Patents by Inventor Timo Pfau

Timo Pfau 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: 11838054
    Abstract: A method, system and apparatus for optimizing parameters between two optical coherent transceivers connected via an optical link, including determining performance of a second optical receiver; wherein the second optical transceiver uses a set of parameters; and inputting information into a side channel communication between a first optical transceiver and the second optical transceiver to update the set of parameters for the second transceiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: Acacia Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonas Geyer, Timo Pfau
  • Publication number: 20220116114
    Abstract: A method, system and apparatus for optimizing parameters between two optical coherent transceivers connected via an optical link, including determining performance of a second optical receiver; wherein the second optical transceiver uses a set of parameters; and inputting information into a side channel communication between a first optical transceiver and the second optical transceiver to update the set of parameters for the second transceiver.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2021
    Publication date: April 14, 2022
    Applicant: Acacia Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonas Geyer, Timo Pfau
  • Patent number: 11239919
    Abstract: A method, system and apparatus for optimizing parameters between two optical coherent transceivers connected via an optical link, including determining performance of a second optical receiver; wherein the second optical transceiver uses a set of parameters; and inputting information into a side channel communication between a first optical transceiver and the second optical transceiver to update the set of parameters for the second transceiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: Acacia Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonas Geyer, Timo Pfau
  • Patent number: 11115250
    Abstract: A method, system, and apparatus for calculating coefficients for inputs and corresponding output sequences for a pulse-position modulation encoder using a stored structure; wherein the structure is a subset of the values of Pascal's Triangle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Acacia Communications, Inc.
    Inventor: Timo Pfau
  • Publication number: 20200204262
    Abstract: A method, system and apparatus for optimizing parameters between two optical coherent transceivers connected via an optical link, including determining performance of a second optical receiver; wherein the second optical transceiver uses a set of parameters; and inputting information into a side channel communication between a first optical transceiver and the second optical transceiver to update the set of parameters for the second transceiver.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2019
    Publication date: June 25, 2020
    Applicant: Acacia Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonas Geyer, Timo Pfau
  • Patent number: 10567209
    Abstract: A method, system, and apparatus for encoding a data for transmission across a communication link, the comprising encoding the data into a constellation; wherein the constellation is of a power 2n; wherein n is an odd number; wherein encoding the constellation creates outer constellation points forming a square at an edge of the constellation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Acacia Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Mehmet Aydinlik, Timo Pfau, Christian Rasmussen
  • Patent number: 9768883
    Abstract: An optical receiver includes an equalizer to generate a plurality of equalization coefficients corresponding to a plurality of frequencies of an optical signal received by the optical receiver. The equalizer zeroes out a first subset of the equalization coefficients corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of frequency components and applies a second subset of non-zero equalization coefficients to the first signal. The optical receiver may also include a chromatic dispersion compensator to generate inverse chromatic dispersion coefficients corresponding to the plurality of frequency components, and to zero out a first subset of the inverse chromatic dispersion coefficients corresponding to the first subset of the plurality of frequency components and further to apply a second subset of non-zero inverse chromatic dispersion coefficients to a second optical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc.
    Inventors: Noriaki Kaneda, Timo Pfau, Jeffrey Lee
  • Publication number: 20160050023
    Abstract: An optical receiver includes an equalizer to generate a plurality of equalization coefficients corresponding to a plurality of frequencies of an optical signal received by the optical receiver. The equalizer zeroes out a first subset of the equalization coefficients corresponding to a first subset of the plurality of frequency components and applies a second subset of non-zero equalization coefficients to the first signal. The optical receiver may also include a chromatic dispersion compensator to generate inverse chromatic dispersion coefficients corresponding to the plurality of frequency components, and to zero out a first subset of the inverse chromatic dispersion coefficients corresponding to the first subset of the plurality of frequency components and further to apply a second subset of non-zero inverse chromatic dispersion coefficients to a second optical signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2014
    Publication date: February 18, 2016
    Inventors: Noriaki Kaneda, Timo Pfau, Jeffrey Lee
  • Patent number: 9264146
    Abstract: Embodiments of the disclosure include a method and apparatus for detecting and removing cycle slip. A phase-modulated signal having a plurality of phase-modulated symbols is received at an optical receiver, and, for each phase-modulated symbol, a phase-error estimate of a phase error of the phase-modulated symbol is generated. The presence of a cycle slip is then detected based on the phase-error estimates, and, a phase of each of one or more of the received phase-modulated symbols is adjusted to remove the detected cycle slip without adjusting a local oscillator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Xiang Liu, Chandrasekhar Sethumadhavan, Timo Pfau, Giancarlo Gavioli
  • Publication number: 20150215050
