Configurable optical add/drop device

摘要

An add/drop device is described that allows channels from a multi-channel optical path to be dropped to a device and a new or modified channel to be added to the multi-channel optical path. The device thereby has access to a channel from the multi-channel optical path without having access to all of the channels. In one embodiment, the add/drop device of the invention includes one or more intermediate ports and a switch. The intermediate ports communicate the channels not dropped by the add/drop device and the switch selectively optically couples the dropped channel either to the device or to be added back into the multi-channel path. The switch also selectively optically couples the new or modified channel to be added to the multi-channel path. The one or more intermediate ports allow multiple add/drop devices to be optically coupled together to provide a configurable add/drop mechanism. The configurable add/drop mechanism allows channels from the multi-channel optical path to be provided to devices without the need of physically adding or removing an add/drop device from the multi-channel optical path.