Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20090034971 | Multiple redundancy schemes in an optical network - Methods and apparatuses for multiple redundancy schemes in an optical network are described herein. In one embodiment, an exemplary method includes receiving a demand for allocating a first protection path that meets a first set of disjointness constraints with respect to a first working path according to a first protection scheme having a first priority, in response to the demand, locating a second protection path that meets a second set of disjointness constraints with respect to a second working path according to a second protection scheme having a second priority, and assigning the second protection path as a protection path to the first working path if the first priority of the first protection scheme is higher than the second priority of the second protection scheme. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. | 02-05-2009 |
20090110396 | Method and apparatus for hitless routing of optical signals in an optical transport network - A method is provided for routing optical signals in an optical transport network. The method includes: separating an incoming optical multiplexed signal having a plurality of wavelength-channels embodied therein into two or more channel groups, where each channel group has a subset of the wavelength-channels and channels to be routed hitlessly in a given channel group are adjacent to a channel free region; providing a wavelength selective element for each wavelength-channel to be routed hitlessly; and routing a given wavelength-channel by tuning the corresponding wavelength selective element to either the given wavelength-channel or a channel free region adjacent to the given wavelength-channel. Providing a channel free region next to each channel to be routed allows the use of inexpensive tunable elements, which typically cause hits as they tune, to effect hitless routing. | 04-30-2009 |
20090142056 | Extending Routing Protocols to Accommodate Wavelength Switched Optical Networks - A network component comprising a control plane controller configured to implement a method comprising transmitting routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) information to at least one adjacent control plane controller, wherein the RWA information is transmitted using an interior gateway protocol (IGP). Included is a method comprising communicating a message comprising RWA information to at least one adjacent control plane controller, wherein the message comprises an indication whether the RWA information is static or dynamic. Also included is an apparatus comprising a control plane controller configured to communicate data to at least one adjacent control plane controller, wherein the data comprises RWA information, and wherein the data comprises an indicator that indicates whether the RWA information is associated with a node, a link, or both. | 06-04-2009 |
20090162060 | Optimization mechanism for use with an optical control plane in a DWDM network - Methods and apparatus for efficiently utilizing an optical control plane distinct from an electronic control plane to facilitate the setup of paths in a dense wave division multiplexing network are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method includes receiving a probe arranged determine the optical feasibility of a first path, and determining a probability of success associated with the probe. The probability of success indicates a likelihood that the probe will be successfully routed on the first path to the destination, and is associated with a particular wavelength. A second path on which to route the probe is dynamically identified if the probability indicates a low likelihood of successful routing on the first path. Finally, the method includes determining if a notification associated with the probe has been received, and altering the probability of success based on the notification if the notification has been received. | 06-25-2009 |
20090169206 | METHOD AND A NETWORK FOR PROCESSING OF WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXED DATA - The invention relates to a network comprising at least one host device having an interface card connected to a backplane of said host device, wherein said interface card comprises at least one cage, for receiving a pluggable module which performs signal processing of data comprised of at least one WDM channel transported via at least one optical fibre connected to said pluggable module in the optical domain. | 07-02-2009 |
20090208209 | RECONFIGURABLE OPTICAL FILTERS FORMED BY INTEGRATION OF ELECTRICALLY TUNABLE MICRORESONATORS - The present invention describes a microresonator that can be used as a 1:f variable coupler in a unit cell. It is described how a cascade of unit cells can be used to form a tunable, higher-order RF-filter with reconfigurable passbands. The disclosed filter structure can be utilized for the narrowband channelization of RF signals that have been modulated onto optical carriers. It is also disclosed how to utilize add/drop capabilities of the contemplated microdisks to confer connectivity and cascading in two dimensions. The present invention can conveniently provide a wavelength division multiplexing router, where an array of unit cells as provided herein can form a programmable optical switching matrix, through electronic programming of filter parameters. | 08-20-2009 |
20090252492 | OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM , AND OPTICAL COMMUNICATION METHOD AND COMMUNICATION UNIT THEREFOR - A communication unit inhibits delay and jitter during network communication, improving the communication quality. For this purpose, the communication unit includes: a first terminator that terminates a communication channel in the first optical communication scheme established between the communication unit and another communication unit; a second terminator that terminates a signal in the second optical communication scheme; and a path setting switch that switches between a first signal path setting and a second signal path setting. | 10-08-2009 |
20090257748 | OPTICAL TRANSMISSION APPARATUS AND OPTICAL TRANSMISSION METHOD - An optical transmission apparatus that performs optical transmission by wavelength multiplexing includes a receiving unit that receives a first optical signal transmitted from a transmitting device; a wavelength determining unit that determines wavelength of the first optical signal received by the receiving unit; a transmitting unit that transmits a second optical signal of varying wavelength; and a control unit that, based on the wavelength determined by the wavelength determining unit, controls wavelength of the second optical signal transmitted by the transmitting unit. | 10-15-2009 |
20090317081 | OPTICAL DIGITAL TRANSMISSION FOR MULTIPLE BEAM CROSS CONNECTION, ROUTING AND SWITCHING - The invention concerns an optical digital transmitting device for cross connecting, routing and switching at temporal, spatial and frequency level a plurality of electromagnetic beams. Said device uses a plurality of laser type or other low/medium power type magnetic sources, coupled to a plurality of matrix optical heads and specific delay lines of the structured waveguide type based, for example, on optical fibers, of natural crystalline or specific synthetic structure, of optical passive/active memory structure, of any combination thereof. The electromagnetic multiple beam cross connection, routing and switching function whether of the optical type or not enables it to be used in various fields in telecommunications (such as point-to-point, point-to-multipoint free-space transmission). | 12-24-2009 |
20090324221 | SCALABLE LOAD-BALANCED INTERCONNECT SWITCH BASED ON AN ARRAYED WAVEGUIDE GRATING - According to one embodiment, an interconnect switch has an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) having N input ports and N output ports. The AWG is characterized by two or more diffraction orders and is adapted to route optical signals from the input ports to the output ports. In a fully deployed implementation, the interconnect switch has N input line cards and N output line cards. Each of the input line cards is adapted to generate N respective modulated optical signals using carrier wavelengths corresponding to at least two different diffraction orders of the AWG to provide wavelength redundancy for optically connecting the input line card and any of the output line cards. In a partially deployed implementation, the interconnect switch has fewer than N input line cards and/or fewer than N output line cards. In either the fully deployed implementation or a partially deployed implementation, the interconnect switch is capable of load balancing. | 12-31-2009 |
20100021162 | WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXED OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM HAVING A RECONFIGURABLE OPTICAL SWITCH AND A TUNABLE BACKUP LASER TRANSMITTER - In a WDM optical communication system that includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by communication links, a node is provided that includes a reconfigurable optical switch having a plurality of input ports and at least one output port. The node also includes a plurality of transmitters that are each coupled to one of the input ports of the optical switch. Each of the transmitters generate an information-bearing optical signal at a different channel wavelength from one another. The reconfigurable optical switch is adaptable to receive at any of the input ports any of the channel wavelengths at which the plurality of transmitters operate and direct the channel wavelengths to the output port. At least one backup transmitter is coupled to one of the input ports of the optical switch. The backup transmitter includes a tunable laser tunable to any of the channel wavelengths at which the plurality of transmitters operate. The reconfigurable optical switch includes at least one wavelength selective element that selects at least one channel wavelength from among any of the channel wavelengths received at any of the input ports. The switch also includes a plurality of optical elements associated with the wavelength selective elements, Each of the optical elements direct one of the selected channel wavelengths selected by the associated wavelength selective element to the output port independently from every other channel wavelength. The selected channel wavelengths directed to the output port are combined on the output port. | 01-28-2010 |
20100027995 | GANGED OPTICAL SWITCH - A ganged optical switch comprising at least one wavelength selective ganged optical switching element, first and second sets of input ports, and first and second sets of output ports. Optical signals entering one of the first set of input ports can be routed, in a first routing, via the at least one ganged optical switching element to one of the second set of output ports, and optical signals entering one of the first set of input ports can be routed, in a second routing, via the at least one ganged optical switching element to one of the second set of output ports. The ganged optical switching element ensures that the first and second routings are interdependent. In one embodiment, some of the output ports are shared between the first and second sets of output ports. ROADMs and protection switching applications of the ganged optical switches of the invention are also disclosed. | 02-04-2010 |
20100027996 | MULTI-DEGREE CROSS-CONNECTOR SYSTEM, OPERATING METHOD AND OPTICAL COMMUNICATION NETWORK USING THE SAME - Provided are a network node which has a wavelength switching cross-connection function and can thus interconnect paths of a wavelength-division-multiplexed optical signal and convert wavelengths, and an operating method of the network node. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a multi-degree cross-connection system having a simple structure at lower cost by allowing transmission of optical signals supposed not to be added/dropped at a network node without converting them into electrical signals and performing O/E conversion or E/O conversion only on optical signals supposed to be added/dropped at a network node. In addition, it is possible to increase the expandability of networks by regenerating degraded signals and which can effectively utilize bandwidths by grooming low-speed electrical digital hierarchy signals and transmitting them as high-speed optical signals. Moreover, it is possible to increase the availability of network resources by performing wavelength conversion without the need of additional wavelength converters. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent multiplexed optical signals from being degraded by filtering even when the multiplexed optical signals are not demultiplexed into wavelengths. Still furthermore, it is possible to perform a multicast operation on input wavelengths. | 02-04-2010 |
20100092171 | Methods of Port Mapping in Fiber Optic Network Devices - A method for port mapping a fiber optic network device is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of providing a first fiber optic network device and configuring the first fiber optic network device by disposing therein a first plurality of ports and a plurality of optical fibers optically coupled to a distribution cable. The method also comprises routing predetermined ones of the plurality of optical fibers to respective predetermined ones of the plurality of ports. The first plurality of ports may comprise a first drop port and a first pass-through port. At least one of the predetermined ones of the plurality of optical fibers routes to the first drop port and at least one of the predetermined ones of the plurality of optical fibers routes to the first pass-through port. The method may also comprise providing and configuring a second fiber optic network device optically coupled to the first fiber optic network device through the first pass-through port. The configuring may also comprise disposing one or more splitters in the first and second fiber optic network devices. | 04-15-2010 |
20100111527 | DEGREE EXTENDING METHOD AND OPTICAL HUB NODE APPARATUS - An optical hub node apparatus can be configured to include N+1 or more route units ( | 05-06-2010 |
20100172646 | M X N WAVELENGTH SELECTIVE OPTICAL SWITCH - A M×N wavelength selective optical switch (WSS) for switching K wavelength channels is disclosed. The WSS has two MEMS micromirror arrays, a M×K array and a 1×N array, for switching any wavelength channel from any input port to any output port, provided that any output port receives optical signals from only one input port. The WSS can be used to build fully reconfigurable, colorless and directionless node of an agile optical network. | 07-08-2010 |
