JPH0810416B2 - Optical connection method and device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an optical connection method required for transmitting information in parallel and at high speed by using light.

(Prior Art) Research on computers that execute high-speed operations in order to process large-scale information is progressing, but the method based on sequential processing using electric circuits is already approaching the performance limit.
Therefore, research is progressing on parallel processing architectures such as supercomputers and array processors that execute multiple operations simultaneously. On the other hand, light has a spatial expanse and its physical properties do not interfere with each other, so operations using light are excellent in parallelism. The optical connection between data is important. As such an optical connection method, conventionally, a method of changing light using a hologram or a prism has been generally used. However, such an optical polarization element is difficult to design and manufacture, and has a plurality of optical systems when combined with other optical functional elements. In order to solve such a defect, an optical connection method using image formation of a lens has recently been proposed. For details of this method, see, for example, the magazine “Optical Computing '88 Digest (Optical Computin
g'88 Digest) ”“ Geometries for Optical Implementat ”
ions of the Perfect Schuffle) ”.
In this method, light is connected using only a lens, but it is poor in versatility and limited to a special connection. Moreover, the systematic examination was insufficient, and the method of branching the data arranged in the plane to an arbitrary position was unclear.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional optical connection method, the optical system is complicated, or it is not easy to branch the data arranged in the plane to an arbitrary position. .

An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for branching data arranged in a plane to an arbitrary position.

(Means for Solving the Problems) An optical connection method of the present invention is an optical connection method for transmitting light of N × N surface array signals from an input surface to an output surface having the same structure as the input surface. , 2log ₂ N switching arrays in which N / 2 × N / 2 switches for switching the same number of signals as the number of signals on the input surface are arranged between the input surface and the output surface, The surface is connected to the output surface, the light emitting means of the surface array is caused to emit light by the input signal of the surface array, and the (n, m) th light coming from the light emitting means of the kth surface array is changed to When entering the light emitting means of the (k + 1) th plane array, when k is smaller than logN, (n mod k−N / 2k) is smaller than 0, and when n is an odd number (n + 1, m) , N is an even number (n + m / 2k,
m), (n mod k−N / 2k) is greater than 0, (n−n / 2k, m) when n is an odd number, and (n−1, n) when n is an even number.
m) and k are larger than logN, (m mod k−N / 2k) is 0
When m is odd, (n, m + 1), when m is even, (n, m + m / 2k), (m mod k−N / 2k) is greater than 0, m Is (n, m−m / 2k) when is odd, (n, m−1) when m is even, or (m mod k−N / 2k) when k is smaller than logN. When it is smaller than 0, (n, m + m / 2k) when m is an odd number, when (m mod k−N / 2k) is larger than 0, when (m mod k−N / 2k) is an odd number (n, m−m) / 2k), when m is an even number (n, m-1), or when k is greater than logN, when (n mod k-N / 2k) is less than 0, when m is an odd number Is (n + 1, m), and when n is an even number, (n + n / 2
k, m), (n mod k−N / 2k) is greater than 0, (n−n / 2k, m) when n is an odd number, and (n−1, n) when n is an even number.
m), so that the signal received by the light receiving means is branched, and the branched signal causes the signal having the same structure as that of the light emitting means of the plane array to be (k +
1) Optical connection method 2 for driving the light emitting means of the second surface arrangement
It is characterized by repeating log ₂ N times and branching the input signal of the entire array to an arbitrary position in the surface.

Further, the optical connecting device of the present invention has a planar array of light emitting means composed of a plurality of light emitting elements and a planar array of light receiving elements of the same number as the light emitting elements constituting the planar array of light emitting means. A light receiving means, a lens eye of a surface array composed of a plurality of lenses arranged between the light emitting means of the surface array and the light receiving means of the surface array; and a signal received by the light receiving means of the surface array. The present invention is characterized in that a plurality of optical connecting means, each of which is composed of a switch array of a plane array composed of at least two input and two output switches for switching, are arranged in series.

(Operation) This operation will be described with reference to FIG. Figure 2 shows 16
Regarding the optical connection of 16 inputs and 16 inputs, a network is constructed by using the optical arithmetic method of the present invention, and the data flow is shown. The input signals A to P are incident on the switch with eight 2-inputs and 2-outputs, branched and distributed, and then incident on the switch of the next stage.

In this example, the first stage corresponds to k = 1 and N = 16, so (a) when n <8 (B) When n> 8 Branched. Therefore, for example, A (n = 1) is B (n =
To position 2), B (n = 2) to position J (n = 10),
I (n = 9) is A (n = 1), J (n = 10) is I (n =)
It is branched to the position of 9). In the connection at the next stage, k =
2, which corresponds to N = 16 (a) When n mod 8 <4 (B) When n mod 8> 4 Branched. Therefore, for example, A (n = 1) is B (n =
To the position 2), B (n = 2) is branched to the position F (n = 6). In the case of 16 inputs and outputs, the output signals a to p are obtained by passing such a switch four times in total.

