Method and Apparatus for Identifying a Port in a Passive Optical Network

A system for identifying a port in a passive optical network, comprising:

• an optical line terminal (OLT) configured to control a first subset of a plurality of optical network terminals (ONTs) to transmit a first signal to the OLT with a respective attribute having a first value;
• a passive optical splitter/combiner (OSC) configured to connect the OLT to the plurality of ONTs, the OSC including a plurality of ports each associated with one of the plurality of ONTs;
• a detector associated with the plurality of ports;
• and
• the OLT configured to control a second subset of the plurality of ONTs to transmit a second signal to the OLT with the respective attribute having a second value, the detector detecting the first signal based on the attribute of the first signal, and the detector further reporting the port associated with the first subset of the plurality of ONTs.

An apparatus for identifying a port in a passive optical network, comprising:

• means for controlling a plurality of optical network terminals (ONTs) connected to an optical line terminal (OLT) via a passive optical splitter/combiner (OSC) to each transmit a first signal to the OLT with a respective attribute having a first value;
• means for controlling a subset of the plurality of ONTs to transmit a second signal to the OLT with the respective attribute having a second value;
• means for detecting, at the passive optical splitter, the second signal of the subset of the plurality of ONTs based on the respective attribute of the second signal;
• and
• means for reporting the port associated with the subset of the plurality of ONTs.