20100189436 | POINT-TO-MULTIPOINT OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM - Provided is a point-to-multipoint optical communication system capable of extending a transmission distance between a subscriber apparatus and a station apparatus without changing wavelengths of an upstream optical signal and a downstream optical signal, which are used in both of the apparatuses. The point-to-multipoint optical communication system includes, as a basic configuration thereof, an optical network for connecting one station apparatus ( | 07-29-2010 |
20100202774 | OPTICAL LINE TERMINAL, REMOTE NODE UNIT, OPTICAL TRANSMISSION METHOD AND SYSTEM THEREOF - An optical line terminal (OLT), a remote node (RN) unit, and an optical transmission method and a system thereof are provided. The method includes following steps. Power splitting is performed respectively on a part or all of M optical signals which have different wavelengths and are generated by M light sources, thus forming a first group of optical signals including first split optical signals and a second group of optical signals including second split optical signals. Both the first group of optical signals and the second group of optical signals have N different wavelengths. Cross routing is performed on the first group of optical signals and the second group of optical signals to form N carrier groups of signals that need to be provided to N optical network units (ONUs). Therefore, problems in the prior art such as a great number of light sources, high costs, and low reception quality, low power efficiency or high costs of the light sources are solved, so that the number of light sources in the network is reduced, transmission quality of signals is improved, and system costs are reduced. | 08-12-2010 |
20100215366 | ROUTING METHOD OF OPTICAL COMMUNICATION NETWORK NODE APPARATUS AND OPTICAL COMMUNICATION NETWORK NODE APPARATUS - An optical communication network node apparatus is provided that considerably reduces the node apparatus in scale, especially, a switch device in scale relative to increase in the number of wavelength multiplexes. With a routing operation on the basis of a wavelength at an intra-ring traffic step, light output from a plurality of demultiplexers is subjected to add/drop and routing processes and is directly or indirectly distributed to a plurality of multiplexers, and at an inter-ring traffic step (including a routing operation on the basis of a wavelength group), among lights output from a plurality of demultiplexers, light of another wavelength preliminarily set for inter-ring transmission and different from the light of the wavelength preliminarily set for the intra-ring transmission is subjected to the routing process, and, therefore, the node apparatus is considerably reduced to a smaller scale as compared to a node apparatus that achieves concatenation in a manner capable of routing lights of all the wavelengths to arbitrary optical rings. | 08-26-2010 |
20100221004 | METHOD FOR AUTO-CONFIGURATION OF A WAVELENGTH SELECTIVE SWITCH IN AN OPTICAL NETWORK - The invention relates to a method for auto-configuring a wavelength selective switch (WSS) device having an output port and a plurality of input ports and coupled to a WSS controller. When connected to a WDM optical network, the WSS controller is programmed to utilize one or more optical channel monitors (OCM) coupled to the input and/or output ports to detect which of the wavelengths are present at the input ports. Wavelengths that are not detected on any input port are blocked by the WSS. Any wavelength detected as present at one and only one input port is switched by the WSS to the output port. If a wavelength is detected at two or more input ports, it is either blocked by the WSS at each of the input ports until user intervention, or is blocked at all but one of the input ports as defined by assigned port priorities. | 09-02-2010 |
20100284691 | OPTICAL ROUTING DEVICE AND OPTICAL NETWORK USING SAME - The invention pertains to methods, apparatus, and systems optical of networking using tunable receivers, optical blocking elements selectively placed in the network, and optical routing elements comprised of passive elements, such as optical couplers and splitters. The routing elements have a plurality of ports and comprise passive elements such as couplers and splitters configured so that input light received at any port of the element is output from each of the other ports of the element, but not at port at which it was input. | 11-11-2010 |
20110033183 | 1:N sparing of router resources at geographically dispersed locations - Systems and methods are described that that dynamically configure high-speed data link lightpaths between access routers and backbone routers at geographically dispersed locations to reassign traffic when a backbone router fails or is removed from service. Embodiments reduce the quantity of backbone router ports used in dual backbone router-homed networks. | 02-10-2011 |
20110129220 | MULTI-FUNCTION ARRAY ANTENNA - An optical routing network provides function-specific routing, in the optical domain, of radio frequency (RF) signals between inputs to the network and function-specific outputs from the network. RF signals input to the network may comprise signals received by elements of a multi-function array antenna for routing to function-specific receiving equipment or signals from function-specific transmitting equipment for routing to selected elements of the antenna for transmission. The optical routing path through the optical routing network is chosen by selecting one or more predetermined optical carrier wavelengths in the optical routing network, each carrier wavelength being associated with a particular function of the antenna. The optical routing network comprises opto-electronic modulators for modulating the selected optical carrier or carriers with received radio frequency (RF) signals and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) devices for separating and directing modulated carriers to respective optical outputs according to the selected carrier wavelengths. However, if routing in respect of only one function is required at any one time, a single carrier wavelength may be used and optical switches may be used in place of WDM devices to achieve the required optical routing on a time division basis, if preferred. | 06-02-2011 |
20110135305 | Optical Subchannel Routing, Protection Switching and Security - The present invention includes novel techniques, apparatus, and systems for optical WDM communications. Tunable lasers are employed to generate subcarrier frequencies representing subchannels of an ITU channel to which client signals can be mapped. Client circuits can be divided and combined before being mapped, independent of one another, to individual subchannels within and across ITU channels. Subchannels may be independently routed to a single subchannel receiver filter, such that each subchannel detected at the receiver may come from a different source location. Network architectures and subchannel transponders, muxponders and crossponders are disclosed, and techniques are employed (at the subchannel level/layer), to facilitate the desired optical routing, switching, concatenation and protection of client circuits mapped to these subchannels across the nodes of a WDM network. Subchannel hopping may also be used to increase the optical network security. | 06-09-2011 |
20110170867 | Wavelength Switch - The present invention relates to a wavelength switch including two switching stages. A single actuation array of reflecting elements of a first switching stage routes sub-beams at different wavelength bands to a plurality of actuation arrays of reflecting elements of a second switching stage. Each second-stage actuation array routes sub-beams to a group of output ports associated with that second-stage actuation array. Advantageously, the sub-beams are redirected from the first switching stage to the second switching stage by a reflecting relay assembly, without being combined or coupled into fibers. | 07-14-2011 |
20110217039 | Wavelength Division Multiplexing Transmission Equipment - An optical transmission network comprises a multi-wavelength source ( | 09-08-2011 |
20110280574 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING BROADBAND COMMUNICATION - Systems and methods for providing broadband communication are provided. A source component may be configured to provide a downstream broadband signal to one or more customer devices and receive upstream signals from the customer devices, including a first upstream signal having a frequency lower than the downstream broadband signal and a second upstream signal having a frequency higher than the downstream broadband signal. An optical fiber node in communication with the source component may be configured to receive and convert downstream and upstream broadband signals from radio frequency signals to light signals and vice versa. A terminator in communication with the optical fiber node via one or more cable lines may be configured to output the radio frequency downstream signal for receipt by the customer devices and to direct the communication of the upstream signals to the optical fiber node via the one or more cable lines. | 11-17-2011 |
20110299850 | Optical Switching Architectures For Nodes In WDM Mesh And Ring Networks - Switching architectures for WDM mesh and ring network nodes are presented. In mesh networks, the switching architectures have multiple levels—a network level having wavelength routers for add, drop and pass-through functions, an intermediate level having device units which handle add and drop signals, and a local level having port units for receiving signals dropped from the network and transmitting signals to be added to the network. The intermediate level device units are selected and arranged for performance and cost considerations. The multilevel architecture also permits the design of reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers for ring network nodes, the easy expansion of ring networks into mesh networks, and the accommodation of protection mechanisms in ring networks. | 12-08-2011 |
20120008945 | OPTICAL SWITCHING NETWORK - Systems and methods are disclosed to communicate over an optical network by using hop-by-hop routing over an optical network; and dynamically constructing a network topology. | 01-12-2012 |
20120008946 | CONFIGURING SYNCHRONOUS OPTICAL SWITCHES | 01-12-2012 |
20120033970 | Path Computation Element Method to Support Routing and Wavelength Assignment in Wavelength Switched Optical Networks - A network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising transmitting a request to compute a routing assignment, a wavelength assignment, or both, wherein the request comprises a lightpath constraint indicator is disclosed. Also disclosed is an apparatus comprising a Path Computation Client (PCC) configured to transmit a request to and receive a reply from a Path Computation Element (PCE), wherein the request comprises a lightpath constraint, and wherein the reply comprises a routing assignment, a wavelength assignment, an error message, a no-path indication, or combinations thereof. Included is a method comprising receiving a request comprising a request parameter (RP) object comprising a lightpath constraint, sending a reply comprising a routing assignment, a wavelength assignment, an error message, a no-path indicator, or combinations thereof, wherein the request is received and the reply is sent using path computation element protocol (PCEP). | 02-09-2012 |
20120045206 | MULTI-CHASSIS ROUTER WITH MULTIPLEXED OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS - A multi-chassis network device includes a plurality of nodes that operate as a single device within the network and a switch fabric that forwards data plane packets between the plurality of nodes. The switch fabric includes a set of multiplexed optical interconnects coupling the nodes. For example, a multi-chassis router includes a plurality of routing nodes that operate as a single router within a network and a switch fabric that forwards packets between the plurality of routing nodes. The switch fabric includes at least one multiplexed optical interconnect coupling the routing nodes. The nodes of the multi-chassis router may direct portions of the optical signal over the multiplexed optical interconnect to different each other using wave-division multiplexing. | 02-23-2012 |
20120057868 | Method and System for Implementing Alternate Routes in Optical Transmission Network of Wavelength Switched Optical Network (WSON) - The present invention discloses a method and a system for implementing alternative routes in optical transmission network of WSON. By using the method and the system the following alternative routes implementing process is realized: computing the alternative routes of each subsegment independently based on a constraining condition distributed by a managing plane, and combining the computed alternative routes of each subsegment to form complete alternative routes. The present method and system for implementing alternative routes is capable of obtaining more alternative routes than those of prior art, and takes full advantage of network resource topology. | 03-08-2012 |
20120057869 | M x N WAVELENGTH SELECTIVE SWITCH (WSS) - An M×N wavelength-selective switch (WSS) is provided. M input ports launch M input beams towards a wavelength-dispersing system, which disperses the M input beams into M×K sub-beams at K wavelength bands. A redirecting system redirects the M×K sub-beams towards a first 1×K switching array, which selects K sub-beams from the M×K sub-beams. The redirecting system blocks the (M−1)×K non-selected sub-beams, but re-images the K selected sub-beams onto a second 1×K switching array by means of at least one relaying element having optical power. The second 1×K switching array routes the K selected sub-beams to N output ports. The redirecting system redirects the K selected sub-beams towards the wavelength-dispersing system, which combines any selected sub-beams that are routed to a same output port. The N output ports then output the K selected sub-beams. | 03-08-2012 |
20120070148 | K-alternate Channel Selection for the Routing, Wavelength Assignment and Spectrum Allocation in Flexible Optical WDM Networks - A method implemented in an optical flexible wavelength division multiplexing FWDM network includes finding a first channel out of available channels with sufficient spectrum on a given route out of available channels in an optical FWDM network; finding a second channel at a lower wavelength out of the available channels for minimizing total spectrum on the given route; selecting a channel out of the available channels on K-distinct shortest routes; and finding line rates of channels using a predetermined channel selection. | 03-22-2012 |
