Patent Application
20230318714
The present invention generally relates to optical communication systems, and more particularly relates to optical transmitters for passive optical networks.
Operators of optical communication systems, such as but not exclusively passive optical networks (PONs), may face the need to upgrade their network to greater transmission rates. Due to the relatively high cost of improvements to the outside fiber plant, network operators may prefer to upgrade PON data rates by replacing terminal equipment only, e.g. optical line terminals (OLTs) and optical network units (ONUs) while leaving the outside fiber plant, and therefore the optical loss budgets, unchanged. The “loss budget” is the maximum permissible optical loss between the OLT, typically housed in a central office (CO), and the ONUs, typically housed at user locations. Since the fiber plant is unchanged, the loss budget typically remains fixed during an upgrade to higher data rates.
Higher data rates may require a greater transmitter launch power into fiber links, so that optical energy per bit remains above noise at the receiver end of the link, e.g. at the ONU. Thus, some embodiment increase the downstream PON data rate with optical transmitters that can operate at higher rates and at higher in-fiber optical power levels over the same loss budget as the previous PON generation's lower rate transceivers. Such a transmitter launch power is typically limited by optical non-linear effects in the optical fiber, such as self-phase modulation (SPM), which is typically optical intensity variations.
Embodiments described herein may enable PON data transmission using optical signals that are substantially absent of intensity modulation, which may allow increasing the optical launch power into an optical fiber link beyond the SPM limit, and in turn facilitating a further increase in per-wavelength data transmission rates for PONs with fixed loss budgets.
An aspect of the present disclosure relates to an apparatus comprising an optical transmitter for transmitting an optical carrier modulated according to an M-symbol phase shift keying (M-PSK) modulation format, M≥2. The optical transmitter comprises an optical phase modulator (OPM), a driver for driving the OPM with a PAM-N electrical signal, where N is an integer greater than M, and a signal processor for mapping an input bit stream to the PAM-N electrical signal.
An aspect of the present disclosure relates to an apparatus comprising: an optical transmitter for transmitting an optical carrier modulated according to an M-symbol phase shift keying (M-PSK) modulation format, M≥2, the optical transmitter comprising: an optical phase modulator (OPM); a driver for driving the OPM with an electrical driver signal; and a signal processor for mapping an input bit stream to levels of a PAM-N constellation, where N is an integer greater than M, such that each of the levels causes the driver to produce a corresponding electrical driver signal.
In at least some implementations, the optical transmitter may be configured to optically data modulate the optical carrier to carry phase shifts that vary between N values spaced apart by about 2π/M radian. The signal processor may be configured to cause the electrical driver signal to vary between N different levels.
In at least some implementations, the optical transmitter may be configured to modulate the optical carrier in power with a modulation depth smaller than 20%.
In some implementations M=4 and N=6. In some implementations M=2 and N=3.
In at least some implementations, the signal processor is configured to map different instances of an input digital value, in the input bit stream, to two different signal levels of the PAM-N constellation. The two different signal levels may correspond to the same phase shift of the optical carrier modulus 2π. In at least some implementations, the signal processor is configured to map the different instances of the first of the symbols to either one of the two different signal levels in an alternating fashion. In at least some implementations, the signal processor is configured so that transitions to the two different signal levels from another one of the N signal levels in the PAM-N electrical signal occur with substantially equal frequency. In at least some implementations, the signal processor is configured to use a pseudorandom selection rule to select between the two different signal levels. In at least some implementations, the signal processor is configured to map different occurrences in the input bit stream of a first of the symbols to two of the signal levels with substantially equal probability, and to map different occurrences in the input bit stream of a second of the symbols to two different of signal levels with substantially equal probability. In at least some implementations, the two of the signal levels correspond to the OPM causing optical phase shifts differing by substantially 2π radian on the optical carrier.
In at least some implementations, the signal processor is configured to cooperate with the driver and the OPM such that at least some transitions from the first of the symbols to a second of the symbols and inverses thereof cause the optical phase of the carrier to vary by substantially 2π radian.
