U.S. patents available from 1976 to present.
U.S. patent applications available from 2005 to present.

Icon_funbox Quotables

"The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys."

Sir William Preece, chief engineer, British Post Office ; 1878

Newsletter  PatentStorm News

Make the Most of Our Site

See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.

Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.

Registered users: Manage your profile.

 

Class 385/18 - Reflective-type switch


Subclass of Class 385 - Optical waveguides
Definition: Subject matter wherein selective coupling of light between
No. of patents: 1573
Last issue date: 05/15/2012


          11            
NumberTitleIssue Date
7138622Method and apparatus for monitoring light beams
An apparatus and method for monitoring light beams comprising a reflector for passing at least partially through the beam to reflect a sample of the beam and at least one sensor arranged to receive the reflected beam sample for determining a characteristic of the be...
11/21/2006
7137412Relay
A relay long in service life aiming at higher reliability and lower cost is achieved by use of a technology of microelectromechanical•systems. The relay comprises a flow path having narrow chokes and wide chokes, formed by bonding two insulating members together, ...
11/21/2006
7136214Active faceted mirror system for lithography
An active faceted mirror system is disclosed. The active faceted mirror system includes a set of active facet mirror devices, a base plate and a set of pins for mounting the active facet mirror devices to the base plate. Each of the active facet mirror devices inclu...
11/14/2006
7136554Post-packaging optical coupling
An optical coupling and a method of making an optical coupling where the alignment of the optical beam between two optical ports is completed after the optical coupling is assembled or packaged for shipment through the repositioning of a collecting mirror which is i...
11/14/2006
7136588Apparatus and method for optical add/drop multiplexing
In one aspect of the invention, an apparatus operable to facilitate add/drop multiplexing of optical signals includes an input operable to receive an input optical signal and an added optical signal, the input operable to generate a first and a second copy of the in...
11/14/2006
7136547Method and apparatus for beam deflection
The invention provides a method and apparatus for directing a radiation beam (504, 606) in a desired direction. There is provided a movable member (10) supported for movement by a fixed member (40) and the movable member has an optical element, ...
11/14/2006
7132874Linearizing apparatus and method
An apparatus and method are disclosed which provide a substantially linear relationship between an input signal, such as an input voltage or current, and a predetermined parameter, such as a frequency response or capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor or varactor...
11/07/2006
7133185MEMS optical switch with self-assembly structure
A self-assembly structure of micro electromechanical optical switch utilizes residual stresses of three curved beams. The first curved beam pushes the base plate away from the substrate. The second curved beam lifts up the mirror slightly. Then, the third curved bea...
11/07/2006
7133183Micro-optics solar energy concentrator
Due to an ever growing shortage of conventional energy sources, there is an increasingly intense interest in harnessing solar energy. The instant invention can contribute to the goal of achieving environmentally clean solar energy to be competitive with conventional...
11/07/2006
7133616Wavelength-selective routing using an optical add/drop architecture
A wavelength-selective routing capability is provided in a single network element by configuring the network element using a combination of add/drop network elements to route individual optical channels of WDM signals among a plurality of optical transmission paths ...
11/07/2006
7129617Rotary-type comb-drive actuator and variable optical attenuator using the same
The present invention relates to an actuator and optical attenuator using the actuator. The rotary-type comb-drive actuator includes a substrate, a movable electrode, a drive electrode, one or more vertical springs, one or more vertical spring anchors, a horizontal ...
10/31/2006
7129601Apparatus for controlled movement of an element
A method and apparatus for supporting a movable member (10) with respect to a fixed member (40) is provided. The movable member (10) includes a magnetically permeable portion (81) contained therein and magnetic element (50) fixedly...
10/31/2006
7129722Methods of improving reliability of an electro-optical module
The quality and reliability of electro-optical modules can be improved, for instance, through improved testing and burn-in of an electro-optical sub-assembly. Reliability can also be enhanced through better methods of constructing an electro-optical module. By arran...
10/31/2006
7130501Meso-scale strictly non-blocking N×N optical crossbar switch using precision servo controls
A design is presented for an N×N crossbar switch. A crossbar switch is one of the basic components of Optical Switching Networks. An optical N×N switch has the capability of connecting any light beam from the input of the switch to any output of the switch without...
10/31/2006
7130099Micromirror unit with torsion connector having nonconstant width
A micromirror unit is provided which includes a frame, a mirror forming base upon which a mirror surface is formed, and a torsion connector which includes a first end connected to the mirror forming base and a second end connected to the frame. The torsion connector...
10/31/2006
7127137Optical switch with adjustable optical loss
An apparatus and method of controlling optical loss in an optical switch to equalize optical power or loss in a group of optical signals in an optical transmission system relatively insensitive to mechanical vibration. In one embodiment a group of optical signals is...
10/24/2006
7127136Optical crossbar switch
An optical crossbar switch comprises a plurality of input devices (1A to 1C), a plurality of output devices (2A to 2C), an optical transpose system (3) positioned between the input devices and the output devices, and control means ...
10/24/2006
7126250Apparatus comprising an array of tightly spaced rotatable optical elements with two axes of rotation
In one embodiment, a rotatable element includes a plate, a plate support, a cradle, and a cradle support. The plate is coupled to the cradle via the plate support. The cradle is coupled to a surrounding frame by the cradle support. The plate and cradle are suspended...
10/24/2006
7126740Multifunctional optical device having a spatial light modulator with an array of micromirrors
A reconfigurable multifunctional optical device has an optical arrangement for receiving an optical signal, each having optical bands or channels, and a spatial light modulator for reflecting the at least one optical signal provided thereon. The optical arrangement ...
10/24/2006
7123394System and method for the laser beam deflection for optical measuring systems
