Patent ID: 8401384

Claim:
An optical access system, comprising: an optical line terminal which is connected to another network; a plurality of optical network units which are each connected to a user terminal; and an optical switching unit which is implemented between the optical line terminal and the plurality of optical network units to switch optical communication paths between the optical line terminal and the plurality of optical network units, wherein: the optical line terminal calculates a switching time when the optical switching unit is to switch the optical communication paths between the optical line terminal and the plurality of optical network units, and sends to the optical switching unit a control frame including the calculated switching time when the optical switching unit is to make a switch from one of the optical communication paths between the optical line terminal and the plurality of optical network units to another, and an identifier of an optical communication path to which the switch is made in order to switch the optical communication paths between the optical line terminal and the plurality of optical network units; and the optical switching unit switches the optical communication paths between the optical line terminal and the plurality of optical network units based on the switching time and the identifier of the optical communication path which are included in the control frame.