Broadband optical communication network having optical channel protection apparatus

摘要

The present invention provides an improved optical communication network (300) that utilizes an apparatus of optical channel protection. The apparatus for optical channel protection of the present invention including a transmitting end network switch (200), a first and a second receiving end network switch (201, 202), a plurality of wavelength tuneable transmitting end transponders (400, 401 . . . 405), a plurality of wavelength tuneable receiving end transponders (400′, 401′ . . . 405′), a transmitting end controller (10a) connected to a network monitoring and control system (100a) and a receiving end controller (10b) connected to said network monitoring and control system (100a). The present invention utilizes a method of optical channel protection that can be broadly categorized under optical multiplex switching.

主权项

1. An apparatus including an improved broadband optical communication network, said improved broadband optical communication network including an optical channel protection apparatus, said improved broadband optical communication network comprising:
a transmitting end that incorporates a transmitting-end portion of said improved optical channel protection apparatus, a receiving end that incorporates a receiving-end portion of said optical channel protection apparatus, and a main fiber link that optically interconnects said transmitting end and said receiving end,
wherein said transmitting-end portion of said optical channel protection apparatus comprises a plurality of wavelength tunable transmitting-end transponders, a transmitting-end network switch that is optically interconnected to a plurality of transmitting customer premise equipment units at an input side thereof and that is optically interconnected to a plurality of non-tunable transmitting-end transponders and to said plurality of wavelength tunable transmitting-end transponders at an output side thereof, a 1×N optical coupler that is optically interconnected to a plurality of output lines of said plurality of wavelength-tunable transmitting-end transponders at an input side thereof, a 1×2 optical coupler having input lines, one of which is optically interconnected to an output side of said 1×N optical coupler and another one of which is optically interconnected to an output of a transmitting-end wavelength division multiplexer, and a transmitting-end controller that is electrically interconnected to said transmitting-end network switch and that serves to control routing of optical signals by said transmitting-end network switch, and wherein said receiving-end portion of said optical channel protection apparatus comprises a plurality of receiving-end wavelength tunable transponders, a first receiving-end network switch that is optically interconnected to a plurality of output lines of a receiving-end optical wavelength de-multiplexer at an input side and that is optically interconnected to a plurality of receiving-end non-tunable transponders and to said plurality of receiving-end wavelength tunable transponders, a second receiving-end network switch that is optically interconnected to said plurality of receiving-end non-tunable transponders and to said plurality of receiving-end wavelength tunable transponders at an input side and that is optically interconnected to a plurality of receiving-end customer premise equipment units at an output side, and a receiving-end controller that is electrically interconnected to said first receiving-end network switch and to said second receiving-end network switch that serve to control routing of optical signals by said first network switch and said second network switches.