Patent ID: 8190022

Claim:
An optical transmission apparatus for wavelength multiplexing/demultiplexing optical signals, the optical transmission apparatus comprising: a network; a plurality of transponders coupled with the network, each of the plurality of transponders having a response transfer processing unit for communicating between the other transponders via the network; a monitor coupled with each of the plurality of transponders, respectively, the monitor for monitoring the plurality of transponders and for sending a first request and a second request to the plurality of transponders; a multiplexer coupled with the plurality of transponders, the multiplexer for multiplexing signals from the plurality of transponders; and a demultiplexer coupled with the plurality of transponders, the demultiplexer for providing demultiplexed signals to each of the plurality of transponders; wherein a first transponder of the plurality of transponders responds an answer to the monitor via the network when the first transponder receives the first request, a second transponder of the plurality of transponders responds an answer through the first transponder to the monitor via the network when the second transponder receives the first request, and the first transponder responds an answer through the second transponder to the monitor via the network when the first transponder receives the second request.