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. 22, 2008
Filed:
Dec. 02, 2003
John J. Simbal, Lakeway, TX (US);
John J. Simbal, Lakeway, TX (US);
3M Innovative Properties Company, St. Paul, MN (US);
Abstract
An illumination system has individual light emitting diodes (LEDs) that are optically coupled via reflective couplers to respective optical fibers. The respective optical fibers may then be bundled. The shape of the reflective coupler may be selected to increase the coupling efficiency between the LED and its optical fiber. The reflective coupler may be formed as an aperture through a sheet, having a first shape at the input side and a second shape, different form the first shape, at the second side. The reflective coupler may be formed as an aperture through a body, where at least a first portion of the interior surface of the aperture conforms to a two-dimensional (2-D) surface and at least a second portion of the interior surface conforms to a three-dimensional (3-D) surface.