Patent ID: 7158724

Claim:
A method of detecting switching subnodes in a monoblock wavelength division multiplex optical switching node, each subnode corresponding to a given level of granularity and to a given switching function, wherein the method comprises the following steps: (a) collecting information concerning how traffic is crossing an initial monoblock switching node; (b) defining the granularity and switching function of the subnodes to be detected by successively detecting: (b1) the fiber level optical switching subnode; (b2) the band level optical switching network with a direct routing function, without band translation; (b3) the band level optical switching subnode with subband translation; (b4) the wavelength level optical switching subnode with a direct routing function, without wavelength translation; and (b5) the wavelength level optical switching subnode with wavelength translation; (c) considering each subnode successively in an order corresponding to reducing switching constraints; and (d) for each subnode, selecting all or part of the traffic of an incoming granularity and an outgoing granularity that satisfy the switching constraints of the subnode concerned.