    Abstract: Embodiments of the disclosure include a method and apparatus for detecting and removing cycle slip. A phase-modulated signal having a plurality of phase-modulated symbols is received at an optical receiver, and, for each phase-modulated symbol, a phase-error estimate of a phase error of the phase-modulated symbol is generated. The presence of a cycle slip is then detected based on the phase-error estimates, and, a phase of each of one or more of the received phase-modulated symbols is adjusted to remove the detected cycle slip without adjusting a local oscillator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2014
    Publication date: July 30, 2015
    Applicant: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Xiang Liu, Chandrasekhar Sethumadhavan, Timo Pfau, Giancarlo Gavioli
  • Patent number: 9036999
    Abstract: One aspect provides an optical communication system. The system includes an optical-to-digital converter, a frequency estimator and a symbol synchronizer. The optical-to-digital converter is configured to receive an optical OFDM bit stream including an OFDM symbol bearing payload data and a symbol header preceding the OFDM payload data. The frequency estimator is configured to determine a carrier frequency offset of the payload data from the symbol header. The symbol synchronizer is configured to determine a starting location of the payload data within the bit stream by cross-correlating a synchronization pattern within the symbol header with a model synchronization pattern stored by the symbol synchronizer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Noriaki Kaneda, Timo Pfau, Qi Yang
  • Patent number: 8995834
    Abstract: An apparatus, e.g. an optical receiver, includes an optical front end and an equalizer. The front end is configured for receiving an optical signal bearing first and second symbols on respective first and second polarization channels. The equalizer is configured to 1) select a first cost function if the first symbol has greater energy than the second symbol, 2) select a second different cost function if the second symbol has a greater energy than the first symbol, and 3) based on the selected cost function, update coefficients of an adaptive filter configured to demultiplex and equalize the first and second polarization channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Brian Krongold, Timo Pfau, Noriaki Kaneda
  • Publication number: 20130163988
    Abstract: An apparatus, e.g. an optical receiver, includes an optical front end and an equalizer. The front end is configured for receiving an optical signal bearing first and second symbols on respective first and second polarization channels. The equalizer is configured to 1) select a first cost function if the first symbol has greater energy than the second symbol, 2) select a second different cost function if the second symbol has a greater energy than the first symbol, and 3) based on the selected cost function, update coefficients of an adaptive filter configured to demultiplex and equalize the first and second polarization channels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2011
    Publication date: June 27, 2013
    Applicant: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Brian Krongold, Timo Pfau, Noriaki Kaneda
  • Publication number: 20120027419
    Abstract: One aspect provides an optical communication system. The system includes an optical-to-digital converter, a frequency estimator and a symbol synchronizer. The optical-to-digital converter is configured to receive an optical OFDM bit stream including an OFDM symbol bearing payload data and a symbol header preceding the OFDM payload data. The frequency estimator is configured to determine a carrier frequency offset of the payload data from the symbol header. The symbol synchronizer is configured to determine a starting location of the payload data within the bit stream by cross-correlating a synchronization pattern within the symbol header with a model synchronization pattern stored by the symbol synchronizer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2011
    Publication date: February 2, 2012
    Inventors: Noriaki Kaneda, Timo Pfau, Qi Yang
  • Patent number: 7941058
    Abstract: The invention refers to a device (1) for decoding an optical multi-level DPSK signal (E), the device (1) comprising: means for receiving the multi-level DPSK signal (E); at least two means (3) for transforming optical multi-level DPSK signals (E) into corresponding analog electrical signals (i); means (2) for splitting up the received multi-level DPSK signal (E) into at least two optical multi-level DPSK signals (E0), one for each of the opto-electrical transforming means (3); means (8) for processing electrical signals (i, e); and at least two means (6) for transforming the analog electrical signals (i) into corresponding electrical logical binary signals (e). In order to provide multi-level DPSK receiver (1) with a reduced complexity, it is suggested that concerning the signal flow within the device (1) the analog-to-logical-binary transformation means (6) are disposed before the processing means (8) and that the processing means (8) process electrical logical binary signals (e).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: Universitat Stuttgart
    Inventors: Michael Ohm, Timo Pfau
  • Publication number: 20080166126
    Abstract: The invention refers to a device (1) for decoding an optical multi-level DPSK signal (E), the device (1) comprising: means for receiving the multi-level DPSK signal (E); at least two means (3) for transforming optical multi-level DPSK signals (E) into corresponding analog electrical signals (i); means (2) for splitting up the received multi-level DPSK signal (E) into at least two optical multi-level DPSK signals (E0), one for each of the opto-electrical transforming means (3); means (8) for processing electrical signals (i, e); and at least two means (6) for transforming the analog electrical signals (i) into corresponding electrical logical binary signals (e). In order to provide multi-level DPSK receiver (1) with a reduced complexity, it is suggested that concerning the signal flow within the device (1) the analog-to-logical-binary transformation means (6) are disposed before the processing means (8) and that the processing means (8) process electrical logical binary signals (e).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2005
    Publication date: July 10, 2008
    Applicant: UNIVERSITAT STUTTGART
    Inventors: Michael Ohm, Timo Pfau