An aspect of the present disclosure provides an apparatus comprising: an optical QPSK transmitter for transmitting an optical carrier modulated according to a QPSK modulation format. The optical QPSK transmitter comprises: an optical phase shifter (OPS); a driver for driving the OPS with a PAM-6 electrical signal to cause an optical phase shift to the optical carrier that alternates between six different phase levels spaced substantially by π/2 radian, the six different phase levels comprising two pairs of 2π spaced phase levels; and a signal processor for processing an input bit stream to map consecutive 2-bit sequences therein to symbols of a QPSK constellation, so that a first and a second of the symbols are each mapped to both phase levels of a corresponding pair of the 2π spaced phase levels. The signal processor may be configured so that transitions from a third of the symbols to the first of the symbols in the input bit stream are represented by transitions to different phase levels of a first of the two pairs, and transitions from the third of the symbols to the second of the symbols in the input bit stream are represented by transitions to different phase levels of a second of the two pairs. In at least some implementations, the signal processor is configured so that transitions to different phase levels of the first or the second of the two pairs happen with a substantially same frequency.
Embodiments disclosed herein will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings which represent preferred embodiments thereof, in which like elements are indicated with like reference numerals, and wherein:
In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth, such as particular circuits, circuit components, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details. In other instances, detailed descriptions of well-known methods, devices, and circuits may be omitted so as not to obscure the description of the present invention. All statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure.
Note that as used herein, the terms “first”, “second” and so forth are not intended to imply sequential ordering, but rather are intended to distinguish one element from another, unless explicitly stated. Similarly, sequential ordering of method steps does not imply a requirement of sequential order of their execution, unless explicitly stated. The term “connected” may encompass direct connections or indirect connections through intermediate elements, unless explicitly stated otherwise. The term “electrically connected” and its derivatives encompasses both DC (direct-current) and AC (alternating current) connections, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Furthermore, the following abbreviations and acronyms may be used in the present document:
Embodiments described below relate to optical transmitters that generate phase-modulated signals that are nearly absent of amplitude modulation (AM), or have only a relatively shallow AM, at a target modulation rate and its first subharmonic. At least some of the embodiments relate to optical PSK transmitters, modulators, and modulation methods for generating carrier-suppressed optical PSK signals that may be less susceptible to non-linear signal degradation in the optical fiber, such as e.g. signal degradation caused by Brillouin scattering and SPM.
An aspect of the present disclosure provides an optical transmitter for transmitting an optical carrier modulated according to an M-symbol phase shift keying (M-PSK) modulation format, M≥2, the optical transmitter comprising: an optical phase modulator (OPM); a driver for driving the OPM with a PAM-N electrical driver signal, where N is an integer greater than M; and a signal processor for mapping an input bit stream to the PAM-N electrical signal. In at least some implementations, applying the PAM-N electrical signal to the OPM induces an optical phase shift to the optical carrier that alternates between N different phase shift values spaced substantially by 2π/M radian. In some example implementations M=4 and N=6. In some other example implementations M=2 and N=3.
The signal processor may cooperate with the driver to cause the PAM-N electrical driver signal to alternate between N signal levels, each of the N signal levels being different from any other of the N signal levels, the N signal levels corresponding to the N different phase shift values. In at least some implementations, driving the OPM with the PAM-N electrical driver signal causes the optical carrier to be modulated in power with a modulation depth smaller than 20%.
The signal processor may be configured to identify, in the input bit stream, binary symbols of an M-PSK constellation, and to map different instances, in the input bit stream, of a first of the symbols to two different signal levels from the N signal levels. The two different signal levels may correspond to two of the N different phase shift values that are equal modulus 2π radian. The signal processor may be configured to map the different instances of the first of the symbols to either one of the two different signal levels in alternating fashion so as to provide at least partial carrier suppression in an output optical spectrum of the OPM. In some implementations, the signal processor may be configured so that transitions to the two different signal levels from another one of the N signal levels in the PAM-N electrical signal occur with substantially equal frequency. In some implementations, the signal processor may be configured to use a random or pseudorandom selection rule to select between the two different signal levels.
