The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 30, 1998
Filed:
Jul. 08, 1996
Phillip E Baker, Tulsa, OK (US);
WorldCom Network Services, Inc., Tulsa, OK (US);
Abstract
An all optical cross-connect module is described that, in addition to routing optical signals, provides signal monitoring and signal path identification capabilities. In one embodiment, each bidirectional cross-connect module comprises two four-port wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) filters. One filter has a transmit-signal input (Tx-In) port, a transmit-signal (Tx-Out) output port, a transmit-monitor output (Tx-Mon-Out) port, and a path identification output (Path-ID-Out) port. The second filter has a receive-signal input (Rx-In) port, a receive-signal output (Rx-Out) port, a dual function path identification input/receive-signal monitor output (Path-ID-In/Rx-Mon-Out) port, and one port that is optically terminated to prevent signal reflections. Each of the two filters are designed to couple selected frequencies to the appropriate port. In alternative embodiments, a combination of standard couplers and three-port WDM filters are combined to provide substantially the same functionality.