Patent ID: 8457488

Claim:
A system for serving multiple optical communication lines by a redundant set of modules in an optical network, the system comprising: N optical communication lines; said set of modules comprising N (N>1) main modules and one backup module, N optical splitters, each comprising at least a first and a second ports at one end of the splitter and a third port at the opposite end of the splitter, 2N fiber connections; control means; wherein each of the N optical splitters, via its third port, is coupled to one of said N optical communication lines; each of said N optical splitters, via its first and second ports, is connected to two different modules of said set by two respective fiber connections out of said 2N connections; at least one module of the set is connected to two fiber connections out of said 2N fiber connections, being respectively coupled to two different splitters out of said N optical splitters, and that said at least one module is operative to selectively transfer data via either one or another of said two fiber connections; the control means being capable of selectively activating/inactivating any of said fiber connections for respectively enabling/blocking transfer of data there-along so as to ensure that each specific line of the N optical communication lines is always served by either one or another of two different modules connected to the optical splitter coupled to said specific optical communication line, while avoiding use of an optical switch for diverting a stream of data which has partially been conveyed via one of the two different modules, to the other of the two different modules.