1. An optical coupler for coupling an optoelectronic device to an optical fiber, comprising:
an electrical connector;
an optical transmission medium disposed proximate the electrical connector, wherein the transmission medium comprises fused fibers; and
an encapsulant surrounding at least a portion of the connector and at least a portion of the transmission medium.
2. The optical coupler of claim 1, wherein each of the fused fibers has a core diameter smaller than about 50 microns.
3. The optical coupler of claim 1, wherein the electrical connector includes a conductive lead having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end is disposed about ninety degrees from the second end.
4. The optical coupler of claim 1, wherein the encapsulant includes silica-filled epoxy material.
5. The optical coupler of claim 1, further comprising guide grooves configured to receive guide pins attached to fiber ribbon.
6. The optical coupler of claim 1, further comprising a ground plane formed on a lower portion of the coupler.
7. The optical coupler of claim 1, further comprising die attachment material to facilitate bonding of the connector to a substrate.
8. The optical coupler of claim 1, further comprising conductive tape configured to facilitate coupling the connector to an optoelectronic device.
9. The optical coupler of claim 1, wherein the electrical connector includes a conductive plug within a microelectronic device.
10. The optical coupler of claim 9, wherein the electrical connector comprises a plurality of conductive plugs within a microelectronic device.
11. An optical coupler comprising:
a waveguide, wherein the waveguide comprises a plurality of optical fibers fused together;
an encapsulant surrounding at least a portion of the waveguide; and
at least one guide groove formed in the encapsulant, the at least one guide groove configured to receive a pin from a connector attached to a fiber ribbon.
12. The optical coupler of claim 11, further comprising an electrical connector formed at least partially within the encapsulant.
13. Th optical coupler of claim 12, wherein the electrical connector comprises a lead of a leadframe.
14. The optical coupler of claim 12, wherein the connector comprises a wire.
15. The optical coupler of claim 11, wherein the waveguide comprises at least one fiber.
16. The optical coupler of claim 11, wherein at least a portion of the encapsulant comprises a transfer mold compound.
17. The optical coupler of claim 11, wherein at least a portion of the substrate comprises a ceramic material.
18. The optical coupler of claim 11, further comprising a substrate comprising electrical connectors formed as electrical traces and conductive plugs.
19. The optical coupler of claim 11, wherein the guide groove is formed of conductive material.
20. An optical transmission system comprising the optical coupler of claim 11.
21. An optical interconnect system comprising;
an optical coupler comprising a waveguide, an encapsulant, and an electrical connector formed at least partially within the encapsulant, wherein the waveguide comprises a fused faceplate of a bundle of optical fibers;
a fiber optic cable attached to the optical coupler; and
a substrate electrically coupled to the coupler.
22. The optical interconnect system of claim 21, wherein the optical coupler comprises a guide groove and the fiber optic cable comprises a guide pin configured to be received by the guide groove.
23. The optical interconnect system of claim 21, further comprising an optoelectronic device electrically coupled to the optical coupler, such that the optoelectronic device forms an electrical connection to the substrate and an optical connection to a fiber of the fiber optic cable.
24. The optical interconnect system of claim 23, wherein the optoelectronic device comprises a vertical cavity surface emitting laser.
25. The optical interconnect system of claim 24, wherein the vertical cavity surface emitting laser is coupled to the optical coupler using flip-mounting technology.
26. The optical interconnect system of claim 23, wherein the optoelectronic device comprises a photodetector.
27. The optical interconnect system of claim 26, wherein the photodetector is coupled to the optical coupler using flip-chip mounting technology.
28. The optical interconnect system of claim 23, wherein the optoelectronic device comprises a vertical cavity surface emitting laser and the system further comprises a photodetector.
29. The optical interconnect system of claim 28, wherein the vertical cavity surface emitting laser is coupled to the optical coupler using die attach technology and the photodetector is mounted to the optical coupler using die attach technology.
30. The optical interconnect system of claim 23, further comprising solder interposed between the optoelectronic device and the optical coupler.
31. The optical interconnect system of claim 21, wherein the electrical connector comprises a lead portion of a leadframe.
32. The optical interconnect system of claim 21, further comprising a transparent gel attached to a portion of the optical coupler.
33. A method of forming an optical coupler, the method comprising the steps of:
creating electrical connectors;
attaching a waveguide to the electrical connectors, wherein the waveguide comprises a fused faceplate of a bundle of optical fibers; and
encapsulating at least a portion of the electrical connectors and at least a portion of the waveguide.
