PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15992458
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-05
Publication Date: 2018-09
Patent Classification: ["398", "002000"]

Abstract:
An optical communications apparatus includes a branching unit and a switching module. The branching unit is configured to be connected to first, second, and third optical cables each including an optical fiber. The branching unit includes a branch optical path configured to route a fixed pre-determined range of wavelengths that are input to the branching unit from the optical fiber of the first cable to the optical fiber of the third cable. The switching module includes at least one optical switch having a bypass configuration and a branch connecting configuration. In the bypass configuration, a connection via the branch optical path to a distal portion of the third cable is bypassed. In the branch connecting configuration, the branch optical path is enabled so that the pre-determined range of wavelengths that are input to the branching unit are routed to the optical fiber of the distal portion of the third cable.

Claim (Index 10):
A method comprising:\n operating an optical communications apparatus that comprises a branching unit and a switching module, wherein:\n the branching unit is configured to be connected to first, second, and third optical cables, each of the first, second, and third optical cables comprising an optical fiber, the branching unit comprising a branch optical path configured to route a fixed pre-determined range of signal wavelengths that are input to the branching unit from the optical fiber of the first optical cable to the optical fiber of the third optical cable; \n the switching module comprises at least one optical switch; and \n the at least one optical switch has:\n a bypass configuration in which a connection via the branch optical path to a distal portion of the third optical cable is bypassed so that all signal wavelengths input to the branching unit from the optical fiber of the first optical cable are routed to the optical fiber of the second optical cable without first being routed through the connection to the distal portion of the third optical cable; and \n a branch connecting configuration in which the branch optical path is enabled so that the fixed pre-determined range of signal wavelengths that are input to the branching unit from the optical fiber of the first optical cable are routed to the optical fiber of the distal portion of the third optical cable; and \n \n isolating a portion of a branch connection from the branching unit, wherein the branch connection comprises the third optical cable.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 49.0
- Percentile: 93.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.75862
- Patent Class: 398.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: True
- Related Applications: ['12779409', '15272041', '10687544', '10971537', '10321611']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.6420799265187502
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5167310038190945
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.6295450342487846
- Mean Citation Score: 225.157064
- Max Citation Score: 234.8165
- Similarity Product: 171.62207286667822

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 0
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 0
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test