Backward Compatible PON Coexistence

• US 20090060507A1
• Filed: 02/28/2008
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: LIN, Huafeng, EFFENBERGER, Frank J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,855,490 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0226 Fixed carrier allocation, e.g. according to service
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0227 Operation, administration, maintenance or provisioning [OAMP] of WDM networks, e.g. media access, routing or wavelength allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0246 using one wavelength per ONU
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0247 Sharing one wavelength for at least a group of ONUs
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0252 Sharing one wavelength for at least a group of ONUs, e.g. for transmissions from-ONU-to-OLT or from-ONU-to-ONU
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0282 WDM tree architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0067 Provisions for optical access or distribution networks, e.g. Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network (GE-PON), ATM-based Passive Optical Network (A-PON), PON-Ring

Abstract

A network comprising a first optical line terminal (OLT), and a second OLT in communication with the first OLT, at least one first-type optical network unit (ONU), and at least one second-type ONU. Included is an OLT configured to implement a method comprising forwarding a first downstream data from a first-type OLT to at least one first-type ONU, and transmitting a second downstream data to at least one second-type ONU. Also included is a method comprising adding at least one second-type ONU to a passive optical network (PON) comprising a first-type OLT and at least one first-type ONU without removing the first-type OLT from the PON.

Claims

1. A network comprising:

a first optical line terminal (OLT); and

a second OLT in communication with the first OLT, at least one first-type optical network unit (ONU), and at least one second-type ONU.

2. The network of claim 1, wherein the first OLT is substantially incompatible with the second-type ONU.

3. The network of claim 1, wherein the first OLT comprises a first-type interface, and wherein the second OLT comprises a second-type interface.

4. The network of claim 1, wherein the second OLT comprises a first-type ONU component.

5. The network of claim 4, wherein the second OLT further comprises a second-type OLT component.

6. The network of claim 5, wherein the second OLT further comprises an optical router component coupled to the first OLT, the first-type ONU component, the second-type OLT component, the first-type ONU, and the second-type ONU.

7. The network of claim 6, wherein the optical router component comprises a four-port wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) coupled to the first OLT, the first-type ONU, and the second-type ONU.

8. The network of claim 7, wherein the optical router component further comprises:

a first three-port WDM coupled to the four-port WDM and the second-type OLT component;

an optical splitter coupled to the first three-port WDM and the second-type OLT component;

an optical combiner coupled to the optical splitter and the first-type ONU component; and

a second three-port WDM coupled to the optical combiner, the first-type ONU component, and the four-port WDM.

9. The network of claim 8, wherein the optical router component further comprises an optical amplifier located between the first three-port WDM and the optical splitter.

10. The network of claim 8, wherein the second-type OLT component comprises:

an optical transmitter coupled to the first three-port WDM;

an optical receiver coupled to the optical splitter; and

a media access control (MAC) logic coupled to the optical transmitter and the optical receiver.

11. The network of claim 8, wherein the first-type ONU component comprises:

an optical transmitter coupled to the optical combiner;

an optical receiver coupled to the second three-port WDM; and

a media access control (MAC) logic coupled to the optical transmitter and the optical receiver.

12. An optical line terminal (OLT) configured to implement a method comprising:

forwarding a first downstream data from a first-type OLT to at least one first-type optical network unit (ONU); and

transmitting a second downstream data to at least one second-type ONU.

13. The OLT of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises forwarding a first upstream data from the first-type ONU to the first-type OLT.

14. The OLT of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises receiving a second upstream data from the second-type ONU.

15. The OLT of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises amplifying the first upstream data and the second upstream data.

16. The OLT of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises requesting an upstream timeslot from the first-type OLT.

17. The OLT of claim 14, wherein the first downstream data is forwarded using a first wavelength or wavelength band, the second downstream data is transmitted using a second wavelength or wavelength band, the first upstream data is forwarded using a third wavelength or wavelength band, and the second upstream data is received using the third wavelength or wavelength band.

18. A method comprising:

adding at least one second-type optical network unit (ONU) to a passive optical network (PON) comprising a first-type optical line terminal (OLT) and at least one first-type ONU without removing the first-type OLT from the PON.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first-type OLT is not aware of the second-type ONU.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

adding a second-type OLT to the PON, wherein the second-type OLT is aware of the first-type ONU, the second-type ONU, and the first-type OLT.