Fine-grained optical shuffle interconnect topology migration

An optical equipment assembly, comprising:

• an optical shuffle unit having multiple optical connectors organized into two or more ports, the optical shuffle unit further including a plurality of shuffle interconnections among the optical connectors according to an interconnection topology;
• a plurality of optical equipment cards adapted for mounting in an equipment chassis, each of the optical equipment cards corresponding to one of the ports and having one or more optical inputs or optical outputs or both;
• and
• an optical patch unit adapted for mounting in or on an optical equipment rack, the optical patch unit comprising:
• multiple front-side optical connector receptacles on a front side of the optical equipment rack;
• multiple back-side optical connector receptacles arranged on a back side of the optical patch unit, wherein each front-side optical connector receptacle corresponds to a single one of the back-side optical connector receptacles;
• and
• multiple optical interconnections, comprising an optical interconnection between each front-side optical connector receptacle and its corresponding back-side optical connector receptacle;
• wherein the optical inputs and optical outputs for each optical equipment card are connected to the back-side optical connector receptacles, using optical cables, and wherein the optical connectors for each port of the optical shuffle unit are connected to the front-side optical connector receptacles of the optical patch unit, using optical cables, so that the optical equipment cards are interconnected according to the interconnection topology defined by the optical shuffle unit;
• and
• wherein the optical patch unit is an active optical patch unit comprising one or more active optical shuffle selector cards, each active optical shuffle selector card corresponding to a respective port and each active optical shuffle selector card comprising:
• two or more of the front-side optical connector receptacles;
• a set of alternate front-side optical connector receptacles, each alternate front-side optical connector receptacle corresponding to a single one of the front-side optical connector receptacles;
• and
• an optical crossbar array providing a selectable optical interconnection from each back-side optical connector receptacle for the corresponding port to the corresponding front-side optical connector receptacle and the corresponding alternate front-side optical connector receptacle.

A method for migrating an optical equipment assembly from a first interconnection topology defined by a first optical shuffle unit to a second interconnection topology defined by a second optical shuffle unit, each of the first and second optical shuffle units having a set of two or more optical connectors organized into two or more ports, wherein the optical equipment assembly further includes a plurality of optical equipment cards adapted for mounting in an equipment chassis with each of the optical equipment cards corresponding to one of the ports and having one or more optical inputs or optical outputs or both, the method comprising:

• disconnecting the first optical shuffle unit from an optical patch unit that is adapted for mounting in or on an optical equipment rack, the optical patch unit having multiple front-side optical connector receptacles and multiple back-side optical connector receptacles, each front-side optical connector corresponding to a back-side optical connector receptacle, and the optical patch unit further having an optical interconnection between each front-side optical connector receptacle and its corresponding back-side optical connector receptacle, and wherein the optical inputs and optical outputs for each optical equipment card are connected to the back-side optical connectors of the optical patch unit, using optical cables, and wherein the optical connectors for each port of the first optical shuffle unit are initially connected to the corresponding front-side optical connector receptacles, using optical cables, so that the optical equipment cards are interconnected according to the first interconnection topology defined by the first optical shuffle unit;
• and
• connecting the optical connectors for each port of the second optical shuffle unit to front-side connectors of the optical patch unit;
• wherein the optical patch unit is an active optical patch unit comprising one or more active optical shuffle selector cards corresponding to one or more respective ports, each active optical shuffle selector card comprising two or more of the front-side optical connector receptacles and a set of alternate front-side optical connector receptacles, each alternate front-side optical connector receptacle corresponding to a single one of the front-side optical connector receptacles, and an optical crossbar array providing a selectable optical interconnection from each back-side optical connector receptacle for the corresponding port to the corresponding front-side optical connector receptacle and the corresponding alternate front-side optical connector receptacle, wherein the method comprises, for each of at least one port of the active optical patch unit, connecting the optical connectors for the second optical shuffle unit to the alternate front-side optical connector receptacles for the corresponding port prior to disconnecting the corresponding optical connectors for the first optical shuffle unit.