In some implementations, the signal processor may be configured to map different occurrences in the input bit stream of a first of the symbols to first two signal levels with substantially equal probability, and to map different occurrences in the input bit stream of a second of the symbols to second two signal levels with substantially equal probability, wherein the first two signal levels and the second two signal levels are four different ones of the N signal levels. The first two signal levels may correspond to OPM-induced optical phase shifts separated by substantially 2π radian, and the second two signal levels may correspond to OPM-induced optical phase shifts separated by substantially 2π radian.
In some implementations, the signal processor is configured to cooperate with the driver and the OPM so that at least some transitions to and forth between the first of the symbols and a second of the symbols in the input bit stream cause the optical phase of the carrier to vary by substantially 2π radian.
An aspect of the present disclosure provides and apparatus comprising an optical QPSK transmitter for transmitting an optical carrier modulated according to a QPSK modulation format, the optical QPSK transmitter comprising: an optical phase shifter (OPS); a driver for driving the OPS with a PAM-6 electrical signal to cause an optical phase shift to the optical carrier that alternates between six different phase levels spaced substantially by π/2 radian, the six different phase levels comprising two pairs of 2π spaced phase levels; and a signal processor for processing an input bit stream to map consecutive 2-bit sequences therein to symbols of a QPSK constellation, so that a first and a second of the symbols are each mapped to both phase levels of a corresponding pair of the 2π spaced phase levels. The signal processor may be configured so that transitions from a third of the symbols to the first of the symbols in the input bit stream are represented by transitions to different phase levels of a first of the two pairs, and transitions from the third of the symbols to the second of the symbols in the input bit stream are represented by transitions to different phase levels of a second of the two pairs. In some implementations the signal processor is configured so that transitions to different phase levels of the first or the second of the two pairs happen with a substantially same frequency.
Transmitter 100 includes an optical phase modulator (OPM) 120, an electrical circuit 150 configured to convert an input bit stream 101 to a PAM-N electrical modulation signal 105 driving the OPM 120. The electrical circuit 150 may include a driver 130 for generating the PAM-N electrical modulation signal 105, and a signal processor 140 communicatively connected to the driver 130 and configured for mapping the input bit stream 101 to the PAM-N electrical signal 105. The signal processor 140 may be configured to convert the input bit stream 101 into a control signal(s) 103, either digital or analog, with the driver 130 in turn converting the control signal 103 into the PAM-N electrical modulation driver signal 105. The signal processor 140 may also be referred to herein as the encoder 140, and may be embodied using any suitably configured, e.g. programmed, digital processor, programmable logic circuit, or the like, that is capable of operating at a desired line rate; one skilled in the art will be able to select suitable digital hardware and/or software to implement the encoder 140 having the benefit of the present disclosure.
In operation, the encoder 140 may parse the input bit stream 101 into bit sequences that are binary representations of symbols Sm, and to map the corresponding bit sequences in the input bit stream 101 to levels 211 in the PAM-N signal 105. The PAM-N electrical modulation driver signal 105, an example of which is illustrated in
Possible benefits of encoding one or more selected symbols Sm with two or more phase-degenerate modulation driver signal levels may be understood by considering e.g., a conventional QPSK modulator that maps four two-bit symbols Sm, m=1, . . . , 4, to four optical phase shifts separated by π/2 rad, e.g. as follows: S1=00, S2=10, S3=11, and S4=01.
The inventors believe that, by using a PAM-N modulation signal with N>M and the driver level spacing corresponding to the 2π/M phase shift, and by suitably mapping different binary M-PSK symbols in the input bit stream to levels of the PAM-N modulation driver signal so that at least one of the symbols (termed e.g. “first symbol”) is represented by two degenerate levels of the PAM-N modulation signal, the carrier-frequency peak in the output optical spectrum may be at least partially suppressed. In example embodiments described below the mapping is such that at least some of the transitions between the first symbol and a second symbol, to and back, combine to accrue a 2π phase shift of the optical carrier, i.e. close the circle 31 in the phase plane. We note that to contribute to the carrier suppression, the transitions between two symbols that move the phase angle over the entire circle do not have to immediately follow one another. A typical input bit stream is expected to have about equal number of to- and back transitions between any two symbols, thereby enabling symbol-to-level mapping rules that substantially reduces the contribution of these transitions into the carrier line in the output optical spectrum. By representing each of one or more constellation symbols Sm with two or more “degenerate” phase states that are spaced by 2π, or an integer multiple thereof, and using suitable transition selection rules to select between the phase-degenerate levels to transmit different instances of a corresponding symbol, the transition circle 31 may be closed in a way that the resulting PSK modulated optical signal 102 is substantially DC-balanced at the carrier frequency when averaged over a sufficiently large number of symbol intervals, so that the carrier line in an optical spectrum of the signal is suppressed.
