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:
Jul. 27, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 30, 2002
Alexei V. Azarov, Old Bridge, NJ (US);
Randy C. Giles, Whippany, NJ (US);
Wendelin Weingartner, New York City, NY (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
A control circuit designed to control driving voltages applied to the actuating electrodes of a MEMS mirror. The control circuit is interfaced with a mirror position sensor and includes a variable gain amplifier whose output depends on a desired mirror equilibrium angle and a current mirror tilt angle determined by the sensor. The desired equilibrium angle can be changed by varying a reference signal applied to the amplifier. The control circuit can stabilize the mirror at relatively large tilt angles and, as a result, extend the available angular range beyond the snap-down angle. Since the number of MEMS mirrors that can be arrayed in an optical cross-connect is a function of the available angular range, the number of channels in a cross-connect may be substantially increased.