Lucent Technologies Inc.

William Joseph Gartner

Mohammad Taghi Fatehi

Daniel Yousef Al-Salameh

An optical communications system employs a plurality of optical nodes interconnected in a ring configuration by at least two optical transmission media, for example, optical fiber. The at least two optical transmission media, in this example, provide optical service transmission capacity and optical protection transmission capacity. Efficient restoration of optical communications between optical nodes in the ring, after an optical transmission media failure, is realized by employing a relatively simple and efficient optical switch matrix having a first number of possible switching states and, then, by utilizing only a second number of the switching states fewer than the first number to switch optically from the optical service transmission capacity of the failed or faulted optical transmission media to the optical protection transmission capacity of another optical transmission media. Optical switching states of the optical switch matrix are blocked that are not actively used for switching from the active optical service capacity of the faulted optical transmission media to the standby optical protection capacity of the other optical transmission media. Use of this relatively simple optical switch matrix allows for the bulk switching of the optical wavelengths as contrasted with the one-to-one switching of the optical wavelengths used in prior arrangements.

Optical transmission system including optical restoration

A cross-connecting optical translator array that electronically switches opto-electronically converted signals received from optical transmission systems and that uses an optical transmitter to generate optical signals having the required wavelength for succeeding optical transmission systems. The cross-connecting optical translator array includes optical converters that are coupled to an input side of an electronic space switch fabric. Optical transmitters are coupled to an output side of the electronic space switch fabric. The optical transmitters are selectable to provide optical interface capability with the various wavelength optical fibers used in optical transmission systems. The combination of the optical converters and the optical transmitters operationally provide an optical translator that receive optical signals at a first wavelength and can transmit optical signals at a second wavelength. The operating speed of the array is compatible with that of the optical transmission systems. A multiple layer architecture can be used to accommodate increasingly greater optical transmission speeds by decreasing the input bit rate into multiple subrate streams and by parallel processing the resulting multiple subrate bit streams.

Growing community of inventors

Lincroft, NJ, United States of America

William Joseph Gartner