Patent ID: 7697843

Claim:
An expandable network element, comprising: a wavelength selective switch having a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports, each of said plurality of input ports being coupled to a respective one of a plurality of input optical communication paths, wherein one of said input optical communication paths carries a service channel optical signal, and each of said plurality of output ports being coupled to a respective one of a plurality of output optical communication paths; a plurality of first optical splitters, each of said plurality of optical splitters being coupled to a respective one of said plurality of input optical communication paths; a second optical splitter having an input coupled to one of said first optical splitters, a first output and a second output; a multi-cast optical switch having a plurality of inputs and a plurality of outputs, one of said plurality of inputs of said multi-cast optical switch being coupled to said first output of said second optical splitters, said second output being a supplemental output not coupled to said multi-cast optical switch; a tunable demultiplexer coupled to one of said plurality of outputs of said multi-cast optical switch; and a control circuit, said control circuit being configured to control said tunable demultiplexer in accordance with information associated with said service channel optical signal.