Telecast Fiber Systems announced that its CopperHead fiber optic multiplexing system has been awarded patent #7,327,959 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent recognizes the innovation and unique utility of the CopperHead, the world's first camera-mountable transceiver able to multiplex all of a camcorder's output and input signals onto a single durable and lightweight fiber optic cable.

The CopperHead fiber optic system mounts directly onto portable broadcast television cameras, delivering both digital (SD-SDI or uncompressed HD-SDI) and analog video to a remote base station up to 20 miles away, all over a single fiber cable that is one-tenth the weight of ordinary coaxial or triaxial cable. The CopperHead system also transports all of the bidirectional audio, return video, sync, intercom, data, and control signals required for remote broadcasts.

"The CopperHead's patent award is the culmination of 10 years of engineering innovation, developing the miniature revolutionary fiber optic technology that gives ENG-style camcorders the ability to be converted easily to ‘hard' cameras, able to work in single- and multi-camera environments," says Jim Hurwitz, Telecast's product manager for camera systems. "While it was developed primarily for broadcast settings in which equipment setup times are a key concern, the system has been adopted in a wide range of other applications, including sports stadiums, entertainment venues and digital cinematography."

The CopperHead is the second Telecast product to receive a patent, joining the company's groundbreaking Cobra system (patent #6,115,159), which permits triaxial camera systems to be extended over lightweight fiber optic cable.