OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM WITH CATS-EYE MODULATING RETRO-REFLECTOR (MRR) ASSEMBLY, THE CATS-EYE MRR ASSEMBLY THEREOF, AND THE METHOD OF OPTICAL COMMUNICATION
First Claim
1. An optical communication system comprising:
- a first terminal having a transmitter for transmitting an interrogating tight beam and a receiver for receiving the interrogating light beam; and
a second terminal having a cats-eye modulating retro-reflector (MRR) assembly, which includes a cats-eye MRR,wherein the cats-eye MRR includes a modulator for modulating the interrogating light beam received from the transmitter, an optical focusing device for focusing the interrogating light beam from the transmitter to the modulator and a reflector for reflecting the modulated light beam to the receiver, andwherein the catseye MRR assembly further includes a beam deflector positioned at an optical aperture of the catseye MRR to coarsely defect the interrogating light beam from the transmitter to the focusing device of the cats-eye MRR.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optical communicating system and method thereof includes first and second terminals. The first terminal has a transmitter for transmitting an interrogating light beam and a receiver for receiving the interrogating light beam. The second terminal has a cats-eye modulating retroreflector (MRR), which includes a modulator for modulating the interrogating light beam received from the transmitter an optical focusing device for focusing the interrogating light beam from the transmitter to the modulator, and a reflector for reflecting the modulated light beam to the receive. It can include a beam deflector positioned at the aperture of the optical focusing device of the catseye MRR to reduce the field of view of the cats-eye MRR, It can also include an angle of arrival sensor for sensing the angle of arrival of the interrogating beam at the second terminal. One or more pixels of the modulator can be activated to permit the activated pixel(s) to modulate the interrogating beam, which is reflected back to the receiver, and the beam deflector both can be controlled based on the angle of arrival detected
57 Citations
25 Claims
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1. An optical communication system comprising:
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a first terminal having a transmitter for transmitting an interrogating tight beam and a receiver for receiving the interrogating light beam; and a second terminal having a cats-eye modulating retro-reflector (MRR) assembly, which includes a cats-eye MRR, wherein the cats-eye MRR includes a modulator for modulating the interrogating light beam received from the transmitter, an optical focusing device for focusing the interrogating light beam from the transmitter to the modulator and a reflector for reflecting the modulated light beam to the receiver, and wherein the catseye MRR assembly further includes a beam deflector positioned at an optical aperture of the catseye MRR to coarsely defect the interrogating light beam from the transmitter to the focusing device of the cats-eye MRR. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An optical communication system comprising:
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a first terminal having a transmitter for transmitting an interrogating light beam and a receiver for receiving the interrogating light beam; and a second terminal having a cats-eye modulating retro-reflector (MRR) assembly, which includes a cats-eye MRR, wherein the cats-eye MRR includes a modulator for modulating the interrogating light beam received from the transmitter an optical focusing device for focusing the interrogating light beam from the transmitter to the modulator, and a reflector for reflecting the modulated light beam to the receiver, and wherein the second terminal or the cats-eye MRR assembly includes an angle of arrival sensor spaced from the cats-eye MRR for sensing the angle of arrival of the interrogating light beam incident on the modulator to identify a region of the modulator to be selectively activated. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A cats-eye modulating retro-reflector (MRR) assembly for optical communication, comprising:
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a cats-eye MRR comprising a modulator for modulating a received interrogating light beam, an optical focusing device for focusing the received interrogating light beam to the modulator, and a reflector for reflecting the modulated light beam; and a beam deflector positioned at an optical aperture of the optical focusing device of the cats-eye MRR for coarsely deflecting the received interrogating light beam to the optical focusing device of the cats-eye MRR. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of optically communicating between a first terminal having a transmitter for transmitting an interrogating light beam and a receiver for receiving the interrogating light beam and a second terminal having a cats-eye modulating retro-reflector (MRR) assembly, which includes a cats-eye MRR, wherein the cats-eye MRR includes a pixelated modulator for modulating the interrogating light beam received from the transmitter, an optical focusing device for focusing the interrogating light beam from the transmitter to the modulator, and a reflector for reflecting the modulated light beam to the receiver, the method comprising the steps of
providing an angle of arrival sensor at the second terminal, the angle of arrival sensor being spaced from the cats-eye MRR; -
detecting an angle of arrival of the interrogating beam at the second terminal with the angle of arrival sensor; activating a pixel of the pixelated modulator based on the detection of the angle of arrival to permit the activated pixel to modulate the interrogating beam; and reflecting the modulated interrogating beam to the receiver. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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Specification