OPTICAL PACKET SWITCHING APPARATUS AND METHODS
First Claim
1. A method of resolving bandwidth contention between a first optical packet arriving on a first path and a second optical packet arriving on a second path, the method comprising:
- determining that the bandwidth contention can be resolved by compaction of at least one of the first optical packet and the second optical packet;
compacting said at least one of the first optical packet and the second optical packet in response to said determining; and
switching the first optical packet and the second optical packet, at least one of which being in a compacted form, to a destination on a single switched channel wavelength.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An optical packet switch switches optical packets according to bit-rates at which the optical packets are provided. For example, optical packets that are received at similar bit-rates may be routed to a destination at separate time slots over a single channel wavelength, and optical packets that are received at different bit-rates may be routed to the destination over separate channel wavelengths. When optical packets are provided at different bit-rates on a plurality of input paths, optical packets provided at low bit-rates may be compacted before switching to the destination. Alternatively or additionally, the bit-rates of the optical packets may be balanced before switching to the destination. Bandwidth contention among optical packets may be resolved by polarizing optical packets originating from separate input paths in different polarization directions, and merging optical packets having different polarization directions onto a single switched channel wavelength. Compaction of optical packets may alternatively be employed for resolution of bandwidth contention. Related apparatus and methods are also described.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method of resolving bandwidth contention between a first optical packet arriving on a first path and a second optical packet arriving on a second path, the method comprising:
-
determining that the bandwidth contention can be resolved by compaction of at least one of the first optical packet and the second optical packet;
compacting said at least one of the first optical packet and the second optical packet in response to said determining; and
switching the first optical packet and the second optical packet, at least one of which being in a compacted form, to a destination on a single switched channel wavelength. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A method of resolving bandwidth contention between a first optical packet arriving on a first path and a second optical packet arriving on a second path, the method comprising:
-
polarizing the first optical packet in a first polarization direction to obtain a first polarized optical packet, and the second optical packet in a second polarization direction to obtain a second polarized optical packet; and
merging the first polarized optical packet and the second polarized optical packet onto a single switched channel wavelength. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. Apparatus for resolving bandwidth contention between a first optical packet arriving on a first path and a second optical packet arriving on a second path, the apparatus comprising:
-
a switching/routing control unit operative to generate a determination that the bandwidth contention can be resolved by compaction of at least one of the first optical packet and the second optical packet;
at least one packet compactor operatively controlled by said switching/routing control unit and operative to compact said at least one of the first optical packet and the second optical packet in accordance with said determination; and
at least one switching node operatively controlled by said switching/routing control unit and operative to switch the first optical packet and the second optical packet, at least one of which being in a compacted form, to a destination on a single switched channel wavelength. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A polarizing apparatus for resolving bandwidth contention between a first optical packet arriving on a first path and a second optical packet arriving on a second path, the apparatus comprising:
-
at least one polarizer operative to polarize the first optical packet in a first polarization direction to obtain a first polarized optical packet, and the second optical packet in a second polarization direction to obtain a second polarized optical packet; and
a combiner operative to merge the first polarized optical packet and the second polarized optical packet onto a single switched channel wavelength.
-
Specification