The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 16, 2019
Filed:
Apr. 18, 2017
The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US);
Tuong K. Truong, Bellevue, WA (US);
Dennis G. Koshinz, Bellevue, WA (US);
Eric Y. Chan, Mercer Island, WA (US);
Kim Quan Anh Nguyen, Seattle, WA (US);
Sean M. Ramey, Redmond, WA (US);
Timothy E. Jackson, Arlington, WA (US);
Barkhung Henry Pang, Mercer Island, WA (US);
The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US);
Abstract
A controller area network (CAN) comprising a plurality of CAN nodes that communicate via a CAN bus that comprises a fiber optical network. The fiber optical network uses a single fiber and a single wavelength for transmit and receive, and comprises a passive reflective optical star. The reflective optical star comprises an optical mixing rod having a mirror at one end. The other end of the reflective optical star is optically coupled to the transmitters and receivers of a plurality of optical-electrical media converters by way of respective high-isolation optical Y-couplers. Each CAN node produces electrical signals (in accordance with the CAN message-based protocol) which are converted into optical pulses that are broadcast to the fiber optical network. Those optical pulses are then reflected back to all CAN nodes by the reflective optical star.