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:
Nov. 02, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 08, 2002
Edward J. Bortolini, Nederland, CO (US);
PTS Corporation, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods are provided for upgrading a K ×K optical wavelength cross connect to a K ×K optical wavelength cross connect without taking the cross connect out of service. Each K ×K cross connects has a working fabric with multiple optical components and has a protection fabric. The working fabric receives optical traffic from K input optical signals and transmits K output optical signals. The protection fabric is configured to bypass at least one of the optical components in the event of a fault. The upgrade of the K ×K optical wavelength cross connect proceeds by upgrading the protection fabric to accommodate at least K input optical signals. Sequentially, each of the optical components included on the working fabric is upgraded. The optical traffic received by that optical component is bypassed to the protection fabric. Thereafter, that optical component is upgraded to accommodate at least K input optical signals. Thereafter, the bypassed optical traffic is returned to that optical component.