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US 5,621,829 AGranted
Fiber optic switching device and method using free space scanning
AssigneeLucent Technologies Inc.
InventorJoseph E. Ford
Life of this patent
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AssigneeLucent Technologies Inc.
InventorJoseph E. Ford
Estimating the term…
An optical switching device and method for selectively optically connecting at least one input fiber in a fiber bundle to at least one output fiber in a fiber bundle. To perform the optical switching, a light directing mechanism is provided proximate a face of a fiber bundle that contains the input fiber. The light from the input fiber is directed toward the output fibers by varying the orientation of the light directing mechanism relative the face of the fiber bundle. The light directing mechanism thereby enables the light from the input fiber to be selectively directed to each of the output fibers. By selectively controlling the orientation of the light directing mechanism, the light from the input fiber can be scanned to any number of output fibers, thereby producing a 1.times.N optical switch.
A method for optical switching between at least one input fiber and at least one output fiber, said at least one output fiber being located in a fiber bundle, the method comprising:
An optical switching device for selectively optically connecting at least one first fiber in a fiber bundle to at least one second fiber in the fiber bundle, comprising:
A device for determining the location of at least one fiber contained within a fiber bundle, comprising:
An optical switching device for selectively optically connecting at least one 1.times.M array of fibers in a fiber matrix to at least one second 1.times.M array of fibers in the fiber matrix, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.