Patent ID: 7209454

Claim:
An optical channel switch comprising: a plurality of wavelength demultiplexers each demultiplexing a corresponding incoming multiplex of W wavelength channels onto W output channels, said wavelength demultiplexers arranged into G demultiplexer groups, indexed as 0 to (G- 1 ), each comprising n wavelength demultiplexers; a plurality of optical space switches comprising G×W optical space switches indexed as 0 to (G×W− 1 ) each having n input ports and n output ports, said optical space switches arranged into G switch groups, indexed as 0 to (G- 1 ), each comprising W optical space switches; a plurality of wavelength multiplexers each multiplexing W wavelength channels into a corresponding outgoing multiplex, said wavelength multiplexers arranged into G multiplexer groups, indexed as 0 to (G- 1 ), each comprising n wavelength multiplexers; wherein an m th input port of an optical space switch of index S, 0≦S<G×W, connects to an output channel from an m th wavelength demultiplexer from demultiplexer group (S/G) modulo G ; and wherein an m th output port of said optical space switch of index S connects to an input of an m th wavelength multiplexer from multiplexer group └S/W┘, └S/W┘ denoting an integer part of the ratio S/W.