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:
Dec. 12, 2006
Filed:
Apr. 30, 2002
Jurgen Gripp, Cranford, NJ (US);
Oldrich M. Laznicka, Wellesley, MA (US);
Jurgen Gripp, Cranford, NJ (US);
Oldrich M. Laznicka, Wellesley, MA (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a monitoring system configured to monitor output wavelengths, power, and channel switching of tunable lasers employed in an optical transmitter and provide feedback to those lasers, e.g., to lock on the wavelengths corresponding to optical channels in the transmitter. The monitoring system has a monitoring switch fabric, such as an optical waveguide grating (AWG), and one or more photodetector arrays coupled to the transmitter. Optical channels in the monitoring AWG may be offset relative to the optical channels in the transmitter and shaped to allow more sensitive monitoring of, e.g., wavelength drifting of the tunable lasers. The monitoring system may track the lasers in a non-disruptive continuous manner while data is transmitted through the transmitter.