20120082454 | OPTICAL NETWORK INTERCONNECT DEVICE - An optical network interconnect device interconnects a first WDM network for transmitting a WDM optical signal with first wavelength spacing and a second WDM network for transmitting a WDM optical signal with second wavelength spacing that is wider than the first wavelength spacing. The optical network interconnect device includes a filter to remove a wavelength component which is not used in the second WDM network from an WDM optical signal transferred from the first WDM network to the second WDM network. | 04-05-2012 |
20120087659 | Wavelength Aligning Multi-Channel Optical Transmitters - An apparatus includes an array of N laser light sources, an array of N optical detectors, and a wavelength-selective optical router. The wavelength-selective optical router is configured to receive light emitted by the laser light sources and to route the light received from each laser light source to one of the optical detectors corresponding thereto. The apparatus is configured to adjust output wavelengths of the laser light sources based on light intensities measured by the optical detectors. | 04-12-2012 |
20120099863 | HYBRID OPTICAL/ELECTRICAL SWITCHING SYSTEM FOR DATA CENTER NETWORKS - In one aspect, a system includes one or more electrical switches to transfer data in a data network; one or more optical switching groups coupled to each electrical switch, each switching group having one or more server racks, each server rack coupled to a top of rack (TOR) switch and an optical transceiver coupled to the TOR switch; and an optical switching unit (OSU) coupled to the one or more optical switching groups. | 04-26-2012 |
20120121262 | SYNCHRONOUS PACKET SWITCHES - A synchronous packet switch comprises output modules, input modules, optical connections and a switch control unit. The output modules comprise optical receivers each configured to receive optical signals at a different wavelength. The input modules receive electric signals carrying data cells to be routed. Each input module comprises optical transmitters, each configurable to generate an optical signal at a different wavelength, and routing apparatus comprising output ports. Each output module has at least one output port allocated to it. The routing apparatus is configurable to route a received optical signal to a selected output port. The optical connections are arranged to couple output ports to respective output modules. The switch control unit controls routing of the optical signals from the transmitters to the output modules and generates a routing control signal for configuring the routing apparatus to route an optical signal from a transmitter to a selected output port. | 05-17-2012 |
20120148241 | OPTICAL NETWORK COMMUNICATION SYSTEM WITH OPTICAL LINE TERMINAL TRANSCEIVER AND METHOD OF OPERATION THEREOF - A method of operation of an optical network communication system including: providing a planar lightwave circuit including: connecting 2×2 single-mode optical couplers in an array for forming a 1×N single-mode optical splitter/combiner, and routing harvesting ports to an optical line terminal receiver for collecting harvested-light, from two or more of the harvesting ports, in the optical line terminal receiver wherein one of more of the harvesting ports is from the 2×2 single-mode optical couplers; transmitting to an optical network unit through the planar lightwave circuit at a first wavelength; and interpreting a response from the optical network unit at a second wavelength through the harvested-light. | 06-14-2012 |
20120148242 | Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing Multi-Mode Switching Systems and Methods for Concurrent and Dynamic Reconfiguration with Different Switching Modes - A Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) multi-mode switching system and method and method provides concurrent switching in various switching modes. For example, WDM links may communicate data in various switching modes including, but not limited to, an electronic packet switching (EPS) mode, optical circuit switching (OCS) mode, and optical burst switching (OBS) mode. Edge routers and core routers in the WDM multi-mode switching systems and methods provide switching and processing necessary to handle data provided in the various switching modes. Further, the WDM multi-mode switching systems and methods can also provide dynamic reconfiguration between the various switching modes. | 06-14-2012 |
20120148243 | Distributed Wavelength Conversion Control for Signaling Protocols - A network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising obtaining a wavelength availability information for a path, determining whether to implement a wavelength assignment based on the wavelength availability information, updating the wavelength availability information when the wavelength assignment is to be implemented, and forwarding the wavelength availability information. Also included is a method comprising obtaining a wavelength availability information, comparing a number of wavelengths in the wavelength availability information to a threshold, determining whether to implement wavelength conversion along a path when the number of available wavelengths is less than or about equal to the threshold, and resetting the wavelength availability information when wavelength conversion is to be implemented. | 06-14-2012 |
20120163813 | IMPROVEMENTS IN OPTICAL NETWORKS - An optical network ( | 06-28-2012 |
20120163814 | Route Search and Wavelength Allocation Method in Optical Network and Device Thereof - The present invention provides a method and device for routing and wavelength assignment in an optical network. The method comprises: a topology step in which a topology network of the optical network is obtained; a route calculation step in which at least one route in the topology network is calculated, a first node and a last node of the route being predetermined, and the at least one route being part of all routes from the first node to the last node; and a wavelength assignment determination step in which for each node on the route, it is determined whether link attribute information of the node meets a predetermined constraint condition, if the predetermined constraint condition is met, the route is selected as a working route, and the method ends; if the predetermined constraint condition is not met, the method returns to the route calculation step. | 06-28-2012 |
20120170934 | Methods for Determining Energy Efficient Optical Routes - An optical network includes multiple source, cross connect, and destination nodes. A traffic demand matrix is constructed for each possible pair of combinations of the source nodes and the destination nodes. A first energy reduction metric is determined for creating the bypass between the source node and any XC node based on the traffic demand matrix, and a second energy reduction metric is determined for creating the bypass between any XC node and the destination node using the traffic demand matrix. Then, a bypass that terminates at one of the XC nodes that has a largest energy reduction metric is created. | 07-05-2012 |
20120183294 | COLORLESS, DIRECTIONLESS, AND GRIDLESS OPTICAL NETWORK, NODE, AND METHOD - An optical node includes an optical routing apparatus including N ports, N is an integer greater than 2, the optical routing apparatus configured to direct light that is input to each of the N ports to all of the other N ports, and a configurable optical blocking element located in line with at least one of the N ports. A method includes broadcasting a plurality of optical signals over a plurality of ports using a broadcast element, selectively receiving a desired signal from all of the plurality of optical signals at one of the plurality of ports, and blocking the plurality of signals via a blocking element in line with one of the plurality of ports thereby preventing a multiple path of the broadcast plurality of optical signals. | 07-19-2012 |
20120195595 | IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING OPTICAL LABELS - An optical label extractor ( | 08-02-2012 |
20120230690 | Adjustable Multiple-Channel Optical Switch - An apparatus includes a wavelength-selective switch having an optical demultiplexer having N optical outputs, a first optical multiplexer having N optical inputs, a second optical multiplexer having N optical inputs, and a plurality of controllable 1×P optical switches. Integer P is greater than or equal to 2. Each of the optical switches is connected to a corresponding one of the optical outputs of the optical demultiplexer and is connected to corresponding ones of the optical inputs of the respective first and second optical multiplexers. The optical AWG demultiplexer has an optical AWG sampling coefficient of one or more for light with a wavelength in the optical telecommunication C-band, L-band, or S-band. | 09-13-2012 |
20120243869 | OPTICAL PACKET TRANSMITTING/RECEIVING SYSTEM - An optical packet transmitting/receiving system includes an optical packet transmitting apparatus for generating a copied optical packet signal of an original packet signal to be transmitted and for transmitting the copied optical packet signal after the original optical packet signal, an optical packet receiving apparatus for performing an error recovery processing based on the copied optical packet signal of the original optical packet signal, when an error occurs with the received original optical packet signal, and an optical packet switching apparatus. When congestion occurs between a copied optical packet signal inputted to an input port and an original optical packet signal inputted to another input port, the optical packet switching apparatus preferentially passes the original optical packet signal. | 09-27-2012 |
20120243870 | Distributing Wavelength Compatible with Signaling Protocols - An apparatus, comprising a first node configured to communicate with a second node to generate a wavelength assignment, wherein the first node is configured to send a wavelength availability information to the second node. Included is a network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method, comprising receiving a wavelength availability information, and updating the wavelength availability information using a local wavelength availability information. Also included is a method, comprising acquiring a local wavelength assignment information, calculating a local wavelength availability information, and transmitting the local wavelength availability information to a subsequent network element on a lightpath. | 09-27-2012 |
20120251107 | WDM Router - The present invention provides a mixed analog and digital chip-scale reconfigurable WDM network. The network suitably includes a router that enables rapidly configurable wavelength selective routers of fiber optic data. The router suitably incorporates photonic wavelength selective optical add/drop filters and multiplexers. | 10-04-2012 |
20120251108 | Optical Communications Networks, Optical Line Terminations and Related Methods - Wireless communication systems are provided including a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is configured to transmit a first polarized signal and a second polarized signal to the receiver, and in accordance with an instruction from the receiver, halt transmission of the second polarized signal. The receiver is configured to receive the polarized signals from the transmitter, determine whether or not the reception quality of the second polarized signal is below a threshold, and if so, instruct the transmitter to halt transmission of the second polarized signal. | 10-04-2012 |
20120275789 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED PROVISIONING OF SERVICES USING SINGLE STEP ROUTING AND WAVELENGTH ASSIGNMENT ALGORITHM IN DWDM NETWORKS - A single step routing and wavelength assignment method and system for automated provisioning of services on DWDM networks is presented. This novel single step solution automates design and assignment of services in DWDM networks. For an automated provisioning platform that can handle the routing and wavelength assignment in a single step, the solution avoids reconfiguration of existing services. It also takes into consideration practical aspects of DWDM transponder availability at termination sites and regeneration sites along the selected route. The methodology includes iterative computation of common channel sets to avoid multiple shortest path computations for each of the wavelengths. | 11-01-2012 |
20120301143 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SETTING AN OPTICAL PATH IN AN OPTICAL NETWORK - An auxiliary graph representing connection relations between nodes on a plurality of lightpaths in an optical network is created using a plurality of edges each connecting a pair of nodes. The plurality of lightpaths includes first lightpaths existing in the optical network and the second lightpaths to be set to accommodate traffic that is newly generated for the optical network. Each of the plurality of edges is assigned a weight value indicating a magnitude of increase in power consumption of network devices allocated to the each edge. For start and end nodes, a minimum weight path that has a path weight value minimum among paths each being a continuous sequence of edges that starts from the start node and reaches the end node is obtained, where the path weight value is a total sum of weight values assigned to the continuous sequence of edges. | 11-29-2012 |
20120301144 | SYSTEM-ON-CHIP HAVING OPTICAL INTERCONNECTIONS - A system for exchanging information in an on-chip communication network using optical flow information for communication between Intellectual Property cores. The information is exchanged between a plurality of initiators and targets in the Intellectual Property cores. The system includes a router for propagating optical flow information from the initiators to the targets. Each initiator includes an interface to convert the traffic generated by the initiator and transmit it in the form of an optical flow within the on-chip communication network, and each target includes an interface to convert information from the optical form into the electrical form. The system is organized as a parametric system and includes programming module to define a first set of high level parameters, a second set of initiator network interface parameters and a third set of target network interface parameters. | 11-29-2012 |
20120321308 | Extending Path Computation Element Protocol to Accommodate Routing and Wavelength Assignment in Wavelength Switched Optical Networks - A network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising transmitting a request to compute a routing assignment, a wavelength assignment, or both for a signal in a wavelength switched optical network, wherein the request comprises a lightpath constraint and wherein the request is transmitted using a path computation element protocol. Also disclosed is a network comprising a first path computation element (PCE) and a path computation client (PCC) in communication with the PCE, wherein the PCC is configured to send a request to and receive a reply from the PCE using a PCE protocol, wherein the request comprises a lightpath constraint. Included is a method comprising sending a discovery advertisement to the at least one PCE that calculates a wavelength assignment, receiving a response comprising a PCE capability information from the PCE, wherein the request and the reply are communicated via a PCE protocol. | 12-20-2012 |
