Patent ID: 9331810
Filing Date: 2016-05-03
CPC Classification: H04B,H04J

Claim Text:
1. A method comprising: generating, at an optical line terminal, a multi-wavelength optical signal comprising a plurality of sub-signals corresponding to carrier wavelengths; modulating, at the optical line terminal, the plurality of sub-signals simultaneously with a content signal; amplifying, at the optical line terminal, the modulated multi-wavelength optical signal; assigning, at the optical line terminal, the carrier wavelengths to the one or more respective subscribers; separating, at the optical line terminal, the modulated multi-wavelength optical signal into the plurality of sub-signals via an optical multiplexer; transmitting, at the optical line terminal, the plurality of sub-signals individually from the optical line terminal to one or more respective subscribers over an optical distribution network; receiving, at the optical line terminal, over the optical distribution network, a plurality of upstream signals from the respective one or more subscribers; and combining, at the optical line terminal, the plurality of upstream signals, wherein separating the modulated multi-wavelength optical signal into the plurality of sub-signals via the optical multiplexer comprises: providing the amplified modulated multi-wavelength optical signal to an optical isolator, providing an output of the optical isolator to a collimator, and propagating, in open space, outputs of the collimator to the optical multiplexer.