System and method for slot deflection routing at optical router/switch

A system for routing optical data packets, comprising:

• an optical router having an optical switch core and a plurality of edge units interconnected to said optical switch core, wherein said optical switch core comprises
• a core controller and an optical switch fabric coupled to said core controller, wherein said core controller comprises
• a packet scheduler and a switch controller coupled to said packet scheduler, wherein said switch controller is coupled to said optical switch fabric and wherein said packet scheduler is operable to develop a schedule pattern of time, slots for scheduling transmission of said optical data packets through said optical switch fabric based on slot deflection routing, wherein said time slots include at least a first time slot in which an ingress edge unit of said optical router is configured to communicate with a destination egress edge unit of said optical router, at least a second time slot in which said ingress edge unit is configured to communicate with an intermediate edge unit and at least a third time slot in which said intermediate edge unit is configured to communicate with said destination egress edge unit,
• wherein said core controller is operable to:
• determine whether bandwidth allocated in said first time slot is sufficient for said ingress edge unit to communicate one or more data packets to said destination egress edge unit;
• if sufficient bandwidth has been allocated, communicating said one or more data packets to said destination egress edge unit in said first time slot;
• if sufficient bandwidth has not been allocated,
• deflecting at lease a portion of said one or more data packets to said intermediate edge unit in said second time slot;
• and
• communicating deflected data packet or packets from said intermediate edge unit to said destination egress edge unit in said third time slot.

A system for routing optical data packets, comprising:

• an optical router having an optical switch core and a plurality of edge units interconnected to said optical switch core, wherein said optical switch core comprises
• a core controller and an optical switch fabric coupled to said core controller,
• wherein said core controller comprises
• a packet scheduler and a switch controller coupled to said packet scheduler, wherein said switch controller is coupled to said optical switch fabric and wherein said packet scheduler is operable to develop a schedule pattern of time slots for scheduling transmission of said optical data packets through said optical switch fabric based on slot deflection routing
• wherein said core controller is further operable to:
• determine whether sufficient bandwidth has been allocated for a first ingress edge unit of said plurality of edge units to communicate at least one data packet with a first destination egress edge unit of said plurality of edge units;
• if sufficient bandwidth has been allocated,
• prompt said first ingress edge unit to communication said at least one data packet to said first destination egress edge unit in at least one time slot of said time slots in which said first ingress edge unit is configured to communicate with said first destination egress edge unit without deflection;
• if sufficient bandwidth has not been allocated,
• prompt said first ingress edge unit to communicate said at least one data packet to at least one intermediate edge unit in at least one time slot in which said first ingress edge unit is configured to communicate with said at least one intermediate edge unit;
• and
• prompt said at least one intermediate edge unit to communicate said at least one data packet to said first destination egress edge unit in at least one time slot in which said at least one intermediate edge unit is;
• configured to communicate with said first destination egress edge unit.