20120328292 | ELECTRICAL SIGNAL PACKET ROUTING - A packet switch | 12-27-2012 |
20130016970 | OPTICAL NETWORK WITH SWITCHABLE DROP FILTERSAANM Koka; PranayAACI AustinAAST TXAACO USAAGP Koka; Pranay Austin TX USAANM McCracken; Michael O.AACI AustinAAST TXAACO USAAGP McCracken; Michael O. Austin TX USAANM Schwetman, JR.; Herbert D.AACI AustinAAST TXAACO USAAGP Schwetman, JR.; Herbert D. Austin TX USAANM Zheng; XuezheAACI San DiegoAAST CAAACO USAAGP Zheng; Xuezhe San Diego CA USAANM Krishnamoorthy; Ashok V.AACI San DiegoAAST CAAACO USAAGP Krishnamoorthy; Ashok V. San Diego CA US - In a multi-chip module (MCM), integrated circuits are coupled by optical waveguides. These integrated circuits receive optical signals from a set of light sources which have fixed carrier wavelengths. Moreover, a given integrated circuit includes: a transmitter that modulates at least one of the optical signals when transmitting information to at least another of the integrated circuits; and a receiver that receives at least one modulated optical signal having one of the carrier wavelengths when receiving information from at least the other of the integrated circuits. Furthermore, the MCM includes switchable drop filters optically coupled to the optical waveguides and associated integrated circuits, wherein the switchable drop filters pass adjustable bands of wavelengths to receivers in the integrated circuits. Additionally, control logic in the MCM provides a control signal to the switchable drop filters to specify the adjustable bands of wavelengths. | 01-17-2013 |
20130045009 | Time-Coherent Global Network Employing Spectral Routers - A network of global coverage, scalable to an access capacity of hundreds of petabits per second, is configured as independent bufferless switches with spectral routers connecting edge nodes to the switches. The switches are logically arranged in at least one matrix, the spectral routers are logically arranged into a matrix of upstream spectral routers and a matrix of downstream spectral routers. Each edge node has a link to an upstream spectral router in each column of the matrix of upstream spectral routers and a link from a downstream spectral router in each row of the matrix of downstream spectral routers. Preferably, all sets of edge nodes connecting to the upstream spectral routers are selected to be mutually orthogonal. Each switch is coupled to a respective switch controller and a respective time indicator. Each switch controller entrains time indicators of a set of subtending edge nodes to enable coherent switching. | 02-21-2013 |
20130084068 | OPTICAL TRANSPORT NETWORK SYSTEM, OPTICAL-SIGNAL TRANSMISSION PATH SELECTING METHOD, AND OPTICAL TRANSMISSION DEVICE - An optical transport network system includes a plurality of NEs, each transmitting wavelength-multiplexed optical signals. Each NE includes a routing information DB that is used to store reachable area information, which contains identifiers of other NEs in a range within which the optical signals can be transmitted from the own NE without using an REG. A FROM NE includes a path candidate searching unit that searches for a plurality of path candidates for transmitting optical signals from the FROM NE to a TO NE. The TO NE includes a path selecting unit that selects a path for transmitting optical signals from among a plurality of path candidates. The path selecting unit obtains the number of times for which the REG is used for each of the plurality of path candidates; and, based on each number of times that is obtained, selects a path for transmitting the optical signals. | 04-04-2013 |
20130101288 | Optical Switch for Networks Using Wavelength Division Multiplexing - A switch for switching optical signals. The switch includes a plurality of inputs, wherein each of the plurality of inputs receives one of a plurality of input signals, and at least one coupling element operably connected to two or more of the plurality of inputs and configured to combine at least two of the input signals into a combined output signal. The switch further includes a splitting element operably connected to the at least one coupling element and configured to demultiplex the combined output signal to produce a plurality of demultiplexed output signals. A control plane processor is operably connected to at least one of the plurality of inputs and is configured to determine a schedule for one or more devices operably connected to the plurality of inputs to transmit data bursts. | 04-25-2013 |
20130101289 | Switch With Optical Uplink for Implementing Wavelength Division Multiplexing Networks - A switch port device for transmitting and receiving optical bursts over an optical burst network. The switch port device includes a plurality of end device interfaces, each interface connected to a local end device and configured to receive incoming data from the local end device. A protocol switch is connected to the plurality of end device interfaces and is configured to transfer the data to a second local end device if the destination device is the second local end device. Otherwise, a processing device is operably connected to the protocol switch and configured to modulate the incoming data to a wavelength associated with the destination device to produce a modulated burst. An optical transmitter is configured to transmit the modulated burst to an optical core and an optical receiver is configured to receive at least one incoming optical burst from the optical core. | 04-25-2013 |
20130101290 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO OVERCOME LINEWIDTH PROBLEMS IN FAST RECONFIGURABLE NETWORKS - In wavelength switching optical networks, the optical data being transmitted may be routed to different end points by switching the operating frequency of the laser. However, the phase noise of the laser source increases following a switching event. This increased phase noise can prevent the successful transmission of phase modulation formats which are sensitive to it. Accordingly, it is generally necessary to wait a short period before transmitting data. However, the period may be as long as the data packet being transmitted (e.g. 3 μS), which is a limiting factor. The present application obviates this problem by including a radio frequency pilot tone with the data prior to modulation onto the optical carrier. | 04-25-2013 |
20130114958 | RANDOM GAP INSERTION IN AN OPTICAL RING NETWORK - The invention provides a burst transmission optical fibre wavelength routed ring network and method comprising a plurality of nodes on a network ring where each node can drop and add a wavelength. The network has a control means to control the wavelength to be transmitted on the network ring in a burst transmit mode from each node over a scheduling interval. The invention provides a random generator for generating a plurality of gap intervals over the scheduling interval, such that the gap intervals allow for wavelengths from different nodes to transmit wavelengths in said gaps to achieve a fair access to bandwidth and fair latency in the ring network. | 05-09-2013 |
20130121695 | WAVELENGTH ROUTER FOR A PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORK - A passive arrayed-waveguide-grating (AWG) router that can be used to implement the dual functionality of a wavelength router and a 3-dB power splitter for one of its wavelength channels while functioning as a conventional wavelength router for the other wavelength channels. The passive AWG router can advantageously be used, e.g., in a WDM-PON system to reduce the insertion-loss disparity between the various wavelength channels that are being used to broadcast optical signals from an optical line terminal located at the service provider's central office, through the passive AWG router, to a plurality of optical network units located near the end users. | 05-16-2013 |
20130129351 | Encoding of Wavelength Converter Systems - An apparatus comprising a path computation element (PCE) configured to perform a path computation using a wavelength converter (WC) pool information based on a dynamic WC pool model, wherein the dynamic WC pool model comprises information regarding WC pool usage state represented using a WC pool usage state vector, and wherein the information regarding WC pool usage state is communicated to the PCE using a WC usage state Type-Length-Value (TLV) that indicates an available WC in a WC pool, a used WC in the WC pool, or both. Also disclosed is a network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising receiving a WC usage state TLV comprising information regarding WC pool usage state, establishing a WC pool usage state vector using the information in the WC usage state TLV, and calculating a WC pool connectivity matrix based on the WC usage state vector. | 05-23-2013 |
20130136447 | OPTICAL ACCESS NETWORK - An optical access network comprises L wavelength division multiplexed access sub-networks. Each of the wavelength division multiplexed access sub-networks is arranged to use a set of wavelength channels. M optical line termination apparatus, each receive traffic from a respective operator network and output traffic on the wavelength channels. A wavelength routing apparatus comprises M sets of first ports and L second ports. Each set of first ports connects to a respective one of the optical line termination apparatus and each second port connects to an optical link of a respective one of the wavelength division multiplexed access sub-networks. The wavelength routing apparatus is arranged to route the set of wavelength channels between the sets of first ports and the second ports and to route different wavelength channels of the same wavelength to different ones of the second ports. | 05-30-2013 |
20130156428 | System and Method for Impairment-Aware Routing and Wavelength Assignment in Wavelength Switched Optical Networks - An apparatus comprising a path computation element (PCE) configured for at least partial impairment aware routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) and to communicate with a path computation client (PCC) based on a PCE protocol (PCEP) that supports path routing, wavelength assignment (WA), and impairment validation (IV). Also disclosed is a network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising establishing a PCEP session with a PCC, receiving path computation information comprising RWA information and constraints from the PCC, establishing impairment aware RWA (IA-RWA) based on the path computation information and a private impairment information for a vendor's equipment, and sending a path and an assigned wavelength based on the IA-RWA to the PCC. Disclosed is a method comprising establishing impairment aware routing and wavelength assignment for a plurality of network elements (NEs) in an optical network using routing and combined WA and IV. | 06-20-2013 |
20130156429 | OPTICAL-ELECTRICAL SWITCHING NODE - An electro-optical switch ( | 06-20-2013 |
20130177312 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ENERGY EFFICIENT ROUTING OF IP PACKETS OVER OPTICAL BACKBONE NETWORKS - A method and system for energy-efficient routing of IP packets in which ingress traffic is forward from ingress nodes directly to source dominator nodes without address destination processing such that related address processing elements may be avoided in the ingress nodes. The source dominator nodes perform address destination processing and forward the packets to destination dominator nodes proximate the destination node. | 07-11-2013 |
20130195450 | Optical Switching Device Using Spectral Trigger - An apparatus comprising a processor, wherein the processor is configured to split an optical signal into a first optical signal and a second optical signal, wherein the first optical signal comprises a plurality of encoded wavelengths, receive a selection signal, wherein the selection signal selects a plurality of active wavelengths, wherein the active wavelengths are a subset of the encoded wavelengths, compute the routing information for the second optical signal using the active wavelengths, and switch the second optical signal using the routing information. | 08-01-2013 |
20130202297 | MULTICAST OPTICAL SWITCH - A multicast optical switch includes a free-space optical assembly of discrete splitters, cylindrical optics, and a linear array of reflective switching devices, such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) mirrors, to provide low-loss, high-performance multicast switching in a compact configuration. The assembly of optical splitters may include multiple planar lightwave circuit splitters or a multi-reflection beam splitter that includes a linear array of partially reflecting mirrors, each of a different reflectivity. | 08-08-2013 |
20130202298 | OPTICAL SWITCH AND PROTOCOLS FOR USE THEREWITH - A method of establishing a data connection between terminal switching nodes in a network and switching nodes for implementing the method. The method involves switching nodes participating in a network layer wavelength routing (WR) protocol to determine the next hop switching node for every possible combination of terminal nodes based on the network topology. The method also involves the switching nodes participating in a network layer wavelength distribution (WD) once the data connection is to be established. The WR protocol determines the path used through the network, while the WD protocol assigns wavelengths on each link between switching nodes. The wavelengths may be different on different optical links. The switching nodes include wavelength converters with an optical switch or optoelectronic converters with a digital electronic switch. A digital electronic switch can also provide signal reformatting. Advantages of using potentially different wavelengths along various segments of a single end-to-end connection yields increased wavelength efficiency. | 08-08-2013 |
20130216224 | Joint Optimization Procedure for Routing and Wavelength Assignment with Combined Dedicated Shared Protections in Multi-Cable Multi-Fiber Optical WDM Networks - A joint-optimization method addresses the generalized routing and wavelength assignment problem with variable number of combined 1+1 dedicated and shared connections. The inventive method enables a solution in time that is polynomial of the input size. Thus, the time complexity of the joint-optimization method is significantly less than that of existing methods. | 08-22-2013 |
