Patent ID: 7778549

Claim:
A method comprising: extracting a first selected wavelength from an optical signal flow of a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) network; passing said first selected wavelength to a network side input of a bidirectional transponder, wherein said network side input is not internally coupled to a network side output of said bidirectional transponder; using said bidirectional transponder to recover a signal from said first selected wavelength and present said recovered signal on a client side output of said bidirectional transponder; splitting and passing said recovered signal with a splitter device that is external to said bidirectional transponder comprising an input and first and second outputs, wherein said input is connected to said client side output, said first output is directly connected to a client device, and said second output is directly connected to a client side input of said bidirectional transponder, and wherein a return path is not physically available from said client device to said bidirectional transponder; using said bidirectional transponder to place information recovered from said client side input on a second selected wavelength; presenting said second selected wavelength on said network side output; and inserting said second selected wavelength into said signal flow of said WDM network.