Title of Invention

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR LINE-SWITCHING OF MEMS MATRIX AND AMDF.

Abstract The present invention provides a method and a device for line-switching in an automated main distribution frame (AMDF). It is an object of the present invention to solve the problem of contact point damage which may occur during hot switching of micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) matrix, and further solve the corresponding problems which may occur during the line-switching in AMDF. In particular, the present invention is preferably embodied in the following way: when switching operation of a switch unit in MEMS is to be performed (21), the current introduced into MEMS matrix is firstly cut off (22), and is then recovered when the switching operation is finished (24), so as to prevent the "agglutinate" phenomena. Therefore, the present invention provides corresponding protection for the switching process of MEMS matrix relays in AMDF, and effectively prevents the "agglutinate" phenomena when the switch unit in MEMS matrix performs switching operation, whereby the reliability of AMDF is enhanced.
Full Text Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to line-switching of electronic or electric devices,
more particularly, relates to method and device for line-switching of MEMS
matrix and automated main distribution frame (AMDF).
Background of the Invention
During the implementation of AMDF, some cross matrices are implemented by
means of micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS), i.e., using MEMS to form
relay matrix to perform wiring line switching in AMDF.
As shown in Fig.l, an AMDF provided with MEMS mainly includes a MEMS
matrix 100, device cables 200 and user cables 300, wherein the MEMS matrix 100
is connected to the device cables 200 and the user cables 300, respectively. The
device cables 200 are configured to connect with the devices in communication
network, and the user cables 300 are configured to connect with the user terminals
in communication network. Under the control of switching control part(not
shown), wiring line switching between multiply lines of the device cables 200 and
the user cables 300 can be performed, so as to switch on/off the line between
device and user, and effectively control the communication service in network.
When hot switching is performed in MEMS matrix, the contact point thereof may
be damaged, and "agglutinate" phenomena may occur, which leads to switch unit
failure in this MEMS matrix. The hot switching means the switch units in MEMS
matrix switches its state when current is passing by.
In the prior art of AMDF design, there is no technical solution which can provide
protection for MEMS matrix to avoid hot switching damage thereof.
Summary of the Invention

In view of the above-described problems of the prior art, it is an object of the
present invention to provide a method and a device for line-switching of ADMF
and MEMS matrix which effectively prevent the "agglutinate" phenomena from
occurring during MEMS switching and guarantee the reliability of the switching.
The object of the present invention is achieved by the following technical solution:
The present invention provides a method for line-switching of MEMS matrix,
including:
A. cutting off the current introduced into MEMS matrix before switching of a
switch unit in MEMS matrix is performed;
B. recovering the current introduced into MEMS matrix when the switching of the
corresponding switch unit in MEMS matrix is finished.
The cutting off the current in step A includes:
cutting off the current introduced into both sides of the MEMS matrix.
The present invention further provides a device for line-switching of MEMS
matrix, including: an MEMS matrix and a switch apparatus. The switch apparatus
is connected to the access line of the MEMS matrix, and the switch apparatus
switches the current introduced into the MEMS matrix before and after the
switching of a switch unit in MEMS matrix is performed.
The switch apparatus includes relays.
The relays comprise Single-Pole Double-Throw□SPDT□ relays.
There are two groups of switch apparatus installed on each access line on both
sides of the MEMS matrix respectively.


The present invention further provides a method for line- switching of AMDF with
MEMS matrix, including:
C. cutting off the current introduced into the MEMS matrix when a wiring line
switching needs to be performed by means of a switch unit in MEMS matrix;
D. the MEMS matrix performing the wiring line switching;
E. recovering the current introduced into the MEMS matrix when the switching
operation is finished.
The cutting off the current in step C includes:
cutting off the current introduced into the MEMS matrix via device side or user
side.
The cutting off the current in step C is performed by means of relay connected
thereto.
The relays may be provided separately, or existing in AMDF and connected to
MEMS matrix.
The present invention further provides a device for line-switching of AMDF with
MEMS matrix, including: a MEMS matrix, device cables, and user cables.
Moreover, protection relays are provided between the device cables and the
MEMS matrix, and between the user cables and the MEMS matrix.
The protection relays are connected to switching control part of the MEMS matrix,
which controls the protection relays and the MEMS matrix to perform wiring line
switching.
As can be seen from the above-described technical solution of the present
invention, protection is provided for the switching process of MEMS matrix


