Patent ID: 8630541

Claim:
A wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus including a plurality of transponders for converting optical signals from wideband wavelengths to narrowband wavelengths, and a monitoring control unit for controlling the transponders, each of the transponders comprising: an assigned wavelength determining unit configured to convert channel information specified by the monitoring control unit to assigned wavelength information assigned to the transponder; a full-band tunable laser (FBTL) optical module control unit configured to control a full-band tunable laser (FBTL) optical module in such a manner as to output the optical signal, based on the assigned wavelength information after conversion by the assigned wavelength determining unit; and a physical inventory (PI) storage in which the assigned wavelength information is recorded in advance, wherein in response to the transponder starting up, the assigned wavelength determining unit is configured to associate the channel information with the assigned wavelength information by reading the assigned wavelength information from the PI storage, wherein the assigned wavelength determining unit is configured to read the assigned wavelength information from the PI storage prior to the monitoring control unit reading the assigned wavelength information from the PI storage for avoiding overlapping of read accesses to the PI storage by the monitoring control unit and the assigned wavelength determining unit.