Patent ID: 8041210
Filing Date: 2011-10-18
Classification: H04B

Abstract:
1. An optical transmission comprising: a first plurality of electrical input ports; a second plurality of electrical output ports, the number of the second plurality of electrical output ports being greater than the number of the first plurality of electrical input ports; a third plurality of optical transmitters, each corresponding to one of the electrical output ports such that during operation, when an electrical signal is applied to the corresponding electrical output port, the corresponding optical transmitter transmits a corresponding optical signal; and a switch configured to selectively couple a set of the first plurality of electrical input ports to a set of the second plurality of electrical output ports, wherein at least one of the second plurality of electrical output ports comprises a redundant electrical outlet port which can be excluded from the coupled set, wherein the switch comprises a plurality of switching circuits and at least one selector circuit, and wherein the switch comprises N 1:(R+1) switching circuits and (N+R−2) selector circuits, wherein N comprises the number of electrical input ports and R comprises the number of the at least one redundant electrical outlet port which can be excluded from the coupled set.