Patent ID: 7145707

Claim:
An optical switch for routing an optical signal, comprising: a base having a fulcrum shaft; a deflecting member mounted movably on said base and tiltable about said fulcrum shaft so as to be adapted for deflecting the optical signal; a plurality of elongate cantilevers disposed on said base and arranged around said deflecting member, each of said cantilevers having a hammer end portion disposed on a periphery of said deflecting member, and a coupling end portion opposite to said hammer end portion and connected to said base, each of said cantilevers being operable so as to move from a suspending position, where said cantilever is bent such that said hammer end portion is spaced apart from said deflecting member, thereby storing a restoring force in said cantilever, to a pumping position, where said hammer end portion strikes said deflecting member so as to force said deflecting member to tilt about said fulcrum shaft; and a plurality of control units, each of which is disposed on said base, is operably associated with a corresponding one of said cantilevers, and is capable of controlling the corresponding one of said cantilevers to move to an appropriate one of the suspending position and the pumping position so as to enable said deflecting member to tilt to a predetermined direction.