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. 28, 1999
Filed:
Dec. 01, 1997
Barrie Keyworth, Ottawa, Ontario, CA;
Rajiv Iyer, Ottawa, Ontario, CA;
Neil Teitelbaum, Ottawa, Ontario, CA;
Other;
Abstract
A 1.times.n optical deflection switch has an array of k transmissive light deflectors to switch an incident light beam into one of n=2.sup.k directions. The switch can steer the light through the deflectors into one of a plurality of beam directions, by selectively individually inserting them into the light path. One embodiment uses four glass rectangular blocks as light deflectors having parallel upper and lower surfaces oriented at a predetermined oblique angle to the incident light beam. The thicknesses of the blocks follow an increasing order in proportion to successive powers of 2, i.e. t, 2t, 4t and 8t, giving a total of 16 switching positions. Another embodiment uses two arrays of 4-block switches, and selectively activates blocks from either array to provide a 1.times.32 switch. Yet, another embodiment uses four stepped deflectors each having two selectable sections of dissimilar thicknesses to give a total of 15 switching positions.