At this time, the switches of each stage are arranged in a straight line,
Further, the signal lines connecting the switches also intersect on a certain straight line. Therefore, when connecting each switch by spatially propagating light, if a lens is placed at the position where the signal lines intersect, an image is formed on the surface of the switch on the output side, and each switch is They can be connected in an imaging relationship. Generally, when connecting N inputs and N outputs, a switch of log ₂ N stages is required. The two-dimensional optical connection method between the switches arranged in one dimension has been described above. For example, a four-input / output switch is used to form a three-dimensional optical connection between the switches arranged in two dimensions. The connection method can also be easily realized.
FIG. 3 shows the connection relationship between the first-stage switch and the second-stage switch when performing a 64-input 64-output interview. The quadrangle drawn with a thick line represents one switch, and the arrow shows the path of light from the first stage switch to the second stage switch. The respective arrows intersect at 4 × 4 points on the same plane, and by placing a lens at this position, connection can be realized in an imaging relationship as in the one-dimensional case. In general, n ² inputs
When connecting n ² outputs, a switch of 4 inputs and 4 outputs is used, and a switch of log ₂ n stages is required.

Thus, according to the wiring rule of the optical connection method of the present invention, a network can be uniquely configured, and all inputs and outputs can be freely connected. If the 2-input / 2-output switch has a broadcasting function, the entire network has a broadcasting function.

(Example) Hereinafter, the Example of this invention is described.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an embodiment for realizing the optical connection method of the present invention. This optical connecting device is a switch in which, for example, a light emitting element array 1 such as a semiconductor laser array, a lens array 2 such as a microlens array, a light receiving element array 3, and a cross bus switch having 4 inputs and 4 outputs are arranged. The array 4 is provided with a plurality of optical connecting means composed of a light emitting element driving device 5 composed of a circuit for applying a voltage to the light emitting element and a switch driving device 6 composed of a circuit for controlling a switch.

In the optical arithmetic device having the above configuration, the data input to the device is controlled by the light emitting element driving device. The light emitted from the light emitting element is imaged on the light receiving element by the lens. FIG. 4 (a) shows the shape of the third stage lens for making an optical connection of 64 inputs and 64 outputs. Assuming that the pitch of the light emitting elements is d, four lenses each having a diameter of 5d / 3 are arranged in contact with each other as shown in the figure. Similarly, (b) shows the shape of the second stage lens, in which a lens having a diameter of 7d / 5 is arranged. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, with the focal length of the lens being f, the distance between the first-stage light emitting element 11 and the lens 12 is 16f / 9, and the distance between the lens 12 and the second-stage light receiving element is 16f / 9. The distance between 13 is 2f / 9, the distance between the second stage light emitting element 14 and the lens 15 is 8f / 5, the distance between the lens 15 and the third stage light receiving element 16 is 2f / 5, Third stage light emitting element 17 and lens
The distance between 18 is 4f / 3, the lens 18 and the light receiving element 19 of the fourth stage
Is 2f / 3, the distance between the fourth stage light emitting element 20 and the lens 21 is 2f, and the distance between the lens 22 and the fifth stage light receiving element 23 is 2f. Place each lens. The light receiving elements are arranged at the same pitch as the light emitting elements, and receive the imaging pattern of the light emitting elements. Signals taken are, for example, 4
It is branched by crossbar switches 23, 24, 25 and 26 having four inputs and four outputs. With a total of 4 connections, a connection between 64 signals over the entire surface can be realized.

(Effect of the Invention) As described in detail above, by using the connection method of the present invention, surface information can be switched at high speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the optical connection method of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a connection network, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a connection relationship between switches, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a structure of a first lens used for connection, and FIG. In the figures showing the configuration of the optical system, 1 ... Light emitting element array, 2 ... Lens array, 3 ... Light receiving element array, 4 ... Switch array, 5
...... Light emitting element drive device, 6 …… Switch drive device, 11,1
4,17,20 …… Light emitting element, 12,15,18,21 …… Lens, 13,16,
19,22 …… Light receiving element, 23,24,25,26 …… Crossbar switch.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A switching in which N / 2 × N / 2 switches for switching the same number of signals as the number of signals on the input surface are input from an input surface for inputting signals of N × N surface array. In an optical connection method for transmitting light to an output surface having the same structure as the input surface through 2log ₂ N arrays, the (n, m) th light emitted from the kth switching array is converted into When it is incident on the (k + 1) th switching array, it is incident under the following conditions: (a) When K <log ₂ N Or Or (B) When k> log ₂ N Or Or The (k + 1) th switching array branches the received signal and outputs it to the switching array of the next stage, and branches the input signal of the plane array to an arbitrary position in the plane. 2. A surface array light emitting means composed of a plurality of light emitting elements, and a surface array light receiving means composed of the same number of light receiving elements as the surface array light emitting means. A lens array of a surface array including a plurality of lenses disposed between the light emitting means of the surface array and the light receiving means of the surface array, and a signal received by the light receiving means of the surface array are switched at least 2. Input 2
An optical connecting device comprising a plurality of optical connecting means arranged in series, each of which is composed of a switch array of a plane array composed of output switches.