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:
Aug. 13, 1991
Filed:
Jul. 25, 1989
Roch A Guerin, Yorktown Heights, NY (US);
Yeong-Chang Lien, Armonk, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
This invention describes a method of transmitting data through a passive central switching fabric, where data can be transmitted from any input port of the fabric to any output port of the fabric. The switching fabric has N multiplexors and N demultiplexors. The input ports of the demultiplexors are the input ports of the fabric, while the output ports of the multiplexors are the output ports of the fabric. The outputs of each demultiplexor lie in a horizontal plane, while the inputs of each multiplexor lie in a vertical plane. The outputs of the demultiplexors in the horizontal planes are butted against the inputs of the multiplexors so as to establish optical contact between the outputs of the demultiplexors and the inputs of the multiplexors. Modulated wavelengths are then demultiplexed and mutliplexed in such a fashion so as to allow data from any input port of the switching fabric to be transmitted to any output port of the switching fabric merely by modulating a corresponding one of N wavelengths.