Optical ring network with selective signal regeneration and wavelength conversion
First Claim
1. An optical network, comprising:
- an optical ring including a plurality of subnets;
the subnets each comprising one or more add/drop nodes coupled to the optical ring and operable to passively add and drop traffic to and from the optical ring in one or more wavelengths;
a plurality of gateway nodes, each gateway node coupled to the optical ring at a boundary between neighboring subnets, each gateway node operable to;
forward a first copy of a received optical signal to a multiplexer/demultiplexer unit of the gateway node that is operable to selectively forward or terminate the traffic in each wavelength of the received optical signal;
forward a second copy of the received optical signal to a regeneration element of the gateway node, the second copy thus bypassing the multiplexer/demultiplexer unit;
selectively forward or terminate the traffic in each wavelength of the first copy at the multiplexer/demultiplexer unit, the forwarded traffic not being regenerated; and
selectively perform one of the following on the traffic in each wavelength of the second copy at the regeneration element;
terminate the traffic, forward the traffic after regenerating the traffic, or forward the traffic after regenerating and converting the wavelength of the traffic.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optical network includes an optical ring having a plurality of subnets. The subnets each include one or more add/drop nodes that are coupled to the optical ring and that passively add and drop traffic to and from the optical ring in one or more wavelengths. The optical network also includes a plurality of gateway nodes that are each coupled to the optical ring at a boundary between neighboring subnets. Each gateway node forwards a first copy of a received optical signal to a multiplexer/demultiplexer unit of the gateway node, which selectively forwards or terminates the traffic in each wavelength of the first copy. The gateway nodes also forward a second copy of the received optical signal to a regeneration element. The gateway nodes selectively forward or terminate the traffic in each wavelength of the first copy at the multiplexer/demultiplexer unit. Moreover the gateway nodes selectively perform one of the following on the traffic in each wavelength of the second copy at the regeneration element: terminate the traffic, forward the traffic after regenerating the traffic, or forward the traffic after regenerating and converting the wavelength of the traffic.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. An optical network, comprising:
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an optical ring including a plurality of subnets;
the subnets each comprising one or more add/drop nodes coupled to the optical ring and operable to passively add and drop traffic to and from the optical ring in one or more wavelengths;
a plurality of gateway nodes, each gateway node coupled to the optical ring at a boundary between neighboring subnets, each gateway node operable to;
forward a first copy of a received optical signal to a multiplexer/demultiplexer unit of the gateway node that is operable to selectively forward or terminate the traffic in each wavelength of the received optical signal;
forward a second copy of the received optical signal to a regeneration element of the gateway node, the second copy thus bypassing the multiplexer/demultiplexer unit;
selectively forward or terminate the traffic in each wavelength of the first copy at the multiplexer/demultiplexer unit, the forwarded traffic not being regenerated; and
selectively perform one of the following on the traffic in each wavelength of the second copy at the regeneration element;
terminate the traffic, forward the traffic after regenerating the traffic, or forward the traffic after regenerating and converting the wavelength of the traffic. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An optical gateway node operable to be coupled to an optical ring of an optical network, the gateway comprising:
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a first optical coupler operable to receive ingress traffic on the optical ring and to forward a first and a second copy of the ingress traffic;
a multiplexer/demultiplexer unit operable to receive the first copy of the ingress traffic from the first optical coupler, the multiplexer/demultiplexer unit comprising;
a demultiplexer operable to demultiplex the first copy of the ingress traffic into a plurality of constituent wavelengths;
a switch operable to selectively forward or terminate each wavelength; and
a multiplexer operable to multiplex the forwarded wavelengths;
a signal regeneration element operable to receive the second copy of the ingress traffic from the first optical coupler and to selectively regenerate a signal in one or more constituent wavelengths of the ingress traffic; and
a second optical coupler operable to;
receive the regenerated signals in one or more wavelengths;
receive the multiplexed forwarded wavelengths from the multiplexer; and
combine the multiplexed forwarded wavelengths with the regenerated wavelengths received from the signal regeneration element such that the combined signal is forwarded on the optical ring. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of providing a gateway function in an optical ring of an optical network, the method comprising:
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receiving ingress traffic from the optical ring;
passively forwarding a first and a second copy of the ingress traffic, the second copy not being demultiplexed;
demultiplexing the first copy of the ingress traffic into one or more constituent wavelengths;
terminating the signal in at least one constituent wavelength of the first copy of the ingress traffic;
selectively regenerating a signal in one or more constituent wavelengths of the second copy of the ingress traffic;
receiving the regenerated signals in one or more wavelengths; and
adding the regenerated signals to the optical ring. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of protection switching traffic carried on an optical ring network having a first optical ring and a second optical ring carrying traffic in opposite directions in the optical ring network, the network comprising a plurality of passive add/drop nodes without in-line rejection filters and one more gateways coupled to each of the optical rings, the method comprising:
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transmitting protected traffic in one or more wavelengths in the first optical ring;
transmitting preemtable traffic in one or more wavelengths in the second optical ring;
detecting an interruption in a working path of a protected traffic stream, the working path traversing at least a portion of a first subnet;
reconfiguring the gateways to create a protection path, the protection path traversing at least a portion of a second subnet;
terminating any preemtable traffic along the protection path;
transmitting protection traffic in the protection path to the destination node of the protected traffic stream; and
converting the wavelength of protection traffic at one or more of the gateways. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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Specification