20130216225 | 2-Step-Optimization Procedure for Routing and Wavelength Assignment with Combined Dedicated Shared Protections in Multi-Cable Multi-Fiber Optical WDM Networks - The inventive 2-step-optimization procedure that addresses the generalized routing and wavelength assignment problem with variable number of combined 1+1 dedicated and shared connections for the first time. The proposed procedure results a solution in time that is polynomial of the input size. Thus, the time complexity of the 2-step-optimization procedure is significantly less than that of existing methods. | 08-22-2013 |
20130230322 | MULTI-CHASSIS ROUTER WITH MULTIPLEXED OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS - A multi-chassis network device includes a plurality of nodes that operate as a single device within the network and a switch fabric that forwards data plane packets between the plurality of nodes. The switch fabric includes a set of multiplexed optical interconnects coupling the nodes. For example, a multi-chassis router includes a plurality of routing nodes that operate as a single router within a network and a switch fabric that forwards packets between the plurality of routing nodes. The switch fabric includes at least one multiplexed optical interconnect coupling the routing nodes. The nodes of the multi-chassis router may direct portions of the optical signal over the multiplexed optical interconnect to different each other using wave-division multiplexing. | 09-05-2013 |
20130243432 | WAVELENGTH ROUTER WITH FEEDBACK CONTROL COMPRISING OPTICAL MONITOR PORTS - An optical waveguide router device with feedback control that uses the fringe frequencies of an optical data signal to derive a wavelength (e.g., temperature) control signal in order to compensate for wavelength variations due to temperature fluctuations and/or other wavelength shifting factors without the need for a reference laser. A monitoring circuit converts an output of at least one output monitoring port to an electrical signal and comparing the output of said at least one output monitoring port against 1) a reference signal, or 2) at least one output from another output monitoring port having a higher or lower frequency fringe of an optical data signal of at least one data port, or 3) at least one output from another output monitoring port having light from diffraction pattern(s), and outputting a control signal reflecting a result of the comparison to control at least one center wavelength of the waveguide router. | 09-19-2013 |
20130302033 | Dynamic Assignment Of Wavelengths In Agile Photonic Networks - In an automatically switched optical network, the wavelengths are assigned to optical path based on their intrinsic physical performance and on the current network operating parameters. The wavelength performance information is organized in binning tables, based primarily on the wavelength reach capabilities. A network topology database provides the distance between the nodes of the network, which is used to determine the length of the optical path. Other network operating parameters needed for wavelength selection are also available in this database. Once a bin corresponding to the path length is identified in the binning table, the wavelength for that path is selected based on length only, or based on the length and one or more additional parameters. The optical path performance is estimated for the selected wavelength, and the search continues if the estimated path performance is not satisfactory. Several available wavelengths are searched and of those, the wavelength that is most used along the optical path in consideration or alternatively network-wide is selected and assigned. This method helps minimize wavelength fragmentation. The binning tables may have various granularities, and may be organized by reach, or by reach, wavelength spacing, the load on the respective optical path, the fiber type, etc. | 11-14-2013 |
20130308946 | Optical Switching Architectures for Nodes in WDM Mesh and Ring Networks - Switching architectures for WDM mesh and ring network nodes are presented. In mesh networks, the switching architectures have multiple levels—a network level having wavelength routers for add, drop and pass-through functions, an intermediate level having device units which handle add and drop signals, and a local level having port units for receiving signals dropped from the network and transmitting signals to be added to the network. The intermediate level device units are selected and arranged for performance and cost considerations. The multilevel architecture also permits the design of reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers for ring network nodes, the easy expansion of ring networks into mesh networks, and the accommodation of protection mechanisms in ring networks. | 11-21-2013 |
20130336653 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR A PASSIVE ACCESS SUBNETWORK - An access subnetwork node herein comprises one or more add-drop modules, each module including one or more passive optical filters. The one or more add-drop modules are configured to selectively drop a fixed band of wavelength channels from an access subnetwork, via a passive directional coupler, to each of multiple client nodes that actively select to receive client-specific channels within the fixed band. The one or more add-drop modules are also configured to selectively add the fixed band of wavelength channels to the access subnetwork, as received via a passive directional coupler from the multiple client nodes that actively select to transmit client-specific channels within the fixed band. With an access subnetwork node and a client node configured in this way, embodiments herein reduce the complexity and accompanying cost of nodes in an optical network, while also maintaining flexibility for assigning wavelength channels in the network. | 12-19-2013 |
20140016934 | Wavelength Based Optical Power Positioning for Information and Communications Technology Systems - Wavelength-based optical power provisioning is provided by multiplexing a plurality of continuous wave light beams at different wavelengths onto a single optical fiber as a multiplexed light source and demultiplexing the multiplexed light source based on wavelength at a photonic unit coupled to the optical fiber to recover the continuous wave light beams. The recovered continuous wave light beams are split into a plurality of light beams by the photonic unit, each light beam having the same wavelength and the same or lower power as one of the recovered continuous wave light beams so that at least one of the light beams generated by the photonic unit has a higher power than the other light beams generated by the photonic unit. | 01-16-2014 |
20140029943 | COPLANAR ROUTING FOR OPTICAL TRANSMISSION - A system includes a laser array that receives a plurality of electrical signals and generates a plurality of optical signals driven from a corresponding member of the plurality of electrical signals, wherein the plurality of optical signals are arranged in a plurality of different groups. A coplanar router routes the plurality of optical signals to an array of optical multiplexers, such that each multiplexer receives optical signals from each of the plurality of different groups. | 01-30-2014 |
20140056584 | Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer and Optical Network Element - A reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer ( | 02-27-2014 |
20140064727 | PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS - Optical transmitter apparatus | 03-06-2014 |
20140093241 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING AN EXTERNAL OPTICAL DATA PACKET TO A DESTINATION NODE OF A PACKET OPTICAL NETWORK - A method and a system for providing an external optical data packet to a destination node of a packet optical network are described. The packet optical network includes a plurality of nodes and a first optical data channel for optically communicating local optical data packets between the plurality of nodes. The external optical data packet is optically converted for a transmission to the destination node over a second optical data channel of the packet optical network, the first and second optical data channels being independent of each other, the converted external optical data packet is optically transferred to the packet optical network, and the converted external optical data packet is transmitted to the destination node over the second optical data channel. | 04-03-2014 |
20140140696 | BIDIRECTIONAL WAVELENGTH CROSS CONNECT ARCHITECTURES USING WAVELENGTH ROUTING ELEMENTS - Bidirectional wavelength cross connects include a plurality of ports, each configured to receive an input optical signals, each input optical signal having a plurality of spectral bands. At least one of the plurality of ports is disposed to simultaneously transmit an output optical signal having at least one of the spectral bands. A plurality of wavelength routing elements are configured to selectively route input optical signal spectral bands to output optical signals. | 05-22-2014 |
20140161449 | APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR ASYMMETRICAL AND DYNAMIC ROUTING - A regenerator system is provided for dynamic and asymmetric bandwidth capacity adjustment when exchanging data between a first remote network device and a second remote network device. The regenerator includes first and second couplers in communication with the first and second remote network devices, respectively, using a first communication medium that provides multiple communication channels, and at least one redirecting device operable to selectively configure at least one of the channels for either transmission of a signal from the first remote network device to the second remote network device, or transmission of the signal from the second remote network device to the first remote network device. | 06-12-2014 |
20140178069 | OPTICAL RECEIVER MODULE - An optical receiver module may include a demultiplexer routing a plurality of multiplexed optical signals to different optical paths depending on their wavelengths, a photodetector provided spaced apart from the demultiplexer to convert the optical signals into electric signals, respectively, a pre-amplifier electrically connected to the photodetector to amplify intensities of the electric signals, a flexible printed circuit board including a first electrode layer, which is electrically connected to the pre-amplifier to transmit the electric signals to the external circuit, and a second electrode layer configured to supply a ground potential. The flexible printed circuit board are provided not to have any via hole between the first and second electrode layers. | 06-26-2014 |
20140186037 | OPTICAL PORT DISCOVERY IN A WDM OPTICAL NETWORK - A hub node in a wavelength division multiplexed optical network automatically discovers at least one of new client-side optical ports and new edge-side optical ports. The hub node comprises a wavelength switch network, port discovery equipment, and a controller. The wavelength switch network routes any wavelength channel that does not support a matching pair of client-side and edge-side ports to port discovery equipment at the hub node. The port discovery equipment searches for new ports, and, responsive to finding a new port, automatically discovers a predefined set of one or more attributes of the new port. The controller determines that a client-side port and an edge-side port are a matching pair of ports if discovered sets of attributes of those ports match according to one or more predefined rules. The controller then controls the wavelength switch network to re-route the wavelength channel supporting that matching pair between those ports. | 07-03-2014 |
20140219656 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ASSOCIATING LOCATION INFORMATION WITH A COMMUNICATION SUB-ASSEMBLY HOUSED WITHIN A COMMUNICATION ASSEMBLY - An exemplary optical distribution frame includes a frame structure defining multiple positions into which multiple chassis can be inserted and a frame controller unit attached to the frame structure. The frame structure includes a frame controller and a switch communicatively coupled to the frame controller, wherein the switch includes a multiple ports. The frame structure including multiple cables, each cable being attached to a respective one of the ports of the switch and routed and attached to the optical distribution frame so that each cable can be attached to a chassis inserted into a predetermined one of the positions in the optical distribution frame, wherein the frame controller is configured to communicate port mapping information to a management entity that is communicatively coupled to the frame controller for use by the management entity in associating location information with a chassis inserted into the optical distribution frame. | 08-07-2014 |
20140219657 | OPTICAL NODE FOR SWITCHING SIGNALS BETWEEN OPTICAL FIBERS - Proposed is an optical node that contains a number of A optical demultiplexers. Each demultiplexer is adapted to provide at its N output ports N incoming optical signals received from N optical cores of an incoming optical multi-core fiber. Furthermore, the optical node contains a number of B optical multiplexers. Each multiplexer is adapted to receive at its N input ports N outgoing optical signals and to insert the N outgoing optical signals into N optical cores of an outgoing multi-core fiber. The optical node is configurable to switch one of the incoming optical signals simultaneously onto B input ports of different multiplexers and to combine A of the incoming optical signals from A output ports of different demultiplexers onto a same input port of one of the multiplexers. Alternatively, N incoming signals are received from N different mode signals of a spatially multiplexed multi-mode fiber and then transmitted as N multi-mode signals into a spatially multiplexed multi-mode fiber. | 08-07-2014 |
20140255026 | RECONFIGURABLE OPTICAL ADD/DROP MULTIPLEXOR AND OPTICAL SWITCHING NODE - A colorless, directionless ROADM includes a pair of contentioned add and drop wavelength-selective optical switches, an input wavelength-selective optical switch having one input port, and an output wavelength-selective optical switch having one output port. Unintended input-to-output port couplings, which appear in the “contentioned” add and drop switches, can be mitigated by the input and output wavelength-selective optical switches carrying the through traffic. | 09-11-2014 |
20140294384 | OPTICAL WAVELENGTH PATH REARRANGING METHOD, COMPUTER PRODUCT, OPTICAL TRANSMISSION MANAGING APPARATUS, AND OPTICAL TRANSMISSION APPARATUS - An optical wavelength path rearranging method includes detecting time that elapses since a setting of optical wavelength paths in an optical wavelength division multiplexing network; and moving to a predetermined long-period optical wavelength range, an optical wavelength path that is among the optical wavelength paths and for which the detected elapsed time is long, where the optical wavelength path rearranging method is executed by a processor. | 10-02-2014 |
20140328591 | RECONFIGURABLE OPTICAL TRANSMITTER - Embodiments of the invention describe apparatuses, optical systems, and methods for utilizing a dynamically reconfigurable optical transmitter. A laser array outputs a plurality of laser signals (which may further be modulated based on electrical signals), each of the plurality of laser signals having a wavelength, wherein the wavelength of each of the plurality of laser signals is tunable based on other electrical signals. An optical router receives the plurality of (modulated) laser signals at input ports and outputs the plurality of received (modulated) laser signals to one or more output ports based on the tuned wavelength of each of the plurality of received laser signals. This reconfigurable transmitter enables dynamic bandwidth allocation for multiple destinations via the tuning of the laser wavelengths. | 11-06-2014 |
20140341574 | Reconfigurable Optical Access Network Architectures - An apparatus comprising a first tunable transmitter array comprising a first tunable transmitter and a second tunable transmitter and a cyclic array waveguide grating (AWG) wavelength router coupled to the first tunable transmitter array, wherein the cyclic AWG wavelength router comprises a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports, wherein the cyclic AWG wavelength router is configured to receive a first optical signal emitted from a first tunable transmitter via a first input port of the plurality of input ports, receive a second optical signal emitted from a second tunable transmitter via the first input port of the plurality of input ports, and route the first optical signal and the second optical signal to the output ports dependent on one or more wavelengths used to encode the first optical signal and the second optical signal. | 11-20-2014 |
20140348503 | METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING OPTICAL NETWORK - A method for optimizing an optical network includes: obtaining a lightpath demand set including multiple lightpath demands; generating multiple lightpath demand sequences with different orders from the lightpath demand set; obtaining results of the respective lightpath demand sequences in parallel by multiple processing terminals; obtaining all the results, and comparing the results to obtain an optimum result. In this embodiment, by generating multiple lightpath demand sequences with different orders for the lightpath demand set and obtaining many results, the optimum result can be selected out from the results. Furthermore, multiple processing terminals may obtain the result in parallel, thus improving an operation efficiency. | 11-27-2014 |
20140348504 | DIRECTIONLESS OPTICAL ARCHITECTURE AND HIGHLY AVAILABLE NETWORK AND PHOTONIC RESILIENCE METHODS - A directionless optical architecture is described for reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) and wavelength selective switches (WSSs). The directionless architecture utilizes a directionless wavelength switch coupled between client devices and ROADMs/WSSs to eliminate the need to hard-wire client devices to a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) network. Accordingly, client device connections can be automatically routed without manual intervention to provide a highly resilient network design which can recover route diversity during failure scenarios. Additionally, the present invention minimizes deployments of costly optical transceivers while providing superior resiliency. Further, the present invention couples the directionless optical architecture and associated optical protection mechanisms with existing mesh restoration schemes to provide additional resiliency. | 11-27-2014 |
20140355985 | OPTICAL BEAM ROUTING APPARATUS AND METHODS - This invention relates to methods and apparatus for routing light beams in telecommunications devices using holographic techniques, in particular by displaying kinoforms on LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) devices. Thus we describe optical beam routing apparatus comprising: at least one optical input to receive an input beam; a plurality of optical outputs; a spatial light modulator (SLM) on an optical path between said optical input and said optical outputs; and a driver for said SLM to display a kinoform on said SLM to diffract said input beam into an output beam comprising a plurality of diffraction orders, wherein a routed one of said diffraction orders is directed to at least one selected said optical output; wherein said apparatus is configured to modify a wavefront of said output beam to reduce a coupling of said output beam into said selected optical output; and wherein said kinoform is adapted to compensate for said wavefront modification to compensate for said reduced coupling and thereby to reduce a coupling of other diffracted light from said input beam into others of said optical outputs than said at least one selected optical output. | 12-04-2014 |
20140355986 | INTERFACE AND METHOD FOR ENABLING INTERCONNECTION OF A HOST DEVICE AND A SMALL-FORMFACTOR PLUGGABLE MODULE - The present invention relates to an interface and method for enabling interconnection of a host device and a small-formfactor pluggable module. The interface comprises a host device connector operative to receive a mating small-formfactor pluggable module connector and a switching device connected to the host device connector and operative to selectively switch at least one signal carried over the host device connector between at least two separate signal paths of the host device depending on a selected switching mode of the switching device. | 12-04-2014 |
20140363162 | OPTICAL DEVICE AND METHODS - We describe methods and devices for manipulating optical signals. A method of manipulating an optical signal comprises providing a device ( | 12-11-2014 |
20140369682 | ROUTING OPTICAL SIGNALS - Systems, methods, and apparatus to route optical signals are disclosed. An example apparatus to route optical signals includes a plurality of hollow metal waveguide optical switch arrays. Each of the arrays comprises a plurality of optical input ports and a plurality of optical output ports. The input ports and the output ports for a first one of the arrays are arranged in a first plane, the input ports and the output ports for a second one of the arrays are arranged in a second plane, and the plurality of arrays are stacked such that the first and second planes are adjacent. The first one of the arrays is to convey optical signals from a first communication device to a second communication device and the second one of the arrays is to convey optical signals from the second communication device to the first communication device. | 12-18-2014 |
20140376912 | OPTICAL ACCESS NETWORK - An optical access network comprises an optical line terminal and an optical network unit having a transmitter. An optical path connects an output of the transmitter of the optical network unit to the optical line terminal. The transmitter of the optical network unit is arranged to transmit an upstream signal with an amplitude modulation format having at least one level transition per data bit period for at least one of the logical bits and a frequency modulation occurring with the level transition. An optical filter is positioned in the optical path. A central wavelength of a response of the optical filter has an offset with respect to a wavelength of the upstream signal. The wavelength of the upstream signal is located on a slope of the response of the optical filter. | 12-25-2014 |
20140376913 | OPTICAL BRANCHING/SYNTHESIZING DEVICE - An optical branching/synthesizing device | 12-25-2014 |
20150023663 | PROACTIVE OPTICAL RESTORATION SYSTEM - A router configured to communicate data with a destination router over an IP path that includes an IP link that uses a first optical path. The router configured to proactively maintain the performance of the communication of data. The router configured to receive a signal to move the communication off of the first optical path, before performance of the first optical path has failed. The router configured to establish a second optical path to the destination router an associate the IP link with the second optical path and move the communication of data with the destination router to the second optical path. The router may optionally be configured to tear down the first optical path. The trigger received by the router may be an indication of a performance degradation of the first optical path or an indication of a router interface used by the IP link being switched into maintenance mode. | 01-22-2015 |
20150055954 | Wave Division Multiplexer Arrangement for Small Cell Networks - A passive optical network includes a central office providing subscriber signals; a fiber distribution hub including an optical power splitter and a termination field; and a drop terminal. Distribution fibers have first ends coupled to output ports of a drop terminal and second ends coupled to the termination field. A remote unit of a DAS is retrofitted to the network by routing a second feeder cable from a base station to the hub and coupling one the distribution fibers to the second feeder cable. The remote unit is plugged into the corresponding drop terminal port, for example, with a cable arrangement having a sealed wave division multiplexer. | 02-26-2015 |
20150063802 | DYNAMIC END-TO-END NETWORK PATH SETUP ACROSS MULTIPLE NETWORK LAYERS - A centralized controller provides dynamic end-to-end network path setup across multiple network layers. In particular, the centralized controller manages end-to-end network path setup that provisions a path at both the transport network layer (e.g., optical) and the service network layer (e.g., IP/MPLS). The centralized controller performs path computation for an optical path at the transport network layer and for a path at the service network layer that transports network traffic on the underlying optical transport path, based on information obtained by the centralized controller from the underlying network components at both layers. | 03-05-2015 |
20150063803 | OPTICAL ACCESS NETWORK - An optical access network comprises an optical network unit having a first port for connecting to a first optical link, a second port for connecting to a second optical link and an optical source. The optical source is arranged to generate a first optical signal, to transmit the first optical signal via the first port, to receive an optical seed signal via the first port and to amplify the optical seed signal. The optical seed signal has a narrower bandwidth compared to the first optical signal. A modulator is arranged to modulate the amplified optical seed signal with upstream data to form an upstream optical signal and to transmit the upstream optical signal via the second port. A polarisation modifier can modify polarisation of the first optical signal. | 03-05-2015 |
20150063804 | Path Computation Element Protocol (PCEP) Operations to Support Wavelength Switched Optical Network Routing, Wavelength Assignment, and Impairment Validation - An apparatus comprising a path computation element (PCE) configured for at least partial impairment aware routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) and to communicate with a path computation client (PCC) based on a PCE protocol (PCEP) that supports path routing, wavelength assignment (WA), and impairment validation (IV). The PCEP comprises at least one operation selected from the group consisting of a new RWA path request operation and a path re-optimization request operation. Also disclosed is a network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising establishing a PCEP session with a PCC, receiving path computation information comprising RWA information and constraints from the PCC, and establishing impairment aware RWA (IA-RWA) based on the path computation information and a private impairment information for a vendor's equipment. | 03-05-2015 |
20150071633 | Photonic Switch Chip for Scalable Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer - System and method embodiments are provided for a photonic switch chip for scalable reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM). The embodiments enable a low-cost pay as you grow ROADM that scales as both the number of wavelengths added or dropped increases and the size of the node in terms of number of directions increase. In an embodiment, a ROADM includes an M degree optical cross-connect tandem component comprising M wavelength selective switch (WSS) coupled to M wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) node interfaces, where M is equal to a number of input or output directions; a routing stage wavelength selector switch (WSS) comprising a plurality of WSSs connected to the tandem component; and an N by M combiner/distributor for add/drop coupled to the routing stage WSS, wherein the combiner/distributor comprises one or more photonic integrated circuit (PIC) chips, and wherein N is a maximum number of add/drop wavelengths. | 03-12-2015 |
20150071634 | Client Grooming Interface - The invention is directed to apparatus, systems and methods enabling a service provider to establish an optical demarcation point located at or within equipment controlled at least in part by a customer's domain such that the service provider's domain is able to directly control access of an optical signal to their domain based upon at least one optical signal characteristic and at least one of mapping and multiplexing properties pertaining to one or more information flows within said optical signal. | 03-12-2015 |
20150071635 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR EFFECTIVE DESIGN OF A COMMUNICATION NETWORK ENABLING LARGE-CAPACITY TRANSMISSION - An apparatus designs a communication route for each of requested channels by selecting, with higher priority, first transmission-paths providing connections between particular nodes in a network in which a wavelength-multiplexed optical signal is transmitted than second transmission-paths providing connections between three or more nodes in the network, and assigns, for each channel, a wavelength included in the wavelength-multiplexed optical signal. Between the particular nodes, when the number of wavelengths assigned to channels passing through the first transmission-paths is greater than the number of wavelengths assigned to channels passing through the second transmission-paths, the apparatus modifies the designed communication routes and the assigned wavelengths so that, via any of the particular nodes, one of two channels having the same wavelength is routed from the first transmission-paths to the second transmission-paths and the other one of the two channels is routed from the second transmission-paths to the first transmission-paths. | 03-12-2015 |
