Patent ID: 6928247

Claim:
An optical communications network, comprising: an express network including express communication path segments operatively interconnected and communicating a wavelength division multiplexed signal having a plurality of express data wavelengths including a first and a second express data wavelength; a feeder network including feeder communication path segments operatively interconnected; a plurality of express/feeder optical add-drop multiplexers each having optical add/drop pathways operatively interconnecting respective communication path segments of said express network and said feeder network, said express/feeder optical add-drop multiplexers having express pathways operatively interconnecting respective express communication path segments to form said express network; a first group of feeder add-drop multiplexers operatively connected to a first one of the feeder communication path segments, wherein each of the feeder add-drop multiplexers of the first group successively adds data to a first feeder data carried on a first feeder wavelength; a second group of feeder add-drop multiplexers operatively connected to a second one of the feeder communication path segments, wherein each of the feeder add-drop multiplexers of the second group successively adds data to a second feeder data carried on a second feeder wavelength; a first one of said express/feeder optical add-drop multiplexers transferring the first feeder data from the first feeder communication path segment to a first one of the express data wavelengths via a first transceiver which remodulates the first feeder wavelength to the first express data wavelength; and a second one of said express/feeder optical add-drop multiplexers transferring the second feeder data from the second feeder communication path segment to a second one of the express data wavelengths via a second transceiver which remodulates the second feeder wavelength to the second express data wavelength.