshio Watanabe, Tetsuo Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20140193114
    Abstract: Provided is an optical module capable of inhibiting both the displacement of an optical axis caused by thermal changes and property degradation in an optical functional circuit. The optical module includes: a planar lightwave circuit including a waveguide-type optical functional circuit and a waveguide region where only an optical waveguide is formed in contact with a side, wherein an emission end face where output light is emitted from the optical functional circuit, or an entrance end face where input light is entered to the optical functional circuit is formed in contact with the side; a fixing mount employed to hold the planar lightwave circuit only in the portion where the waveguide area is located; and an auxiliary mount employed to hold the planar lightwave circuit in contact with a side that is opposite the side where the emission end face or the entrance end face.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2014
    Publication date: July 10, 2014
    Inventors: Naoki Ooba, Hiroshi Tomita, Kenji Kobayashi, Yuko Kawajiri, Kenya Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20130011095
    Abstract: In an optical component, a part of a waveguide type optical device is fixed to a convex portion of a mount. The optical component includes an optical support base, a pressure member and a pressure support base. The optical device support base is interposed between the mount and the presser member enough to be slidable in a direction parallel to surfaces of the mount and the presser member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2011
    Publication date: January 10, 2013
    Applicants: NTT ELECTRONICS CORPORATION, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Motohaya Ishii, Naoki Ooba, Kazunori Seno, Yoshiyuki Doi, Ken Tsuzuki, Takao Fukumitsu, Atsushi Murasawa, Fumihiro Ebisawa, Hiroshi Terui, Tomoyo Shibazaki, Yuichi Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 8346086
    Abstract: A conventional optical signal processing device had a disadvantage where the temperature dependency of the spectroscopic characteristics of a spectroscopic element causes a deteriorated performance. In order to solve the temperature dependency, there has been a method to form a plurality of grooves for dividing a core on the array waveguide of the AWG. However, this method cannot avoid an excess loss and causes a high manufacture cost. By directly controlling the modulation characteristic profile formed by an element device of a spatial light modulator, athermalization can be achieved in a simpler and low-cost manner. This consequently provides a remarkable reduction of the light coupling loss in the spatial optical system of the optical signal processing device. More accurate temperature compensation can be realized that copes with an actual behavior of the device to a temperature fluctuation, including causing factors of a complicated temperature fluctuation of the optical system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
    Inventors: Kenya Suzuki, Naoki Ooba, Motohaya Ishii, Shinji Mino, Kazunori Seno
  • Patent number: 8260139
    Abstract: Conventional dispersion compensators were not sufficient to satisfy a demand to set a different dispersion value for each WDM wavelength in a ring-mesh type network that utilizes wavelength selective switches or the like. The devices were insufficiently reduced in size and power consumption and used with difficulty to change dispersion characteristics for each wavelength flexibly in a simple manner. A dispersion compensator of the present invention uses general-purpose optical components including a spatial light modulator for providing discrete phases to set appropriately the relationship between the focusing beam radius and the spatial light modulator pixel, thereby providing various dispersion compensation characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2012
    Assignee: Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.
    Inventors: Kenya Suzuki, Kazunori Seno, Naoki Ooba, Shinji Mino, Motohaya Ishii
  • Patent number: 8204347
    Abstract: In a conventional optical signal processing device, a confocal optical system is configured in which a focusing lens is positioned at a substantially-intermediate point of a free space optical path. Thus, the free space optical system had a long length. It has been difficult to reduce the size of the entire device. The optical signal processing device of the present invention uses a lens layout configuration different from the confocal optical system to thereby significantly reduce the length of the system. The optical signal processing device consists of the first focusing lens positioned in the close vicinity of a signal processing device, and the second focusing lens positioned in the vicinity of a dispersing element. A distance between the dispersing element and the signal processing device is approximately a focal length of the first focusing lens. Compared with the conventional technique, the length of the optical path can be halved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
    Inventors: Naoki Ooba, Kenya Suzuki, Motohaya Ishii, Shinji Mino, Atsushi Aratake
  • Publication number: 20110228374
    Abstract: In a conventional optical signal processing device, a confocal optical system is configured in which a focusing lens is positioned at a substantially-intermediate point of a free space optical path. Thus, the free space optical system had a long length. It has been difficult to reduce the size of the entire device. The optical signal processing device of the present invention uses a lens layout configuration different from the confocal optical system to thereby significantly reduce the length of the system. The optical signal processing device consists of the first focusing lens positioned in the close vicinity of a signal processing device, and the second focusing lens positioned in the vicinity of a dispersing element. A distance between the dispersing element and the signal processing device is approximately a focal length of the first focusing lens. Compared with the conventional technique, the length of the optical path can be halved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2008
    Publication date: September 22, 2011
    Applicant: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
    Inventors: Naoki Ooba, Kenya Suzuki, Motohaya Ishii, Shinji Mino, Atsushi Aratake
  • Publication number: 20100316385
    Abstract: A conventional optical signal processing device had a disadvantage where the temperature dependency of the spectroscopic characteristics of a spectroscopic element causes a deteriorated performance. In order to solve the temperature dependency, there has been a method to form a plurality of grooves for dividing a core on the array waveguide of the AWG. However, this method cannot avoid an excess loss and causes a high manufacture cost. By directly controlling the modulation characteristic profile formed by an element device of a spatial light modulator, athermalization can be achieved in a simpler and low-cost manner. This consequently provides a remarkable reduction of the light coupling loss in the spatial optical system of the optical signal processing device. More accurate temperature compensation can be realized that copes with an actual behavior of the device to a temperature fluctuation, including causing factors of a complicated temperature fluctuation of the optical system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2009
    Publication date: December 16, 2010
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenya Suzuki, Naoki Ooba, Motohaya Ishii, Shinji Mino, Kazunori Seno
  • Publication number: 20100296776
    Abstract: Conventionally, there has been a problem that a structure in which optical signals outputting from a substrate facet in a PLC are optically coupled to a different bulk type optical device is so complicated that its assembly is laborious. There also has been a problem that a structure in which an output facet of a PLC is polished with an angle results in an increase in coupling loss in free space optics. With a lens bonded to an angled facet of a PLC, an optical circuit of the present invention achieves an optical coupling, with low loss, to a bulk-type optical device or another PLC with a simple structure. Moreover, a lens part and an optical fiber part are respectively bonded to different core apertures exposed on a single angled facet. Thereby, optical signals can be inputted to and outputted from the PLC through the single facet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2008
    Publication date: November 25, 2010
    Applicant: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Motohaya Ishii, Naoki Ooba, Kenya Suzuki, Shinji Mino