Patent ID: 7263288

Claim:
An optical communication device, comprising: a plurality of integrated modules operable to transmit and receive a plurality of optical signals, at least one of the plurality of integrated modules comprising: one or more transmitters each operable to generate at least one of the plurality of optical signals and to modulate information onto the at least one of the plurality of optical signals to form a modulated optical output signal, each modulated optical output signal comprising at least a first optical signal wavelength; and one or more receivers each operable to receive an input optical signal, each input optical signal comprising a second optical signal wavelength; a wavelength division multiplexer coupled to at least some of the plurality of integrated modules and coupled to an optical splitter, the wavelength division multiplexer operable to combine the modulated output optical signal and at least another of the plurality of optical signals into a multiple wavelength output optical signal for communication to the optical splitter, wherein the optical splitter separates the multiple wavelength output optical signal into a plurality of multiple wavelength output optical signals; and a controller coupled to at least some of the plurality of integrated modules, the controller operable to generate a control signal based at least in part on a scheduling algorithm and to communicate the control signal to the at least some of the plurality of integrated modules, wherein the at least some of the plurality of integrated modules use the control signal to reduce contention between the plurality of integrated modules; and wherein at least one of the one or more transmitters comprises a super-continuum source, the super-continuum source coupled to one or more modulators operable to modulate information onto an output from the super-continuum source, wherein the super-continuum source comprises: a pulsed source operable to generate a series of optical pulses; and an optical amplifier comprising a first end that is coupled to the pulsed source and a second end coupled to a length of optical fiber, the length of optical fiber comprising at least a first stage fiber and a second stage fiber, wherein the first stage fiber comprises a first dispersion that is different than a second dispersion of the second stage fiber.