Patent ID: 7526203

Claim:
An optical switch fabric, comprising: at least one optical switching matrix comprising a plurality of input links; a plurality of output links, wherein each of the plurality of input links intersects with each of the plurality of output links; a plurality of path switches with one path switch located at each intersection of an input link and an output link; a core controller to ensure the capacity of the plurality of the output links is not exceeded; a plurality of ingress edge units linked to the core controller via the plurality of input links; a plurality of egress edge units linked to the core controller via the plurality of output links; a packet scheduler to receive and process a plurality of control packet data links; and a switch controller that coordinates switching based on information processed from the plurality of ingress edge units, wherein each of the plurality of path switches is operable to communicate optical data from intersecting input link to an intersecting output link, and wherein each of the plurality of path switches is configurable to close or open to create a plurality of unique paths in a given switching time interval for transporting the optical data through the optical switching matrix without contention or congestion.