Patent · US Expired

Optical local area network employing microwave modulation techniques

US4701904A · kind A · utility

73Cited by
5References
7Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateOct 18, 1985
Grant dateOct 20, 1987
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 18, 2005

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L12/2801
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention relates to an optical communication system wherein the entire microwave frequency bandwidth of the optical source-to-detector system is subdivided into a plurality of non-overlapping frequency bands or channels, and each user transmits and/or receives information either (a) on a separate fixed one of the channels, (b) on a free channel selectively assigned via control signals transmitted on a separate control channel at the time of initiation of a communication, or (c) on a channel randomly selected at the receiver by an associated user to receive a particular program. The present optical communication system can be configured to simultaneously broadcast multiple programs over separate channels for random selection by each user, or to achieve local and/or external two-way communications with the associated system users.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.