Patent ID: 8805155

Claim:
A three-dimensional and selectively changeable fiber optic interconnect system for communication of signals between input and output addresses through individually selectable ones of a multiplicity of fiber optic strands comprising: a fiber optic strand network comprising a selectively variable multiplicity of strands suspended individually in vectors traversing a defined interconnect volume between first and second spaced apart substantially parallel planes, the strands at the first plane being distributed in orthogonal columns and rows with interspaced spaces therebetween, and the strands of the second plane being distributed along a substantially linear path in successively adjacent positions; a plurality of tensioning devices adjacent the opposite side of the second plane from the first plane, each coupled to a different strand at the second plane and each maintaining said strand in the interconnected volume substantially linear as the strand vector between the first and second planes is changed, by varying the length of the strand; a processor system including a memory subsystem storing data as to the fixed current path configurations of the plurality of strands between the first and second planes, and a command/control subsystem for generating command signals for reconfiguring a selected strand from a given location in the first plane to a target location in the same plane by movements of the strand between the columns and rows of existing strands in the interconnect volume; a strand positioner, responsive to command signals from the processor system to transport the first end point of a selected strand from its prior location in the first plane to place the end point of the chosen strand at a chosen two dimensional position at a target location in the first plane, moving between the spaces between strands in the interconnect volume; and the processor system further comprising means retaining data as to the current distributions of the multiplicity of strands in the interconnect volume to develop a non-repeating braid structure during reconfigurations for which strands remain disentangled in all interconnect configurations.