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US 6,163,527 AGranted
Method and apparatus for an optical bi-directional line switched ring data communications system
AssigneeAlcatel
InventorsGary W. Ester, Don G. Dempsey
Life of this patent
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AssigneeAlcatel
InventorsGary W. Ester, Don G. Dempsey
Estimating the term…
An optical bi-directional line switched ring for performing adding and dropping of traffic into the traffic path and for performing ring and/or span protection switching. The optical bi-directional line switched ring include a plurality of nodes, each node having multiple input demultiplexer/output multiplexer sections, a command and control channel having multiple fibers, and up to N-1 slave circuits. Each multiple input demultiplexer/output multiplexer sections has an input demultiplexer to receive and demultiplex signals from a fiber and an output multiplexer to receive the demultiplexed wavelengths from internally and multiplex them into an outgoing signal. The command and control channel can be a standard bi-directional line switch that has one channel coupled to each fiber of the system. Each slave circuit comprising a plurality optical switching circuits coupled to the multiple input demultiplexer/output multiplexer sections such that the optical switching circuits are operable to carry up to N wavelengths of traffic. The command and control channel in conjunction with a SONET bi-directional line switched ring monitors the plurality of lines in the bi-directional line switched ring to control the operation of the optical add/drop multiplexer in response to the sensed signals on the plurality of lines. If a disruption of traffic occurs, the command and control channel will so indicate and will use the optical switching circuits that are slaved to it to re-route and protect traffic.
A multiple fiber optical bi-directional line switched ring capable of transporting N wavelengths of signals comprising a plurality of optical add/drop multiplexer nodes, each optical add/drop multiplexer node comprising:
An optical add/drop multiplexer for use in a bi-directional line switched ring capable of transporting N wavelengths of optical signals comprising:
A method for providing protection of traffic traveling in a multiple fiber optical bi-directional line switched ring capable of transporting N wavelengths of signals, where the multiple fiber optical bi-directional line switched ring includes a plurality of optical add/drop multiplexer nodes, each optical add/drop multiplexer node having multiple input demultiplexer/output multiplexer sections, each section comprising an input demultiplexer and an output multiplexer coupled to one of the multiple fibers, a command and control channel having multiple fibers wherein each command and control channel fiber is coupled to one of the input demultiplexer/output multiplexer sections, and up to N-1 slave circuits, each slave circuit comprising a plurality optical switching circuits coupled to the multiple input demultiplexer/output multiplexer sections such that the optical switching circuits are operable to carry up to N wavelengths of traffic, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.