Investments in Other Companies	12 Months Ended
Investments in Other Companies	Dec. 31, 2011
Investments, All Other Investments [Abstract]
Cost-method Investments, Description [Text Block]	Investments in Other Companies In previous years, the Company had made a number of investments in small, privately held technology companies in which the Company has held less than 20% of the capital stock or held notes receivable. The Company accounts for all of these investments at cost unless their value has been determined to be other than temporarily impaired, in which case the Company writes the investment down to its estimated fair value. The Company reviews these investments periodically for impairment and makes appropriate reductions in carrying value when an other-than-temporary decline is evident; however, for non-marketable equity securities, the impairment analysis requires significant judgment. During the Company’s review, the Company evaluates the financial condition of the issuer, market conditions, and other factors providing an indication of the fair value of the investments. Adverse changes in market conditions or operating results of the issuer that differ from expectation could result in additional other-than-temporary losses in future periods. In addition, as a result of the sale of its former optoelectronics operations, the Company received as partial consideration $4,500 of preferred stock and an unsecured promissory note from CyOptics for $5,633, that was discounted by $2,292 to reflect the current market rate for similar debt of comparable companies. CyOptics paid $1,599 and $1,480 toward the promissory note during 2011 and 2010, respectively. In 2008, the Company impaired the carrying value of the investment by $2,517. As CyOptics continued to make payments throughout 2011, the carrying value of the investment reached $0 in the first quarter of 2011 and the Company recognized $1,231 in recovery of previously impaired investments. During 2011 and 2010, the Company recovered $132 and $1,340 from other previously impaired investments as the result of the investments being purchased by other companies. The Company did not record a similar benefit during 2009.

The entire disclosure for investments accounted for under the cost-method. The carrying amount of such investments may be adjusted, for example, distributions in excess of cost (return of capital) or for other-than-temporary impairments. The cost method and lower-of-cost or market, an adaptation of the cost method, is generally followed for most investments in noncontrolled corporations, in some corporate joint ventures, and to a lesser extent in unconsolidated subsidiaries in which the entity does not have the ability to exercise significant influence.

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