Addressable laser vehicle lights
First Claim
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1. A vehicle lighting system comprising:
- a plurality of semiconductor light emitters grouped together, each emitter adapted to generate a beam,a plurality of optical loads mounted on a vehicle, andmeans for transmitting at least one of said beams to each of said optical loads, wherein said plurality of semiconductor light emitters includes a subset of selectively controllable semiconductor light emitters coupled to one of said optical loads, with said plurality of emitters being in a fixed spatial relationship with respect to said transmitting means.
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Abstract
A vehicle lighting system using individually addressable laser diodes or laser arrays coupled to a fiber optic waveguide. A plurality of laser light sources are grouped together and conveniently located on the vehicle. Each laser light source is individually addressable and produces a beam that is coupled to a fiber optic waveguide. The waveguide distally transmits the beam to various optical loads on the vehicle. Alternatively, each fiber optic waveguide may be coupled to receive a beam from more than one laser light source. This allows switching to an operational light source should one fail. In this manner, the operational life of the system is increased.
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Citations
50 Claims
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1. A vehicle lighting system comprising:
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a plurality of semiconductor light emitters grouped together, each emitter adapted to generate a beam, a plurality of optical loads mounted on a vehicle, and means for transmitting at least one of said beams to each of said optical loads, wherein said plurality of semiconductor light emitters includes a subset of selectively controllable semiconductor light emitters coupled to one of said optical loads, with said plurality of emitters being in a fixed spatial relationship with respect to said transmitting means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A vehicle lighting system comprising:
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a plurality of semiconductor light emitters grouped together, each emitter adapted to generate a beam, a plurality of optical loads mounted on a vehicle, and means for transmitting at least one of said beams to each of said optical loads, with said plurality of emitters being in a fixed spatial relationship with respect to said transmitting means, each of said plurality of optical loads being uniquely associated with a subset of said plurality of emitters, with said subset of emitters being mutually exclusive of emitters forming subsets associated with the remaining optical loads. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A vehicle lighting system comprising:
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a plurality of semiconductor light emitters grouped together, each emitter adapted to generate a beam, a plurality of optical loads mounted on a vehicle, and means for transmitting at least one of said beams to each of said optical loads, with said plurality of emitters being in a fixed spatial relationship with respect to said transmitting means, said plurality of emitters comprised of a monolithic array of laser emitters distally positioned from each of said plurality of optical loads, each of said plurality of laser emitters being separately controllable from the others and separately coupled to said transmitting means, said transmitting means including a plurality of optical fibers, said plurality of optical fibers extending from a laser emitter and terminating proximate to an optical load, thereby transmitting said beam thereto. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A vehicle lighting system comprising:
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a plurality of optical loads mounted on a vehicle, a plurality of grouped together laser light sources, each of which is adapted to produce a coherent beam of light, at least one of said plurality of laser light sources being separately controllable from the others, a plurality of optical fibers each of which is optically coupled to receive said beam from at least one of said plurality of laser light sources, each of said plurality of fibers extending from a laser light source, terminating proximate to an optical load, wherein there is at least one fiber associated with each of said plurality of optical loads, means, connected to said grouped together light sources, for individually driving at least one of said plurality of laser sources to produce said beam, and a plurality of input switches connected to said driving means, whereby at least one of said plurality of laser light sources is associated with an input switch and said driving means and causes said laser light sources to transmit light in response to an activation of said input switch. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A vehicle signaling apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of optical loads mounted on a first vehicle, a monolithic array of laser diodes distally positioned from each of said plurality of optical loads, said laser array including a plurality of laser emitters, each of which produces a beam of coherent light, at least one of said plurality of laser emitters being separately controllable from the others, a plurality of fiber optic waveguides with at least two of said plurality of laser emitters optically coupled to each of said plurality of waveguides, each of said plurality of waveguides extending from said laser array and terminating proximate to an optical load, wherein there is at least one of said plurality of waveguides associated with each of said plurality of optical loads, means, connected to said array, for individually driving at least one of said plurality of laser emitters to transmit light, a plurality of input switches electronically coupled to said driving means to transmit a signal thereto upon activation, whereby at least one laser emitter associating with an input switch and said driving means causes said laser emitter to transmit light in response to said signal. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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Specification