Protection switching for an optical network, and methods and apparatus therefor
OwnerDavid H. Walters, Abdella Battou +1inventors
InventorsDavid H. Walters, Abdella Battou, Anastasios Tzathas
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Abstract
An optical communications network having at least one optical switch connected to a network access device. The optical switch includes a first line card disposed along a first communications path over which a first optical signal is transmitted. The first line card is connected to the network access device. A second line card is disposed along a second communications path over which a second optical signal is transmitted. An inter-card communication channel is provided for bridging the second path to the first line card. The system enables the rapid switching of traffic from the first optical path to the second optical path.
Claims10
An optical communications network having at least one optical switch connected to a network access device, wherein said switch comprises:
- a first line card disposed along a first communications path over which a first optical signal is transmitted, said first line card being connected to said network access device;
- a second line card disposed along a second communications path over which a second optical signal is transmitted;
- and
- an inter-card communication channel for bridging said second communications path to said first line card.
An optical communications network, comprising:
- an ingress optical switch having a first ingress line card and first and second egress line cards connected to a first switch fabric, wherein said first switch fabric bridges an ingress optical signal onto said first and second egress line cards thereby providing first and second copies of said optical signal;
- transit optical switches for transiting said first and second copies of said optical signal across said network across first and second optical paths;
- and
- an egress optical switch having second and third ingress line cards and a third egress line card connected to a second switch fabric, wherein said second and third ingress line cards respectively receive said first and second optical signal copies and said second switch fabric cross-connects only one of said optical signal copies to said third egress line card.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.