Patent ID: 8280258
Filing Date: 2012-10-02
Classification: H04B,H04J

Abstract:
1. An optical communication system, comprising: one or more optical amplifiers, wherein each of the one or more optical amplifiers has extended bandwidth coverage, and wherein an optical amplification spectrum of each of the one or more optical amplifiers is partitioned into a set of short connection channels associated with a first set of network nodes and a set of express connection channels associated with a second set of network nodes; one or more reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers in a first configuration operable to multiplex channels in a portion of the optical amplification spectrum associated with the short connection channels; one or more multiplexers in a second configuration operable to multiplex channels in a portion of the optical amplification spectrum associated with the express connection channels; wherein the one or more optical amplifiers are disposed between the one or more reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers and the one or more multiplexers; at a plurality of terminal nodes, one or more transceivers for the express connection channels, one or more transceivers for the short connection channels, fixed multiplexers for the one or more transceivers for the express connection channels, and a reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer for the one or more transceivers for the short connection channels; at a plurality of optical add/drop nodes, one or more transceivers for the short connection channels, a band filter to pass the express connection channels, and a reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer for one or more transceivers for the short connection channels; and an optical phase conjugator disposed at one of the one or more optical amplifiers, wherein the optical phase conjugator operates on the express connection channels.