In example embodiments with N>M, the encoder 140 may map the same symbol Sm in different places of the input bit stream 101 to different “degenerate” driver levels 211, i.e., different PAM-N signals 105, thereby coding to the same optical symbol Sm. For example, S1, may be represented by the two different PAM-N signals 105, e.g., by two different modulation driver levels 203, e.g. 2031 and 203M+1. The symbol S1 may be referred to as the first symbol for convenience of the description. The spacing between two “degenerate” modulation driver signal levels 2031 and 203M+1, i.e. the difference in their magnitude, may correspond to an optical phase shift of the carrier wave 107 by, substantially, 2π, i.e., representing the same optical PSK symbol. The presence of such pairs of modulation driver signal levels corresponding to the same optical PSK symbol may enable a mapping of the input data stream to a modulated optical carrier having a reduced or vanishing carrier component in the output optical spectrum.
Typically, all input data symbols Sm are expected to appear in the input bit stream 101 with about equal frequency. The encoder 140 may be configured to map at least some of different occurrences of the first symbol S1 in the input bit stream 101 to different ones of two phase-degenerate driver levels, such as the levels 2031 and 203M+1 of
In some embodiments the encoder 140 may read the input bit stream 101, map each subsequent symbol Sm to one of the signal levels 203, and, upon an encounter of the first symbol S1, map said symbol to either one of the two signal levels 2031 and 203M+1 in accordance with a pre-defined rule, e.g. depending on a current state of the encoder (i.e. current signal level of the PAM-N signal 105). The mapping may be done so that transitions to the first symbol S1 from at least one other symbol, e.g. some second symbol S2 corresponding to a second signal level 2031, 1<i≤M, are mapped to transitions in signal 105 from 203i, to either one of the two phase-degenerate signal levels 2031 and 203M+1 with approximately equal frequency. The mapping may also be done consistent with a maximum limitation on the magnitude of the PAM-N symbol, e.g., due to the limited voltage range of the electronic driver.
For example, in some embodiments the mapping may be done so that in a random input bit stream of 1000 bits where “1” and “0” appear in about equal numbers, the number n1 of 203i to 2031 transitions may be similar to the number n2 of 203i to 203M+1 transitions, e.g. within +\−10%, i.e. n1/n2 is in the range 0.9-1.1. In some embodiments the mapping may be done so that in a random bit stream of 10000 bits the number of 203i to 2031 transitions is approximately equal to the number of 203i to 203M+1 transitions within +\−5%. However embodiments with a somewhat greater misbalance between the numbers of 203i to 2031 and 203i to 203M+1 transitions, e.g. with n1/n2 in the range of 0.5 to 2 in a random bit stream of 1000 or more bits, may also result in a degree of carrier suppression are within the scope of the present disclosure.
In some embodiments the encoder 140, when encountering a transition from S2 to S1 in the input bit stream 101, may randomly map S1 to either one of the two corresponding phase-degenerate levels 2031 and 203M+1. In some embodiments the encoder 140 may alternate between levels 2031 and 203M+1 for subsequent occurrences of the first symbol S1 in the input bit stream 101. In various embodiments said mappings to selected ones of the “degenerate” modulation driver values may be performed to ensure that the driver voltage remains in a limited operating range. One skilled in the art, having the benefit of the present description, will be able to design other rules for selecting between the corresponding phase-degenerate levels 2031 and 203M+1 for subsequent occurrences of the first symbol S1.
