Patent ID: 8824897

Claim:
A system for switching data packets over an optical network, the system comprising: a first node group comprising a plurality of first nodes and a first bridge/router having a first routing transceiver, wherein each first node has a first transceiver designed to transmit a data packet at at least one of a plurality of first wavelengths selected only from a first wavelength set and receive a data packet at an assigned first wavelength selected only from the first wavelength set, wherein each first node is configured to ignore incoming data packets not transmitted at its assigned first wavelength, wherein a data packet transmitted at a wavelength that is not within the first wavelength set is optically transparent to each first transceiver; a second node group comprising a plurality of second nodes and a second bridge/router having a second routing transceiver, wherein each second node has a second transceiver designed to transmit a data packet at at least one of a plurality of second wavelengths selected only from a second wavelength set and receive a data packet at an assigned second wavelength selected only from the second wavelength set, wherein each second node is configured to ignore incoming data packets not transmitted at the assigned second wavelength, wherein a data packet transmitted at a wavelength that is not within the second wavelength set is optically transparent to each second transceiver, wherein the first wavelength set is mutually exclusive from the second wavelength set; at least one first fiber configured to carry data packets in a first direction and in a second direction, wherein the at least one fiber connects the first bridge/router to the second bridge/router and only connects the plurality of first nodes to the plurality of second nodes through the first bridge/router and the second bridge/router; at least one second fiber configured to carry data packets in a first direction and in a second direction, wherein the at least one second fiber connects the plurality of first nodes to the first bridge/router in series; and at least one third fiber configured to carry data packets in a first direction and in a second direction, wherein the at least one third fiber connects the plurality of second nodes to the second bridge/router in series, wherein each of the first and second transceivers is connected such that the transceiver can only directly transmit a data packet through at least one of the second fiber and the third fiber to a transceiver in an adjacent one of the first nodes, or an adjacent one of the second nodes, or a routing transceiver in the first bridge/router or the second bridge/router.