Patent ID: 6925257
Filing Date: 2005-08-02
Classification: H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
1. An optical router comprising: (a) an optical wavelength router having an input and output; (b) an input optical wavelength converter stage having an input and an output, said converter stage being tunable; (c) an output optical wavelength converter stage having an input and an output; (d) wherein said output of said input wavelength converter stage is connected to said input of said wavelength router, (e) wherein said input of said output wavelength converter stage is connected to said output of said wavelength router; (f) wherein said optical router is configured for contention resolution by time, space or wavelength domain switching, or a combination thereof, by tuning of said input optical wavelength converter stage; and (g) wherein optical signals remain in optical form throughout switching, forwarding and transport by said optical router; (h) a programmable data processor; and (i) programming executable on said data processor for resolving switching conflicts by carrying out the operations of: