Optical combiner energy harvesting

• US 9,413,468 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2015
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schemmann, Marcel F., Mutalik, Venkatesh G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Singh, Dalzid
• Application Number:
  US14/676,887
• Publication Number:
  US 20150304052A1
• Time in Patent Office: 495 Days
• Field of Search: 398/68
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/27 Arrangements for networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/572 Wavelength control
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/80 Optical aspects relating to the use of optical transmission for specific applications, not provided for in groups H04B10/03 - H04B10/70, e.g. optical power feeding or optical transmission through water
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/807 Optical power feeding, i.e. transmitting power using an optical signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0238 Wavelength allocation for communications one-to-many, e.g. multicasting wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0242 in WDM-PON
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0267 Optical signaling or routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0005 Switch and router aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0015 using splitting combining

Abstract

Powering an active/splitter and providing information to ONUs to cause adjustments to ONU operating wavelengths. An ONU may identify the port of a splitter to which the ONU is connected in order to make wavelength adjustments. Various techniques enable the ONU to identify from which port the ONU is receiving signals, such as a splitter that splits signals to ONUs in a cable network and signals to one or more ONUs the port to which it is connected. The splitter may lack electrical power and may perform the signal function by harvesting optical power from optical power provided to the splitter. In this manner, an active splitter may behave passively with respect to powering components in the absence of electrical power.

Claims

1. A splitter/combiner unit for signaling to an optical network unit in an absence of optical beat interference (OBI), the splitter/combiner unit comprising:

a first input for receiving downstream light;

a second input for receiving upstream light from at least one ONU; and

at least one output for providing the downstream light in response to upstream light received from the at least one ONU,

wherein the splitter/combiner unit is configured to signal the received downstream light across an active downstream channel to the at least one ONU for causing an adjustment to the wavelength over which the ONU communicates with the splitter/combiner unit, wherein the ONU is responsive to the signaling for adjusting said wavelength.

2. The splitter/combiner unit of claim 1, further comprising:

a photodiode for detecting a portion of the downstream light; and

a harvester unit for ingesting electrical charge produced by photodiode for powering the splitter'"'"'s signaling to the optical network unit (ONU) without use of additional electrical power, wherein the harvester unit is discharged on to a circuit for signaling across an active downstream channel to the optical network unit responsive to the signaling for adjusting a wavelength of the optical network unit for communicating with the splitter.

3. The splitter/combiner of claim 2, wherein the signaling identifies to the ONU a port of the splitter over which the signaling to the optical network unit occurs.

4. The splitter/combiner of claim 2, where in a wavelength of the optical network unit is adjustable by the optical network unit in response to the signal received at the ONU.

5. The splitter/combiner of claim 2, wherein the harvester unit discharges on to a piezo actuators (PZT) circuit or light emitting diode (LED) driver circuit for traveling across the downstream channel.

6. The splitter/combiner of claim 5, wherein the PZT circuit drives a piezo element that flexes a downstream fiber such that the optical loss of the fiber is modulated, the modulated optical loss of the fiber generates a signal recognizable to the ONU for determining whether to adjust its wavelength, and the generated signal causes the ONU to set its wavelength depending on the fiber characterized by a pattern or frequency in the signal induced by the piezo actuators (PZT) driver circuit.

7. The splitter/combiner of claim 6, further comprising a light emitting diode (LED) circuit that accepts charge discharged from the harvester unit for forwarding the signal across the active downstream channel, wherein the LED is configured for injecting forward signals in to the splitter'"'"'s input that identify port information for delivering via the port outputs to the connected ONUs, the LED configured for operating at low duty cycles to inject forward signaling into a splitter with the port information.

8. The splitter/combiner of claim 2, further comprising a light emitting diode (LED) that turns on when sufficient power has been collected by the harvester unit and forwards information in a forward band as a tone/FSK (frequency shift keying) signal that represents information detected by the photodiode.

9. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, wherein the splitter/combiner is a completely OBI eliminating passive combiner without an external electrical power connection.

10. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, wherein the active splitter behaves passively with respect to signaling to the ONU without electrical power.

11. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, wherein the combiner includes active electrical components.

12. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, wherein the active splitter may be located at an extremity of a network where no power is available.

13. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, wherein the signaling from the splitter instructs the ONU to select a particular wavelength depending on the splitter'"'"'s port involved in the signaling.

14. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, further comprising a coupler and a reflecting device for re-injecting reverse light comprising a fraction of the ONU'"'"'s light in a forward direction in to the coupler for distributing a fraction of the forward light of the ONUs to another one or more ONUs connected to the splitter.

15. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, wherein a wavelength of the another one or more ONUs connected to the splitter are adjustable by a respective ONU'"'"'s response to signaling from the splitter/combiner identifying wavelengths that the another one or more ONUs are transmitting on to prevent a wavelength conflict between ONUs.

16. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, wherein at least one output is configured for splitting a signal propagated along a forward path direction into a plurality of forward path signals.

17. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, wherein the second input is configured for receiving respective optical signals from each of the plurality of subscribers, combining the inputs from the plurality of subscriber to create a combined electrical signal, and converting the combined signal to an optical signal.

18. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, further comprising a light emitting diode (LED) that produces a voltage with a tone/FSK (frequency shift keying) signal in response to receipt from an ONU transmitting in a reverse direction of a tone or FSK signal, the signal from the ONU including information corresponding to a wavelength at which the ONU is operating.

19. The splitter/combiner of claim 18, wherein the LED injects forward signals in to the splitter'"'"'s input in response to upstream signals received identifying at least one of an invalid combination of wavelengths with the ONU operating wavelength, wherein the ONU is configured to reject a forward signal from the LED based on the invalid identification.

20. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, further comprising a light emitting diode (LED), wherein signaling to the ONU a port of the splitter from which the signaling occurs comprises the LED forwarding information identifying wavelengths of any corresponding active ONUs connected to the splitter to the ONU for identifying a non-conflicting wavelength.

21. The splitter/combiner of claim 1, further comprising a light emitting diode (LED), wherein the LED used for forward transmission does not cause OBI with a forward signal.

22. A system for managing wavelength, the system comprising:

a splitter/combiner unit for providing downstream signals in response to upstream signals received from at least one optical network unit (ONU), wherein the splitter/combiner unit signals the downstream signals across an active downstream channel to the at least one ONU for causing an adjustment to the wavelength over which the ONU communicates with the splitter/combiner unit, wherein the ONU is responsive to the signaling for adjusting said wavelength;

at least one optical network unit for adjusting a wavelength operating with the splitter/combiner unit in an absence of optical beat interference (OBI), the optical network unit for receiving the downstream signal from the splitter/combiner unit, the downstream signal identifying at least one of a port over which the ONU is communicating with the splitter or a wavelength at which another ONU is operating; and

a processor for generating an ONU wavelength, wherein the wavelength is adjustable responsive to the downstream signal from the splitter/combiner unit.