At+t Corp.

Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.

Lucent Technologies Inc.

Uhuru Networks

Christopher Lee Rutledge

Gregory M Durant

Joel I Javitt

Jeevan Prakash Dodley

Steven Mancuso

David Michael Britz

Yuk Lun Li

Donald John Bowen

Bharadwaj Vemuri

Dan Sun

Rajendra K Damle

Edward Wronka

Arul Arasan

Alex Ruan

Kelvin Corniel

Pamela Terlizzi

An exemplary augmentation system accesses imagery captured by a sensor of a first device, identifies a user depicted in the imagery, determines that the user is associated with a second device, determines that the second device is located within a predefined proximity range of the first device, accesses, based on the user being depicted in the imagery and the second device being located within the predefined proximity range of the first device, shared content associated with the identified user, and provides the shared content for display as an augmentation for the imagery captured by the sensor of the first device. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.

Proximity-based content sharing as an augmentation for imagery captured by a camera of a device

Network conditions are taken into consideration, by wireless edge devices, when streaming content, such as video content, over a wireless network. A video capture device, such as a video recorder, may be controlled, by the edge device, to adjust the bit rate, capture resolution, or other parameters relating to upload bandwidth of the video stream. The wireless edge device may transcode the video stream received from the capture device to adjust the encoding technique for the video stream. Advantageously, the wireless network and edge devices may work together to offer optimal video quality that fits within required network constraints.

Resource based-video quality adjustment

Provided is an intelligent mobile wireless access point device that is set-up to allow for remote configuration of the access point device, via a mobile communication network, by a configuration server. A configuration file for a mobile wireless access point device is maintained by a service provider in a configuration server. The configuration file is delivered to the mobile wireless access point devices over the mobile communication network, which allows multiple mobile wireless access point devices to be configured substantially simultaneously and without the multiple mobile wireless access point devices being physically located at an enterprise location. In addition, the remote configuration examples of a mobile wireless access point device mitigate the opportunities for unauthorized use of the mobile wireless access point, and provide additional security features for authorized users.

Remotely configurable mobile wireless access point device

A method and apparatus provide a network element and associated control system in a broadcast optical communications network, including an optical switch (switch fabric), to cross-connect selected wavelengths input to the switch to pre-determined output ports, under the control of a control (supervisory) channel for efficient upstream and downstream delivery of optical communications services. The network element includes an optical switch controller to monitor the communications traffic input to and output from the optical switch ports in order to dynamically change output port connections for the input wavelengths as controlled by the control channel.

Method and apparatus for dynamic bandwidth control in a broadcast optical communications network

A rapid and reconfigurable deployment of services in a CATV system is enabled by the use of dynamic passive optical networks (DPONs) in accordance with the present invention. By delivering a number of wavelengths to the PON and using various dynamically reconfigurable groupings of the wavelengths to support differing subsets of users, the maximum capabilities of a static PON architecture are greatly exceeded. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the dynamic PON device accepts M wavelengths on a single optical fiber. The output of the dynamic PON device includes N output ports. Each of the M signals can be delivered to none, some or all of the N output ports. At its input, the DPON includes an optical amplifier for amplifying the multi-wavelength input signal to a desired power level prior to splitting. A 1:N channel power splitter couples to the output of the optical amplifier. Each of the power splitter outputs contains all M wavelength channels of the optical fiber. Each of the N outputs of the power splitter is fed into an optical demultiplexer unit where each of the M optical signals appears on a (single) output fiber of the demultiplexer. The output ports of the M&#xd7;M cross-connects are coupled to N optical multiplexers. More specifically, the output ports of the cross-connect are connected by grouping the output ports into M/N groups. The first of those groups is connected to the first optical multiplexer, the second of the groups to the second of the optical multiplexers and so on. In this manner, each cross-connect will have connectivity to all of the multiplexers via the M/N ports connected to each of the N optical multiplexers. In networks not employing DWDM, each of the M incoming wavelengths to the DPON would be split N times by a power splitter. The optical demultiplexers are not utilized. The outputs of all of the power splitters are then connected to the cross-connect fabric and the multiplexers as previously described.

Dynamic passive optical network (PON) using a distributed optical cross connect and dense wavelength division multiplexing

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for allowing the copper pair at each subscriber site to reappear at the CO. It also provides inter-connectivity between subscribers within a specified proximity, thereby allowing the subscribers to operate as a LAN. By placing a router between various Distributed Point of Presence Local Area Networks (DPOPLAN) and service provider that offer services such as Internet access, a large communication can easily be created.

Method and apparatus for connecting local subscribers to a LAN

A free space light multibeam network bridge apparatus receives free space light beam communication signals from free space light communication devices and routes the free space light beam communication signals to other free space light communication devices via a free space light network or to non-free space light destination devices via a telecommunications network. The free space light multibeam network bridge apparatus identifies the source of a free space light beam communication signal based on the position of the free space light beam communication signal on a sensor.