20150086202 | ENHANCED ROUTING AND WAVELENGTH ASSIGNMENT TECHNIQUES FOR REDUCING WAVELENGTH CONTINUITY BLOCKING - Embodiments of the disclosure are directed to optimizing routing and wavelength assignment in a network. An embodiment determines a routing assignment for a network, wherein the routing assignment is determined using a decongestion cost-based function; and determines a wavelength assignment for the network based on vector difference. The determination of the wavelength assignment comprises spanning the network for a path; calculating a weighted correlation function for at least one length in the network; storing the weighted correlation; and determining if a next path exists. If a next path is found, spanning for a next path in the network, and if a next path is not found, returning the stored correlation. | 03-26-2015 |
20150117859 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PHYSICAL LINK ROUTING - A system for physical link routing includes a link routing block, comprising a volume of solid material, that defines a set of link routing paths; and a first link interface, comprising a set of access points arranged in a pattern, wherein each access point of the set of access points is associated with an endpoint of a link routing path. | 04-30-2015 |
20150295821 | ARCHITECTURE OF OPEN-FLOW BASED SOFTWARE-DEFINED OPTICAL LABEL SWAPPING - A method of optical label swapping implemented by a switch used in a software defined network system that in one embodiment includes providing a 400-Gbit/s payload having a Nyquist shaped carrier in a 75-Ghz bandwidth spacing using a payload generator module controlling at least one first optical laser, and inserting a first optical label adjacent to the payload flow in a remainder of a 100-Ghz bandwidth with a label generator controlling at least one second optical laser. The label generator and the payload generator are controlled by a software defined network (SDN). A package of the payload and the first optical label is transmitted to a receiving node. The optical label can be swapped at the receiving node with a flex grid wavelength selective switch (WSS) controlled by the software defined network. | 10-15-2015 |
20150311995 | WAVELENGTH-DIVISION MULTIPLEXER (WDM) AND DE-MULTIPLEXER (WDDM) - A WDDM includes a base substrate; a first mirror on the base substrate; a second mirror on said base substrate; a third mirror on the base substrate; a first optical splitter on the base substrate, wherein the first mirror is configured to reflect a first light beam to the first optical splitter, wherein the first optical splitter is configured to split the first light beam into a second light beam exiting from a first light exit surface of the first optical splitter and a third light beam reflecting to the second mirror; and a second optical splitter on the base substrate, wherein the second mirror is configured to reflect the third light beam to the second optical splitter, wherein the second optical splitter is configured to split the third light beam into a fourth light beam exiting from a second light exit surface of the second optical splitter and a fifth light beam reflecting to the third mirror. | 10-29-2015 |
20150326955 | OPTICAL SIGNAL ROUTING - An upgradable optical router for use in an optical switching network. In an initial configuration, the optical router includes wavelength selective switches configured to switch optical signals having WDM wavelengths positioned in a grid having exactly 100 GHz (about 0.8 nm) spacing in optical frequency, aka fixed grid. The interface ports within the optical switch include an optical splitter and optical coupler and additionally space for a second selective switch. At a later point in time, a second wavelength selective switch can be added to provide additional capabilities such as switching wavelengths positioned in a flexible grid. | 11-12-2015 |
20150326957 | DATA TRANSPORT IN A VIRTUALIZED DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEM - A system for routing signals in a Distributed Antenna System includes a plurality of local Digital Access Units (DAUs) located at a Local location. Each of the plurality of local DAUs is coupled to each other and operable to route signals between the plurality of local DAUs. Each of the plurality of local DAUs includes one or more Base Transceiver Station (BTS) RF connections. Each of the plurality of BTS RF connections is operable to be coupled to one of one or more sectors of a BTS. The system also includes a plurality of remote DAUs located at a Remote location. The plurality of remote DAUs are coupled to each other and operable to transport signals between the plurality of remote DAUs. | 11-12-2015 |
20150340832 | OPTICAL AMPLIFIER AND RELATED METHOD - An optical amplifier ( | 11-26-2015 |
20150350756 | PROVIDING SIMULTANEOUS DIGITAL AND ANALOG SERVICES AND OPTICAL FIBER-BASED DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEMS, AND RELATED COMPONENTS AND METHODS - Embodiments relate to providing simultaneous digital and analog services in optical fiber-based distributed radio frequency (RF) antenna systems (DASs), and related components and methods. A multiplex switch unit associated with a head-end unit of a DAS can be configured to receive a plurality of analog and digital downlink signals from one or more sources, such as a service matrix unit, and to assign each downlink signal to be transmitted to one or more remote units of the DAS. In one example, when two or more downlink signals are assigned to be transmitted to the same remote unit, a wave division multiplexer/demultiplexer associated with the multiplex switch unit can be configured to wave division multiplex the component downlink signals into a combined downlink signal for remote side transmission and to demultiplex received combined uplink signals into their component uplink signals for head-end side transmission. | 12-03-2015 |
20150372756 | Optical Spectral-Temporal Connector - An optical spectral-temporal connector, having multiple connector modules, interconnects a large number of nodes in a full-mesh structure. A wavelength-division-multiplexed link from each node is de-multiplexed into wavelength channels individually directed to different connector modules. Each connector module has a set of star couplers, each star coupler connecting to wavelength channels from a respective set of nodes through spectral translators. Each spectral translator cyclically shifts a spectral band of a wavelength channel so that, at any instant of time, spectral bands of signals at inlets of any star coupler are disjoint. A spectral router connects outlets of the set of star couplers to a respective set of nodes. A spectral-translation controller prompts each spectral translator to shift to a new spectral band. Several arrangements for time-aligning all the nodes to the connector modules are disclosed. | 12-24-2015 |
20150373433 | RADIX ENHANCEMENT FOR PHOTONIC PACKET SWITCH - A system can include an optical multiplexer to combine a plurality of optical input signals having respective wavelengths into a wide-channel optical input signal that is provided to an input channel. The system also includes a photonic packet switch comprising a switch core and a plurality of ports defining a switch radix of the photonic packet switch. The input channel and an output channel can be associated with one of the plurality of ports. The photonic packet switch can process the wide-channel optical input signal and can generate a wide-channel optical output signal that is provided to the output channel. The system further includes an optical demultiplexer to separate the wide-channel optical output signal into a plurality of optical output signals having respective wavelengths. The optical multiplexer and the optical demultiplexer can collectively provide the system with a radix greater than the switch radix. | 12-24-2015 |
20160006534 | Method and Device for Managing Optical Channel Overhead, and Optical Signal Receiving Node - Disclosed are a method and device for managing optical channel overhead, and an optical signal receiving node. The method comprises: optical channel overhead information is structured, wherein the optical channel overhead information comprises at least one of the following: the optical channel nominal central frequency, the optical channel application code, and the optical channel trail trace identifier; and the optical channel overhead information is sent to the optical signal receiving node. The disclosure solves the technical problem in the related art of an inability to negotiate a single, unified optical channel nominal central frequency and application code between the optical transmitter and the optical receiver, i.e. the disclosure enables an optical transmitter and the optical receiver to negotiate such the nominal central frequency and application code, thereby achieving the technical result of an optical signal being correctly sent and received. | 01-07-2016 |
20160006545 | Data Mapping and Multiplexing Method and Device and Data Demultiplexing and Demapping Method and Device - Provided are a method and device for mapping, multiplexing, demapping and demultiplexing data are provided. The method includes: mapping an Ethernet service data stream the rate of which is m*100 Gb/s sequentially into m Optical Payload Unit Sub-frames (OPUC) and multiplexing the m OPUC into an Optical Payload Unit Frame (OPUCm) the rate of which is m*100 Gb/s according to the way of byte interleave; and adding an Optical Channel Data Unit (ODU) overhead to the head of the OPUCm to obtain an Optical Channel Data Unit Frame (ODUCm) the rate of which is m*100 Gb/s, wherein the frame structure of the OPUC consists of 4 rows and 3810 columns; the frame structure of the OPUCm consists of 4 rows and 3810*m columns; and the frame structure of the ODUCm consists of 4 rows and 3824*m columns, wherein m is a positive integer. The present disclosure improves the spectrum efficiency of optical fibers and the systematic flexibility and the compatibility. | 01-07-2016 |
20160006615 | Methods and Arrangements for Providing Radio Access at Local Site - Methods and nodes for providing radio access to a communication network ( | 01-07-2016 |
20160025934 | Dual-Ganged Optical Switch - An optical switch is configured in a “dual-ganged” switch geometry to provide for the simultaneous switching of a selected transmit/receive pair of optical signal paths between a specific optical communication device and an optical communication network. A biaxially-symmetric signal redirection component may be used to direct the signals between the selected channel and the optical communication device. A specific waveguide (e.g., fiber) array topology within the dual-ganged switch (DGS) breaks the symmetry between the network transmit/receive arrays and a pair of transmit and receive signal paths associated with the communication device to improve isolation and minimize the possibility of cross-talk between non-selected waveguides in the transmit and receive arrays. The possibility of “hits” during switching between channels can be eliminated, and is controlled by dictating the process or switching steps used to rotate the biaxially-symmetric signal redirection element. | 01-28-2016 |
20160028502 | MECHANISM FOR TRAFFIC PRIVACY IN RECONFIGURABLE ADD/DROP MULTIPLEXER BASED SUBMARINE NETWORKS - A method for data transport that includes providing a branch terminal between a first and second trunk terminal, wherein a branching unit is present at an intersect between the first and second trunk terminal and the branch terminal. The branching unit includes a reconfigurable add/drop multiplexers (ROADM) at least one attenuator. A signal is sent from a second terminal of the first and second trunk terminal to the branding unit. The signal may include a branch traffic component trunk traffic component. The branching unit includes at least one attenuator for attenuating the trunk traffic component so that the trunk traffic component of the signal cannot be detected at the branch terminal. | 01-28-2016 |
20160036549 | RECONFIGURABLE OPTICAL ADD/DROP MULTIPLEXOR AND OPTICAL SWITCHING NODE - A colorless, directionless ROADM includes a pair of contentioned add and drop wavelength-selective optical switches, an input wavelength-selective optical switch having one input port, and an output wavelength-selective optical switch having one output port. Unintended input-to-output port couplings, which appear in the “contentioned” add and drop switches, can be mitigated by the input and output wavelength-selective optical switches carrying the through traffic. | 02-04-2016 |
20160036551 | Increasing the Capacity of a WDM-PON with Wavelength Reuse - A method of processing optical signals in a passive optical network includes receiving a first signal in a first optical spectrum, and receiving a second signal in a second optical spectrum. The second optical spectrum is different from the first optical spectrum. The method also includes multiplexing the first and second signals into a first multiplexed signal and outputting the first multiplexed signal. The method also includes receiving a second multiplexed signal, and demultiplexing the second multiplexed signal into a third signal and a fourth signal. The third signal is in the second optical spectrum and the fourth signal is in the first optical spectrum. The method also includes outputting the third and fourth signals. | 02-04-2016 |
20160036552 | Reversible Wavelength Channels for Optical Communication Networks - An optical transmission system comprises at least one first connection point and one second connection point arranged to transmit and receive at least one channel signal transmitted via at least one optical means connecting the first connection point and the second connection, wherein each of the at least one channel signal is reversibly configurable to be transmitted in either a first direction or a second direction between the first connection point and the second connection point. A method of transmitting at least one channel signal between a first connection point and a second connection point via at least one optical media in an optical transmission system, wherein each of the at least one channel signal is reversibly configurable to be transmitted in either a first direction or a second direction between the first and the second connection points. | 02-04-2016 |
