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US5311344A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Bidirectional lightwave transmission system

Assignee: Nokia Bell Labs
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Filing: 1992-09-02
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Granted: 1994-05-10
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Expires: 2012-09-02
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Abstract

Abstract Bidirectional, non-interfering transmission of broadband services on a single fiber is accomplished by simultaneously combining wavelength-division, time-division, and subcarrier multiplexing on the downstream and upstream transmissions. High speed electrical data signals are time-division multiplexed at the exchange into a composite signal which modulates a standard diode laser operating at a first wavelength. Data signals from an individual subscriber are modulated onto a subcarrier designated solely for the particular subscriber which, in turn, modulates a laser operating at a second wavelength. Extraction and insertion of the upstream and downstream transmissions at the subscriber and exchange locations is accomplished with wavelength selective couplers.

Inventors

  • 👤 Peter P. Bohn
  • 👤 Thomas H. Wood

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-05 20:11
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04J; H04J14/00; H04J14/02; H04J14/0226; H04B; H04B10/00; H04B10/25; H04B10/2589; H04J14/0227; H04J14/0241; H04J14/0242; H04J14/0245; H04J14/0246; H04J14/0247; H04J14/0249; H04J14/0252; H04J14/0298; H04J14/08; H04Q; H04Q11/00; H04Q11/0001; H04J14/0278; H04J14/0282

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim 159 words
A lightwave transmission system having a first end transceiver coupled to a lightwave transmission medium wherein the transmission medium connects the first end transceiver to at least a first second end transceiver coupled to a remote end of the lightwave transmission medium, the transmission medium including at least one optical fiber, the first end transceiver including outbound apparatus and inbound apparatus, the outbound apparatus operating substantially at a first optical wavelength for transmitting a first optical signal on the transmission medium via baseband signalling, the inbound apparatus operating substantially at a second optical wavelength different from the first optical wavelength for receiving a second optical signal from the transmission medium via at least a first subcarrier multiplexed signal at a first assigned subcarrier frequency, the transceiver further comprising means for coupling optically and wavelength selectively an input port of the inbound apparatus and an output port of the outbound apparatus to one optical fiber of the lightwave transmission medium.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 159 words
A lightwave transmission system having a first end transceiver coupled to a lightwave transmission medium wherein the transmission medium connects the first end transceiver to at least a first second end transceiver coupled to a remote end of the lightwave transmission medium, the transmission medium including at least one optical fiber, the first end transceiver including outbound apparatus and inbound apparatus, the outbound apparatus operating substantially at a first optical wavelength for transmitting a first optical signal on the transmission medium via baseband signalling, the inbound apparatus operating substantially at a second optical wavelength different from the first optical wavelength for receiving a second optical signal from the transmission medium via at least a first subcarrier multiplexed signal at a first assigned subcarrier frequency, the transceiver further comprising means for coupling optically and wavelength selectively an input port of the inbound apparatus and an output port of the outbound apparatus to one optical fiber of the lightwave transmission medium.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 44 words
The system as defined in claim 1 wherein the outbound apparatus further comprises means for time division multiplexing a plurality of input signals into a time division multiplexed signal and means responsive to the time division multiplexed signal for generating the first optical signal.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 27 words
The system as defined in claim 1 wherein the generating means further includes a light source for generating the first optical signal at the first optical wavelength.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 15 words
The system as defined in claim 3 wherein the light source is a Fabry-Perot laser.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 20 words
The system as defined in claim 3 wherein the light source is directly modulated by the time division multiplexed signal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 20 words
The system as defined in claim 2 wherein the inbound apparatus further comprises means for detecting the second optical signal.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 42 words
The system as defined in claim 2 wherein the inbound apparatus further comprises a plurality of subcarrier multiplexed signal receivers and means connected to an output of the detecting means for distributing the received second signal to each subcarrier multiplexed signal receiver.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 46 words
The system as defined in claim 2 wherein each subcarrier multiplexed signal receiver includes means tuned to an assigned subcarrier frequency for selecting the subcarrier multiplexed signal substantially at the assigned subcarrier frequency and means connected to the selecting means for demodulating the subcarrier multiplexed signal.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 32 words
The system as defined in claim 2 wherein the demodulating means includes frequency discriminating means for the subcarrier multiplexed signal from a frequency shift keying signal to an amplitude shift keying signal.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 92 words
The system as defined in claim 2 wherein the second end transceiver comprises inbound apparatus and outbound apparatus, the inbound apparatus operating at the second optical wavelength for transmitting the second optical signal as at least the first subcarrier multiplexed signal, the outbound apparatus operating at the first optical wavelength for receiving the first optical signal, the transceiver further comprising means for optically and wavelength selectively coupling an input port of the outbound apparatus and an output port of the inbound apparatus to the one optical fiber of the lightwave transmission medium.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 58 words
The system as defined in claim 3 wherein the transmission medium includes means substantially at the remote end of the transmission medium for coupling optically a plurality of second end transceivers to the one optical fiber and for distributing signals to and from the second end transceivers and wherein the system includes a plurality of second end transceivers.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 45 words
The system as defined in claim 3 wherein the coupling and distributing means includes a star coupler having at least one input port coupled to the one optical fiber and a plurality of output ports, each output port being connected to one second end transceiver.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 49 words
The system as defined in claim 3 wherein each outbound apparatus of the second end transceiver comprises means for detecting the first optical signal and generating a time division multiplexed signal therefrom and means for demultiplexing the time division multiplexed signal into one of a plurality of input signals.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 103 words
The system as defined in claim 3 wherein the transmitting means of each inbound apparatus includes means for modulating a subscriber input signal onto a subcarrier signal at an assigned subcarrier frequency and a light source means responsive to the modulated subcarrier signal from the modulating means for generating a subcarrier multiplexed signal component of the second optical signal, the assigned subcarrier frequency for one second end transceiver being substantially different from the assigned subcarrier frequency or other second end transceivers, and the second optical wavelength for one second end transceiver is different from the second optical wavelength for other second end transceivers.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 22 words
The system as defined in claim 14 wherein a maximum assigned subcarrier frequency is less than twice a minimum assigned subcarrier frequency.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 30 words
The system as defined in claim 14 wherein a minimum subcarrier frequency is selected to be greater than approximately 0.7 times a bit rate for the time division multiplexed signal.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 18 words
The system as defined in claim 14 wherein the light source means is a substantially single frequency laser.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 20 words
The system as defined in claim 3 wherein the light source means is directly modulated by the modulated subcarrier signal.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim 25 words
The system as defined in claim 1 wherein the first optical wavelength is approximately 1.3 μm and the second optical wavelength is approximately 1.5 μm.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US4726010A Cited
WO1989009518A1 Cited
US5221983A Cited
US5119223A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1997-05-09 1997-11-08 1998-05-10 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2001-05-09 2001-11-08 2002-05-10 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2005-05-09 2005-11-08 2006-05-10 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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