US 7,263,288 B1Granted

Optical routing using a star switching fabric

AssigneeCheetah Omni, LLC

InventorMohammed N. Islam

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Abstract

In one embodiment, a router includes a plurality of line cards each operable to receive at least one packet comprising an identifier associated with a destination element external to the router. Each line card includes a look-up table operable to facilitate routing the received packet toward the destination element based at least in part on the identifier. The router further includes a plurality of optical transmitters each associated with one of the line cards and operable to generate at a specified wavelength an optical router signal comprising at least a portion of the packet received by the line card associated with that optical transmitter. The router also includes a star switching fabric operable to receive a plurality of optical router signals from the plurality of optical transmitters and to communicate to each of a plurality of tunable filters a substantially similar set of at least some of the plurality of optical router signals. Each of the plurality of tunable filters is operable to selectively tune to a wavelength of one of the plurality of optical router signals to facilitate communication of the packet associated with that optical router signal toward the destination element.

Claims47

Dependent claims

An optical communication device, comprising:

a plurality of integrated modules operable to transmit and receive a plurality of optical signals, at least one of the plurality of integrated modules comprising:
one or more transmitters each operable to generate at least one of the plurality of optical signals and to modulate information onto the at least one of the plurality of optical signals to form a modulated optical output signal, each modulated optical output signal comprising at least a first optical signal wavelength;
and
one or more receivers each operable to receive an input optical signal, each input optical signal comprising a second optical signal wavelength;
a wavelength division multiplexer coupled to at least some of the plurality of integrated modules and coupled to an optical splitter, the wavelength division multiplexer operable to combine the modulated output optical signal and at least another of the plurality of optical signals into a multiple wavelength output optical signal for communication to the optical splitter, wherein the optical splitter separates the multiple wavelength output optical signal into a plurality of multiple wavelength output optical signals;
and
a controller coupled to at least some of the plurality of integrated modules, the controller operable to generate a control signal based at least in part on a scheduling algorithm and to communicate the control signal to the at least some of the plurality of integrated modules, wherein the at least some of the plurality of integrated modules use the control signal to reduce contention between the plurality of integrated modules;
and
wherein at least one of the one or more transmitters comprises a super-continuum source, the super-continuum source coupled to one or more modulators operable to modulate information onto an output from the super-continuum source, wherein the super-continuum source comprises:
a pulsed source operable to generate a series of optical pulses;
and
an optical amplifier comprising a first end that is coupled to the pulsed source and a second end coupled to a length of optical fiber, the length of optical fiber comprising at least a first stage fiber and a second stage fiber, wherein the first stage fiber comprises a first dispersion that is different than a second dispersion of the second stage fiber.

9 more elements

An optical communication device, comprising:

a plurality of integrated modules operable to communicate a multiple wavelength output optical signal, each of the plurality of integrated modules operable to receive at least some of a plurality of optical signal wavelengths and to generate at least one wavelength of a multiple wavelength output optical signal, each of the plurality of integrated modules comprising:
an optical signal separator operable to separate an input optical signal from the plurality of optical signal wavelengths received by the integrated module;
a receiver coupled to the optical signal separator, the receiver operable to receive the input optical signal and to convert at least a portion of the input optical signal into an electronic signal;
and
an optical transmitter operable to generate at least a portion of the multiple wavelength output optical signal and to modulate information onto the portion of the multiple wavelength optical signal to form a modulated optical output signal, wherein the optical transmitter comprises a super-continuum source, the super-continuum source coupled to one or more modulators operable to modulate information onto an output from the super-continuum source, wherein the super-continuum source comprises:
a pulsed source operable to generate a series of optical pulses;
and
an optical amplifier comprising a first end that is coupled to the pulsed source and a second end coupled to a length of optical fiber, the length of optical fiber comprising at least a first stage fiber and a second stage fiber, wherein the first stage fiber comprises a first dispersion that is different than a second dispersion of the second stage fiber;
an optical splitter coupled to at least some of the plurality of integrated modules, wherein the optical splitter is operable to receive at least some of the multiple wavelength output optical signal and to separate the multiple wavelength output optical signal into a plurality of multiple wavelength output optical signals;
and
a controller coupled to at least some of the plurality of integrated modules, the controller operable to generate a control signal based at least in part on a scheduling algorithm and to communicate the control signal to the at least some of the plurality of integrated modules, wherein the at least some of the plurality of integrated modules use the control signal to reduce contention between the plurality of integrated modules.

8 more elements

An optical communication system, comprising:

a first integrated module that generates a first output signal comprising a first optical signal wavelength, the first integrated module coupled to an optical distribution network comprising one or more optical splitters, at least some of a first one or more of the optical splitters receive the first output signal and separate the first output signal into a plurality of first output optical signals;
a second integrated module that generates a second output signal comprising a second optical signal wavelength, the second integrated module and the second output signal coupled to the optical distribution network comprising the one or more optical splitters, wherein the second integrated module receives at least one of the plurality of first output optical signals and wherein at least the second integrated module comprises:
an optical signal separator operable to separate the first optical signal wavelength from one or more optical signal wavelengths received by the second integrated module;
one or more receivers operable to receive the first optical signal wavelength and to convert at least a portion of the first optical signal wavelength into an electrical signal;
and
one or more transmitters each operable to generate the second output optical signal coupled directly to the optical distribution network at the second optical signal wavelength and to modulate information onto the second output optical signal, wherein at least one of the one or more transmitters comprises a super-continuum source, the super-continuum source coupled to one or more modulators operable to modulate information onto an output from the super-continuum source, wherein the super-continuum source comprises:
a pulsed source operable to generate a series of optical pulses;
and
an optical amplifier comprising a first end that is coupled to the pulsed source and a second end coupled to a length of optical fiber, the length of optical fiber comprising at least a first stage fiber and a second stage fiber, wherein the first stage fiber comprises a first dispersion that is different than a second dispersion of the second stage fiber;
and
a controller coupled to the first and second integrated modules, the controller operable to generate a control signal based at least in part on a scheduling algorithm and to communicate the control signal to at least the first and second integrated modules, wherein the first and second integrated modules use the control signal to reduce contention within the optical communication system.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.