Patent ID: 7277638

Claim:
A configurable add-drop multiplexing device for an optical wavelength division multiplex transmission system, comprising: a group filter which divides an incoming WDM signal into a plurality of channel groups with channels of different wavelengths; a plurality of different exchangeable modules types, each connected to a respective channel group for connecting through and branching off channels, wherein each of plurality of different exchangeable modules comprise at least two of a first, a second, and a third module type, and inserted according to the following requirements: the first module type being for manual reconfiguration of connected-through and add-drop channels with which longer-term connections of the channels of a channel group are realized; the second module type being for remote configuration of channels to be connected-through and add-drop channels of one of the channel groups with which short-term connections of the channels of the one channel group are realized; the third module type utilized for closed connecting-through of a channel group; and a combination filter which receives and combines reconfigured channel groups outputted from the plurality of different exchangeable modules depending on their type, wherein the combination filter forms an outgoing WDM signal.