34. The method of forming an optical coupler of claim 33, further comprising the step of forming guides.
35. The method of forming an optical coupler of claim 34, wherein the step of forming guides comprises bending a portion of a conductive plate to form a conduit.
36. The method of forming an optical coupler of claim 33, wherein the step of creating electrical connectors comprises providing a leadframe and bending the leads.
37. The method of forming an optical coupler of claim 33, wherein the step of creating electrical connectors comprises patterning a surface of a plate of conductive material, etching the plate of conductive material to form conductive leads, and bending the conductive leads.
38. The method of forming an optical coupler of claim 33, further comprising the step of polishing an end of the waveguide.
39. The method of forming an optical coupler of claim 33, further comprising the step of singulating.
40. The method of forming an optical coupler of claim 33, further comprising the step of coating an end of the electrical connectors with a conductive material.
41. The method of forming an optical coupler of claim 40, wherein the step of coating an end comprises attaching a conductive tape to an end.
42. The method of forming an optical coupler of claim 40, wherein the step of coating an end comprises plating conductive material on the end.
43. The method of forming an optical coupler of claim 33, further comprising the step of attaching guide sleeves to a portion of the electrical connectors.
44. The method of forming an optical coupler of claim 33, further comprising the step of forming a ground plane coupled to a portion of the electrical connectors.
45. An optical coupler comprising:
an electrical connector;
a photonics component flip-chip mounted to the electrical connector;
an optical transmission medium comprising fused fibers disposed proximate the electrical connector, the transmission medium comprising relay lens elements and anti-reflection coating;
an encapsulant surrounding at least a portion of the connector and at least a portion of the transmission medium; and
a guide groove formed within the encapsulant.
46. An optical coupler for coupling an optoelectronic device to an optical fiber having a first core diameter, comprising:
an electrical connector;
an optical transmission medium comprising fused optical fibers having a core diameter less than said first core diameter and disposed proximate the electrical connector; and
an encapsulant surrounding at least a portion of the connector and at least a portion of the transmission medium.
47. The optical coupler of claim 46,
wherein each of the fused optical fibers have a core diameter smaller than about 50 microns.
48. An optical coupler comprising:
an electrical connector;
an optical transmission medium comprising fused fibers and juxtaposed with the electrical connector, an optical path of the optical transmission medium being parallel to and coextensive with at least a portion of the electrical connector; and
an optoelectronic device attached to said electrical connector transverse to the optical path and adjacent one end of the optical transmission medium.
49. An optical coupler as in claim 48, wherein the optoelectronic device is a VCSEL.
50. An optical coupler as in claim 48, further comprising:
an optically transparent gel interposed between the optical transmission medium and the optoelectronic device.
51. An optical coupler as in claim 50, wherein said optically transparent gel is index matched to the index of refraction of the transmission medium and to a portion of the optoelectronic device.
52. An optical coupler as in claim 48, further comprising:
an alignment guide disposed longitudinally in parallel with the optical path.
53. An optical coupler comprising:
an electrical connector;
an optical transmission medium comprising fused fibers and attached to the electrical connector, the optical path of the optical transmission medium being parallel to at least a portion of the electrical connector such that a surface portion of said electrical connector and an end surface of the optical transmission medium form a substantially coplanar surface; and
an optoelectronic device attached to the surface portion of said electrical connector and adjacent the optical transmission medium at said coplanar surface.
54. An optical coupler as in claim 53, wherein the optoelectronic device is a VCSEL.
55. An optical coupler as in claim 53, further comprising:
an optically transparent gel interposed between the optical transmission medium and the optoelectronic device.
56. An optical coupler as in claim 55, wherein said optically transparent gel is index matched to the index of refraction of the transmission medium and to a portion of the optoelectronic device.
57. An optical coupler as in claim 53, further comprising:
an alignment guide disposed longitudinally in parallel with the optical path.
58. An optical coupler as in claim 53, wherein the optoelectronic device is a photo detector.
59. An optical coupler as in claim 48, wherein the optoelectronic device is a photo detector.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A diagnostic imaging support system comprising:
storage means for storing an image of a subject; and
control means for reading out the image from storage means, extracting a diagnostic region including a bone region from the read image on a basis of a characteristic quantity previously set, extracting a bone portion component and a component other than the bone portion from the diagnostic region, and calculating structure analysis information of the bone by utilizing at least one of a run length or density of a region that corresponds to the component other than the bone portion.
