Monitoring Patents (Class 398/177)
  • Patent number: 7444078
    Abstract: An optically amplified wavelength division multiplexing network has the functionality to add/drop channels at the optical add/drop multiplexing (OADM) nodes. The OADM node includes a receiver amplifier, an OADM module, and a transmitter amplifier. Once the OADM node detects a loss of signal (LOS) due to a fiber cut or network element failure upstream, the receiver amplifier is kept in operation as a noise source. The output of the receiver amplifier is immediately raised by increasing pump power to compensate for the LOS. The noise power received at the transmitter amplifier from the receiver amplifier is substantially equal to the signal power expected before LOS. The transient effect of downstream optical amplifiers is therefore completely suppressed and the inter-channel stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) induced spectrum tilt does not change. After the noise power is raised, the receiver amplifier may be shut down at a speed much slower than the speed of downstream amplifier control circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2008
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P.
    Inventors: Joseph T. Stango, Guodong Zhang
  • Patent number: 7437070
    Abstract: In each of a plurality of submarine observation apparatus (1 to n), a branching unit (63) branches fixed-wavelength light (?1) from an incoming wavelength-multiplexed light signal. An observation signal modulating unit (64) modulates the intensity of the branched fixed-wavelength light (?1) with observation information multiplexed by an observation signal multiplex unit (61). A combining unit (65) combines light signals (?2) to (?n) passing through the branching unit (63) and the fixed-wavelength light (?1a) modulated by the observation signal modulating unit (64) into a composite light signal, and outputs it to an optical fiber (12a). Therefore, in each of the plurality of submarine observation apparatus (1 to n), there is no necessity for providing a wavelength-division-multiplexing-transmission optical transmitter which requires high wavelength stability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2008
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
    Inventors: Tasuku Fujieda, Hideki Goto, Kenichi Asakawa, Hitoshi Mikada, Katsuyoshi Kawaguchi
  • Patent number: 7437083
    Abstract: A wavelength converter for binary optical signals includes an interferometer structure (110) for generating an output signal by modulating a received local signal (LS) according to the modulation of a fUrther received first input signal (IS 1). When such interferometer structures (110) are operated in a standard mode it is known in the art to control the power of the input signal such that the extinction ratio of the output signal is kept minimal. The invention also controls the power of the input signals to achieve the minimal extinction ratio when the wavelength converter and in particular the interferometer structure (110) is operated in a differential mode receiving two input signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2008
    Assignee: ALCATEL
    Inventors: Bruno Lavigne, Olivier Leclerc, Jean-Luc Moncelet, Alex Bombrun, Jean-Baptiste Pomet, Fabien Seyfert
  • Patent number: 7426347
    Abstract: An apparatus for shared optical performance monitoring (OPM) is provided. A wavelength sensitive device receives light at an input port and routes it wavelength selectively to a set of output ports. To perform optical performance monitoring on the output ports, a monitoring component of each output signal is extracted, and these monitoring components are then combined. A single OPM function is then performed on the combined signal. However, with knowledge of the wavelengths that were included in each output signal, a virtual OPM function can be realized for each output port. The per port functionality can include total power per port, power per wavelength per port, variable optical attentuation, dynamic gain equalization, the latter two examples requiring feedback.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2008
    Assignee: JDS Uniphase Corporation
    Inventors: Alan Hnatiw, Sheldon Walklin, Thomas Ducellier
  • Patent number: 7403712
    Abstract: Embodiments of present system encompass: a plurality of laser sources that produce a plurality of respectively different optical wavelengths; a matrix switch having a plurality of inputs operatively coupled to the plurality of laser sources, each of the plurality of inputs receiving a respective optical wavelength; and the matrix switch having an output that produces a series of interleaved pulses of the different optical wavelengths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2008
    Assignee: Northrop Grumman Corporation
    Inventors: David B. Hall, Paul L. Greene
  • Patent number: 7394995
    Abstract: An optical receiver is disclosed comprising an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) that is coupled to a photodiode and transimpedance amplifier without filtering output light signal in the EDFA. Optionally, a clock/data regenerator can be coupled to the electrical output of the transimpedance amplifier for compensating for noise distortion and timing jitter for affecting the control loop feeding back for adjusting the electrical current into a pump laser of an optical pre-amplifier. Furthermore, the optical receiver of the present invention can also be implemented in a transponder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2008
