Patent ID: 9234790
Filing Date: 2016-01-12
CPC Classification: G01D,G01H,G01J,G01V

Claim Text:
1. An optical apparatus comprising: at least one optical bus configured to be optically coupled to at least one source of input optical signals, configured to be optically coupled to at least one optical detector, and configured to be optically coupled to a plurality of reflective sensing elements, wherein the at least one optical bus transmits an input optical signal from the at least one source to the plurality of reflective sensing elements such that at least one reflective sensing element of the plurality of reflective sensing elements receives a portion of the input optical signal and reflects at least a portion of the received portion, wherein the at least one optical bus transmits the reflected portion to the at least one optical detector, wherein the at least one optical bus comprises a distribution bus and a return bus, the distribution bus configured to be optically coupled to the at least one source, the distribution bus comprising at least two distribution optical couplers each splitting the input optical signal into a portion transmitted along the distribution bus and a portion transmitted to at least one reflective sensing element of the plurality of reflective sensing elements, the return bus configured to be optically coupled to the at least one optical detector, the return bus comprising at least two return optical couplers that each transmit the reflected portions from multiple reflective sensing elements of the plurality of reflective sensing elements, and wherein at least one reflective sensing element of the plurality of reflective sensing elements is optically coupled to the distribution bus by at least one distribution optical coupler and to the return bus by at least the one distribution optical coupler or is optically coupled to the return bus by at least one return optical coupler and to the distribution bus by at least the one return optical coupler.