The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 28, 1989
Filed:
Nov. 30, 1987
Donald M Chiarulli, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Rami Melhem, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Steven P Levitan, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
The University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
The present invention pertains to an optical selector switch. The optical selector switch includes an optical waveguide means, and M means for producing light that can be transmitted through the optical waveguide means with M being greater than or equal to 2. The M light producing means are optically connected to the optical waveguide means. The optical selector switch includes means for controlling when each of the M light producing means produces optical pulses to be transmitted through the optical waveguide means. Additionally, there are N optical transduces optically connected to the optical waveguide means, with N being greater than or equal to 2. Each of the N optical transducers are capable of producing an electrical signal corresponding to the combination of optical pulses received from the M light-producing means. The N optical transducers can be arranged in either a one, two or three dimensional array. Moreover, memory cells can be included to provide for a memory array.