Using predicted movement to maintain optical-communication lock with nearby balloon
First Claim
1. A balloon, comprising:
- an optical-communication component having a pointing axis, wherein the optical-communication component comprises an optical receiver configured to receive free-space optical signals along the pointing axis, wherein the optical-communication component is operable to communicate with a correspondent balloon via a free-space optical link, and wherein the optical receiver comprises a multiple element detector system configured to detect changes in an optical beam location;
a pointing mechanism configured to adjust the pointing axis;
a controller, wherein the controller is configured to determine a predicted relative location of the correspondent balloon and control the pointing mechanism to adjust the pointing axis based on the predicted relative location, to maintain the free-space optical link with the correspondent balloon.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A balloon may include an optical-communication component, which may have a pointing axis. A pointing mechanism could be configured to adjust the pointing axis. The optical-communication component could be operable to communicate with a correspondent balloon via a free-space optical link. For example, the optical-communication component could include an optical receiver, transmitter, or transceiver. A controller could be configured to determine a predicted relative location of the correspondent balloon. The controller may control the pointing mechanism to adjust the pointing axis of the optical-communication component based on the predicted relative location so as to maintain the free-space optical link with the correspondent balloon.
39 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A balloon, comprising:
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an optical-communication component having a pointing axis, wherein the optical-communication component comprises an optical receiver configured to receive free-space optical signals along the pointing axis, wherein the optical-communication component is operable to communicate with a correspondent balloon via a free-space optical link, and wherein the optical receiver comprises a multiple element detector system configured to detect changes in an optical beam location; a pointing mechanism configured to adjust the pointing axis; a controller, wherein the controller is configured to determine a predicted relative location of the correspondent balloon and control the pointing mechanism to adjust the pointing axis based on the predicted relative location, to maintain the free-space optical link with the correspondent balloon. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method, comprising:
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determining a location of a first balloon, wherein the first balloon comprises an optical-communication component having a pointing axis, wherein the optical communication component is configured to communicate with a second balloon via a free-space optical link, wherein the optical communication component comprises an optical receiver configured to receive free-space optical signals along the pointing axis, and wherein the optical receiver comprises a multiple element detector system configured to detect changes in an optical beam location; determining a predicted location of the second balloon relative to the location of the first balloon based on a last known location and a last known motion vector of the second balloon; and controlling a pointing mechanism to adjust the pointing axis of the optical-communication component in the first balloon based on the predicted location, to maintain the free-space optical link with the second balloon. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:
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determining a location of a first balloon, wherein the first balloon comprises an optical communication component having a pointing axis, wherein the optical communication component is configured to communicate with a second balloon via a free-space optical link, wherein the optical communication component comprises an optical receiver configured to receive free-space optical signals along the pointing axis, and wherein the optical receiver comprises a multiple element detector system configured to detect changes in an optical beam location; determining a predicted location of the second balloon relative to the location of the first balloon based on a last known location and a last known motion vector of the second balloon; and controlling a pointing mechanism to adjust the pointing axis of an optical-communication component in the first balloon based on the predicted location, to maintain the free-space optical link with the second balloon. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
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Specification