Patent ID: 7519055

Claim:
An ingress edge router coupled between a set of input links carrying information packets and a set of output optical links in an optical network carrying optical data bursts and related control information, comprising: a plurality of input line cards coupled to said set of input links, wherein said input line cards receive information packets from said set of input links; a plurality of output line cards coupled to at least one of said output optical links, wherein said output line card assemble information packets into data bursts, generate burst header packets for respective data bursts, and transmit said data bursts as optical data bursts and separate burst header packets on one or more of said output optical links, wherein each of the plurality of output line cards includes: a plurality of burst processing units for assembling data from said information packets into data bursts, wherein said burst processing units further generate burst header packet information for each data burst; a plurality of transmitters for transmitting data bursts on a respective channel of an output link; a switch for passing data burst from the plurality of burst processing units to the plurality of transmitters; a burst control unit for scheduling the transmission of data bursts between the plurality of burst processing units and the plurality of transmitters; data burst queues corresponding to each burst processing unit for storing data bursts ready to be transmitted; a burst header packet queue for storing burst header packet information for data bursts ready to be transmitted; a collecting processor for collecting burst header packet information from said burst processing units according to a first priority scheme and storing the burst header packet information in the burst header packet queue according to a second priority scheme; a slot queue for storing burst header packets corresponding to data bursts ready to be transmitted; and a scheduling processor for storing attributes in said data burst queues, said attributes corresponding to data bursts stored in said burst processing units, and for storing burst header packets in said slot queue responsive to information in said burst header packet queue; and a switching matrix for transferring packets from the input line cards to the output line cards for transmission on the desired output optical link.