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:
Sep. 06, 1994
Filed:
Jul. 12, 1993
T Gus McDonald, Plano, TX (US);
R Mark Boysel, Plano, TX (US);
Texas Instrument Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
An optical switching device with switch elements (224) similar to digital micromirror devices (DMD). The switching element (224) resides in a trench (216) between two elevated areas on the substrate (214a, 214b). Sending and receiving fibers (218a, 218b) face each other across the trench (216) with the switch element (224) between them. When the switch is ON, light travels through lenses (220a, 220b) in the trench (216) from one fiber (218b) to the other (218a). When the switch is flipped OFF, the element (224) is activated and blocks the light from the sending fiber (218b) by reflecting or absorbing the light from the sending fiber (218b). The switch is activated and possibly deactivated by addressing electrodes (226a, 226b) under the element (224), which deflects through an air gap towards the activated electrode (226b). For better deflection angles the posts can be arranged closer to one end of the element than the other. An alternate hinge architecture is also provided.