US 7,522,837 B2
Optical communication system
Hiromasa Tanobe, Tokyo (Japan); Akira Okada, Tokyo (Japan); Morito Matsuoka, Atsugi (Japan); Kazuto Noguchi, Atsugi (Japan); Takashi Sakamoto, Zama (Japan); and Osamu Moriwaki, Zama (Japan)
Assigned to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Tokyo (Japan)
Filed on Nov. 19, 2003, as Appl. No. 10/717,225.
Claims priority of application No. 2002-338242 (JP), filed on Nov. 21, 2002; and application No. 2003-326317 (JP), filed on Sep. 18, 2003.
Prior Publication US 2004/0151498 A1, Aug. 05, 2004
Int. Cl. H04J 14/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 398—63  [398/3; 398/48; 398/59] 33 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An optical communication system comprising:
an N×N wavelength path establishment circuit having N input ports and N output ports, N being an integer of at least 2, outputting light input from an input port to a different output port depending on the wavelength of the input light, and the wavelength of light output from an output port being different depending on the input port;
n communication nodes, n being an integer at least 2 and not greater than N, for outputting information of an input optical signal, as is or after changing a part of the information, as an optical signal of a predetermined wavelength; and
optical waveguides for connecting the input ports and the output ports of the N×N wavelength path establishment circuit, and the communication nodes,
wherein for at least some of the n communication nodes, in order to form a first logical-ring transmission path where an optical signal transmitted from one communication node circulates in a clockwise direction and returns to the one communication node via other communication nodes or to form both the first logical-ring transmission path and a second logical-ring transmission path where an optical signal transmitted from the one communication node circulates in a counterclockwise direction and returns to the one communication node via the other communication nodes, a correlation of wavelengths for connecting between the input ports and the output ports of the N×N wavelength path establishment circuit, wavelengths of optical signals output from the respective communication nodes, and connections between the input ports and the output ports of the N×N wavelength path establishment circuit, and the respective communication nodes are set.