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:
Feb. 04, 2003
Filed:
Apr. 16, 1999
George D. Zuras, Jr., San Jose, CA (US);
William H. McAllister, Saratoga, CA (US);
Agilent Technologies, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
An exchange switch for an optical switching network utilizes the manipulation of fluid to selectively exchange outputs for two optical transmission paths. That is, when the switch is in a signal-exchange state, first and second transmission paths reciprocally exchange optical signals that are received at input waveguides of the transmission paths. In one embodiment, the exchange switch includes an optical switching arrangement having first and second switching members. The first switching member is positioned to selectively interrupt the continuation of signal propagation along the first transmission path, while the second switching member is positioned to selectively interrupt the continuation of signal propagation along the second transmission path. When fluid resides within the chambers of the two switching members, the exchange switch is in a signal-continuation state. However, by evacuating fluid from the chambers, a signal propagating along one of the transmission paths will be reflected into an exchange waveguide that transfers the optical signal to the other transmission path. In other embodiments, the exchange switch includes at least one fluid-manipulable chamber and a steady-state reflector. The different elements cooperate to enable either signal continuation or signal exchange, depending on the states of the fluid-manipulable chambers.