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. 10, 1999
Filed:
Dec. 23, 1997
Abstract
An optical cross-connect system which can be constructed using the same kind of optical switches having a small extinction ratio and a small number of optical switch driving circuits is provided. The optical signal selector in the system comprises a first optical switching device for permitting only the wavelength-division multiplexed light beam passing through one of plural optical paths to pass, a wavelength router for demultiplexing the permitted multiplexed light beam into optical signals of different wavelengths and respectively outputting these demultiplexed signals into different output ports, this router having a routing characteristic such that the output port to which each demultiplexed signal is output is different for each input port, a second optical switching device for permitting only one of the optical signals output from plural optical paths connected to the output ports of the wavelength router to pass, and an optical combiner for combining the optical paths of the second optical switching device.