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:
Mar. 22, 2005
Filed:
Apr. 21, 2003
William A. Noonan, Bethesda, MD (US);
William A. Noonan, Bethesda, MD (US);
Corporation for National Research Initiatives, Reston, VA (US);
Abstract
An optical cross-connect switch is disclosed which includes a plurality of optical input fibers, a plurality of optical output fibers and a plurality of the (1×N)-switches ganged together. Each of the switches includes a state selector, a lens for collimating light from a single one of the optical input fibers, a plurality of output coupling lenses, each of which corresponds to one of the optical output fibers, and a beam shaper for focusing light from the state selector onto a selected one of the coupling lenses for further focusing of the light onto the corresponding optical output fiber. Alternatively, the optical cross-connect switch can be a single an (L×K)-switch which includes a plurality of state selectors and a plurality of lenses for collimating light from the plurality of optical input fibers.