Reconfigurable directional optical system
AssigneeAlcatel
InventorsLudovic Noirie, Jean-Paul Faure, Arnaud Bisson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A reconfigurable directional optical system comprises N ports that can be configured individually as inputs or outputs. A system of this kind comprises at least one optical device having unidirectional inputs and outputs the total number of which is equal to or less than N, and an N×N optical switch such that each of the ports can be coupled interchangeably either to one of the inputs or to one of the outputs of the optical device.
Claims12
A reconfigurable directional optical system having N ports divided between a plurality of cables, each port being individually configurable as an input or an output and said system comprising:
- at least one optical device having unidirectional inputs and outputs whose total number is less than or equal to N, wherein N is an integer greater than one;
- and
- an N×N optical switch such that each of said ports can be coupled interchangeably either to one of said inputs or to one of said outputs of said optical device, said N×N optical switch comprising first and second switching layers based on smaller n×p optical switches, where n and p are integers smaller than N,
- wherein the number of small switches of said first switching layer is equal to the number of cables and the number of small switches of said second switching layer is equal to whichever is the greater of the number of inputs and the number of outputs of said optical device, so that an input and an output of said optical device can be connected to two separate cables from said plurality of cables.
A reconfigurable direction optical system comprising:
- a plurality of fibers;
- at least one optical device having unidirectional inputs and outputs;
- and
- a switch configured to change propagation direction in at least one fiber of the plurality of fibers transmitting optical signals,
- wherein the switch comprises a first switching layer and a second switching layer and wherein a number of switches of said first switching layer is equal to a number of cables and a number of switches of the second switching layer is equal to a greater of a number of the inputs and a number of the outputs of said optical device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.