WDM optical network with passive pass-through at each node
DCFirst Claim
1. An interface device for use in an optical network employing wavelength division multiplexing, comprising;
- a demultiplexer for dropping a first waveband received from the network,means for converting optical input signals in said first waveband, received from said demultiplexer to electrical output signals,means for generating optical output signals from electrical input signals,a multiplexer for adding said optical output signals in a second waveband to the network,said demultiplexer and multiplexer being arranged to forward passively optical signals in a waveband other than said first wave band.
13 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A communications network has a plurality of nodes interconnected by an optical transmission medium. The transmission medium is capable of a carrying a plurality of wavelengths organized into bands. A filter at each node for drops a band associated therewith and passively forwards other bands through the transmission medium. A device is provided at each node for adding a band to the transmission medium. Communication can be established directly between a pair of nodes in the network sharing a common band without the active intervention of any intervening node. This allows the network to be protocol independent. Also, the low losses incurred by the passive filters permit relatively long path lengths without optical amplification.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. An interface device for use in an optical network employing wavelength division multiplexing, comprising;
-
a demultiplexer for dropping a first waveband received from the network, means for converting optical input signals in said first waveband, received from said demultiplexer to electrical output signals, means for generating optical output signals from electrical input signals, a multiplexer for adding said optical output signals in a second waveband to the network, said demultiplexer and multiplexer being arranged to forward passively optical signals in a waveband other than said first wave band. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. An interface device for a traffic node of an optical WDM network carrying a plurality of optical signals organized into wavebands, comprising;
-
an optical waveband demultiplexer for receiving a first waveband signal and another waveband signal from said network, dropping said first waveband signal and passing through said another waveband signal; an optical channel demultiplexer for demultiplexing a plurality of optical drop signals from said first waveband signal; and an optical cross-connect switch operatively connected to said optical channel demultiplexer for switching said plurality of drop signals to one or more local users. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
Specification