Patent ID: 7016605

Claim:
An arrangement adapted for optical communication between first and second nodes, the optical communication arrangement comprising: a first optical switch having first-switch transmit and receive channels and a second optical switch having second-switch transmit and receive channels, each of the first and second optical switches adapted to conduct a self-test and indicate whether the self-test has failed; an optical coupler adapted to receive the first-switch and second-switch transmit channels and to provide an output for transmit to at least one of the first and second nodes; an optical splitter adapted to receive an optical signal coupled from at least one of the first and second nodes and to provide an output coupled to the first-switch and second-switch receive channels; and a control circuit configured and arranged to activate one of the first and second optical switches in response to the other of the first and second optical switches conducting the self-test, wherein the control circuit includes a first subcircuit coupled to the first optical switch and a second subcircuit coupled to the second optical switch and coupled to the first subcircuit, and the first subcircuit provides a first self-test-result signal to the second subcircuit, and the second subcircuit provides a second self-test result signal to the first subcircuit.