Patent ID: 7813646

Claim:
A power over optical fiber system comprising: a first transmit unit comprising one or more lasers, an optical receiver, and a transmit control element, wherein the transmit control element controls the output of the one or more lasers and the transmit control element is coupled to the optical receiver to receive a feedback control signal from the optical receiver; a first receive unit comprising one or more photovoltaic receivers, a voltage output connection, an optical transmitter, and a receive control element, wherein the receive control element is configured to enable current to be directed from the one or more photovoltaic receivers to the voltage output connection and wherein the photovoltaic receivers and the optical transmitter are configured to be connected to the one or more lasers and optical receiver via optical fiber and wherein the receive control element sends an energy received control signal to the optical transmitter when the one or more photovoltaic receivers receive optical laser energy; wherein the optical transmitter outputs an optical signal when the energy received control signal is generated and the optical receiver is configured to receive the optical signal from the optical transmitter and generate the feedback control signal when the optical signal is received; whereby laser power output by the first transmit unit is converted to electrical energy by the one or more photovoltaic receivers and the electrical energy is output at the voltage output connection of the receive unit; wherein the first receive unit further comprises a control output circuit and a control input circuit, the control input circuit configured to couple to the control output circuit of one or more other receive units, wherein the receive control element is configured to monitor the control input circuit to determine the status of the one or more other receive units and to determine whether to enable current to be directed from the one or more photovoltaic receivers to the voltage output connection.