EP0190898A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Fibre optic data network
Assignee: ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS GROUP PLC AB
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Filing: 1986-01-31
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2006-01-31
Abstract
Abstract A fibre optic data network comprises a plurality of optical fibres and a plurality of coupling devices associated with the fibres to couple them optically into the network configuration, each coupling device comprising means to hold an intermediate portion of a first fibre and to conform it to a predetermined path which executes a bend having a radius of curvature sufficiently small to cause some of any light flowing through the first fibre to leak from the cladding around the outer edge of the bend, and means to hold at least one further fibre with a light receptive portion positioned to receive at least a portion of the light leaking from the cladding around the outer edge of the bend. The couplings can be made in a non-invasive manner with even the cladding of the first fibre remaining intact. This enables networks to be restructured readily without signal degradation, and even allows some data bus configurations to be coupled to without interruption of sevice to other users.
Inventors
- 👤 Eric Reginald Cox
- 👤 Philippe Jacques Charles Leliaert
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 11:11
CPC Classifications
G; G02; G02B; G02B6/00; G02B6/24; G02B6/26; G02B6/28; G02B6/2804; G02B6/2852
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
120 words
A fibre optic data network comprising a plurality of optical fibres and a plurality of coupling devices associated with the fibres to couple them optically into the network configuration, each coupling device comprising means to hold an intermediate portion of a first fibre and to conform it to a predetermined path which executes a bend having a radius of curvature sufficiently small to cause some of any light flowing through the first fibre to leak from the cladding around the outer edge of the bend, and means to hold at least one further fibre with a light receptive portion positioned to receive at least a portion of the light leaking from the cladding around the outer edge of the bend.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
120 words
A fibre optic data network comprising a plurality of optical fibres and a plurality of coupling devices associated with the fibres to couple them optically into the network configuration, each coupling device comprising means to hold an intermediate portion of a first fibre and to conform it to a predetermined path which executes a bend having a radius of curvature sufficiently small to cause some of any light flowing through the first fibre to leak from the cladding around the outer edge of the bend, and means to hold at least one further fibre with a light receptive portion positioned to receive at least a portion of the light leaking from the cladding around the outer edge of the bend.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
72 words
A fibre optic data network as claimed in Claim 1 which comprises at least one element consisting essentially of a plurality of the fibres each of which is associated with a first coupling device as the said first fibre and with a second coupling device as a said further fibre, thereby to provide a network configuration of an optical data bus with a plurality of tap fibres extending from the data bus.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
54 words
A fibre optic data network as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the said first fibre has a plurality of further fibres each optically coupled to it by a separate one of said coupling devices thereby to provide a network configuration of an optical data bus with a plurality of tap fibres extending from it.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
80 words
A fibre optic data network as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein at least one of the coupling devices optically couples a first fibre held in a bend configuration, and a further fibre whose light receptive portion is in the form of an exposed end face held adjacent to the outer surface of the bend in the first fibre to enable it to receive light leaking from the bend when light is passed through the first fibre.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
92 words
A fibre optic data network as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein at least one of the coupling devices is a four way coupler comprising means to hold two of said further fibres with their exposed end faces adjacent to the outer surface of the bend in the first fibre but positioned substantially symmetrically with respect to said bend thereby to enable each of said further fibres to receive light travelling along the first fibre in the opposite direction to that received by the other of said further fibres.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
97 words
A fibre optic data network as claimed in Claim 2 wherein at least one of the coupling devices is designed to cause an intermediate portion of the further fibre to conform to a predetermined path which executes a bend having a radius of curvature sufficiently small to cause some of any light flowing through the fibre to leak from the cladding around the outer edge of the bend, and to hold adjacent to each other the outer edges of the bends in the two fibres whereby light leaked from one fibre can be caught by the other.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
35 words
A fibre optic data network as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which both the first fibre and the one or more further fibres passing through each coupling device are polymer optical fibres.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
49 words
A fibre optic data network as claimed in Claim 7 when linked to at least one other such network by one or more optical fibres which are other than polymer optical fibres, the one or more linking fibres being coupled to the polymer optical fibre networks using active interfaces.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
25 words
A fibre optic data network as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the data bus is in the form of a closed loop.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
39 words
A fibre optic data network as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the data bus runs parallel to a further data bus and has a plurality of optical instruments coupled in parallel across the two data buses.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
35 words
A fibre optic data network as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the data bus has an open loop configuration with the two ends of the loop coupled to the same optical instrument.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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