Patent ID: 7266294

Claim:
An optical cross-connect comprising: a plurality of input ports each operable to receive an optical input signal, each input signal comprising a plurality of channels that are each operable to carry optical traffic; a plurality of output ports each operable to output an optical output signal; a distributing amplifier associated with each input port, each distributing amplifier operable to generate a plurality of copies of the input signal received at the associated input port; a plurality of filter units each operable to: receive a copy of one or more of the input signals from one or more of the distributing amplifiers; and forward traffic in selected channels of one or more of the copies; and a combining amplifier associated with each output port, each combining amplifier operable to: receive the traffic in one or more of the channels forwarded by one or more of the filter units; and combine the received traffic into an output signal to be output from the associated output port; the optical cross-connect further comprising: at least one upgrade input port and at least one upgrade output port expanding the capacity of the optical cross-connect; an upgrade distributing amplifier associated with the upgrade input port and an upgrade combining amplifier associated with the upgrade output port; a first upgrade filter unit operable to receive a plurality of copies of an input signal received at the upgrade input port, the first upgrade filter unit coupled to each of the combining amplifiers associated with the plurality of output ports and operable to forward traffic in selected channels of one or more of the copies to the combining amplifiers; and a second upgrade filter unit operable to receive a copy of one or more of the input signals from one or more of the distributing amplifiers associated with the plurality of input ports and to forward traffic in selected channels of one or more of the copies to the upgrade combining amplifier associated with the upgrade output port.