Patent ID: 7254328

Claim:
A reconfigurable directional optical system having N ports divided between a plurality of cables, each port being individually configurable as an input or an output and said system comprising: at least one optical device having unidirectional inputs and outputs whose total number is less than or equal to N, wherein N is an integer greater than one; and an N×N optical switch such that each of said ports can be coupled interchangeably either to one of said inputs or to one of said outputs of said optical device, said N×N optical switch comprising first and second switching layers based on smaller n×p optical switches, where n and p are integers smaller than N, wherein the number of small switches of said first switching layer is equal to the number of cables and the number of small switches of said second switching layer is equal to whichever is the greater of the number of inputs and the number of outputs of said optical device, so that an input and an output of said optical device can be connected to two separate cables from said plurality of cables.