Fiber optic errorless switching system
AssigneeSprint Communications Company L.P.
InventorsRobert Butler, William C. Szeto, Mark Loyd Jones
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An errorless switching system is disclosed that is comprised of a fault detector, a synchronization system, and a switching system. The synchronization system aligns a first data signal and a second data signal. The fault detector detects errors in the data signals and instructs the switching system to transfer the first data signal or the second data signal to avoid transferring the erroneous data. No data is lost or duplicated because the data signals are aligned at the switching system.
Claims8
A fiber optic node comprising:
- a first optical-to-electrical converter coupled to a first optical fiber and configured to receive and convert a first data signal;
- a second optical-to-electrical converter coupled to a second optical fiber and configured to receive and convert a second data signal;
- a first fault detector coupled to the first optical-to-electrical converter and configured to monitor the first data signal for errors;
- a second fault detector coupled to the second optical-to-electrical converter and configured to monitor the second data signal for said errors;
- a synchronization system comprising a sync generator connected to a buffer, wherein the synchronization system is coupled to the first optical-to-electrical converter and the second optical-to-electrical converter, and wherein the synchronization system is configured to receive the first data signal and the second data signal, align the first data signal and the second data signal using the sync generator and the buffer, and transfer the first data signal and the second data signal;
- and
- a switching system coupled to the synchronization system, the first fault detector, and the second fault detector, and configured to transfer the first data signal if said errors are detected in the second data signal and transfer the second data signal if said errors are detected in the first data signal.
A method of providing fiber optic errorless switching, the method comprising:
- converting a first data signal from an optical format to an electrical format;
- converting a second data signal from the optical format to the electrical format;
- aligning the first data signal and the second data signal by buffering the first data signal and the second data signal and delaying one of the signals;
- transferring the first data signal if errors are detected in second data signal;
- and
- transferring the second data signal if said errors are detected in the first data signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.