    Assignee: Avanex Corporation
    Inventors: Emmanuel Audic, Franck Deblock, Elisabeth Leclerc, Gilles Sorhouetgary, Alexandre Sherr, Henri Jean Egger
  • Patent number: 7391974
    Abstract: Optical signal transmission is improved by reducing the variance in light output level and OSNR by adjusting optical signal intensity and gain tilt, taking SRS influence into consideration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Uda, Shigehiro Takashima, Shigenori Hayase, Yoshimasa Kusano, Satoshi Asamizu, Hirofumi Nakano
  • Patent number: 7376358
    Abstract: An optical spike is generated at an arbitrarily selected location within an arbitrary optical link. The optical spike is generated by deriving a spike signal having a plurality of components, and launching the spike signal into the a transmitter end of the optical link. An initial phase relationship between the components is selected such that the involved signal components will be phase aligned at the selected location. In order to achieve this operation, the initial phase relationship between the components may be selected to offset dispersion induced phase changes between the transmitter end of the link and the selected location. One or more optical spikes can be generated at respective arbitrarily selected locations within the link, and may be used for performance monitoring, system control, or other purposes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2008
    Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited
    Inventors: Kim Roberts, Maurice O'Sullivan
  • Patent number: 7369779
    Abstract: A regenerator for restoring the originally encoded optical phase of a differential-phase-shift-keyed signal. In an embodiment, the regenerator simultaneously provides limiting amplification and reduces amplitude noise based on a phase-sensitive optical amplifier that combines a weak signal field of a degraded input data with a strong pump field supplied by a local oscillator in a nonlinear interferometer. The two fields interact through degenerate four-wave mixing, and optical energy is transferred from the pump to the signal and vice versa. The phase sensitive nature of the optical gain leads to amplification of a specific phase component of the signal, determined by the input pump-signal phase difference and the incident signal phase is restored to two distinct states, separated by 180° according to the original encoding. Simultaneously, gain saturation of the pump wave by the signal wave results in limiting amplification of the signal wave for removing signal amplitude noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2008
    Assignee: Research Foundation of the University of Central Florida
    Inventors: Kevin A. Croussore, Guifang Li, Cheolhwan Kim
  • Patent number: 7366416
    Abstract: A hub for use in a passive optical network (PON) includes a transmission fiber on which an information-bearing optical signal is received, a double-cladded, rare-earth doped fiber located along the transmission fiber for imparting gain to the information-bearing optical signal, and a combiner having an output coupled to the transmission fiber and a plurality of inputs. The output is coupled to the transmission fiber such that optical energy at pump energy wavelengths but not signal wavelengths are communicated therebetween. At least one pump source is optically coupled to one of the inputs of the combiner for providing optical pump energy to the double-cladded, rare-earth doped fiber. An optical splitter is also provided. The optical splitter has an input coupled to the transmission fiber for receiving an amplified, information-bearing optical signal and a plurality of outputs for directing portions of the amplified, information-bearing optical signal to remote nodes in the PON.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2008
    Assignee: General Instrument Corporation
    Inventors: Mani Ramachandran, Chandra Sekhar Jasti
  • Patent number: 7327954
    Abstract: A method for optical supervisory signaling includes determining a wavelength channel status (WCS) value, a wavelength channel failure (WCF) value, and a wavelength channel lit (WCL) value for each one of multiple data channels services by an optical communication node. The method further includes communicating the values to a second optical communication node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2008
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Paparao Palacharla, Hok Yong Pua, Emir Catovic, Harbhajan Vridee
  • Patent number: 7324758
    Abstract: An optical dispersion monitoring apparatus and an optical dispersion monitoring method are capable of monitoring dispersion accurately with a simple construction in an optical transmission system using the same. To this end, the optical dispersion monitoring apparatus includes a light receiving section converting an input optical signal into an electrical signal, a signal transition position detecting section detecting the voltage level of a waveform of the output signal from the light receiving section, at a crossing point of a rising edge and a falling edge, and a cumulative dispersion information extracting section comparing the voltage level at the crossing point with a reference signal to extracts cumulative dispersion information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2008
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Masazumi Marutani, Takuji Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 7315696
