Optical fiber-delay line buffers with void filling

A system comprising a void filling and scheduling software program stored on a computer-readable medium and executable by a processor, upon the arrival of a new optical data packet having an arrival time and a duration at an optical switch having a plurality of delay lines, to:

• assign a current time to the new optical data packet;
• determine a destination output fiber for the new optical data packet;
• and
• schedule the new optical data packet in a void on the output fiber that has both a delay position that falls within the void and an end position that will accommodate the new optical data packet positioned beginning at the delay position, wherein the delay position is measured from the current time.

A method for scheduling optical data packets in order to fill voids created between existing outgoing optical data packets on output fibers from an optical switch having an optical buffer with a number of delay lines, comprising:

• creating a virtual wavelength field for each wavelength in each of the output fibers;
• assigning a current time to a new optical data packet;
• determining a destination output fiber for the new optical data packet;
• and
• performing a void filling operation, comprising:
• (a) determining a delay position for a delay line within the optical buffer as measured from the current time;
• (b) comparing a position of each of the existing voids in the destination fiber across each of the destination fiber's virtual wavelength fields to the determined delay position;
• (c) scheduling the new optical packet in a chosen void if the delay position falls within an existing void position and if the delay position plus the new optical data packet length fall within an end position of the void;
• and
• (d) repeating steps (a)-(d) for each delay line within the optical buffer.

A method for scheduling optical data packets in order to fill voids created between existing outgoing optical data packets on output fibers from an optical switch having an optical buffer with a number of delay lines, comprising:

• creating a virtual wavelength field for each wavelength in each of the output fibers;
• assigning a current time to a new optical data packet;
• determining a destination output fiber for the new optical data packet;
• and
• scheduling the new optical data packet in a void that has both a delay position that falls within the void and an end position that will accommodate the new optical data packet positioned beginning at the delay position, wherein the delay position is a position associated with a particular delay line as measured from the current time.

A method for scheduling optical data packets in order to fill voids created between existing outgoing optical data packets on output fibers from an optical switch having an optical buffer with a number of delay lines, the method performed by a void filling computer program stored on a computer-readable medium, the void filling computer program executable to:

• create a virtual wavelength field for each wavelength in each of the output fibers;
• assign a current time to a new optical data packet;
• determine a destination output fiber for the new optical data packet;
• and
• schedule the new optical data packet to be output in a void that has both a delay position that falls within the void and an end position that will accommodate the new optical data packet positioned beginning at the delay position, wherein the delay position is a position in time determined using a particular delay line as measured from the current time.