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:
Oct. 03, 2000
Filed:
Mar. 04, 1998
Kevin A DeMartino, Andover, MA (US);
Dynamics Research Corporation, Andover, MA (US);
Abstract
A communications switch that connects together multiple communicating nodes such that optical signals flow transparently through the switch. Each node is connected to the switch by an optical cable containing input and output optical fibers, with each fiber containing optical signals at multiple wavelengths. For each multi-fiber cable, an optical beam is formed containing the input signals from that cable. Within each beam, the different input signals are spatially adjacent to each other. The signals within a particular beam are spatially gated to form multiple beam segments. Each of these beam segments is spatially shifted to a different output, where it is combined with beam segments obtained from the inputs from other cables. Signals from multiple beam segments are concentrated onto the output fibers of each multi-fiber cable. With this approach, the beams flow along optically transparent paths through the switch, and the characteristics of the optical signals are unaltered as the signals flow through the switch.