Microsoft patents optical repeater that boosts signal strength in fiber networks
Microsoft has been granted a patent for an optical repeater that strengthens light signals traveling through fiber optic cables. The device detects the specific pattern of light arriving at one end and re-transmits a similar pattern to the next segment, helping data travel longer distances without losing quality.
In the filing’s own words
An optical repeater for communicating optical signals between a transmission device and a reception device through an optical transmission medium includes an optical receiver and an optical transmitter each positioned on a transmission path of the optical signals. The optical receiver is configured to detect an input spatiotemporal pattern transmitted from the transmission device, and the optical transmitter is configured to transmit an output spatiotemporal pattern to the reception device, the output spatiotemporal pattern being based at least in part on the input spatiotemporal pattern.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An optical repeater for communicating optical signals between a transmission device and a reception device through an optical transmission medium, the optical repeater comprising: an optical receiver positioned on a transmission path of the optical signals and being configured to detect an input spatiotemporal pattern transmitted from the transmission device, the input spatiotemporal pattern comprising a plurality of input cells arranged at different spatial locations in a transverse cross-section of the optical transmission medium; and an optical transmitter positioned on the transmission path of the optical signals and electronically connected to the optical receiver, the optical transmitter being configured to transmit an output spatiotemporal pattern to the reception device, the output spatiotemporal pattern comprising a plurality of output cells arranged at different spatial locations in a transverse cross-section of the optical transmission medium, wherein the output spatiotemporal pattern is based at least in part on the input spatiotemporal pattern.
Facts
- Company
- Microsoft (Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC)
- Official title
- Spatiotemporal optical signal repeater
- Patent number
- US12761074B2
- Application number
- 18918889
- Filed
- Oct 17, 2024
- Granted
- Oct 13, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G01J 1/0425 Physics & computingMore from Microsoft in Networks & wireless
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.