relays, and thus protection for the switching of MEMS matrix relays in AMDF is
also provided, which may effectively prevent the "agglutinate" phenomena when a
switch unit in MEMS matrix perform switching operation, whereby the reliability
of AMDF is enhanced..
Brief Description of the Accompanying Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram which shows the configuration of an AMDF with
MEMS matrix;
Fig. 2 is a flow chart which shows the method according to the present invention;
Fig.3 is a schematic diagram which shows the configuration of AMDF according
to the present invention;
Fig.4 is schematic diagram which shows the first embodiment of AMDF
according to the present invention;
Fig. 5 is schematic diagram which shows the second embodiment of AMDF
according to the present invention.
Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments
The present invention is directed to solve the problem of contact damage which
may occur during the MEMS matrix hot switching. In particular, the present
invention is preferably embodied in the following way: when switching operation
of a switch unit in MEMS is to be performed, the current introduced into the
MEMS matrix is firstly cut off, and is then recovered when the switching
operation is finished, so as to prevent the "agglutinate" phenomena.
Firstly, the present invention provides a method for line-switching of MEMS
matrix, including the following steps:
step 21: determining switching of a switch unit in the MEMS matrix needs to be
performed;


step 22: cutting off the current introduced into the MEMS matrix;
when it is determined that switching of the switch unit in the MEMS matrix needs
to be performed, the current introduced into both sides of the MEMS matrix is
required to be cut off;
step 23: the switch unit in the MEMS matrix performing switching operation;
step 24: recovering the current introduced into the MEMS matrix when the
switching operation of the switch unit in MEMS matrix is finished.
An embodiment of the present invention further provides a device for
line-switching of MEMS matrix, and the device includes: a MEMS matrix and
switch apparatus, wherein the switch apparatus are connected to the access line of
the MEMS matrix, and used for switching the current introduced into the
micro-electronic system when switching of a switch unit in the MEMS matrix
needs to be performed. The switch apparatus may be SPDT relays.
There are two groups of switch apparatus provided on each access line on both
sides of the MEMS matrix respectively. That is, a relay is additionally provided
on each port of both sides of the MEMS matrix to realize the protection for
MEMS matrix.
An embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for
line-switching of AMDF with MEMS matrix, which includes the following steps:
(1) in AMDF, when a wiring line switching needs to be performed by means of
MEMS matrix, for example, when lines on the device side and lines on the user
side need to be switched on or off in AMDF, and the wiring line switching needs
to be performed, firstly cutting off the current introduced into the MEMS matrix.
The step further includes:


automatically cutting off the current introduced into the MEMS matrix via device
side or user side by means of relays when it is required to switch the lines on
device side or on user side by the MEMS matrix;
(2) the MEMS matrix performs wiring line switching by means of the MEMS
matrix, i.e., using switching control part of the MEMS matrix to control any one
of the lines to be switched on or off;
(3) recovering the current introduced into the MEMS matrix when the switching
operation is finished □ so as to guarantee the normal operation of the
communication system.
An embodiment of the present invention further provides a line-switching device
for AMDF with MEMS matrix, as shown in Fig. 3, including: a MEMS matrix
100, device cables 200, user cables 300 and protection relays 400. The protection
relays 400 are mounted between the device cables and the MEMS matrix, and
between the user cables and the MEMS matrix.
In the above-described device, the protection relays 400 are connected to
switching control part (not shown) of the MEMS matrix 100. Before the control
part controls the MEMS matrix 100 to perform wiring line switching, the
protection relays 400 are controlled to be open, and when the wiring line
switching is finished, the protection relays 400 are controlled to be close.
As shown in Fig. 3, on both sides of the MEMS matrix 100, a relay 400 is
additionally provided on each port. When one or more switch units in MEMS
matrix need to perform state-switching (for example, a certain line on the device
side needs to be connected to one line on the user side via the MEMS matrix), the
relays on both sides of the switch unit are firstly controlled to cut off the current
introduced into the switch unit, and then the state-switching of the MEMS is


