Optical communications system with dynamic channel allocation

A method of operating a fiber optic network coupling a plurality of nodes comprising;

• providing a plurality of optical channels, each channel being determined by three variables, a first one of said variables being selected from a plurality of wavelengths, a second one of said variables being selected from a plurality of phases, a third one of said variables being selected from a plurality of modulation frequencies;
• providing status indications for unused channels of said plurality of optical channels;
• dynamically allocating unused channels of said plurality of optical channels in response to requests for channels from said nodes;
• and
• performing said dynamic allocation in accordance with a predetermined channel selection algorithm for selecting channels based upon a distance to used channels.

A method of operating an optical network coupling a plurality of nodes, comprising:

• providing a plurality of optical channels, each channel being determined by three variables, a first one of said variables being selected from a plurality of wavelengths, a second one of said variables being selected from a plurality of phases, and a third one of said variables being selected from a plurality of modulation frequencies;
• and
• determining usage status of unused channels of said plurality of optical channels;
• dynamically allocating unused ones of said plurality of channels as communication channels in response to requests for channels from said nodes.

A method of operating a fiber optic network coupling a plurality of nodes, comprising:

• providing a plurality of optical channels in said fiber optic network, each channel being determined by three variables, a first one of said variables being selected from a plurality of wavelengths, a second one of said variables being selected from a plurality of phases, a third one of said variables being selected from a plurality of modulation frequencies;
• providing all of said channels as potential communication channels between all of said nodes;
• determining usage status of unused channels of said plurality of optical channels;
• selecting an unused one of said plurality of optical channels in dynamic response to a requests for a channel for communication from a first one of said nodes to at least a second one of said nodes, and
• performing said selecting step in accordance with a predetermined channel selection algorithm for selecting channels based upon distance to used channels.

An optical communications system, comprising:

• an optical network operable to interconnect a plurality of nodes;
• a reference laser source utilized to define a plurality of optical channels, each channel being determined by three variables, a first one of said variables being selected from a plurality of wavelengths, a second one of said variables being selected from a plurality of phases, and a third one of said variables being selected from a plurality of modulation frequencies;
• and
• a processor unit operable to receive requests for channel assignment from said nodes, said processor unit being further operable to identify unused channels of said plurality of optical channels, and dynamically allocating unused ones of said plurality of channels in response to said requests.

An optical network, comprising:

• a plurality of nodes;
• a plurality of optical communications channels, each channel being determined by three variables, a first one of said variables being selected from a plurality of wavelengths, a second one of said variables being selected from a plurality of phases, a third one of said variables being selected from a plurality of modulation frequencies;
• processor apparatus utilized to allocate channels of said plurality of communications channels;
• memory for identifying channel allocation status;
• and
• said processor utilizing said memory to dynamically allocating unused ones of said plurality of optical channels in response to requests for channels from said nodes.

A method of operating an optical network coupling a plurality of nodes, comprising:

• providing a plurality of optical channels, each channel being determined by a wavelength selected from a plurality of wavelengths, a phase selected from a plurality of phases, and a modulation frequency selected from a plurality of modulation frequencies;
• identifying a first usage status for unused channels of said plurality of optical channels;
• and
• dynamically allocating unused ones of said plurality of channels in response to requests for channels from said nodes.

An optical communications system, comprising:

• an optical network operable to interconnect a plurality of nodes;
• a reference laser source utilized to define a plurality of optical channels, each channel being determined by a wavelength selected from a plurality of wavelengths, a phase selected from a plurality of phases, and a modulation frequency selected from a plurality of modulation frequencies;
• and
• a processor unit operable to receive requests for channel assignment from said nodes, said processor unit being further operable to identify unused channels of said plurality of optical channels, and dynamically allocating unused ones of said plurality of channels in response to said requests.