Optical waveguides – With optical coupler – Switch
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-04
2003-06-03
Ullah, Alan E. (Department: 2874)
Optical waveguides
With optical coupler
Switch
Reexamination Certificate
active
06574387
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a highly efficient all-optical switching system and the method thereof. With the method provided by the present invention the transmission rate of the optical fiber communication network increases a lot.
2. Related Art
Along with the rapid growth of the Internet and mobile phone users, the demand of the data transmission rate and the need of the broad-band communication are getting higher and higher. It is a trend in the future to use the optical fiber network with the light as a medium of transmission. Although the data on the optical fiber network is transmitted in the form of light, a router of the optical fiber network could only routes electrical signals. Thus when the optical data is transmitted to a routing point, it has to be converted into electrical data first. After the electrical data is routed by the electrical router (switching system), it has to be converted back into the optical data and to be transmitted by the optical fiber network subsequently. Such “optical data-electrical data-optical data” (O-E-O) routing mode not only costs higher but also reduces the transmission rate of the optical data and becomes a bottle-neck of the transmission rate of the optical fiber network.
There are several conventional all-optical switching devices (optical data-optical data-optical data, O-O-O) of communication network as follows.
1. A device which utilizes movable mirrors to do the light switching (refer to U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,873);
2. A device which utilizes refraction of air bubbles to do the light switching (refer to U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,157);
3. A device which utilizes movable fibers and the principle of magnetic field to do the light switching (refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,169,826);
4. A device which utilizes movable fibers and the principle of a spiral motor to do the light switching (refer to ROC Patent Publication Nos. 296,806 and 289,441);
3. The Disadvantages of the Prior Arts
1. To Use the Movable Mirrors to Do the Light Switching
This is a kind of mechanical rotating apparatus whose rotating shaft of the mirrors might affect the light signal transmission with wrong rotating angles caused by mechanical fatigue. It is hard to detect if there is anything wrong with the rotating angle of the mirrors, and the cost of maintenance is high. Besides, a n×m switching structure (n input light signals and m output light signals) needs n×m mirrors. Since there is a limit to reduce the mirrors in size, the system is huge. The area of a 64×64 switching structure will be 256 times of that of the 4×4 switching structure in size.
2. To Use the Refraction of Air Bubbles to Do the Light Switching
It is similar to the principle of the mirror refraction mentioned above, but it is liquid bubble used for refraction in this case. When the light passes the liquid, it is refracted by the bubble generated from the liquid. The liquid in the envelopes will be vaporized after a long time usage or the tiny dust will enter the envelopes due to the untight envelopes which might affect the generated bubbles and cause inaccurate refraction angle. It will be hard to refill the envelopes after the liquid is vaporized if the envelopes are too tight. Also it is needed to detect the status of the liquid often. The cost for maintenance is high.
3. To Use the Movable Fibers and the Principle of the Magnetic Field to Do the Light Switching
This method only applied to one-dimensional switching device (1×N) and is actually hard to apply to two-dimensional switching device (N×M).
4. To Use the Movable Fibers and the Principle of the Spiral Motor to Do the Light Switching
This method only applied to one-dimensional switching device (1×N) and is actually hard to apply to two-dimensional switching device (N×M).
The most serious disadvantage of the above mentioned four methods is that they can not be commercially mass produced. There are some serious problems of the reliability and the cost to be resolved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention utilizes “optical data-optical data-optical data” (O-O-O) switching mode to switch the light directly and to avoid the disadvantage of the low transmission rate of the conventional (O-E-O) switching system and improve the disadvantages of the conventional (O-O-O) switching system.
This invention is to provide a feasible, highly-efficient all-optical switching system and a method thereof. To use the method provided by this invention will increase the transmission rate of the optical fiber communication network.
This invention provides an all-optical switching system and its method. The system comprises: N 1×M splitters for receiving N sets of optical data I
1
, I
2
, . . . , I
N−1
, I
N
. Said N splitters split said N sets of optical data into M sets of optical data respectively and generate a N×M matrix D of optical data as follows:
D
=
[
D
1
,
1
D
1
,
2
⋯
D
1
,
M
-
1
D
1
,
M
D
2
,
1
D
2
,
2
⋯
D
2
,
M
-
1
D
2
,
M
⋮
⋮
⋰
⋮
⋮
D
N
-
1
,
1
D
N
-
1
,
2
⋯
D
N
-
1
,
M
-
1
D
N
-
1
,
M
D
N
,
1
D
N
,
2
⋯
D
N
,
M
-
1
D
N
,
M
]
wherein N and M are integers, the M sets of optical data D
1,1
, D
1,2
, . . . , D
1,M−1
, D
1,M
are generated by the first 1×M splitter by splitting the first optical data I
1
, and D
1,1
=D
1,2
= . . . =D
1,M−1
=D
1,M
=I
1
. On the analogy of this, an N×M matrix switching structure to receive the N×M matrix D of optical data generated by the splitters and receive another driving signals matrix S simultaneously as follows:
S
=
[
S
1
,
1
S
1
,
2
⋯
S
1
,
M
-
1
S
1
,
M
S
2
,
1
S
2
,
2
⋯
S
2
,
M
-
1
S
2
,
M
⋮
⋮
⋰
⋮
⋮
S
N
-
1
,
1
S
N
-
1
,
2
⋯
S
N
-
1
,
M
-
1
S
N
-
1
,
M
S
N
,
1
S
N
,
2
⋯
S
N
,
M
-
1
S
N
,
M
]
and generates an N×M matrix D′ of optical data as follows:
D
′
=
[
D
1
,
1
′
D
1
,
2
′
⋯
D
1
,
M
-
1
′
D
1
,
M
′
D
2
,
1
′
D
2
,
2
′
⋯
D
2
,
M
-
1
′
D
2
,
M
′
⋮
⋮
⋰
⋮
⋮
D
N
-
1
,
1
′
D
N
-
1
,
2
′
⋯
D
N
-
1
,
M
-
1
′
D
N
-
1
,
M
′
D
N
,
1
′
D
N
,
2
′
⋯
D
N
,
M
-
1
′
D
N
,
M
′
]
M sets of N×1 combiners receive the N×M matrix D′ of optical data output from the N×M matrix switching structure. Said M sets of combiners combine N sets of optical data respectively to generate M sets of optical data O
1
, O
2
, . . . , O
M−1
, O
M
, wherein the first output optical data O
1
is generated by the first combiner after combining N sets of optical data D′
1,1
, D′
2,1
, . . . , D′
N−1,1
, D′
N,1
, on the analogy of this.
In order to make the technical contents and characteristics easier to be understood, the preferred embodiment is introduced with the brief description of the drawings as follows.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4580873 (1986-04-01), Levinson
patent: 4988157 (1991-01-01), Jackel et al.
patent: 5757526 (1998-05-01), Shiragaki et al.
patent: 6169826 (2001-01-01), Nishiyama et al.
patent: 6175433 (2001-01-01), Patel et al.
patent: 6208792 (2001-03-01), Hwang et al.
patent: 6292598 (2001-09-01), Price et al.
patent: 2001/0015842 (2001-08-01), Patel et al.
patent: 2002/0191906 (2002-12-01), Price et al.
patent: 296806 (1984-08-01), None
patent: 289441 (1985-01-01), None
Desun System Inc.
Ullah Alan E.
LandOfFree
All-optical switching system and method thereof does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with All-optical switching system and method thereof, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and All-optical switching system and method thereof will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3098568