Patent ID: 8526438

Claim:
A bandwidth variable communication apparatus, comprising: a route exchange unit including a route exchange function for switching an output port of a stream signal of one or more wavelengths input from an input port based on both or a part of wavelength and time, and including a bandwidth change function for changing passable frequency bandwidth in a section from the input port to the output port through which the stream signal passes; an interface in all or a part of input ports or output ports, the interface comprising: a packet transmit-receive unit configured to transmit and receive packets with another communication apparatus connected via a transmission route; a packet processing unit including a packet processing function for transmitting and receiving packets with the packet transmit-receive unit, and a signal conversion function for performing signal conversion between a packet and a stream signal; and a stream transmit-receive unit configured to transmit and receive the stream signal with the route exchange unit, a control unit including a control information transmit-receive function for transmitting and receiving control information including passable frequency bandwidth information such as a center frequency and a passband width or a lower limit frequency and an upper limit frequency in a section from an input port to an output port for both or a part of the route exchange function and the bandwidth change function of the route exchange unit, and control information including subcarrier frequency interval information for all or a part of the packet transmit-receive unit, the packet processing unit, and the stream transmit-receive unit of the interface, and including a control function for controlling the route exchange unit based on the control information for both or a part of the route exchange function and the bandwidth change function of the route exchange unit, and including an interface control function for controlling the interface based on the control information for all or a part of the packet transmit-receive unit, the packet processing unit, and the stream transmit-receive unit of the interface, wherein the all or a part of input ports and output ports are connected to other communication apparatuses via the interface and via transmission routes, and the route exchange unit includes a function for performing route exchange for stream signals of a plurality of subcarriers.