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:
May. 19, 2009
Filed:
May. 21, 2004
Charles T. Yarbrough, Iii, Austin, TX (US);
James A. Reimund, Georgetown, TX (US);
Rajesh Sukumaran, Austin, TX (US);
Michel G. Haddad, Austin, TX (US);
Charles T. Yarbrough, III, Austin, TX (US);
James A. Reimund, Georgetown, TX (US);
Rajesh Sukumaran, Austin, TX (US);
Michel G. Haddad, Austin, TX (US);
National Instruments Corporation, Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A dimensionally flexible sparse matrix comprising multiple ports connected to a plurality of interconnected universal switches is disclosed. Each universal switch has at least three terminals and is switchable to connect any pair or all three terminals together. The plurality of interconnected universal switches are independently switchable to connect any one or more ports of the sparse matrix to any subset of the other ports. The sparse matrix may also be configurable to duplicate the connectivity of a variety of dimensionally different switch matrices by designating a first subset of the multiple ports as row ports and a second subset of the remaining ports as column ports with the added flexibility of connecting row-to-row and/or column-to column. The small physical size of signal stubs in the universal switches results in a signal path between any pair of terminals that may be suitable for the transmission of signal frequencies greater than approximately 500 mega-hertz.