performed. When the state-switching of this switch unit in the MEMS is finished,
the relays on both sides of the switch unit are controlled to switch back to original
state, i.e., connecting the path from the device side to the user side, so as to avoid
the hot switching operation on the MEMS matrix, and enhance the reliability of
the AMDF system.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the relays shown in Fig. 3 may be the
relays already existing in the AMDF system, such as inside/outside testing relays
in the AMDF system, or connection relays in the MEMS matrix. It should be
appreciated that the present invention can also be embodied based on other relays
in the system.
When the present invention is embodied based on the inside/outside testing relays,
the configuration of the device is shown in Fig. 4. In the AMDF, each port is
provided with two relays, one is used to test the user-line, referred to as outside
testing relay 410; the other is used to test the port on user board, referred to as
inside testing relay 420.
As shown in Fig. 4, each node uses a SPDT relay unit. The MEMS matrix is
connected to the device side (the user side) during normal working time. When
the MEMS matrix performs port-switching (i.e. implements switch unit
switching), the inside/outside testing relays are respectively connected to testing
access lines. In this way, the working current on the unit can be cut off when
MEMS matrix is performing switching operation, thus not only protecting the
MEMS matrix, but also guaranteeing the normal testing function of the system.
When the present invention is embodied based on the MEMS matrix connection


testing relays, the configuration of the device is shown in Fig. 5. In general, after
MEMS matrix finishes state-switching, it is required to ensure the correctness of
the switching action. For this purpose, two testing relays 430 are needed to be
mounted on both sides of MEMS matrix in the AMDF system, so as to test
whether the switching in the MEMS is correct. The relays are referred to as
MEMS matrix connection testing relays.
Each node uses a SPDT relay unit. The MEMS matrix 100 is connected to the
device side (or the user side) during the normal working time. When a certain
switch unit in the MEMS matrix 100 needs to perform state-switching, firstly, the
MEMS matrix connection testing relay 430 corresponding to the switch unit in
the MEMS matrix is connected to a testing input signal, so as to disconnect this
switch unit from external line of input current, thereafter, switch unit in MEMS
performs state-switching. In addition, after the switching action has finished, the
MEMS matrix connection testing relays 430 are used to test whether this action is
correct, and after everything is ok, the MEMS matrix connection testing relays
turn back to its original state.
As stated above, the present invention provides effective protection for MEMS
matrix switching, and solves the "agglutinate" problem during MEMS matrix hot
switching in AMDF.
It should be understood that the examples and embodiments described above are
for illustrative purposes only and that various modifications or changes in light
thereof will be suggested to persons skilled in the art and are to be included
within the spirit and scope of this invention.


We Claim:
1. A method for line-switching a MEMS matrix (100), comprising:
cutting off the current introduced into the MEMS matrix (100) by controlling
switch apparatuses (400) before performing switching of a switch unit in the MEMS
matrix (100), the switch apparatuses (400) each being provided on one access line of
the MEMS matrix (100) and provided on only one port of the MEMS Matrix (100);
recovering the current introduced into the MEMS matrix (100) by controlling the
switch apparatuses (400) when finishing the switching of the corresponding switch
unit in the MEMS matrix (100).
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of cutting off the
current introduced into the MEMS matrix (100) by controlling switch apparatuses
(400) before performing switching of the switch unit in the MEMS matrix (100)
comprises:
cutting off the current introduced into both sides of the MEMS matrix (100) by
controlling the switch apparatuses (400) provided on each access line on both sides
of the switch unit in the MEMS matrix (100).
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method is used for line
switching of AMDF with MEMS matrix (100); and the switch apparatuses (400)
each are mounted between device cables (200) and the MEMS matrix (100) or
between user cables (300) and the MEMS matrix (100).
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the switch apparatus are
Single-Pole Double-Throw relays.
5. The method as claimed in claim 3, the method further comprising testing
whether the switching of the switch units in the MEMS matrix (100) is correct by
providing testing relays (430) corresponding to the switch units in the MEMS
matrix.


