Back to results
US 6,665,463 B2Granted
Optical switching system
AssigneeTera Op, Inc.
InventorsItzhak Baron, Michael Tilleman, Michael Wasserstein
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates to an optical switching system that includes two channel switchers. Each switcher includes an optical switch, a wavelength converter, and a multiplexer. Selectors provide and receive optical WDM signals to and from the two channel switchers in alternating fashion such that the latency time of the optical switching system is minimized to the latency time of a selector. The optical switch of an inactive switcher is configured while the active switcher converts a WDM signal.
Claims22
An optical switching system comprising:
- a first optical selector comprising an input, a first output and a second output;
- a first channel switcher, comprising:
- a first optical switch having a first-switch input and a plurality of first-switch outputs, the first-switch input optically coupled to the first output of the first optical selector;
- a first multi-channel optical wavelength converter having a plurality of channels, each channel having a first-converter input and a first-converter output, each first-converter input optically coupled to a corresponding first-switch output;
- and
- a first optical wavelength multiplexer having a first-multiplexer output and a plurality of first-multiplexer inputs, each first-multiplexer input optically coupled to a corresponding first-converter output;
- a second channel switcher, comprising:
- a second optical switch having a second-switch input and a plurality of second-switch outputs, the second-switch input optically coupled to the second output of the first optical selector;
- a second multi-channel optical wavelength converter having a plurality of channels, each channel having a second-converter input and a second-converter output, each second-converter input optically coupled to a corresponding second-switch output;
- and
- a second optical wavelength multiplexer having a second-multiplexer output and a plurality of second-multiplexer inputs, each second-multiplexer input optically coupled to a corresponding second-converter output;
- and
- a second optical selector comprising a first input, a second input and an output output, the first input of the second optical selector optically coupled to the first-multiplexer output, and the second input of the second optical selector optically coupled to the second-multiplexer output.
10 more elements
A method for sequentially routing optical data packets between two or more channel switchers operating in parallel to minimize switch latency, comprising:
- a) coupling an optical data packet source to an input of a first channel switcher comprising a first optical switch, a first multi-channel optical wavelength converter and a first optical wavelength multiplexer, the first optical switch having a first-switch input and a plurality of first-switch outputs, the first-switch input optically coupled to the first output of the first optical selector, the first multi-channel optical wavelength converter having a plurality of channels, each channel having a first-converter input and a first-converter output, each first-converter input optically coupled to a corresponding first-switch output, the first optical wavelength multiplexer having a first-multiplexer output and a plurality of first-multiplexer inputs, each first-multiplexer input optically coupled to a corresponding first-converter output;
- b) the input of the first channel switcher receiving an optical data packet from the optical data packet source;
- c) switching a second channel switcher contemporaneously with reception of the optical data packet by the first channel switcher, the second channel switcher comprising a second optical switch, a second multi-channel optical wavelength converter and a second optical wavelength multiplexer, the second optical switch having a second-switch input and a plurality of second-switch outputs, the second-switch input optically coupled to the second output of the first optical selector, the second multi-channel optical wavelength converter having a plurality of channels, each channel having a second-converter input and a second-converter output, each second-converter input optically coupled to a corresponding second-switch output, the second optical wavelength multiplexer having a second-multiplexer output and a plurality of second-multiplexer inputs, each second-multiplexer input optically coupled to a corresponding second-converter output;
- d) coupling the optical data packet source to an input of the second channel switcher;
- e) the input of the second channel switcher receiving an optical data packet from the optical data packet source;
- and
- f) switching the first channel switcher contemporaneously with reception of the optical data packet by the second channel switcher.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.