Information processing apparatus including a planar optical waveguide
US5191219A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 19, 1991 |
| Grant date | Mar 2, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 19, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B6/12004
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An information processing system uses a planar optical waveguide as a shared medium for a plurality of its subsystems. To this end, each subsystem is provided with a light emitting diode to broadcast information pulses into the shared medium and a photodetector for receiving the information pulses broadcast by the light emitting diodes. This thereby reduces the need for conductive interconnections between subsystems. Additionally, a number of planar optical waveguides can be stacked on a support and different compositions of subsystems communicate with one another by using different waveguides of the stack. The system can be adapted for time-division, space-division and frequency division multiplexing.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.