6. The method as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, before cutting off the current
introduced into the MESM matrix, the method further comprising: determining
switching of a switch unit in the MEMS matrix needs to be performed.
7. An AMDF system for line-switching, the AMDF system comprising a MEMS
matrix (100) connected with device cables (200) and user cables (300), a switching
control part, protection relays (400), wherein,
the device cables (200) are configured to connect with a device in a
communication network;
the user cables (300) are configured to connect with user terminals in the
communication network;
the switching control part is adapted to control a switch unit in the MEMS matrix
(100) to perform wiring line switching between access lines;
the protection relays (400) each connected to the switching control part and
mounted between only one port of the MEMS matrix (100) and the device cables
(200) or between only one port of the MEMS matrix (100) and the user cables (300),
are controlled to cut off current introduced into the MEMS matrix (100) before the
switching control part controls the MEMS matrix (100) to perform wiring line
switching, and to recover the current introduced into the MEMS matrix (100) when
the wiring line switching is finished.
8. The AMDF system as claimed in claim 7, wherein,
each of both sides of the switch unit of the MEMS matrix (100) is provided with
one protection relay (400).
9. The AMDF system as claimed in claim 7, wherein,
testing relays (430) corresponding to the swich units in the MEMS matrix are
provided to test whether the switching of the switch units in the MEMS matrix is
correct.


10. The AMDF system as claimed in claim 7, wherein, the protection relays (400)
are Single-Pole Double-Throw relays.


ABSTRACT

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR LINE-SWITCHING OF MEMS MATRIX AND AMDF
The present invention provides a method and a device for line-switching in an
automated main distribution frame (AMDF). It is an object of the present invention to
solve the problem of contact point damage which may occur during hot switching of
micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) matrix, and further solve the corresponding
problems which may occur during the line-switching in AMDF. In particular, the present
invention is preferably embodied in the following way: when switching operation of a
switch unit in MEMS is to be performed (21), the current introduced into MEMS matrix is
firstly cut off (22), and is then recovered when the switching operation is finished (24), so
as to prevent the "agglutinate" phenomena. Therefore, the present invention provides
corresponding protection for the switching process of MEMS matrix relays in AMDF, and
effectively prevents the "agglutinate" phenomena when the switch unit in MEMS matrix
performs switching operation, whereby the reliability of AMDF is enhanced.

Documents:

03403-kolnp-2006- pct others.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-abstract-1.1.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-abstract.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-claims-1.1.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-claims.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-correspondence others-1.1.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-correspondence others.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-correspondence-1.2.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-description(complete).pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-drawings.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-form-1.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-form-18.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-form-2.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-form-3.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-form-5.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-others.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-pa.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-priority document-1.1.pdf

03403-kolnp-2006-priority document.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-(01-09-2011)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-(12-01-2012)-AMANDED CLAIMS.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-(12-01-2012)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-(20-11-2012)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-ABSTRACT.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-AMANDED CLAIMS.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-CANCELLED PAGES.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-CORRESPONDENCE 1.4.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-CORRESPONDENCE 1.6.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-CORRESPONDENCE 1.7.pdf

3403-kolnp-2006-CORRESPONDENCE-1.3.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-CORRESPONDENCE-1.5.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-DESCRIPTION (COMPLETE).pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-DRAWINGS.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-EXAMINATION REPORT.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-FORM 1.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-FORM 18.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-FORM 2.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-FORM 3 1.2.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-FORM 3-1.1.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-FORM 3.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-FORM 5.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-ABSTRACT.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-CLAIMS.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-DESCRIPTION (COMPLETE).pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-DRAWINGS.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-FORM 1.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-FORM 2.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-SPECIFICATION.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-OTHERS 1.1.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-OTHERS.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-PRIORITY DOCUMENT.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-REPLY TO EXAMINATION REPORT 1.1.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-REPLY TO EXAMINATION REPORT.pdf

3403-KOLNP-2006-TRANSLATED COPY OF PRIORITY DOCUMENT.pdf


Patent Number 255859
Indian Patent Application Number 3403/KOLNP/2006
PG Journal Number 13/2013
Publication Date 29-Mar-2013
Grant Date 26-Mar-2013
Date of Filing 17-Nov-2006
Name of Patentee HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO.,LTD
Applicant Address Huawei Administration Building,Bantain,Longgang District,Shenzhen,Guangdong Province 518129,P.R.
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 HUANG,Shikui Huawei Administration Building,Bantain,Longgang District,Shenzhen,Guangdong Province 518129,P.R.
PCT International Classification Number H04Q1/14; H04Q1/02
PCT International Application Number PCT/CN2006/0000364
PCT International Filing date 2006-03-10
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 200510053679.1 2005-03-10 China