US 12,244,352 B1
Optical communications for autonomous vehicles
Eric Seeley, Seabeck, WA (US)
Assigned to The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Keyport, WA (US)
Filed by The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Arlington, VA (US)
Filed on Sep. 12, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/974,054.
Application 16/974,054 is a continuation in part of application No. 29/742,132, filed on Jan. 30, 2020, granted, now D926662.
Application 16/974,054 is a continuation in part of application No. 29/742,137, filed on Jan. 30, 2020, granted, now D928070.
Application 16/974,054 is a continuation in part of application No. 29/742,130, filed on Jan. 30, 2020, granted, now D933577.
Application 16/974,054 is a continuation in part of application No. 29/742,138, filed on Jan. 30, 2020, granted, now D937179.
Application 16/974,054 is a continuation in part of application No. 29/742,134, filed on Jan. 30, 2020, granted, now D927398.
Application 16/974,054 is a continuation in part of application No. 29/742,135, filed on Jan. 30, 2020, granted, now D928069.
Application 16/974,054 is a continuation in part of application No. 29/742,133, filed on Jan. 30, 2020, granted, now D928691.
Application 16/974,054 is a continuation in part of application No. 29/742,129, filed on Jan. 30, 2020, granted, now D928690.
Application 16/974,054 is a continuation in part of application No. 29/742,131, filed on Jan. 30, 2020, granted, now D928068.
Application 16/974,054 is a continuation in part of application No. 29/742,034, filed on Oct. 3, 2019, granted, now D928689.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/974,118, filed on Nov. 13, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/973,045, filed on Sep. 12, 2019.
Int. Cl. H04B 10/80 (2013.01); B63B 35/00 (2020.01); H04B 10/116 (2013.01); H04W 4/46 (2018.01)
CPC H04B 10/80 (2013.01) [B63B 35/00 (2013.01); H04W 4/46 (2018.02); B63B 2035/008 (2013.01); H04B 10/116 (2013.01)] 27 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An optical communications module for a field configurable vehicle, comprising:
a light transmissible surface located on an exterior surface of the module;
a light detector located interior to the module and at a location behind said light transmissible surface;
a light emitter;
a processor;
a data bus coupled to said processor, to said light emitter and to said light detector; and,
a connector for coupling the optical communications module to the field configurable vehicle,
wherein said light detector detects optical communications signals and writes a data indicative of said signals to said data bus for processing by said processor, and
wherein said light emitter receives instructions to transmit an outbound optical communications signal according to an instruction received on said data bus from said processor.