EP0350207A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Transceiver-based single fiber lan
Assignee: AT&T Inc
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Filing: 1989-06-29
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2009-06-29
Abstract
Abstract An optical communication network is disclosed which utilizes optical transceiving elements (e.g., 12) at each node (e.g., 10) within the network. A token passing protocol may be utilized to control information flow between the nodes in the network, where the network may be configured in one of many different star and bus configurations, including, but not limited to, reflective star or bus, active star or bus, and linked star or bus. The optical transceiving element may be either an LED (surface-emitting or edge-emitting) or a semiconductor laser.
Inventors
- 👤 David Alan Snyder
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 14:04
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04B; H04B10/00; H04B10/40; H04B10/43; H04B10/27
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
156 words
An optical communication network including a plurality of nodes, each node (e.g. 10) for both transmitting information into and receiving information from the network CHARACTERIZED IN THAT each node comprises: optical transceiving means (e.g., 12) for generating a message signal when biased at threshold and for receiving and amplifying a message signal from another node when otherwise biased; transmitting means (e.g., 15) coupled to the optical transceiving means for providing the bias threshold and message signal; receiving means (e.g., 17) coupled to the optical transceiving means for generating an electrical output signal from the received amplified message signal; and an optical communication fiber (e.g., 14) coupled to the output of said optical transceiving means, the optical communication network further comprising a retransmission element coupled to the plurality of nodes, said retransmission element for receiving a message signal transmitted by a node of said plurality of nodes and redirecting said message signal into the optical communication network.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
156 words
An optical communication network including a plurality of nodes, each node (e.g. 10) for both transmitting information into and receiving information from the network CHARACTERIZED IN THAT each node comprises: optical transceiving means (e.g., 12) for generating a message signal when biased at threshold and for receiving and amplifying a message signal from another node when otherwise biased; transmitting means (e.g., 15) coupled to the optical transceiving means for providing the bias threshold and message signal; receiving means (e.g., 17) coupled to the optical transceiving means for generating an electrical output signal from the received amplified message signal; and an optical communication fiber (e.g., 14) coupled to the output of said optical transceiving means, the optical communication network further comprising a retransmission element coupled to the plurality of nodes, said retransmission element for receiving a message signal transmitted by a node of said plurality of nodes and redirecting said message signal into the optical communication network.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
24 words
An optical communication network as defined in claim 1 wherein the network utilizes a token passing protocol to control information flow through the network.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
81 words
An optical communication network as defined in claims 1 or 2 wherein the network is defined as a reflective star network, the retransmission element comprising optical collecting means coupled at a first endface to the plurality of optical fibers exiting the plurality of nodes; and a reflective surface disposed at a second, opposite endface of the optical collecting means for reflecting a received message signal through said optical collecting means and into each optical fiber of said plurality of optical fibers.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
23 words
An optical communication network as defined in claim 3, wherein the network comprises a plurality of reflective stars linked together by optical fiber.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
120 words
An optical communication network as defined in claims 1 or 2 wherein the network is defined as an active star network, the retransmission element comprising optical collecting means coupled at a first endface to the plurality of optical fibers exiting the plurality of nodes; photodetecting means for transforming any received optical message signal into an electrical representation; regenerating means responsive to the electrical representation provided by the photodetecting means for providing as an output an improved electrical representation of the received message signal; and optical amplifying means for converting the output of the regenerating means into an amplified optical signal, said amplified optical signal being applied as an input to the optical collecting means for retransmission into the communication network.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
87 words
An optical communication network as defined in claims 1 or 2 wherein the network is defined as a reflective bus network, the retransmission element comprising optical collecting means including a reflective surface; a bus optical fiber coupled to the optical collecting means such that any message signal propagating along said bus optical fiber impinges said reflective surface and is redirected into said bus optical fiber; and distributed node coupling means disposed along said bus optical fiber for coupling the plurality of nodes to said bus optical fiber.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
93 words
An optical communication network as defined in claims 1 or 2 wherein the network is defined as a master/slave polled network, the retransmission element comprising an optical fiber splitter/combiner coupled to the plurality of optical communication fibers exiting the plurality of nodes for combining said plurality of fibers into a single master optical fiber; and a master node coupled to the single master optical fiber for receiving a message signal broadcast by any node of said plurality of nodes and transmitting a master message signal to selected nodes of said plurality of nodes.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
43 words
An optical communication network as defined in claims 1 or 2 wherein at least one node of the plurality of nodes includes a surface-emitting LED as the optical transceiving means and multimode optical fiber coupled by a lensing element to the surface-emitting LED.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
41 words
An optical communication network as defined in claims 1 or 2 wherein at least one node of the plurality of nodes includes an edge-emitting LED as the optical transceiving means and lensed single mode optical fiber coupled to the edge-emitting LED.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
51 words
An optical communication network as defined in claims 1 or 2 wherein at least one node of the plurality of nodes comprises a semiconductor laser optical transceiving means; a semiconductor laser backface monitor photodetecting means; and single mode optical communication fiber coupled to said semiconductor laser with an optical lensing arrangement.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
17 words
An optical communication network as defined in claim 10 wherein the backface monitor comprises a PIN photodiode.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
44 words
An optical communication network as defined in claim 10 wherein the optical lensing arrangement comprises a spherical lens disposed at the output of the semiconductor laser and a graded index rod lens disposed between said spherical lens and the single mode optical communication fiber.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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