Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for one directional communications in bidirectional communications channel

US7342884B2 · kind B2 · utility

5Cited by
6References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 26, 2002
Grant dateMar 11, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 15, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04B10/2589
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Optical transceivers used in data communications equipment are typically bidirectional and require two-way communications in order to maintain their operability. However, in some applications such as cable television, the traffic is highly unbalanced with very high bandwidth requirements in one direction and minimal bandwidth requirements in the opposite direction. Hence for such efficient and cost effective one-way communication applications, unidirectional fiber optic transceivers are useful. There is provided here a unidirectional transceiver provided internally with a keep-alive signal generator to enable unidirectional transmissions. The keep alive signal is, for instance, idle characters for a Gigabit Ethernet communication system, or any other suitable handshake signal which provides the desired operability.

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