Optical connection arrangements
First Claim
1. An optical connection arrangement comprising:
- a plurality of optical ports, each optical port comprising at least two optical connections for respectively supplying an optical signal to and receiving an optical signal from an optical component coupled to the respective optical port;
an optical signal input;
an optical signal output; and
tow or more optical switches coupled to the optical signal input, the optical signal output, and the plurality of optical ports, the optical switch being controllable to provide one or more of the following;
a direct optical path from the optical signal input to the optical signal output, which bypasses the optical component; and
another optical path from the optical signal input to the optical signal output selectively via least one of the plurality of optical connections, including said optical component.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optical connection arrangement is provided in an optical path to facilitate changing optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM) and other optical component modules while optical traffic is present on the optical path, with minimal interruption to such traffic. The connection arrangement has a plurality of optical ports to each of which an optical component can be coupled, and one or more optical switches which can be controlled to selectively include in the optical path or bypass each optical port. Such connection arrangements can be coupled in series and/or in parallel for convenient modular add/drop configurations and for opposite directions of transmission of optical traffic on respective optical paths.
22 Citations
19 Claims
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1. An optical connection arrangement comprising:
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a plurality of optical ports, each optical port comprising at least two optical connections for respectively supplying an optical signal to and receiving an optical signal from an optical component coupled to the respective optical port;
an optical signal input;
an optical signal output; and
tow or more optical switches coupled to the optical signal input, the optical signal output, and the plurality of optical ports, the optical switch being controllable to provide one or more of the following;
a direct optical path from the optical signal input to the optical signal output, which bypasses the optical component; and
another optical path from the optical signal input to the optical signal output selectively via least one of the plurality of optical connections, including said optical component. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 19)
an add/drop multiplexer;
a drop filter;
an add filter;
an optical amplifier;
an optical signal monitor; and
a dispersion compensation module.
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3. An optical connection arrangement comprising two optical connection arrangements each as claimed in claim 1, the optical signal output of one optical connection arrangement being coupled to the optical signal input of the other optical connection arrangement.
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4. An optical connection arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical switch comprises an N×
- N optical switch having N optical input ports and N optical output ports, where N is an integer greater than 2, which is controllable to selectively connect each of its input ports to any of its output ports; and
wherein each of the optical connection arrangement optical ports has two optical connections coupled to a respective output port, and to a respective input port the optical switch for respectively supplying an optical signal to and receiving an optical signal from an optical component coupled to the respective optical port.
- N optical switch having N optical input ports and N optical output ports, where N is an integer greater than 2, which is controllable to selectively connect each of its input ports to any of its output ports; and
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5. An optical connection arrangement as claimed in claim 4, wherein the optical component is one or more of the following:
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an add/drop multiplexer;
a drop filter;
an add filter;
an optical amplifier;
an optical signal monitor; and
a dispersion compensation module.
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6. An optical connection arrangement comprising two optical connection arrangements each as claimed in claim 4, the optical signal output of one optical connection arrangement being coupled to the optical signal input of the other optical connection arrangement.
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19. A method for modifying optical connection arrangement couplings of one or more optical components to the optical path in the optical connection arrangement of claim 1, comprising the steps of:
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controlling the optical path in the optical connection arrangement by selectively including or bypassing each optical port in the optical path;
changing the optical connection couplings of at least one optical component to a respective optical port, the optical connection couplings being controlled to selectively bypass the respective optical port; and
subsequently controlling the optical connection arrangement to selectively include the respective optical port and said optical component in the optical path.
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7. An optical connection arrangement comprising a plurality of optical ports, each optical port comprising at least two optical connections for respectively supplying an optical signal to mid receiving an optical signal from an optical component coupled to the respective optical port;
- an optical signal input;
an optical signal output; and
two or more optical switches coupled to the optical signal input, the optical signal output, and the plurality of optical ports, the optical switch being controllable to provide a direct optical path from the optical signal input to the optical signal output, which bypasses the optical component; and
another optical path from the optical signal input to the optical signal output selectively via at least one of the plurality of optical connections, including said optical component, wherein each optical port has an optical connection to one of two optical outputs of a preceding optical switch stage, and an optical connection to one of two inputs of a following switch stage, the optical switch stages constituting said two or more optical switches first one of said optical switch stages having an optical input coupled to said optical signal input and a last one of said optical switch stages having an optical output coupled to said optical signal output, the arrangement further comprising an optical coupling from another of the two optical outputs of each said preceding optical switch stage to another of the two inputs of the respective following switch stage for optically bypassing the respective optical port, each optical switch stage having two optical connection states between its input(s) and its output(s), the optical switch stages being controllable to include selectively each optical port in, or selectively exclude it from, an optical path from said optical signal input to said optical signal output. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
- an optical signal input;
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18. An optical connection arrangement in an optical path, comprising:
- two or more optical switches and a plurality of optical ports, each optical port comprising at least two optical connections, which can be selectively included in the optical path or bypassed by control of said two or more optical switches, the optical ports each being arranged for a coupling to a plurality of optical add/drop multiplexers (OADMs) via respective optical connections so that at least one OADM is optically coupled to a respective port of the optical connection arrangement by the plurality of optical connections, thereby the optical path selectively including none, one or more of the OADMs.
Specification