| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 398049000 | Router | 66 |
| 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 |
| 20120163813 | IMPROVEMENTS IN OPTICAL NETWORKS - An optical network ( | 06-28-2012 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 20120195595 | IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING OPTICAL LABELS - An optical label extractor ( | 08-02-2012 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 20110217039 | Wavelength Division Multiplexing Transmission Equipment - An optical transmission network comprises a multi-wavelength source ( | 09-08-2011 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 20120008946 | CONFIGURING SYNCHRONOUS OPTICAL SWITCHES | 01-12-2012 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