20160037239 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SELECTION OF OPTIMAL ROUTING PARAMETERS FOR DWDM NETWORK SERVICES IN A CONTROL PLANE NETWORK - A method, in an intermediate node in a control plane network, includes receiving a setup message from an originating node, wherein the setup message is sent towards a terminating node on a computed path in the control plane network, and the setup message indicates associated Layer 0 attributes; validating the associated attributes/constraints based on locally available resources; and performing one of: forwarding the setup message on the path towards the terminating node when validation is successful; forwarding the setup message on the path towards the terminating node with updated information indicating a rejection cause and additional information when the validation is unsuccessful, but a modification of the Layer 0 attributes/constraints is possible; and forwarding a release message on the path back to the originating node with updated information indicating a rejection cause and additional information when the validation is unsuccessful and no modifications of the Layer 0 attributes/constraints are possible. | 02-04-2016 |
20160056911 | ARRAYED WAVEGUIDE GRATING BASED MODULAR INTERCONNECTION NETWORKS AND METHODS FOR CONSTRUCTING AND APPLYING THE SAME - An arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) based interconnection network and modular construction method, comprising N | 02-25-2016 |
20160057010 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MAPPING DIFFERENT LAYOUTS - There is described a method for automatically mapping network configurations to enable at least two elements belonging to a first layer network to communicate with each other over a second layer network,
| 02-25-2016 |
20160057517 | SIGNAL SWITCHING ARCHITECTURE - An architecture for a fiber optic communication system that uses only two levels of switches, Tier 1 and Tier 3, is described. The architecture allows one to omit the conventional Top of Rack switch level and the conventional Tier 2 switch level while maintaining performance and throughput. The cost to construct and install the improved switch architecture is lower than the cost of the conventional architecture. There are also described a number of transceivers that are suitable for use in the architecture disclosed. The transceivers employ silicon PIC chips that include high contrast silicon waveguides ion the chip and that connect to various configurations of optical fibers. The transceivers provide enhanced switching capacity with fewer devices. | 02-25-2016 |
20160057519 | ASSIGNMENT OF WAVELENGTHS TO OPTICAL SIGNALS IN AN OPTICAL NETWORK - A method may include determining, by a device, a wavelength identifier graph corresponding to an optical network based on a set of lightpath conflicts, for a set of optical signals, associated with a set of links and a set of nodes of the optical network. One or more optical signals may be associated with transmission via a super-channel. The method may further include selectively assigning, by the device, a wavelength identifier to an optical signal, of the set of optical signals, based on the wavelength identifier graph. The wavelength identifier being associated with a set of wavelength identifiers and corresponding to a wavelength of a set of wavelengths. The method may further include causing, by the device, the optical signal to utilize the wavelength, of the set of wavelengths, for transmission via the optical network. | 02-25-2016 |
20160072608 | OPTICAL DATA TRANSMISSION - A routing and wavelength assignment method for use in an optical fiber system, comprising; (i) identifying a plurality of paths between a source node and a destination node, (ii) selecting one of the plurality of identified paths, (iii) defining within the spectrum band of the selected path one or more blocks of spectral resource, in which each block comprises either: one or more unused wavelength channels, or one or more wavelength channels having the same spectral width, (iv) obtaining an entropy value of the selected path defining the spectrum fragmentation across its spectrum band, based on a logarithm of the ratio of the number of wavelength channels in each of the one or more blocks, to the total number of wavelength channels across the spectrum band, (v) iterating (ii) to (v) until the entropy value of each of the plurality of identified paths has been determined, and (vi) choosing from the plurality of identified paths a path having the lowest entropy value. | 03-10-2016 |
20160080103 | SERVICE AND APPLICATION LAYER OPTIMIZATION USING VARIABLE RATE OPTICAL TRANSMISSION - Apparatus and methods are provided for application layer optimization in a modem data network. The optimization incorporates variable rate transmission across one or more optical data channels. Data throughput is maximized by enabling quality of service profiles on a per transmission channel basis. According to one aspect, a system is provided in which the application layer is aware of and controls the underlying transmission rate and quality of the transmission. This enables the system to fully utilize the transmission capacity of the channel. The application layer may map different applications to different transmission classes of service. The services can be classified based on data throughput rate, guaranteed error rates, latency and cost, among other criteria. This provides flexibility to the application layer to map some loss tolerant applications to a lower cost (per bit) transmission class. | 03-17-2016 |
20160080844 | DETECTOR REMODULATOR AND OPTOELECTRONIC SWITCH - An optoelectronic packet switch comprising: switch input(s) for receiving optical packet signals; a passive optical router; a control unit; and a plurality of detector-remodulators (DRMs) configured to receive signals from the switch input(s) and to generate modulated optical signals for transmission to the input ports of the passive optical router. Each DRM comprising: detector(s) for converting an optical packet-signal received at the switch input(s) into an electrical packet-signal; modulator(s) for generating the modulated optical signals. Each modulator configured to: receive a wavelength-tuned input from a tunable laser; receive the electrical packet-signal from one of the detectors; and to generate a modulated optical signal at the tuned wavelength, the modulated signal containing the information of the electric packet-signal and the tuned wavelength chosen to select an output port of the passive optical router for the modulated optical signal; and an electronic circuit connecting each of the detector(s) to a corresponding modulator. | 03-17-2016 |
20160087749 | Method and Communication Control Device for Establishing a Communication Channel in a Communication Network - The invention relates to a method for establishing a communication channel, preferably an embedded control channel, between a central network node and at least one network unit to be integrated in a communication network including the central network node and an arbitrary but limited number of network units. The central network node is adapted to create and output a wavelength-division multiplex (WDM) downstream signal including downstream channel signals to be transmitted to the network units and to receive a WDM upstream signal including upstream channel signals created by the network units. | 03-24-2016 |
20160094487 | OPTOELECTRONIC SWITCH - An optoelectronic switch comprising: a first plurality of detector remodulators (DRMs) (C | 03-31-2016 |
20160105250 | An Optical Wavelength Selective Switch, an Optical Network Node, an Optical Network and Methods Therein - A method in an optical Wavelength Selective Switch, WSS, for multidirectional switching of optical signals. The optical WSS comprises a reflective element, a first tributary port and a second tributary port. The optical WSS switches ( | 04-14-2016 |
20160105252 | SPAN-WISE SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - Methods and systems are provided for optical signal transmission using span-wise spectrum management. The method includes transmitting a first optical signal at a first wavelength by a control system. The first optical signal has a first optical path distance. The method further includes determining a first guard band requirement for the first optical signal, and transmitting a second optical signal by the control system. The second optical signal has a second optical path distance. The method includes determining a second guard band requirement for the second optical signal, and placing the second optical signal spectrally adjacent to the first optical signal by selecting a second wavelength. The second wavelength is selected to satisfy the first and second guard band requirements. | 04-14-2016 |
20160105736 | Systems and Methods of Wavelength Division Multiplex Passive Optical Networking - Example embodiments of a time division duplex (TDD) Wavelength Division Multiplex Passive Optical Network (WDM PON) architecture using passive optical splitters are disclosed herein. The disclosed TDD WDM PON includes fixed wavelength optical transmitters in an Optical Line Termination system with tunable receiver colorless Optical Network Units (ONUs) that reuse the downstream CW light to carry upstream data. The same wavelength may be used for downstream and upstream transmissions on a single fiber in the ODN. In this architecture, the number of ONUs may be greater than the number of transmitters at the OLT, allowing for a highly scalable system with capacity for growth. An example embodiment of the disclosed system uses Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) or WDM filters at the OLT and a passive optical splitter in the field. | 04-14-2016 |
20160119076 | CHANNELIZED ODUFLEX SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Systems and methods to provide a channelized Optical channel Data Unit flexible (ODUflex) include receiving a signal; multiplexing the signal into a Tributary Slot (TS) of the channelized ODUflex, wherein the channelized ODUflex supports a variable number of TSs and a variable size; and mapping the channelized ODUflex into an Optical channel Transport Unit k/Cn (OTUk/Cn) (k=1, 2, 3, 4), (n=1, 2, 3, . . . ). A network element configured to operate in an OTN network includes one or more ports coupled to switching circuitry, wherein a first port is configured to receive a signal, wherein the switching circuitry is configured to multiplex the signal into a TS of a channelized ODUflex, wherein the channelized ODUflex supports a variable number of TSs and a variable size (rate), and wherein a second port is configured to map the channelized ODUflex into an OTUk/Cn. | 04-28-2016 |
20160119222 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ROUTING TRAFFIC USING ASYMMETRICAL OPTICAL CONNECTIONS - A method, computer-readable storage device and apparatus for routing traffic in a reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer layer of a dense wavelength division multiplexing network are disclosed. For example, the method determines the reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer layer has asymmetric traffic, and routes the asymmetric traffic in the reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer layer over a plurality of asymmetrical optical connections, wherein the plurality of asymmetrical optical connections is provided with only uni-directional equipment in the reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer layer. | 04-28-2016 |
20160124146 | Optical module and optical network system - The present invention provides an optical module and an optical network system. A first chip is arranged on a lower cover plate, an upper cladding, which is close to a first PD, of the first chip is covered by a first upper cover plate; a first dividing groove divides the first chip into two parts, and a WDM and a light blocking material are arranged inside the first dividing groove, so as to block stray light transmitted inside the upper cladding, a sandwich layer, a lower cladding, and a base of the first chip; and a light blocking material is arranged on a side of the first upper cover plate facing the first LD, so as to block stray light transmitted on a surface of the first chip, thereby blocking the stray light that enters the first PD, and significantly reducing crosstalk of the optical module. | 05-05-2016 |
20160142172 | RING NETWORK INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE SUBTENDING RING ORIGINATING AND TERMINATING AT A CENTRAL-OFFICE NODE - In a WDM optical communication system that includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by communication links, a node is provided which includes an optical coupling arrangement having at least one input port for receiving a WDM signal and a plurality of output ports for selectively receiving one or more wavelength components of the WDM optical signal. The optical coupling arrangement is adaptable to reconfigure its operational state to (i) selectively direct any one of the wavelength components received on the input port to any of the output ports independently of any other of the wavelength components and (ii) selectively direct any combination of two or more of the wavelength components from the input port to at least two of the output ports that serve as WDM output ports. At least one optical WDM interface is optically coupled to a first of the WDM output ports. The optical WDM interface is adapted to receive, at different times, a transponder and a transmission link through which a WDM signal can be communicated. At least one transponder is coupled to a second of the WDM output ports. | 05-19-2016 |
20160149664 | COLORLESS, DIRECTIONLESS AND CONTENTIONLESS NETWORK NODE - A node that is colorless, directionless and contentionless includes an add/drop terminal having an add wavelength selective switch (WSS) and a drop WSS. The add and drop WSSs are each configured to selectively direct any subset of the wavelength components received at any of its inputs to a different one of its optical outputs, provided that the wavelength components of optical beams received by any two of the inputs cannot be simultaneously directed to a common one of the outputs. A plurality of transponder ports are each optically coupled to a different output of the drop WSS and a different input of the add WSS. | 05-26-2016 |
20160156998 | Distributed control of a modular switching system | 06-02-2016 |
20160173224 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING A CLIENT SIGNAL OVER AN OPTICAL NETWORK | 06-16-2016 |
20160182179 | APPARATUS FOR OPTICAL SIGNAL AMPLIFICATION | 06-23-2016 |
20160192044 | SYSTEM FOR INCREASING FIBER PORT DENSITY IN DATA CENTER APPLICATIONS - A data center network device provides configurations where the port density can be increased by incorporating multiport transceivers within the device and the use of high density fiber connections on exterior panels of the device. The device also permits dynamically reassigning fiber connections to convert from single fiber connection paths to higher rate bonded fiber paths while at the same time making more efficient use of the fiber interconnections. | 06-30-2016 |
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