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:
Mar. 07, 2000
Filed:
Apr. 18, 1997
Koji Asahi, Tokyo, JP;
NEC Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The n.times.n light matrix switch of the present invention comprises a n:1 optical coupler for wavelength-multiplexing the n input light signals having different wavelengths, a 1:n optical divider for dividing the wavelength-multiplexed light signals to n light signals, n wavelength tunable light band pass filter for extracting only an arbitrary one wavelength component out of n-divided light signals, and a controlling circuit for controlling the pass center frequency of the n wavelength tunable light band pass filter. The n wavelength tunable light band pass filters connected to the n output terminals supply all the n input light signal components which are wavelength-division-multiplexed. Thereby, any output terminal can select an arbitrary light signal out of n inputs quite independently from other output terminals. Further, there are n objects to be controlled which prescribes the connecting condition between input signal and output signal, this number is less than that of the conventional n.times.n light matrix switch. The n.times.n light matrix switch having the simple structure can provides excellent operability without blocking phenomenon.