Patent ID: 7751665

Claim:
A method of positioning two parallel fiber ends to obtain positions having a desired offset in relation to each other in a plane perpendicular to a viewing direction using a mechanical system for moving the two fiber ends in relation to each other, the mechanical system having a play, the method comprising the following successive steps: moving in an initial step the two fiber ends in said plane in relation to each other in a first direction to a distant position and then in a second, opposite direction to a start position to absorb play, the distant and start positions chosen so that from the start position the two fiber ends can be moved in the second direction to take the desired offset, determining a reference position of each of the two fiber ends in said plane and in said first and second directions, calculating the difference of the reference positions, determining whether the calculated difference deviates from the desired offset by at most a predetermined maximum deviation value, and in the case where the calculated difference has been determined to deviate from the desired offset by more than the predetermined maximum deviation value performing the following successive steps: reducing the difference to form a movement distance, moving the two fiber ends the movement distance in relation to each other in the second direction in said plane, and then repeating the steps starting from the step of determining a reference position for each of the two fiber ends, thereby obtaining, in the case where the calculated difference has been determined to deviate from the desired offset by at most the predetermined maximum deviation value, the desired positions of the two fiber ends.