    Abstract: Gain setting of a receiving amplifier, is performed by detecting the necessity of gain setting when a receiving amplifier is turned on, requesting WDM transmission equipment in a preceding station to output ASE light; in a WDM transmission equipment of the preceding station, shutting off both passing-through light and added light, and outputting the ASE light corresponding to a predetermined number of wavelengths of signal light; in the receiving amplifier of the WDM transmission equipment in the station of interest, performing the gain setting by use of the ASE light; and on completion of the gain setting, the WDM transmission equipment of the station of interest, requesting the WDM transmission eouipment of the preceding station to halt the ASE light output, and the WDM transmission equipment of the preceding station, halting the ASE light output upon receiving the request and switching the output to an optical signal output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2008
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Manabu Suzuki, Miwa Taniguchi, Toshihiro Suzuki, Shingo Hara
  • Patent number: 7308208
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to realize a gain monitoring method for an optical amplifier and an apparatus thereof, capable of detecting a gain for a signal light regardless of a noise light generated inside the optical amplifier. To this end, in the gain monitoring method according to the present invention, a part of a signal light input to an optical amplifier is branched as an input monitor light, and the input monitor light is modulated, and also a part of a light output from the optical amplifier is branched as an output monitor light, so that the modulated input monitor light and the output monitor light are multiplexed. Then, the multiplexed light is converted into an electrical signal, an interference component contained in the electrical signal is extracted, and a gain for the signal light in the optical amplifier is detected based on the interference component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2007
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Manabu Watanabe
  • Patent number: 7295782
    Abstract: Control method and optical data transmission path having a device for determining the tilting of the spectrum, and having a quick control and slow control for compensating the tilting of the spectrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2007
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Guido Gentner, Anton Schex, Lutz Rapp
  • Patent number: 7295776
    Abstract: An ring type optical LAN device includes a master node and a plurality of slave nodes that are interconnected by an optical fiber cable. A plurality of optical bypass transmission lines are provided in correspondence with each one of the slave nodes. Each of the optical bypass transmission lines bypasses the corresponding one of the slave nodes. Each slave node includes an E/O converter and an optical cutoff circuit. Each of the E/O converters is controlled to flash for generating an optical signal, which is transmitted to a network. When any one of the slave nodes fails such that the corresponding E/O converter is maintained in a turned on state, the associated optical cutoff circuit forcibly switches the E/O converter to a turned off state. This suppresses a network crash caused by the failure maintaining the E/O converter in the turned on state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2007
    Assignee: Pacific Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Youichi Okubo, Michiya Katou, Shinichi Kawase
  • Patent number: 7286758
    Abstract: A method for switching a transmission route in an optical network. A regenerator station extracts a main signal, and detects the input level of the main signal. When the input level falls below a threshold, the regenerator station determines that a failure occurs, and stops output of a main signal from the regenerator station, and transmits a control signal indicating occurrence of the failure to a receiver station, which separates the control signal from a main signal transmitted thereto, detects the input level of the main signal at the receiver station, analyzes the separated control signal, and determines whether or not a failure occurs. When the input level of the main signal at the receiver station falls below a threshold, or when the separated control signal indicates occurrence of a failure, the receiver station detects the occurrence of the failure, and switches the transmission route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2007
    Assignee: Fujitsu limited
    Inventors: Yuji Shimada, Hiroaki Tomofuji, Takuji Maeda, Takeshi Sakamoto, Ichiro Nakajima
  • Patent number: 7280761
    Abstract: An optical level calculator calculates optical powers of individual wavelengths of a through wavelength division multiplexed signal based on an input level monitor, network information, and insertion loss information 5, and obtains an optimum level for an add signal. An optical level controller controls a power of the add optical signal to the optimal level based on the calculated result, and multiplexes the through wavelength division multiplexed signal and the add optical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2007
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshiaki Aono
  • Publication number: 20070230968
