Patent ID: 6417944
Filing Date: 2002-07-09
Classification: H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
An optical switch for switching a stream of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells received over one of a plurality of receive lines and being switched to one of a plurality of transmit lines, comprisinga plurality of receive/transmit interface modules, each interface module adapted to generate and process ATM cells from signals received over said receive line and to store said processed ATM cells in one of a plurality of queues, each queue corresponding to a particular destination port and priority, said interface module adapted to transmit signals over a transmit line in accordance with processed ATM cells to be transmitted, said interface module operative to determine a destination output port and a wavelength associated therewith; a switch module having a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports wherein one input port and one output port are associated with each interface module, said switch module operative to pass an optical signal present at any of its input ports to all of its output ports; wherein for each queue having data to be transmitted, each interface module transmits ATM cells to said switch module utilizing the wavelength associated with the destination output port to which the ATM cell is be forwarded; and wherein each interface module is adapted to filter all wavelengths except for the wavelength associated therewith.