2. A diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 1, wherein the structure analysis information is the shape symmetry of a region representing one of a density representing the bone portion, or a portion other than the bone portion, of each of first and second regions, the first and second regions being at least two regions divided from the extracted diagnostic region.
3. A diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 1, wherein the display means displays the bone region of the subject such that the bone component and the component other than the bone can be identified by the characteristic quantity.
4. A diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 1, wherein the display means performs display, while changing a method of projecting the bone portion of the subject depending on whether the degree of progress of osteoporosis or the degree of healthiness of osteoporosis is displayed.
5. A diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 1, wherein
the extraction means determines a joint portion of the bone portion on the basis of density; and
the display means displays the joint portion of the bone in an identifiable manner on the basis of results of the determination.
6. A diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 1, further comprising
means for generating a ray-sum image of a spine region of the subject as viewed from the front, the image showing normalized densities of the spine region, wherein
the display means simultaneously displays the generated ray-sum image and the characteristic quantity of each tomogram of the subject.
7. A diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 1, further comprising
means for calculating, as a total average, an average of characteristic quantities corresponding to a plurality of bone regions of the subject and for calculating, as an excluded average, an average of the characteristic quantities excluding characteristic quantities corresponding to bone regions whose densities are lower than the average density of the plurality of bone regions, wherein
the display means simultaneously displays the calculated total average and excluded average.
8. A diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 1, further comprising means for calculating, as a total average, an average of characteristic quantities corresponding to a plurality of bone regions of a healthy person, wherein
the display means simultaneously displays the calculated characteristic quantities corresponding to the plurality of bone regions of the healthy person, and the characteristic quantities of the subject.
9. A diagnostic imaging support system, comprising:
input means for setting a characteristic quantity for performing threshold processing for a bone region in an image of a subject;
control means for reading out the image from storage means which stores the image of the subject, extracting a diagnostic region including the bone region from the read image on the basis of the characteristic quantity set by the input means, and calculating, for the extracted diagnostic region, structure analysis information of the bone by use of component identification information representing a bone portion component and a component other than the bone portion; and
display means for displaying the calculated structure analysis information of the bone while relating the structure analysis information to the image of the subject,
wherein the display means displays cross sections of the bone portion of the subject as viewed from a plurality of directions, and displays, on a first cross section, information representing a cut portion of a second cross section, wherein the displayed images of the second cross section correspond to information representing the cut portion selected by a user of the support system.
10. A diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 1, further comprising
means for storing index information of hydroxyapatite measured in advance and contained in the bone portion of the subject,
wherein the display means displays the stored index information of hydroxyapatite and the bone portion of the subject such that the index information and the bone portion are related to each other.
11. A diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 10, further comprising bone-age calculation means for calculating a bone age corresponding to the degree of progress of osteoporosis on the basis of the index information of hydroxyapatite,
wherein the display means displays the degree of progress of osteoporosis by predetermined stepwise-changing numerical levels, while relating it to the calculated bone age.
12. A diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 10, further comprising bone-age calculation means for calculating a bone age corresponding to the degree of progress of osteoporosis on the basis of the index information of hydroxyapatite, wherein the display means displays an index of a treatment policy when the calculated bone age of the subject is older than the actual age.
13. A diagnostic imaging support system according to claim 10, further comprising bone-age calculation means for calculating a bone age corresponding to the degree of progress of osteoporosis on the basis of the index information of hydroxyapatite,
wherein the display means further displays the calculated bone age.
14. A diagnostic imaging support program stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium and including containing a program of instructions executable by a computer to cause the computer to execute the steps of:
(a) reading out an image from a storage unit of the computer;
(b) extracting a diagnostic region including a bone region from the image read in (a), on a basis of a characteristic quantity previously set;
(c) extracting a bone portion component and a component other than the bone portion from the diagnostic region; and
(d) calculating structure analysis information of the bone by utilizing at least one of a run length or density of a region that corresponds to the component other than the bone portion.
15. A diagnostic imaging support system comprising:
storage means for storing an image of a subject;
control means for reading out the image from the storage means, extracting a diagnostic region including a bone region from the read image on the basis of a characteristic quantity previously set, extracting a bone portion component and a component other than the bone portion from the extracted diagnostic region, and calculating, for the extracted diagnostic region, structure analysis information of the bone by use of component identification information representing the bone portion component and the component other than the bone portion; and
display means for displaying the calculated structure analysis information of the bone for the subject on a graph which shows the relation between age and the calculated structure analysis information of the bone for a plurality of subjects.