Patent ID: 7181139

Claim:
An optical switching method for switching to a destination route upstream optical signal samples that are obtained from a first source by a spread spectrum technique, and upstream optical signal samples that are obtained from additional NCC sources and comprise at least one of the following: upstream optical signal samples that are separately obtained from NS out of the NCC sources by said spread spectrum technique; and n series of upstream optical signal samples that are separately obtained from n out of the NCC sources and are carried over n discrete channel wavelengths, wherein the upstream optical signal samples obtained from said first source are provided at a data rate DRS, the upstream optical signal samples obtained from the NS sources are provided at data rates DRSS j , and each series of upstream optical signal samples in the n series of upstream optical signal samples is carried over a discrete channel wavelength λ i at a data rate DR i , where each of NCC, n and NS is an integer greater than or equal to one, i is an index running from 1 to n, and j is an index running from 1 to NS, the method comprising: optically converting said upstream optical signal samples that are obtained from said first source and said upstream optical signal samples that are obtained from said additional NCC sources into a broadband combined series of upstream optical signal samples at a combined data rate DR c which is greater than each of the following: DRS; any separate DRSS j ; and any separate DR i ; and routing said broadband combined series of upstream optical signal samples to said destination route.