Free space light multibeam network bridge apparatus and methods

Methods and apparatus for safe and reliable telecommunication using a telecommunication network that employs substantially unguided, free-space, point-to-point, electro-magnetic radiation are provided. Most methods include the use of a retro-reflector near a transceiver assembly. The retro-reflector can be used to rapidly calibrate, align, and/or realign one or more assemblies by reflecting a beam of light back toward its source, providing an opportunity for optical detection of the reflected beam.

Transceiver positioning in free-space optical networks

A method and system for retrieving pages from a remote location. In one embodiment, pager users can access their pagers from a remote location, via a public switched telephone network, to retrieve messages (i.e. numeric, alphanumeric and voice messages) and/or perform any other pager operation by engaging in an interactive wireless dialogue with the pager via a public switched telephone network and the paging system, wherein the pager uses digital voice encoding techniques to provide verbal feedback to the remote user. The remote can dial the number of the individual pager from a remote location and enter a preprogrammed command sequence to initiate wireless dialogue with the pager. Once the wireless dialogue is initiated, the remote user can enter other pre-programmed commands to control the operation of the pager from the remote location (e.g. to retrieve messages sent to the pager). The pre-programmed commands can be part of a command set such as a DTMF command set.

Pager having voice synthesis capability and method for using the same

An optical transceiver that is particularly adapted for free-space optical telecommunication uses the same optical path for received and transmitted light to a large extent to avoid duplication of optical elements. Received light is split so that different portions can be sent to physically spaced photodetectors, one of which is for detecting optically received information, and others of which are for detecting misalignment of the transceiver. In this way, the alignment detectors do not interfere with light reception by the information detector.

Optical transceiver using common optical path for transmission and

A free-space optical communications system and method in which a transmitter transmits a free-space optical communication beam to an optical receiver. The receiver includes an optical detector, an optical input level sensor and an optical attenuation device. The optical detector detects the optical communication beam, while the optical input level sensor senses an optical input level of the optical communication beam at the optical detector and outputs a control signal corresponding to the sensed optical input level. The optical attenuation device is responsive to the control signal by attenuating the optical input level of the optical communication beam to be less than a predetermined input level. The optical input level sensor includes a detector optical level sensor, a comparator circuit and a controller. The detector bias level sensor senses an optical level of the optical detector. The comparator circuit is coupled to the detector bias level sensor and compares the sensed optical level of the optical detector to predetermined threshold levels. The comparator circuit outputs a code signal relating a magnitude of the sensed optical level of the optical detector to the predetermined thresholds. The controller is responsive to the code signal by outputting the control signal.

High dynamic range free-space optical communication receiver

Free-space optical transmission of analog information is facilitated by transmitting constant-amplitude pilot information with the other information. The amount of attenuation of the pilot information at the receiver is detected and used to control the amount by which received information is amplified. In this way the deleterious effects of free-space optical attenuation are substantially eliminated. The pilot information may be transmitted either via its own separate light frequency or wavelength, or as a distinguishable part of a larger quantity of information that is used to modulate one light frequency or wavelength.

Automatic gain control for free-space optical telecommunications links

A free-space wavelength division multiplexing system is provided having a demultiplexer and receiver arrangement. The demultiplexer and receiver arrangement may be based on a rotatable interference filter. A desired wavelength can be selected by adjusting the angle of the interference filter with respect to the incoming light beam. Alternatively, the demultiplexer and receiver arrangement may be based on a diffraction grating. Multiple wavelengths of light are diffracted at different angles, which spatially separates each wavelength in the system. A corresponding multiple-element linear photodetector array is used to receive the spatially separated optical signals.

Optical receiver and demultiplexer for free-space wavelength division

An optical transmitter is provided for use in a free-space optical communications system. The transmitter has a laser source with a tunable wavelength and adjustable power. A beam splitter divides the output beam from the laser source. A first portion of the divided beam is transmitted to a remote receiver through the atmosphere. A second portion of the divided beam is passed through a local optical path to a local receiver. The local optical path may be either a portion of the atmosphere local to the transmitter or may be an atmospheric spectral attenuation simulator. Processing circuitry receives signals from the local receiver that indicate the amount of attenuation of the second portion of the beam in the local optical path. The processing circuitry may adjust the wavelength and power output of the laser source to optimize transmission of the first portion of the beam to the receiver based on the amount of the attenuation measured in the local optical path. The processing circuitry may also adjust the wavelength and power of the laser source based on weather data received from a weather data source.

Free-space optical communications system with open loop transmitter

Methods and apparatus for providing a secure optical communications link are disclosed. Communications information is encrypted with a security key. An optical beam is then modulated with both the security key and the encrypted communications information, with different modulation schemes being used for each. The dual-modulated optical beam is then transmitted to a receiver. At the receiver, the optical beam is split into first and second optical beams. First and second demodulators are then employed to demodulate the optical beams to recover the encrypted communications information and its data rate, and the security key and its data rate. The encrypted communications information, the security key, and the data rate information are then sent to decryption and timing circuitry which decrypts the encrypted communications information to obtain the original unencrypted communications information.

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Somerset, NJ, United States of America

Christopher Lee Rutledge