Patent ID: 7483633

Claim:
An optical communication network, comprising: a transmission system that generates optical transmission signals which are constituted by wavelength-division multiplexing plural series of time-division multiplexed optical signals, by assigning plural signal strings to optical wavelengths which are fewer than the number of said signal strings for each signal unit constituting said signal string; an optical communication path that propagate the optical transmission signals which are output from said transmission system; and a receiving system that restores said signal units by wavelength-division demultiplexing and time-division demultiplexing the optical transmission signals which are input from said optical communication path, and restoring the plural signal strings by rearranging the restored signal units; wherein said transmission system further comprises: a plurality of transmitters that outputs the corresponding signal strings at a timing and with the optical wavelength provided by a control signal for each of said signal unit; and an optical coupler that superimposes light waves which are output from said transmitters respectively and outputting the same to said optical communication path as the optical transmission signal; wherein said transmitters output a request signal to request the specifications of the output timing and optical wavelength of each of the signal unit, said receiving system determines the output timing and optical wavelength of the signal unit responding to the request signal, and outputs the decision result as a response signal, and said transmitters output the signal unit at the timing and with the optical wavelength according to the specifications of the response signal; and wherein said transmitter further comprises: a plurality of electric/optical converters that converts the electric signals into an optical signals with the corresponding optical wavelength; a switch that distributes the electric signals to said electric/optical converters; a network controller that controls the distribution of said switch and the output timings of said electric/optical converters based on the specifications of the response signal; and an optical filter for removing the optical wavelength components other than a predetermined optical wavelength component from the light wave which is output by said electric/optical converter.