An example embodiment of transmitter 100 configured for carrier-suppressed QPSK transmission, i.e. M=4, will now be described with reference to
In an example embodiment, the mapper 420 may be configured to map the symbol stream 413 to a PAM-N electrical signal 423 with N=(M+2)=6, an example of which illustrated in
Table 1 illustrates an example digital-symbol-to-driver-level mapping table relating M=4 possible input 2-bit symbols Sm (third column) to N=6 levels of the PAM-N electrical driver signal 103, 105, or 413 (first column, denoted as “A” to “F”) and to the corresponding phase shifts induced by the OPM 120 in the optical carrier 107. As can be seen from Table 1, two of the 2-bit symbols Sm, “11” and “10”, may be each mapped to two different levels of the PAM-6 driver signal. In the illustrated example, symbol “11” may be mapped to either signal level “A” that may correspond to a zero optical phase shift, or to signal level “E” that may correspond to a 2π optical phase shift. Similarly, symbol “10” may be mapped to either signal level “B” that may correspond to a π/2 optical phase shift, or to signal level “F” that may correspond to a 5π/2 optical phase shift. Levels A and E (or F and B) may be referred to as phase-degenerate as they carry a same optical symbol and a conventional PSK detector won't differentiate between them even though the optical symbols were produced by different electrical modulation driver levels.
We note that other embodiments may be produced by adding same arbitrary constant phase shift to each phase level, and the optical symbol constellation is invariant under a rotation of 2π/M, which is π/2 in the present example. In some embodiments, the input symbol-to-driver level assignment is performed by Gray-coded ordering so that subsequent output driver values only differ by one bit. But, this ordering is not a requirement for carrier suppression, and may be modified in some other embodiments.
Accordingly, two of the four 2-bit symbols of the QPSK constellation may be each transmitted using either one of two signal levels: e.g. symbol “11” may be transmitted using either driver level “A” or driver level “E”, and symbol “10” may be transmitted using either driver level “B” or driver level “F”. By following suitable level-selection rules for selecting between phase-degenerate, modulation driver levels to transmit a corresponding same optical symbol, a suppression of the optical carrier in the optical spectrum of the modulated signal may be achieved. Such selection rules may cause forward and backwards transitions between two of the symbols, e.g. “01” and “10” to be represented by pairs of phase transitions summing substantially to 2π. For example, referring to
Table 2 summarizes an example set of allowed transitions from a current signal level L(n-1), which represents a last received input symbol S(n-1), to a next signal driver level L(n) representing a subsequent input symbol S(n), according to an embodiment. This table, or a set of corresponding rules, may be stored in memory 430. Here n is a symbol counter in the symbol stream 413, L(n-1) (second column) is a current signal level set by the mapper 420 for the preceding input symbol S(n-1) (first column). The third to sixth columns of Table 2 define signal driver levels for a next, i.e. n-th input symbol S(n), in dependence on a current signal driver level and the newly received input symbol. In this example embodiment, there are four transitions that have two possible options: from signal level C, corresponding to the optical phase shift of π, to one of two phase-degenerate driver levels A or E (phase shifts 0 or 2π, respectively) when a corresponding first input symbol is received, in this example “11”, or a transition to one of two second phase-degenerate driver levels, B and F (phase shifts π/2 or 5π/2, respectively), when a corresponding second input symbol is received, in this example “10”. The other two transitions with two possible options are transitions from signal driver level D to either one of the two first phase-degenerate signal driver levels A or E in response to receiving a corresponding first symbol (“11”), or to either one of two second phase-degenerate signal driver levels B and F in response to receiving a corresponding second input symbol (“10”).
By selecting both options in each of the multi-option transitions, with substantially equal frequency, e.g. about 50% each, the carrier line in the optical spectrum of the QPSK modulated signal 102 may be suppressed, resulting in an optical spectrum of the type illustrated in
In some embodiments, the mapper 420 may select a different option every time a new driver level transition with an option occurs. In some embodiments, the mapper 420 may be configured to select between the two driver level transition options randomly or pseudo-randomly, e.g. using a suitable computer-generated random selection algorithm, at every driver level transition with an option. One skilled in the art would be able to devise other driver level transition selection rules for symbols representable by two or more signal levels to achieve suppression of the carrier having the benefit of the present disclosure.
