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US 4,306,313 AGranted
High reliability optical fiber communication system
AssigneeInternational Telephone and Telegraph Corporation
InventorDavid L. Baldwin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
There is disclosed an optical transmission system which employs a plurality of receiver-transmitter pairs. One of the plurality of pairs is selected to propagate optical signals under control of switching means. The optical signal as propagated is monitored and if a fault is detected in the signal, another redundant receiver-transmitter pair is automatically switched in. This pair is also monitored to determine whether or not the optical signal is valid and if not, the sequence continues until a valid signal is being propagated.
Claims10
An optical transmission system comprising:
- input coupling means for receiving an optical signal at an input terminal and for propagating said signal to a plurality of output terminals;
- a plurality of optical receiver-transmitter pairs, each having an input coupled to and associated with one of said output terminals, each of said receiver-transmitter pairs adapted to be selectively activated to respond to said optical signal upon selection;
- detector means coupled to said receiver-transmitter pairs and operative to monitor the optical signal propagating therein to provide a control signal when said signal exhibits a deviation from predetermined standards;
- switching means coupled to said plurality of optical receiver-transmitter pairs for sequentially selecting any desired one, said switching means responsive to said control signal to select only one receiver-transmitter pair as compared to another when said signal exhibits said deviation;
- and
- a fault location encoder having an input coupled to one output of said input coupling means for receiving said optical signal, and adapted to be selectively activated by said switching means when all signals from said receiver-transmitter pairs exhibit said deviation to provide at an output a signal indicative of total failure of said optical transmission system.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.