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. 22, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 12, 1998
The Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A small-size large-capacity optical switch in which the switch switching control structure is simple and the switch switching efficiency is excellent. A plurality of fiber accommodating grooves (4) are formed on a grooved board (1) and stationary side optical fibers (5) are held and aligned in the fiber accommodating grooves (4) to form a fiber array unit (8). The fiber array units (8) are laminated with a space therebetween. A master fiber (10) is arranged so as to correspond to the fiber array unit (8) of each stage and the master fiber (10) of each stage is supported and secured by a common master fiber supporter (12). Movement of the master fiber supporter (12) is controlled by fiber movement control means (13) only in a direction in which the fiber accommodating grooves (4) are aligned. When the master fiber (10) is moved to a position directly above the fiber accommodating groove (4) accommodating the stationary side optical fiber (5) to be connected to the master fiber (10), by pushing the master fiber (10) to the fiber accommodating groove (4) and holding it, the master fiber 10 is connected to the stationary side optical fiber (5) to be connected to the master fiber (10).