Patent ID: 7796884

Claim:
A wavelength path switching node apparatus that is used in an optical communication network that performs multiplex transmissions by allocating a plurality of traffic items to a plurality of wavelength paths using a wavelength division multiplexing transmission scheme, comprising: a monitoring section that monitors packets of input traffic that are distributed, with top priority given to a semifixed initial path, to the initial path and to dynamically allocated additional paths; a first control section that controls allocations of the additional paths based on distribution states of packet units obtained by the monitoring; a first wavelength path switching section that switches wavelength paths in accordance with the allocation control of the additional paths by the first control section; a buffer that stores packets of the input traffic; a packet transmission control section that fetches packets from the buffer, and, with top priority given to the initial path, distributes the packets to the initial path and to the additional paths; a second control section that controls allocations of the additional paths based on distribution states of packet units in the packet transmission control section; and a second wavelength path switching device that switches wavelength paths in accordance with the allocation control of the additional paths by the second control section.