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Compound optical circuit switch

  • US 9,207,404 B2
  • Filed: 10/04/2013
  • Issued: 12/08/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2013
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A compound optical circuit switch to provide selectable optical connections between a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports, comprising:

  • two or more 1st-tier switches, each of the plurality of input ports connected to a respective input of one of the 1st-tier switches, and each of the plurality of output ports connected to a respective output of one of the 1st-tier switches;

    one or more 2nd-tier switches coupled to the 1st-tier switches; and

    a compound connection controller configured to;

    receive a global connection command identifying an input port from the plurality of input ports and an output port from the plurality of output ports to be connected through the compound switch;

    when the identified input port and the identified output port are connected to the same 1st-tier switch, issue a local command to that 1st-tier switch to effect a simple connection between the identified input port and the identified output port, orwhen the identified input port and the identified output port are connected to different 1st-tier switches,select a connection path from the identified input port to the identified output port through the 1st-tier switch connected to the identified input port, 1 selected 2nd-tier switch, and the 1st-tier switch connected to the identified output port, the connection path selected based, in part, on an expected insertion loss of the connection path, andissue local commands to the 1st-tier switch connected to the identified input port, the selected 2nd-tier switch, and the 1st-tier switch connected to the identified output port to effect a compound connection along the selected connection path.

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