Patent ID: 6959128

Claim:
An optical cross-connect comprising: a plurality of input ports each operable to receive an optical input signal, each input signal comprising a plurality of channels that are each operable to carry optical traffic; a plurality of output ports each operable to output an optical output signal; a distributing amplifier associated with each input port, each distributing amplifier operable to generate a plurality of copies of the input signal received at the associated input port; a plurality of filter units each operable to: receive a copy of one or more of the input signals from one or more of the distributing amplifiers; forward traffic in selected channels of one or more of the copies; a combining amplifier associated with each output port, each combining amplifier operable to: receive the traffic in one or more channels forwarded by one or more of the filter units; and combine the received traffic into an output signal to be output from the associated output port; and one or more regeneration modules each operable to regenerate the traffic in one or more channels of one or more of the input signals.