Patent ID: 7058298

Claim:
An optical transmission system for controlling transmission of an optical signal over a ring network, comprising: a plurality of optical transmission devices each including overhead terminating means for converting the optical signal to an electrical signal and performing an overhead process including extraction of fault information and setting of status information, optical switch means for performing a process of switching the optical signal between active and standby lines, and switching control means for providing a switching command to the optical switch means in accordance with the fault information; and an optical transmission medium connecting said optical transmission devices in ring form to constitute the ring network; wherein said optical switch means performs a process of switching optical signal from a main-stream side and a tributary side, to carry out a switchover between the active and standby lines of at least one of the main-stream and tributary sides, wherein said overhead terminating means includes an optical coupler for splitting the optical signal into two signals, such that one of the two optical signals is converted to the electric signal that is subjected to the overhead process and coupled to the switching control means, and the other of the two optical signals is output directly without conversion by said optical switch means, and wherein, when a terminal office is connected to the tributary side of said optical switch means, said overhead terminating means converts a serial electric signal output from the terminal office into an optical signal, and converts the wavelength of the optical signal, said switching control means controls the line switching of the terminal office to transmit optical wavelength multiplex signals for the ring network.