Patent ID: 7920792

Claim:
A method for managing communication in a hybrid passive optical network (HPON), comprising: transmitting, at a first wavelength, a first configuration message on the HPON; receiving at one or more of a plurality of receivers at an optical line terminal (OLT) one or more configuration response messages from one or more optical network units (ONUs) in a first set of ONUs; based on the configuration response messages from the first set of ONUs, associating, in a database, each ONU in the first set of ONUs with the first wavelength and with the receiver receiving the configuration response message from the ONU; after transmitting the first configuration message, transmitting, at a second wavelength, a second configuration message on the HPON; receiving at one or more of the plurality of receivers at the OLT one or more configuration response messages from one or more ONUs in a second set of ONUs, wherein the ONUs in the second set of ONUs do not belong to the first set of ONUs; and based on the configuration response messages from the second set of ONUs, associating, in the database, each ONU in the second set of ONUs with the second wavelength and with the receiver receiving the configuration response message from the ONU.