Systems and methods for synchronizing optical transmitters
US9654933B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 10, 2014 |
| Grant date | May 16, 2017 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 17, 2035 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04W4/33
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A wireless network has a plurality of nodes that are configured to communicate electrical signals via a backhaul channel in which messages hop from node-to-node through the network. The nodes have optical transmitters for communicating with tags via an optical channel that is time division multiplexed (TDM) among the nodes of the network. The nodes are configured to transmit an electrical synchronization signal via the backhaul channel and to synchronize transmissions for the optical channel based on the electrical synchronization signal. Thus, use of the backhaul channel to communicate the synchronization signal leverages the existing framework of the network in order to synchronize the optical transmitters without requiring specialized synchronization circuitry, and a robust TDM algorithm can be implemented for the optical channel with relatively low complexity and costs.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.