    Abstract: In an optical transmission apparatus, a number of wavelengths of an output light to an optical transmission line and an optical power of each of the wavelengths are detected by a spectrum analyzer, and a power of a super continuum light outputted to a highly nonlinear fiber is controlled by a controller so as to confine the number of wavelengths and the optical power within predetermined ranges. A wavelength component corresponding to a signal light is removed by a filter from the output light from the highly nonlinear fiber, and an output light of the filter and the signal light is coupled by an optical coupler.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2006
    Publication date: October 4, 2007
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20070217794
    Abstract: During initial start-up of an optical communication system, an ASE reference span loss is calculated based on transmitting power and received power of ASE light generated by an optical amplifier, and an OSC reference span loss is calculated based on the transmitting power and the received power of OSC light. During normal operation of the optical communication system, a span loss is calculated using the OSC light, and an amount of change in the span loss representing a difference between the span loss and the OSC reference span loss is calculated. A current span loss between a transmitting station and a receiving station is calculated by adding the amount of change in the span loss to the ASE reference span loss.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2006
    Publication date: September 20, 2007
    Inventors: Takeshi Sakamoto, Kosuke Komaki, Yuji Shimada, Takuji Maeda
  • Patent number: 7272325
    Abstract: In the WDM systems, the OSNR and the signal loss among the optical signals are substantially minimized at the receiving terminal to combat the SRS effects. An equal amount of the signal loss is expected for every span in the transmission path so that the optical amplifier gain tilt is not affected among a number of wavelength frequencies in the optical signal. This is accomplished by controlling the amplification process according to a feedback from the monitoring units for monitoring the optical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Uda, Hiroshi Masuda, Hirofumi Nakano, Eita Miyasaka, Satoshi Asamizu
  • Publication number: 20070201878
    Abstract: A repeater is disclosed that transmits an optical signal using wave division multiplexing. The repeater includes a demultiplexing unit that separates plural channels contained in the optical signal, an adjusting unit that adjusts at least optical power of each of the channels according to a control signal, a multiplexing unit that outputs a multiple wavelength signal in which the channels are multiplexed, and a monitoring unit that determines a modulation scheme and a bit rate of the optical signal for each of the channels so as to generate the control signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2006
    Publication date: August 30, 2007
    Applicant: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Hisao Nakashima, Takeshi Hoshida
  • Patent number: 7263296
    Abstract: In a system connecting a transmitter and a receiver using transmission paths and repeaters (in-line amplifiers), red chirping whose ? parameter is performed for an optical signal on a transmitting side. Each of the repeaters includes a dispersion-compensator for compensating the amount of dispersion on a preceding transmission path. The amount of dispersion compensation of the dispersion-compensator included in the transmitter is made constant. The dispersion-compensator included in the receiver is arranged in order to compensate the amount of dispersion on a preceding transmission path. A spread of a pulse width on a transmission path can be efficiently compensated by using the compensation capability of the dispersion-compensators and the red chirping on the transmitting side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2007
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Akira Miyauchi, Kazuo Yamane, Yumiko Kawasaki, Satoru Okano
  • Patent number: 7254339
    Abstract: A power controlling network element for a communication system includes a detector for measuring radiation power present in components of radiation; element parts, for example a channel control unit (CCU), transponders and other modules, for at least one of: (i) transmitting to the detector at least some components of input radiation received at the elements parts from the system; and (ii) generating one or more components of radiation and emitting the one or more components to the detector; and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) for receiving data from the detector indicative of radiation power in the components of radiation received at the detector, and for controlling radiation power emitted from or transmitted through the aforementioned element parts so that the components of radiation received at the detector are regulated in power to within predetermined power limits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Ericsson AB
    Inventors: Paul A Cook, Jonathan D Oldershaw
  • Patent number: 7248799
