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:
Sep. 14, 2004
Filed:
Jul. 26, 2002
Biswanath Mukherjee, Davis, CA (US);
Shun Yao, Davis, CA (US);
The Regents of the University of California, Oakland, CA (US);
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates optical switching. The system starts by receiving a plurality of optical input signals. The system then divides each of the plurality of optical input signals into a plurality of wavebands that can be carried on a single optical fiber, wherein each waveband includes a predetermined subset of the wavelengths in the optical signal. Once the optical input signals have been divided into wavebands, the wavebands are then routed through a waveband switch. After being routed through the waveband switch, the wavebands are combined to form a plurality of optical output signals, where each optical output signal can possible include wavebands from different optical input signals. Additionally, some of the wavebands can be divided into wavelengths, and the wavelengths can be routed through a wavelength switch or a traffic grooming switch.