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:
Nov. 04, 2008
Filed:
Aug. 20, 2003
Guann-pyng LI, Irvine, CA (US);
Mark Bachman, Irvine, CA (US);
Tao Xu, Irvine, CA (US);
Fan-gang Zeng, Irvine, CA (US);
Patrick Coffey, Mission Viejo, CA (US);
Guann-Pyng Li, Irvine, CA (US);
Mark Bachman, Irvine, CA (US);
Tao Xu, Irvine, CA (US);
Fan-Gang Zeng, Irvine, CA (US);
Patrick Coffey, Mission Viejo, CA (US);
The Regents of the University of California, Oakland, CA (US);
Abstract
A directionally-sensitive device for detecting and processing vibration waves includes an array of polymeric optical waveguide resonators positioned between a light source, such as an LED array, and a light detector, such as a photodiode array. The resonators which are preferably oriented substantially perpendicularly with respect to incoming vibration waves, vibrate when a wave is detected, thus modulating light signals that are transmitted between the light source and the light detector. The light detector converts the modulated light into electrical signals which, in a preferred embodiment, are used to drive either the speaker of a hearing aid or the electrode array of a cochlear implant. The device is manufactured using a combination of traditional semiconductor processes and polymer microfabrication techniques.