    Abstract: A device (D) is dedicated to controlling the power of optical signals in a transparent switching node of an optical communication network that switches bands of wavelengths. The device includes, firstly, a controller (12) for comparing input optical power measurements to a selected first threshold and generating instructions representative of the comparison result, secondly, a measuring device (10A) for delivering measurements representative of the input optical power of the optical signals at one output at least of the switch (4), and thirdly, a processor between the switch (4) and the multiplexer (6) of the node and which control the optical power of the signals coming from the switch (4) as a function of the instructions they receive, so that the optical power of the signals at the input of the multiplexer (6) is maintained substantially constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Alcatel
    Inventors: Jean-Paul Faure, Franck Pain
  • Patent number: 7248804
    Abstract: Conventionally, an adjustment of an optical power level of an input Pin of an optical amplifier module is made with an optical variable attenuator. An optical coupler for measuring the optical power level of Pin and an optical variable attenuator are replaced by a variable optical coupler. The branch ratio of the variable optical coupler is varied, whereby the input optical power level Pin to an optical amplifier module is adjusted. As a result, an optical loss is reduced by an amount corresponding to the elimination of the optical attenuator, and also the OSNR of the optical amplifier module is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Taizo Maeda, Takehiro Fujita, Motoyoshi Sekiya
  • Patent number: 7239807
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a variable clamp equalization method and apparatus, the method includes measuring optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) values for each wavelength, computing a raw power adjustment value for each wavelength, computing a raw power adjustment correction factor for each computed raw power adjustment value based on a computed OSNR range value in accordance with a pre-defined variable clamp value schedule, wherein a larger clamp is scheduled for use when the computed OSNR range value is larger, and a smaller clamp is scheduled for use when the computed OSNR range value is smaller. The method further includes determining a clamped power adjustment value for each wavelength, applying the corresponding determined clamped power adjustment value to each wavelength, and iterating the aforementioned until the computed OSNR range value is within pre-defined boundaries, whereby the signal is considered equalized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2007
    Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited
    Inventors: Frederic F. Simard, Emmanuel Seitelbach
  • Patent number: 7224899
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a system including a closed loop topology using an optical fiber applicable to WDM signal light obtained by wavelength division multiplexing a plurality of optical signals, and a plurality of nodes arranged along the closed loop topology, each node including an optical amplifier. Each node further includes a first unit for controlling the optical amplifier so that the output from the optical amplifier becomes constant, according to the number of channels of WDM signal light received from the node immediately upstream of the corresponding node, and a second unit for interrupting the optical signals other than one or more optical signals added to the corresponding node until the control by the first unit is converged. With this configuration, each node can be easily started.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2007
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Kiyotoshi Noheji
  • Patent number: 7206512
    Abstract: A method of controlling an optical wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus achieves stable wavelength division multiplexing optical transmission by switching a control mode of an optical amplification section in accordance with an input state of optical signals of various wavelengths. Accordingly, the method involves, upon startup of the optical wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus, initial setting of information such as the wavelengths being used and the number of wavelengths being used, setting the amount of optical attenuation for each wavelength to a maximum value, and setting an optical amplification unit to ALC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2007
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Akihisa Kawaguchi, Kazuhiro Minamimoto, Eisaku Touma
  • Patent number: 7184660
    Abstract: The invention describes methods and systems for monitoring the performance of an optical network by marking a group of optical signals with a set of identification tags which are unique to network characteristics. In the preferred embodiments, fiber identification (FID) and bundle identification (BID) tags are encoded into optical signals by marking an optical signal with low frequency dither tones whose frequencies are unique to the fiber section and to a bundle of fibers respectively. Detecting of the FID and BID tones provides more effective and accurate monitoring of performance of the optical network and allows determining of the network topology, e.g. paths of optical channels and traffic load through different fiber sections in the network. Other sets of hierarchically arranged identifiers encoded into optical signals have also been proposed, including band, conduit, city, region, country, etc. identifiers, as well as identifiers related to network security and service characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2007
    Assignee: Tropic Networks Inc.
    Inventors: Wen Liu, Paul David Obeda, Niranjan Vethanayagam, Dan Oprea
  • Patent number: 7174108
    Abstract: A transmission system is provided that recognizes occurrence of a fault efficiently so that the workability and quality of service can be improved. An optical amplifier part amplifies an optical main signal. A fault occurrence recognizing part detects a pump light used for an opposing device via an optical fiber transmission line to which an optical main signal is sent by the repeater. If the pump light is not detected, the fault occurrence recognizing part recognizes occurrence of a fault. A light cutoff control part stops the optical amplifying part outputting an amplified signal so that the light cutoff control in only one of two directions is performed when a fault occurs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2007
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Yuji Kamura
  • Patent number: 7162119
    Abstract: It is disclosed a pump energy source (20) for providing pump energy (E_p) to an optical transmission system (100) transmitting an optical signal along an optical fiber, in particular an optical transmission system (100) in which a beam of said pump energy (E_p) is introduced to said optical fiber so that said beam of said pump energy (E_p) copropagates with said optical signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2007
    Assignee: Alcatel
    Inventor: Catherine Martinelli
  • Patent number: 7158728
    Abstract: An optical repeating system includes an optical transmitter and a plurality of optical amplifying repeaters. The optical transmitter specifies a part or all of the optical amplifying repeaters, and transmits a supervisory command to the specified optical amplifying repeaters as a first sub-signal via an uplink or downlink optical transmission line. The supervisory command is a command to supervise internal circuits of the optical amplifying repeaters. Receiving the supervisory command addressed thereto via the uplink or downlink optical transmission line, the optical amplifying repeaters each transmit a supervisory signal indicating a supervisory result corresponding to the supervisory command to optical receivers via the uplink and downlink optical transmission lines as a second sub-signal. The optical system can reduce the time take to acquire the supervisory information about the plurality of the optical amplifying repeaters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2007
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, KDDI Corporation, KDDI Submarine Cable Systems Inc.
    Inventors: Yasunori Kasahara, Hideki Goto, Takashi Mizuochi, Kenkichi Shimomura, Yukio Horiuchi, Masatoshi Suzuki, Daishi Ishii, Toshio Kawazawa
  • Patent number: 7139480
    Abstract: A method and system for multi-level power management in an optical network is provided. They include three levels of power management. The first level of power management dynamically changes equipment settings in each module of equipment so that required module setpoint values in each module are achieved. The second level of power management determines module setpoint values for each module of equipment within each node in the optical link so that required node setpoint values are achieved. The third level of power management determines node setpoint values at each node in the optical link so that the optical link meets predetermined power specifications. If any of the three levels cannot achieve the required setpoint values, an error signal is generated by that level of power management and sent to the level of power management above it, thus initiating a higher level of power management.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2006
    Assignee: Tropic Networks Inc.
    Inventors: Eddie Kai Ho Ng, Derrick Remedios, Colin Geoffrey Kelly, Ping Wai Wan, John Frederick Groves
  • Patent number: 7133611
    Abstract: If a repeater supervisory control (SV), a pre-emphasis automatic adjustment (PE), a receiving side threshold value automatic adjustment (Vth), a transmitting side dispersion compensation value setting (VDC(T)), and a receiving side dispersion compensation value setting (VDC(R)) are executed for an optical main signal, these controls are executed in the above described priority order. Accordingly, if the controls are independently executed, or if two or more controls simultaneously occur, a control with a higher priority is executed. In this way, a transmission quality of an optical signal is prevented from being badly influenced as a result that the controls are simultaneously executed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2006
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Shinichi Kaneko
  • Patent number: 7130544
    Abstract: An optical repeating system includes an optical transmitter and an optical amplifying repeater. The optical transmitter transmits a supervisory command and a control command to the optical amplifying repeater as a first sub-signal. The supervisory command is a command to supervise internal circuits of the optical amplifying repeater, and the control command is a command to control the optical amplifying repeater. The optical amplifying repeater includes multiple sub-modules each for amplifying and repeating main signals on multiple sets of optical transmission lines. When receiving the supervisory command via the optical transmission line, each sub-module transmits a supervisory signal indicating the supervisory result associated with the supervisory command to an optical receiver as a second sub-signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2006
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, KDDI Corporation, KDDI Submarine Cable Systems Inc.
    Inventors: Yasunori Kasahara, Hideki Goto, Takashi Mizuochi, Kenkichi Shimomura, Masatoshi Suzuki, Yukio Horiuchi, Daishi Ishii, Toshio Kawazawa
  • Patent number: 7123405
    Abstract: An optical amplifying and relaying system capable of easily and highly accurately monitor troubles in optical amplifiers provided in an up and a down optical fiber transmission line opposing each other is disclosed. Monitoring light signal folding-back lines including variable optical attenuators 4a and 4b and wavelength selective reflecting means 5a and 5b, respectively, are provided between optical transmission lines L1 and L2, which oppose each other and on which optical amplifiers 4a and 4b are disposed each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2006
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Ryu Yokoyama, Takaaki Ogata
  • Patent number: 7113699
    Abstract: A system and method for forwarding fault information in an optical network is disclosed. Responsive to a fault being detected at a node, the fault information is forwarded to the destination node in the form of a loss-of-signal condition by turning off laser transmitters used to propagate the signal towards its destination. Thus, a node or other network element not capable of generating an alarm signal consistent with an established alarm signaling protocol, such as a SONET alarm indication signal (AIS) or an SDH multiplexer section alarm indication signal MS-AIS, may still forward the fault condition to a downstream element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2006
    Assignee: CIENA Corporation
    Inventors: Anuradha Bhate, Denis Houle
  • Patent number: 7106969
    Abstract: An optical network terminator for terminating and reducing the accumulated noise in optical networks, particularly ring based networks. The terminator eliminates problems of noise accumulation from amplifier spontaneous emission (ASE), thermal noise, etc., while providing bi-directional communications in the optical network. The optical network may have any topology including ring, star, mesh, point-to-point, etc. In the case of an optical ring, the ring is broken and an optical terminator is placed in line therewith. The optical network terminator includes a filer such as an optical demultiplexer/multiplexer or Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) based filter. Each individual wavelength of light is filtered and a multi-wavelength optical output is generated whereby the noise accumulation is removed. Each channel is adapted to only pass a band-limited signal around the center frequency corresponding to the wavelengths supported by the particular optical ring network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2006
    Assignee: Atrica Israel Ltd.
    Inventors: Eyal Lichtman, Erik Hendell
  • Patent number: 7103275
    Abstract: An optical transmission system capable of monitoring the operating status of Raman-amplifier repeaters even when an optical transmission line is partly disrupted by a fiber failure. An end station sends a monitoring command signal to request a particular repeater to report its operating status, together with a response carrier wave for use in that reporting. With their different wavelengths, an upstream wavelength selector in the repeater selectively passes the monitoring command signal while reflecting back the response carrier wave. Responsive to the command, a monitoring controller creates a response message containing operating status information. An excitation unit performs Raman amplification with a pump beam modulated by a modulation controller, so that the response message be superimposed on the response carrier wave propagating on the upstream link.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2006
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Haruo Fujiwara
  • Patent number: 7103276
    Abstract: A scanning optical monitoring system and method are appropriate for high speed scanning of a WDM signal band. The system and method are able to identify dropped channels or, more generally, discrepancies between the determined or detected channel inventory and a perpetual inventory for the WDM signal, which perpetual inventory specifies the channels that should be present in the WDM signal assuming proper operation of the network. The system includes a tunable optical filter that scans a pass band across a signal band of a WDM signal to generate a filtered signal. A photodetector then generates an electrical signal in response to this filtered signal. A decision circuit compares the electrical signal to a threshold and a controller, which is responsive to the decision circuit, inventories the channels in the WDM signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2006
    Assignee: Axsun Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey A. Korn, Walid A. Atia
  • Patent number: 7099595
    Abstract: The present invention provides an optical wavelength multiplexing transmission apparatus and an optical output control method for an optical wavelength multiplexing transmission apparatus in an optical wavelength multiplexing transmission system using a main signal light and an OSC light. The optical wavelength multiplexing transmission apparatus (10a) is made up of a first transmitting/receiving section (52a) a second transmitting/receiving section (52b) and an apparatus supervisory control unit (54). This can not only achieve quick restoration from troubles, but also stably calculate an optical output level even if a change of the number of wavelengths to be multiplexed takes place in a main signal light, and even save troublesome adjustments for the improvement of reliability of a transmission line while eliminating the need for a signal source for the adjustment of a receive optical level at the initial installation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2006
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Eisaku Touma
  • Patent number: 7092640
    Abstract: Methods, systems and devices for communicating between a host optical systems controller and an optical subcontroller. A database residing in the optical subcontroller contains multiple possible valid command identifiers which define the format of any data following the command identifiers. Each device is equipped with a copy of the database. Each command identifier can be paired with a different action for a different device based on the database mapping. These command identifiers are sent from the host to the subcontroller with each command denoting a specific action to be taken by the subcontroller. Upon receipt of the command message, the subcontroller will determine the interpretation of a command identifier contained in the command message and execute the action associated with that command identifier. The subcontroller will then send a response message back to the host controller indicating the success or failure of the action denoted by the command identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2006
    Assignee: Dowslake Microsystems Corporation
    Inventors: Dan Dan Yang, Greg Solberg
  • Patent number: 7092630
    Abstract: The present invention implements open fiber control in an optical transceiver. During normal operation, the transceiver transmits signals through a connection to an optical network. When the connection is intact, the total power transmitted can be greater than the eye-safety limit. When the connection breaks, the transceiver detects the loss of signal and disables transmissions over all channels except for one. The transceiver continues transmission on the single enabled channel at an eye-safe level. When the connection is fixed and a signal reappears, the transceiver detects the signal reappearance and re-enables all channels that had previously been disabled. By allowing the transceiver to transmit with greater optical power when the connection is intact, an increased data rate and longer transmission distances can be achieved. At the same time, safety is preserved, because transmissions drop to acceptable power levels whenever a break is detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2006
    Assignee: Avago Technologies Fiber IP(Singapore) Ptd. Ltd.
    Inventors: David G Cunningham, Frederick Miller, Jing Wang, Janet Yun
  • Patent number: 7088499
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods are disclosed that include network control architectures that provide for distributed control of the optical component work functions and network management. The distribution of the work function control in the network element provides for a hierarchical division of work function responsibilities. The hierarchical division provides for streamlined and specically tailored control structures that greatly increases the reliability of the network management system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2006
    Assignee: Corvis Corporation
    Inventor: Victor P. Amoruso
  • Patent number: 7079779
    Abstract: A repeater apparatus (1001) is constituted from infrared transmitter sections (1s, 2s, 3s) and infrared receiver sections (1r, 2r, 3r) as well as connection control sections (1C, 2C, 3C) and further a repeater section (101), thereby attaining independent communications with the individual one of several associated equipments with respect to infrared communication apparatus of the direct emission type which supports only one-to-one (1-to-1) or one-to-several (1-to-N) communication schemes, thus enabling achievement of N-to-N communication forms by performing transfer of data information being received by each communication equipment to others.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2006
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Takuya Kawamura
  • Patent number: 7068945
    Abstract: A method includes taking backscattering light of a first wavelength in a first direction of a first transmission line and coupling the same so that the light may travel in a second direction of a second transmission line; taking a second wavelength in the first direction of the first transmission line and coupling the same so that the second wavelength may travel in the first direction of the second transmission line; taking backscattering light of the first wavelength in the second direction of the second transmission line and coupling the same so that the backscattering light may travel in the first direction of the first transmission line; taking the second wavelength in the second direction of the second transmission line and coupling the same so that the second wavelength may travel in the second direction of the first transmission line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2006
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Hiroshi Ogiwara, Kenji Ota
  • Patent number: 7062169
    Abstract: A system compensates for the presence of power transients. The system receives a data signal and detects the occurrence of a power transient. The system generates a threshold signal based on the detected power transient and determines a value of the data signal based on the threshold signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2006
    Assignee: Dorsal Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Greg Mooney, Guangning Yang
  • Patent number: 7058305
    Abstract: An optical submarine communication system has a land cable connected to a terminal apparatus which is installed on land near the seashore for transmitting an optical signal and electric power. The land cable is connected to an optical submarine cable through a beach manhole, and a repeater is connected to the optical submarine cable. The optical submarine communication system has a surge suppressor provided on the land cable, whereby a surge generated from the terminal apparatus side because of a lightning stroke or an insulation failure is suppressed and prevented from reaching and damaging the repeater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Horinouchi, Hirotaka Muto, Satoshi Kumayasu, Masaki Nakaoka
  • Patent number: 7039325
    Abstract: A communication system that improves operation and maintenance and controls communication efficiently. A supervisory signal sending control section controls the sending of a supervisory signal for having supervisory control of optical communication and a drive supervisory signal for controlling the driving of an optical fiber amplifier for performing optical amplification by using a non-linear optical phenomenon in an optical fiber. A sending stop section receives a stop signal and stops the sending of the drive supervisory signal. A drive control section receives the drive supervisory signal and controls the driving of the optical fiber amplifier. A stop signal sending section sends the stop signal to a sending unit after the optical fiber amplifier being driven.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2006
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Motoyoshi Sekiya, Takashi Toyomaki