Patent ID: 9551836
Date: 2017-01-24
CPC Classifications: G02B,H04B,H04J,H04Q

Claim:
1. An optical switch fabric, comprising: horizontal optical waveguides comprising a first set and a second set, the first set is configured to receive a first plurality of wavelengths from one or more external switches and the second set is configured to send a second plurality of wavelengths to the one or more external switches; vertical optical waveguides; wavelength-selective drop optical switches associated with the first set, wherein the wavelength-selective drop optical switches are each configured to drop a selected wavelength from a horizontal optical waveguide of the first set to an associated vertical optical waveguide of the vertical optical waveguides; and controllable optical switches associated with the vertical optical waveguides, wherein the controllable optical switches are each configured to direct a selected wavelength from a vertical optical waveguide to a horizontal optical waveguide of the second set, wherein the first set and the second set each have a quantity of C waveguides, C is an integer, and each of the first set receive L wavelengths, L is an integer, and wherein the first set and the second set have C×L*(integer of (C/L)+1) crossings.