Patent ID: 7676156

Claim:
A method of communication between a plurality of passive optical network access terminals and a transport network, the method comprising: modulating and demodulating optical signals in a local exchange between the passive optical network and the transport network; transporting light carrying information for respective groups of access terminals via a respective light guide for each group, the information for different access terminals in each group being optically multiplexed in the light guide for that group over different time slots and different communication wavelengths of the light; passing the information between the light guides and the transport network via a plurality of transceivers, wherein each transceiver includes an optical transmitter for passing information from the transport network to the light guides and an optical receiver for passing information from the light guides to the transport network; and multiplexing use of the transceivers, wherein each transceiver passes and receives optical information both to and from selectable light guides at selectable communication wavelengths in different time slots through a cross-connection unit; wherein selection of the light guides, wavelengths and time slots to be used is performed by a control unit; and wherein the number of transceivers used is less than the number of light guides used.