US 2004/0057655 A1 · OPTICAL SWITCH CONTROL METHOD AND APPARATUS THEREOF

Abstract

The present invention aims at providing an optical switch control method capable of controlling at a high speed angles of a plurality of tilt mirrors of an optical switch of three-dimensional structure, by a simplified circuit structure. To this end, for an optical switch including a plurality of mirror arrays each arranged with a plurality of tilt mirrors and in which input optical signals are sequentially reflected by the mirror arrays so as to output the optical signals from particular positions, the optical switch control method according to the present invention is constituted to divide the tilt mirrors on one mirror array into a plurality of fixed regions, to divide the tilt mirrors on the other mirror arrays into a plurality of virtual regions, in accordance with connecting states of optical paths, such that the tilt mirrors in each of the virtual regions and the tilt mirrors in each of the fixed regions are related to each other so as to make pairs. The angle control of reflecting surfaces of the tilt mirrors is performed in parallel for each related regions, and the angle control within each regions is performed in a time-division manner.

Claims24

Dependent claims

An optical switch control method, which comprises a plurality of mirror arrays each arranged with a plurality of tilt mirrors each having an angle-controllable reflecting surface, and reflects input optical signals sequentially by said mirror arrays, to output said optical signals from particular positions, for controlling an angle of the reflecting surface of each tilt mirror on each of said mirror arrays, wherein

the tilt mirrors on one mirror array of said plurality of mirror arrays are divided into a plurality of fixed regions,
the tilt mirrors on the other mirror array of said plurality of mirror arrays are divided into a plurality of virtual regions, in accordance with connection states of optical paths, such that the tilt mirrors in each of the virtual regions and the tilt mirrors in each of the fixed regions are related to each other so as to make pairs, and
an angle control of reflecting surfaces of the tilt mirrors is performed in parallel for every related regions, and the angle control of reflecting surfaces of the tilt mirrors in the related regions is performed in a time-division manner corresponding to the optical paths.

An optical switch control apparatus which comprises a plurality of mirror arrays each arranged with a plurality of tilt mirrors each having an angle-controllable reflecting surface, and reflects input optical signals sequentially by said mirror arrays, to output said optical signals from particular positions, for controlling an angle of the reflecting surface of each tilt mirror on each of said mirror arrays, wherein

one mirror array of said plurality of mirror arrays has a plurality of fixed regions divided from the tilt mirrors on said mirror array,
the other mirror array of said plurality of mirror arrays has a plurality of virtual regions that have been divided from the tilt mirrors on said other mirror array in accordance with connection states of optical paths, such that the tilt mirrors in each of the virtual regions and the tilt mirrors in each of the fixed regions are related to each other so as to make pairs,
there are provided a plurality of control circuits corresponding to said related regions, and
each of said control circuits performs an angle control of reflecting surfaces of the tilt mirrors in parallel for every related regions, and performs the angle control of reflecting surfaces of the tilt mirrors in the corresponding related regions in a time-division manner corresponding to the optical paths.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Optical switch control method and apparatus thereof

Life of this patent

Optical switch control method and apparatus thereof

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims24