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:
May. 12, 1998
Filed:
Aug. 08, 1996
Kenneth K Li, Arcadia, CA (US);
Douglas M Brenner, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Chingfa Chen, West Covina, CA (US);
Cogent Light Technologies, Inc., Santa Clarita, CA (US);
Abstract
The optical coupler couples light output from the single fiber optic into the fiber optic bundle while preserving the numerical aperture of the beam output from the single fiber optic. The optical coupler also preserves any uniformity in s the beam output from the single fiber optic. The optical coupler includes a collimating device such as a magnifying lens and a diffusing device such as a hemispherical lens array. The collimating device collimates the beam output from the single fiber optic into a parallel beam having a diameter substantially equal to a diameter of the fiber optic bundle. The diffuser device diverges the collimated beam for input into the fiber optic bundle by an amount sufficient to reproduce the numerical aperture of light output from the single fiber optic. A wide variety of optical diffuser devices are disclosed, including spherical convex lens arrays, cylindrical lens arrays, pyramidal lens arrays and fresnel lenses. In one exemplary embodiment, the optical coupler is employed within a medical illumination system which transmits light from a high-intensity light source to a medical device such as a surgical headlamp, or medical endoscope or boroscope.