Communication Network with Skew Path Monitoring and Adjustment

A transceiver that provides skew adjustment across a plurality of wavelengths, the transceiver comprising:

• an input on which a client signal is received;
• a deinterleaver, coupled to the input, that partitions the client signal into a first signal portion and a second signal portion;
• a plurality of skew buffers, coupled to store the first and second signal portions in order to introduce a delay on the first signal portion;
• a plurality of optical conversion elements, coupled to the plurality of skew buffers, that converts the first signal portion into a first optical signal portion and the second signal portion into a second optical signal portion;
• a plurality of optical skew compensators, coupled to the plurality of optical conversion elements, that optically compensate for skew between the first optical signal portion and the second signal portion caused by transportation across a network;
• and
• a controller, coupled to the plurality of skew buffers and plurality of optical skew compensators, that receives information about skew properties of a network and adjusts the plurality of skew buffers and plurality of optical skew compensators relative to the information.

A method for adjusting transportation of a client signal to at least partially compensate for skew across a plurality of channels, the method comprising:

• generating a bit pattern marker for testing skew on a plurality of communication path wavelengths;
• transmitting the bit pattern marker on the plurality of communication path wavelengths;
• receiving the bit pattern marker from the plurality of communication path wavelengths;
• analyzing the received bit pattern marker to identify if skew characteristics across the plurality communication path wavelengths;
• selecting a preferred first set of communication path wavelengths that provides skew properties below a skew budget threshold;
• and
• transmitting the client signal on the preferred first set of communication path wavelengths.

A method for adjusting transportation of a client signal to at least partially compensate for skew across a plurality of channels, the method comprising:

• partitioning the client signal into a first signal portion and a second signal portion;
• transmitting the first signal portion on a first optical signal group, within the plurality of communication path wavelengths;
• and
• transmitting the second signal portion a second optical signal group, within the plurality of communication path wavelengths;
• and
• wherein the skew between first signal portion and the second signal portion is reduced by the selection of at least one wavelength within the first and second optical signal groups.