Relay device, monitoring system and monitoring information transmission method

A monitoring system comprising:

• a plurality of relay devices;
• one of the plurality of relay devices including:
• a monitor that monitors an operation status of the one of the plurality of relay devices;
• a superimposing circuit that superimposes monitoring information indicating the operation status acquired by the monitor onto an optical signal of a primary signal at a predetermined timing by modulation processing based on an oscillation signal having a predetermined oscillation frequency, the primary signal being the optical signal which flows through an optical transmission path between terminal stations as optical communication devices that transmit and receive the optical signal;
• a connection path for connecting an upstream optical transmission path and a downstream optical transmission path via a switch circuit, the upstream optical transmission path and the downstream optical transmission path being arranged between the terminal stations, the upstream optical transmission path passing an upstream optical signal flowing from the terminal station on one side to the terminal station on the other side, the downstream optical transmission path passing a downstream optical signal flowing in the opposite direction to the upstream optical signal;
• and
• a controller that controls the switch circuit so as to guide the upstream optical signal to the downstream optical transmission path via the switch circuit and the connection path when detecting that the strength of the downstream optical signal has become equal to or smaller than a threshold,
• wherein the superimposing circuit further comprises a configuration to superimpose the monitoring information onto the downstream optical signal of the primary signal flowing through the downstream optical transmission path, or onto the upstream optical signal guided to the downstream optical transmission path via the switch circuit and the connection path when the strength of the downstream optical signal is less than or equal to a threshold.

A method for transmitting monitoring information, comprising:

• monitoring an operation status of one of a plurality of relay devices that relays an optical signal flowing through an optical transmission path between terminal stations as optical communication devices that transmit and receive the optical signal;
• superimposing monitoring information based on the monitoring operation onto the optical signal of a primary signal at a predetermined timing by performing modulation processing based on an oscillation signal having a predetermined oscillation frequency, the primary signal being the optical signal which flows through an optical transmission path between terminal stations;
• and
• transmitting the optical signal containing the monitoring information toward a monitoring apparatus to monitor the one of the plurality of relay devices,
• wherein the predetermined oscillation frequency is different for each of the plurality of relay devices.