Patent ID: 7043159

Claim:
A band optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM) for a bidirectional wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) network for processing a bidirectional WDM signal of a defined spectrum formed of multiple optical channels for carrying, via a single optical fiber, channel signals in a first direction and channel signals in a second direction, the band OADM being operative for isolating a first optical band from the WDM signal spectrum and passing through a remainder portion thereof, wherein the first optical band contains a first set of optical channels comprising a first plurality of optical channels for carrying respective channel signals propagating in the first direction and a second plurality of optical channels for carrying respective channel signals propagating in the second direction, the band OADM also being operative for combining a second optical band with the remainder portion of the WDM signal spectrum to form another bidirectional WDM signal formed of multiple channels for carrying, via a single optical fiber, channel signals in a first direction and channel signals in a second direction, wherein the second optical band contains a second set of optical channels comprising a first plurality of optical channels for carrying respective channel signals propagating in the first direction and a second plurality of optical channels for carrying respective channel signals propagating in the second direction.