Apparatus and Manufacturing Method for an Integrated Multicast Switch, For Use in Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Networks
First Claim
1. A multicast optical switching device comprising:
- M optical splitters, each having one input/output port and N output/input ports, and thereby designated as an 1×
N optical splitter, M and N being integers greater than 1;
N optical switches, each having a ferrule, M input/output ports and one output/input port, and thereby designated as a M×
1 optical switch;
a first set of optical fibers, each of the fibers in the first set connecting one of the N output/input ports of one of the optical splitters to the ferrule and one of the input/output ports of one of the N switches, wherein each of the N output/input ports of each one of the optical splitters is connected to one of the N switches by means of the optical fibers in the first set without any fusion splicing in a majority of said optical fibers in the first set, and each of the M input/output ports of each one of the switches is connected to one of the M optical splitters by means of the optical fibers in the first set without any fusion splicing in a majority of said optical fibers in the first set; and
a second set of N optical fibers;
said ferrule of each of said N optical switches housing the M optical fibers in the first set connected to the M input/output ports of such switch and an optical fiber in the second set connected to the one output/input port of such switch.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
In one embodiment, each of the output/input ports of each one of a plurality of optical splitters is connected to one of a plurality of optical switches by means of optical fibers without any fusion splicing in a majority of the optical fibers, and each of the input/output ports of each one of the switches is connected to one of the optical splitters by means of the optical fibers without any fusion splicing in a majority of the optical fibers. Each of the output/input ports of each one of the optical splitters may be directly connected to the ferrule and one of the input/output ports of one of the switches by the optical fibers. The optical splitters may be implemented in at least one planar lightwave circuit (PLC) chip. Optionally, at least one fiber holder defining a plurality of channels therein may be used to hold the optical fibers each of which is aligned with a corresponding output/input port of one of the optical splitters.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A multicast optical switching device comprising:
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M optical splitters, each having one input/output port and N output/input ports, and thereby designated as an 1×
N optical splitter, M and N being integers greater than 1;N optical switches, each having a ferrule, M input/output ports and one output/input port, and thereby designated as a M×
1 optical switch;a first set of optical fibers, each of the fibers in the first set connecting one of the N output/input ports of one of the optical splitters to the ferrule and one of the input/output ports of one of the N switches, wherein each of the N output/input ports of each one of the optical splitters is connected to one of the N switches by means of the optical fibers in the first set without any fusion splicing in a majority of said optical fibers in the first set, and each of the M input/output ports of each one of the switches is connected to one of the M optical splitters by means of the optical fibers in the first set without any fusion splicing in a majority of said optical fibers in the first set; and a second set of N optical fibers; said ferrule of each of said N optical switches housing the M optical fibers in the first set connected to the M input/output ports of such switch and an optical fiber in the second set connected to the one output/input port of such switch. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A multicast optical switching device comprising:
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at least one planar lightwave circuit (PLC) chip that contain(s) M optical splitters, each splitter having one input/output port and N output/input ports, and thereby designated as an 1×
N optical splitter, M and N being integers greater than 1;N optical switches, each having M input/output ports and one output/input port and thereby designated as a M×
1 optical switch;at least one fiber holder defining a plurality of channels therein; and a first set of optical fibers, each of the optical fibers in the first set being held in one of the fiber holder channels and aligned with a corresponding output/input port of one of the optical splitters, each of the optical fibers and the corresponding output/input port defining there between a corresponding optical path, wherein each of the N output/input ports of each one of the optical splitters is connected to one of the N switches by means of the optical fibers in the first set and through the corresponding optical path, without any fusion splicing in a majority of said optical fibers in the first set, and each of the M input/output ports of each one of the switches is connected to one of the M optical splitters by means of the optical fibers in the first set and through the corresponding optical path, without any fusion splicing in a majority of said optical fibers in the first set. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for making a multicast optical switching device comprising:
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providing M optical splitters, each having one input/output port and N output/input ports, designated as an 1×
N optical splitter, M and N being integers greater than 1;providing N optical switches, each having a ferrule, M input/output ports and one output/input port, designated as a M×
1 optical switch; anddirectly connecting each one of the N output/input ports of each one of the optical splitters to the ferrule and one of the input/output ports of one of the N switches by means of an optical fiber in a set of optical fibers, so that each of the N output/input ports of each one of the optical splitters is connected to one of the N switches by means of optical fibers without any fusion splicing in the majority of said optical fibers in the set, and each of the M input/output ports of each one of the switches is connected to one of the M optical splitters without any fusion splicing in the majority of said optical fibers in the set. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A method for making a multicast optical switching device comprising:
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providing at least one planar lightwave circuit (PLC) chip that contains M optical splitters, each splitter having one input/output port and N output/input ports, and thereby designated as an 1×
N optical splitter, M and N being integers greater than 1;providing N optical switches, each having M input/output ports and one output/input port and thereby designated as a M×
1 optical switch, and M optical fibers each connected to one of the M input/output ports of such switch;providing at least one fiber holder defining a plurality of channels therein; causing each of said optical fibers of the N optical switches to be held in one of the plurality of channels; aligning each of the optical fibers held in one of the channels with a corresponding output/input port of one of the optical splitters, each of the optical fibers and the output/input port aligned with such optical fiber defining there between a corresponding optical path; wherein each of the N output/input ports of each one of the optical splitters is connected to one of the N switches by means of an optical fiber and through its corresponding optical path without any fusion splicing in the majority of said optical fibers, and each of the M input/output ports of each one of the switches is connected to one of the M optical splitters by means of an optical fiber and through its corresponding optical path without any fusion splicing in the majority of said optical fibers. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification