Abstract: A king pin lock mountable over a king pin of a trailer so as to selectively prevent engagement of the king pin, the king pin being provided with an annular recess defining a pair of locking shoulders. The king pin lock includes a king pin lock housing defining a housing upper surface, an opposed housing bottom surface and a housing peripheral surface extending therebetween. The king pin lock housing is provided with a king pin receiving recess for slidably and substantially fittingly receiving the king pin. The king pin lock also includes a housing locking assembly for releasably locking the king pin in the king pin receiving aperture. The housing locking assembly includes a locking component for selectively lockingly engaging the king pin annular recess so as to abut against the king pin lower shoulder and prevent retraction of the king pin from the king pin receiving aperture.

Abstract: Control information is embedded in the signal passing through an optical amplifier by varying the power level of that amplifier's pumped laser source. Connection discovery for a given optical port can then be performed by detecting variations in the optical signal present on that given port and then attempting to match these with the variations assigned to each of the optical amplifiers. If a match is found, then the optical amplifier connected to the given port can be identified. As a result, the need to physically handle the fiber in order to effect connection discovery is eliminated, rendering the process faster, safer and more reliable. Also, the present invention advantageously allows a connection discovery function to be invoked from a remote location.

Abstract: Control information is embedded in the signal passing through an optical amplifier by varying the power level of that amplifier's pumped laser source. Connection discovery for a given optical port can then be performed by detecting variations in the optical signal present on that given port and then attempting to match these with the variations assigned to each of the optical amplifiers. If a match is found, then the optical amplifier connected to the given port can be identified. As a result, the need to physically handle the fiber in order to effect connection discovery is eliminated, rendering the process faster, safer and more reliable. Also, the present invention advantageously allows a connection discovery function to be invoked from a remote location.