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:
Jul. 12, 2005
Filed:
Jan. 22, 2002
Thomas Russell Howell, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Walter M. Duncan, Dallas, TX (US);
Paul L. Rancuret, Plano, TX (US);
Thomas Russell Howell, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Walter M. Duncan, Dallas, TX (US);
Paul L. Rancuret, Plano, TX (US);
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
A programmable amplifieroperable to independently adjust the amplification given to various optical signals passing through an optical fiber. An input optical fiberprovides a number of optical signals to a demultiplexer which separates each signal carried by the input fiberEach individual wavelength travels to a variable attenuatorwhich lowers the signal strength of each signal based on an input from the system controllerThe attenuated signals are combined by multiplexerand input to an optical amplifierThe optical amplifierreceives the combined signal and amplifies each signal in the combined DWDM signal across the entire bandwidth of the amplifierThe amplified signals are input to a splitterwhich removes a small portion of the entire spectrum output by the amplifierThe remaining portion of the signal passes to an output fiberand travels to the remainder of the optical network. The small portion of the signal separated by the splitteris input to a spectrum analyzerwhich detects the signal strength of each component signal traveling through the optical amplifierSignal strength information is passed to the system controllerThe system controllertypically a digital signal processor or programmable microcontroller, uses the information from the spectrum analyzerto control the variable attenuators and the gain of amplifierin order to level the various signals traveling through the amplifier