ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,449,601, issued on Oct. 21, was assigned to Neptec OS Inc. (Fremont, Calif.).
"Miniature optical probe" was invented by Chintan Shah (Milpitas, Calif.), Chi-Hao Brian Liu (San Jose, Calif.) and Jianxun Fang (Milpitas, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A miniature probe includes a fiber, a lens, and an optical element. The probe includes a lens for transferring light between the fiber and the optical element. An end face of the lens is fused to an end face of the fiber by application of heat. No epoxy is involved in fusing together the lens and fiber. The lens can be a Gradient-Index (GRIN) lens or a ball lens. The probe is designed t...