Referring to
Table 3 illustrates an example bit to driver level mapping for a BPSK optical transmitter (M=2), in an embodiment wherein the OPM 120 is modulated with a PAM-3 modulation driver signal 105, i.e. N=3. In this embodiment, the PAM-3 electrical modulation signal 105 alternates between three signal driver levels, denoted in Table 3 as A, C, and E, which are selected to cause the OPM 10 to induce the optical carrier relative phase shifts of 0, π, and 2π, respectively, to transmit respective 1-bit symbols 1, 0, and 1. In this case, signal driver levels A and E are phase-degenerate, representing a same symbol value (“1”), and indistinguishable by an optical BPSK detector used at an optical receiver site.
Table 4 is an example transition table, which summarizes allowed driver level-to-driver level transitions in the PAM-3 driver signal carrying the input bit stream according to an embodiment. I.e. Table 4 shows, by way of example, possible transitions from a current signal driver level L(n-1), which represents a last received input symbol S(n-1), to a next signal driver level L(n) representing a subsequent input symbol S(n), according to an example embodiment. This table, or a set of corresponding rules, may be stored in memory of a transmitter encoder, e.g. memory 430 of encoder 440, to configure a corresponding optical transmitter for BPSK modulation. Here n is a bit counter in the input bit stream, L(n-1) (first column) is a current driver signal level set by the mapper 420 for the preceding input symbol S(n-1) (first column). The second and third columns of Table 4 define signal driver levels for a next, i.e. n-th input symbol S(n), in dependence on a current signal driver level and the newly received input symbol S(n). Here each input symbol S(n-1), S(n), etc., is one bit of the input bit stream. In this example embodiment, there is one transition that has two possible options: from signal driver level C, corresponding to the optical phase shift of π, to one of two phase-degenerate driver levels A or E (phase shifts 0 or 2π, respectively), both transitions representing a “01” bit sequence. The encoder of the BPSK transmitter, e.g. an embodiment of the encoder 140 or 440, may be configured to generate about equal numbers of the C→A and C→E driver level transitions in a sufficiently long segment of the PAM-3 drive signal, which should result in a carrier-suppressed BPSK modulated optical signal for an input bit stream in which “1”s and “0”s appear with about equal probability.
In other embodiments, the OPM 120 may be implemented as an optical phase shifter using a planar optical waveguide formed with a non-conducting material having suitable electro-optic properties, such as e.g. LiNbO3 (lithium niobate) or the like, which enable modulating the optical phase of light guided therein substantially without substantial amplitude modulation thereof by modulating a voltage across the waveguide.
Optical PSK transmitters such as those described above may be suitable for optical communication systems that benefit from high optical launch power into an optical fiber link. Non-exclusive example of such an optical communication system is a PON, which typically lacks line optical amplifiers that can boost optical power mid-span between two network nodes.
Additionally, in some embodiment the optical transmitter and corresponding receivers may be configured to operate using a differential PSK scheme, where the input data is preprocessed such that the input bit stream encodes the phase difference between subsequent symbols in a manner similar to differential phase shift keying (DPSK) or differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK), with the optical receivers implemented using one-symbol delay interferometers.
In some embodiments, the optical transmitter 100 of
Referring to
The examples described above are not intended to be limiting, and many variations will become apparent to a skilled reader having the benefit of the present disclosure. For example, some embodiments may use OPMs that generate optical signals having a relatively small amplitude modulation component. In some embodiments the OPM may be configured so that the output optical signal 102 is modulated in power with a modulation depth below a specified target value. In some embodiments this specified target value may be selected to reduce, minimize, or substantially eliminate the deleterious effects of optical nonlinearities caused by variations in optical power. This target value, which can be calculated by a person skilled in the art, is dependent on the particular system parameters such as launch power, fiber type, and fiber length. By way of example, the depth of the intensity modulation at relevant modulation frequencies may be up to 2%, or up to 5%, or up to 10%, or even up to 20% in some embodiments. Furthermore, various features described above with reference to a specific embodiment or embodiments may be combined with other embodiments.
Furthermore in the description above, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. In some instances, detailed descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the present invention with unnecessary detail. Thus, for example, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that block diagrams herein can represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the technology. All statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure.
Thus, while the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to example embodiments as illustrated in the drawing, it will be understood by one skilled in the art that various changes in detail may be affected therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims.