A system for the laser beam deflection for optical measuring systems includes an optical element for the deflection of an incident laser beam and a driving unit for generating a rotational movement between the optical element and the incident laser beam in order to ...
10/17/2006
7122786Controlling apparatus and controlling method of optical switching device
A controlling apparatus and a controlling method of an optical switching device are capable of automatically correcting angle deviations of tilt-mirrors to thereby reduce an optical loss. To this end, such as in a three-dimension type optical switching device includ...
10/17/2006
7120331Optical device and production method thereof
An optical device according to an embodiment of the present invention has an actuator structure. The actuator structure has a substrate, a stationary electrode, a movable electrode, an optical element, and a hole portion. The stationary electrode is provided on a su...
10/10/2006
7119474Systems and methods for overcoming stiction
An electromechanical system includes a structural plate in contact with a stop and an actuator activated by a force for creating a movement of the stop relative to the structural plate, wherein the movement is sufficient to overcome stiction forces between the struc...
10/10/2006
7120329Optical crossconnect device and monitoring method of optical crossconnect device
An optical crossconect device comprises an optical switch, input optical level monitoring unit for monitoring optical levels of optical signals supplied to there to, signal generating unit for generating a monitoring signal to monitor the optical switch, input optic...
10/10/2006
7116858Optical switch elements
An optical switch element, methods form making an optical switch element and optical switches containing the optical switch element. The optical switch element includes a housing containing a longitudinal channel therein having a channel axis defined along a length ...
10/03/2006
7116857Optomechanical switch using laser or light movable liquid crystal
An optomechanical switch comprised of light or laser movable liquid crystal is disclosed. The optomechanical switch consists of a plate of light movable liquid crystal rotatably disposed with respect to a substrate. When activated with a light or laser source, the l...
10/03/2006
7116480Method and apparatus for optical switching
An optical switch includes a first port, a second port, a first component group, a second component group, and a switching component group. The switching component group includes a reflector, a polarization beam splitter coupled to the reflector, and a polarization ...
10/03/2006
7116465Micromirror device
There is provided a micromirror device, which is provided with a mirror layer including a mirror surface which is supported to be rotatable around a first axis passing through a center of the mirror surface, and an upper substrate having transparency including a fir...
10/03/2006
7116412Angle detection optical system, angle detection apparatus, optical signal switch system and information recording and reproduction system
A reflective surface for detection is provided in an object being detected. Laser light condensed by a condensing lens is emitted from a laser light source and angle detection is performed by performing angle detection of the reflected light. The reflected light is ...
10/03/2006
7115423Fluidic structures within an array package
A package for an addressable array of multiple features carried on a first side of a substrate, and a method of using such package. The package includes a housing which receives the substrate such that the housing and received substrate define a chamber into which t...
10/03/2006
7114858Laser based ignition system for natural gas reciprocating engines, laser based ignition system having capability to detect successful ignition event; and distributor system for use with high-powered pulsed lasers
A laser based ignition system for stationary natural gas engines, a distributor system for use with high-powered lasers, and a method of determining a successful ignition event in a laser-based ignition system are provided. The laser based ignition (LBI) system for ...
10/03/2006
7116873High contrast front projection display panel and a method of making a high contrast front projection display panel
An optical display panel which provides improved viewing contrast for front projection applications, and a method of producing a stacked optical waveguide panel for front projection applications, are disclosed. The optical panel includes a plurality of stacked optic...
10/03/2006
7116862Apparatus and method for providing gain equalization
In one aspect of the invention, a gain equalizer comprises a wavelength division demultiplexer operable to separate one or more communication bands into a plurality of wavelengths and an array of phase shifter stages. Each phase shifter stage comprises a micro-elect...
10/03/2006
7116863Thermally actuated wavelength tunable optical filter
Provided is a wavelength tunable optical filter of a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS). The wavelength tunable optical filter comprises two optical fibers or optical waveguides having their optical axes aligned to each other, two lens for collimating light at l...
10/03/2006
7116467Structured fluid compositions for electrophoretically frustrated total internal reflection displays
A structured fluid composition comprising: (a) a low refractive index liquid; (b) particles including light absorbing charged particles such as pigments, non-light absorbing uncharged particles such as teflon, sili...
10/03/2006
7116856Optical switch matrix
A matrix optical switch that can switch the transmission path of an optical signal without requiring a driving unit for each optical switch is realized. A matrix optical switch for switching a transmission path of an optical signal by connecting plural input sides a...
10/03/2006
7113689Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) variable optical attenuator
An MEMS variable optical attenuator includes a substrate having a planar surface, a micro-electric actuator arranged on the planar surface of the substrate, a pair of coaxially aligned optical waveguides having a receiving end and a transmitting end, respectively, a...
09/26/2006
7110633Method and apparatus to provide alternative paths for optical protection path switch arrays
A method and apparatus are described to provide optical path protection for an optical switching system. An apparatus includes a first optical core switch, a second optical core switch, and an optical protection switch. The optical protection switch has at least two...
09/19/2006
7110637Two-step electrode for MEMs micromirrors
A “piano”-style MEMs device includes an elongated platform pivotally mounted proximate the middle thereof by a torsional hinge. The middle portion of the platform and the torsional hinge have a combined width less than the width of the rest of the platform, wher...
09/19/2006
7110635Electrical x-talk shield for MEMS micromirrors
A micro-electro-mechanical (MEMs) mirror device for use in an optical switch is disclosed. A “piano”-style MEMs device includes an elongated platform pivotally mounted proximate the middle thereof by a torsional hinge. The middle portion of the platform and the ...
09/19/2006
          11            
 
Sign InRegister
Username  
Password   
forgot password?