Patent ID: 8787757

Claim:
An optical communication network comprising: a plurality of optical transmission devices, each configured to include a first semiconductor optical amplifier to amplify signal light; a communication path that couples the optical transmission devices to one another; an optical repeater which is disposed on the communication path to amplify and output the signal light which is transmitted through the communication path, the optical repeater being configured to include a second semiconductor optical amplifier to amplify the signal light; and a supervisory controller configured to include: a first supervisory control circuit on one of the optical transmission devices and the optical repeater and controls a drive signal supplied to one of the first and second semiconductor optical amplifiers to modulate spontaneously emitting light according to the drive signal, the spontaneously emitting light being modulated to provide supervisory control information within a total power of light which includes the spontaneously emitting light which is output from the one of the first and second semiconductor optical amplifiers, and a supervisory control information receiver that receives light which has been output from another of the first and second semiconductor optical amplifiers and transmitted through the communication path, converts the received light to an electric signal and identifies the supervisory control information from an intensity-modulated component of the total power of the electric signal in at least the other one of the optical transmission devices and the optical repeater, wherein an optical burst signal is input into each of the first and second semiconductor optical amplifiers, a power of the optical burst signal changing in a range of levels lower than a predetermined level.