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US 6,668,108 B1Granted
Optical cross-connect switch with integrated optical signal tap
AssigneeCalient Networks, Inc.
InventorsRoger Helkey, John Bowers, Tony Walter, Kevin Yamada, David Welsh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An optical cross-connect with integrated optical signal tap is disclosed. In one embodiment, the switch includes two or more optical fiber input ports, lenses to produce collimated beams, one or more optical taps to couple a portion of the optical power from one or more input ports to one or more sample ports, movable mirrors to connect any input port with any output port, two or more optical fiber output ports, and lens to couple collimated beams into the output ports.
Claims33
An optical switch, comprising:
- plurality of optical fiber input ports to input light beams into the switch;
- sample port;
- an optical tap to generate a sample portion of one of the light beams;
- movable sample mirrors to optically connect the optical tap to the sample port, wherein the optical tap, the sample mirrors, and the sample port comprise a single optical structure;
- movable switch mirrors to optically connect one of the input ports with one of the output ports;
- and
- plurality of optical fiber output ports to output the light beams from the switch.
4 more elements
An optical switch, comprising:
- plurality of optical fiber input ports to input light beams into the switch;
- at least one sample port;
- an optical tap to generate a sample portion of one of the light beams;
- movable sample mirrors to optically connect the optical tap to the at least one sample port;
- movable switch mirrors to optically connect one of the input ports with one of the output ports;
- and
- plurality of optical fiber output ports to output the light beams from the switch, wherein each input light beam has a corresponding optical sample port output.
4 more elements
An optical switch, comprising:
- plurality of optical fiber input ports to input light beams into the switch;
- a sample port;
- an optical tap to generate a sample portion of one of the light beams;
- movable sample mirrors to optically connect the optical tap to the sample port;
- movable switch mirrors to optically connect one of the input ports with one of the output ports;
- and
- a plurality of optical fiber output ports to output the light beams from the switch, wherein the sample port comprises a spatial light modulator that selects a sample portion corresponding to a single light beam, and a fixed lens directs the selected sampled portion to a multimode fiber.
4 more elements
An optical switch, comprising:
- plurality of optical fiber input ports to input light beams into the switch;
- sample port;
- an optical tap to generate a sample portion of one of the light beams;
- movable sample mirrors to optically connect the optical tap to the sample port;
- movable switch mirrors to optically connect one of the input ports with one of the output ports;
- and
- a plurality of optical fiber output ports to output the light beams from the switch, wherein a single substrate contains the switch mirrors and the sample mirrors for the sample port.
4 more elements
An optical switch, comprising:
- plurality of optical fiber input ports to input light beams into the switch;
- sample port;
- an optical tap to generate a sample portion of one of the light beams;
- movable sample mirrors to optically connect the optical tap to the sample port;
- movable switch mirrors to optically connect one of the input ports with one of the output ports;
- and
- plurality of optical fiber output ports to output the light beams from the switch, wherein the sample port comprises a spatial light modulator that selects a sample portion corresponding to a single light beam, and a fixed lens directs the selected sample portion to a photodetector.
4 more elements
An optical switch comprising:
- light input means for inputting light beams into the switch;
- at least one sample port;
- optical tap means for generating a sample portion of the light beams;
- movable sample mirror means for optically connecting the tap to the sample ports;
- movable switch mirror means for optically connecting one of the input ports with one of the output ports;
- and
- light output means for outputting the light beams from the switch, wherein the optical tap means, the sample mirror means, and the sample port comprise a single optical structure.
4 more elements
A method comprising:
- inputting a plurality of light beams into an optical switch;
- generating a sample portion of each of the plurality of light beams and an output portion of each of the plurality of light beams using an optical tap common to the plurality of light beams;
- optically directing the sample portion to a sample port;
- and
- optically switching the output portion to an output port.
2 more elements
An optical switch, comprising:
- a plurality of optical fiber input ports to receive a respective plurality of light beams into the optical switch;
- at least one sample port;
- a single optical tap to receive the plurality of light beams and generate a sample portion of each of the plurality of light beams;
- a plurality of sample lenses to optically couple the single optical tap to the plurality of sample ports;
- a plurality of optical fiber output ports to output the light beams from the optical switch;
- and
- a first plurality of movable mirrors to optically connect one of the input ports with one of the output ports.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.