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:
Dec. 10, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 07, 2000
Applicant:
Inventor:
Alan Briggs, Cambridgeshire, GB;
Assignee:
Nortel Networks Limited, St. Laurent, CA;
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G02B 6/26 ; G02B 6/35 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G02B 6/26 ; G02B 6/35 ;
Abstract
A crosspoint switch is provided that has N inputs, M outputs, and an array of (N+X)×(M+X) switching elements, where N, M, and X are all positive integers. By providing more than the standard N×M switching elements, it becomes possible to utilise the additional switching elements to provide one or more additional protection pathways to compensate for a failure in a switching element: in the event of failure of a switching element, an affected path between one of the M inputs and M outputs can be replaced by an alternate path utilising one or more of the additional switching elements.