摘要 |
The present invention is directed to an in-passband signaling method. The method includes the steps of extracting a control component and a data component from an optical signal. The control component may be used to determine the state of an optical switch in either a packet-switched network or circuit-switched network. The state of the optical switch is switched based on the extracted control signal. The control component may also be used to provide other network functions such as network operations, administration, and management (OA&M), network monitoring, and network control and management (NC&M). The control component is erased by polarization realignment of the optical signal. The control component is updated by remodulating the polarization state of the data component.
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