Optical communication network and method for optically detecting a fault
First Claim
1. An optical communication network for detecting a fault therein, comprising:
- a receiver for receiving a superimposed signal through an optical path, said receiver comprising;
an optical splitter, connected to said optical path, for splitting said superimposed signal into an optical data signal and a monitoring signal; and
a processor for analyzing both said monitoring signal and said optical data signal delivered from said optical splitter, to determine whether a fault exists in said optical path coupled to said optical communication network.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An optical communication network for quickly detecting faults and rerouting data using the optical signals in their light form, superimposes a monitoring signal on an optical data signal. The optical data signal and the monitoring signal are superimposed by, for example, wavelength-multiplexing or polarization-multiplexing. A receiving node receives the superimposed signal and splits it back into the optical data signal and the monitoring signal. A processor in the receiving node analyzes the monitoring signal to determine whether a fault exists in the transmission path. Similarly, the processor can analyze the data signal to determine whether a fault exists in a previous node or repeater. Once a fault is detected, the signal can be quickly rerouted (detoured) around the faulty section (node).
-
Citations
30 Claims
-
1. An optical communication network for detecting a fault therein, comprising:
a receiver for receiving a superimposed signal through an optical path, said receiver comprising; an optical splitter, connected to said optical path, for splitting said superimposed signal into an optical data signal and a monitoring signal; and a processor for analyzing both said monitoring signal and said optical data signal delivered from said optical splitter, to determine whether a fault exists in said optical path coupled to said optical communication network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
13. A method for detecting a fault in an optical communication network, said network comprising a plurality of nodes, said method comprising steps of:
-
receiving a superimposed signal delivered from said optical communication network comprising an optical data signal superimposed with an optical monitoring signal at a node; splitting said superimposed signal back into said optical data signal and into said optical monitoring signal; and analyzing both said optical monitoring signal and said optical data signal obtained by splitting, to determine whether a fault exists in an input of said optical communication network. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. An optical communication network apparatus, comprising:
-
a splitter, connected to an optical transmission path, for splitting a superimposed signal, comprising an optical data signal superimposed with a first optical monitoring signal received through said optical transmission path, into said optical data signal and said first optical monitoring signal; and an analyzer for analyzing both said first optical monitoring signal and said optical data signal delivered from said splitter, to detect a state of said optical communication network. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
-
-
28. An optical communication network system comprising:
-
first and second optical communication devices each including an optical switching device and an optical transmission path disposed between said first and second optical communication devices, wherein said first optical communication device comprises a superimposing circuit for superimposing an optical monitoring signal with an optical data signal to transmit a superimposed signal to said second optical communication device through said optical transmission path, and wherein said second optical communication device comprises a splitter, connected to said optical transmission path, for splitting said superimposed signal into said optical data signal and said optical monitoring signal and an analyzer for analyzing both said optical monitoring signal and said optical data signal delivered from said splitter, to detect a state of said optical communication network. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
-
Specification