Patent · US Expired

Optical protection switch employing an interference filter

US6266168A · kind A · utility

27Cited by
1References
23Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 19, 1997
Grant dateJul 24, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 19, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04J14/0279
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A protection facility is provided for use in an optical communications node that communicates with another optical communications node via first and second bidirectional communications paths respectively serving as a service path and protection path, in which a filter filters signals respectively received over the service and protection paths and generates a main signal and a complementary signal for each of the paths. A control unit then generates a Loss of Signal (LOS_A) indication for the service path if a SUM signal or DIFF signal respectively derived as a function of a sum of the main and complementary signals generated for the service path and difference between the main and complementary signals generated for the service path is less than a respective threshold value. A switch then invokes protection switching responsive to the presence of the LOS_A indication.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.