Patent ID: 7027732

Claim:
An optical cross-connect switch for routing optical multiplexed signals in an optical transport network, comprising: a plurality of signal splitters, each signal splitter having an input for receiving an optical multiplexed signal therein and a plurality of outputs, each signal splitter further operable to partition the optical multiplexed signal into a plurality of optical multiplexed signals; a plurality of wavelength selective devices connected to the plurality of signal splitters, such that a wavelength selective device is disposed at each output of each signal splitter, each wavelength selective device receiving an optical multiplexed signal therein and operable at different wavelengths to manipulate optical data signals embodied in the optical multiplexed signal, wherein the plurality of wavelength selective devices are defined as wavelength selective switches and wavelength selective blockers arranged in a cascading manner, where the wavelength selective devices switches are connected to the outputs of the plurality of signal splitters and a plurality of wavelength selective blockers are interposed between the plurality of wavelength selective switches and the plurality of signal combiners, such that the number of wavelength selective switches is ┌(N/2)┐*┌(N/2)┐, and the number of wavelength selective blockers is N*┌N/2┐, where N is the number of inlet ports supported by the cross-connect switch and the ceiling function ┌x┐ is defined as the smallest integer greater or equal than x; at least one of the plurality of wavelength selective devices is further defined as a wavelength selective switch having at least two inputs, a first input for receiving the optical multiplexed signal from a signal splitter and a second input for introducing an additional optical multiplexed signal into the cross-connect switch; and a plurality of signal combiners connected to the plurality of wavelength selective devices, such that each signal combiner is adapted to receive an optical multiplexed signal via a wavelength selective device from each of the plurality of signal splitters, each signal combiner operable to pass the optical multiplexed signal to an outlet port of the cross-connect switch.