Granted Patent B2

US 7,386,233 · App. 10/488,772 · Granted Jun 10, 2008

Abstract

Claims (96)

1. A ring optical network comprising:

at least one optical fiber;

an access node; and

at least two stations coupled to said optical fiber by optical couplers, both ends of said optical fiber being connected to the access node of said optical network,

wherein said access node comprises:

at least one optical sender for sending a downlink optical signal having at least a first wavelength dedicated to signals transmitted in a downlink direction into one end of said fiber,

at least one optical receiver at the other end of said fiber and receiving an uplink optical signal having at least one second wavelength dedicated to signals transmitted in an uplink direction different from said first, downlink wavelength, and

means for providing communication between said optical receiver and said optical sender, and

wherein said optical network further comprises medium access control means for allowing a plurality of stations to share at least one uplink wavelength for sending said uplink optical signal having said uplink wavelength in a collision-free manner to said optical receiver.

2. An optical network according to claim 1 , wherein the medium access control means allow a plurality of stations to share at least one downlink wavelength.

3. An optical network according to claim 2 , wherein a shared downlink wavelength is used for network management.

4. An optical network according to claim 1 , wherein the medium access control means allows at least three stations to share same uplink wavelength to deliver data to the access node.

5. An optical network according to claim 1 , wherein the medium access control means allows at least three stations to share same downlink wavelength to receive data from the access node.

6. An optical network according to claim 1 , wherein the at least three stations provide data to the access node sharing same predetermined uplink wavelength for delivery of data to a federated network.

7. An optical network according to claim 1 , wherein the medium access control means comprises a photodiode and a control unit positioned in at least one station for detecting that the shared uplink wavelength is available for the station to send uplink traffic.

8. A ring optical network comprising:

at least one optical fiber;

an access node; and

at least two stations coupled to said optical fiber by optical couplers, both ends of said optical fiber being connected to the access node of said optical network,

wherein said access node comprises:

at least one optical sender for sending a downlink optical signal having at least a first, downlink wavelength into one end of said fiber,

at least one optical receiver at the other end of said fiber and receiving an uplink optical signal having at least one second, uplink wavelength different from said first, downlink wavelength, and

means for providing communication between said optical receiver and said optical sender,

wherein said optical network further comprises medium access control means for allowing a plurality of stations to share at least one uplink wavelength for sending said uplink optical signal having said uplink wavelength in a collision-free manner to said optical receiver, and

wherein the medium access control means further comprises call admission control means in the access node, said call admission control means comprising:

means for receiving a bandwidth request message sent by a station and indicating a type of data to be added on an uplink wavelength,

means for determining a parameter value defining a rate of addition of data to an uplink wavelength usable by the station that has sent a bandwidth request message, said value being determined as a function of the traffic present on the ring and the type of data to be added, and

means for sending a control message containing said parameter value to said station.

9. An optical network according to claim 1 , wherein optical senders and/or receivers of the stations comprise means for adjusting the wavelengths used.

10. An optical network according to claim 1 , further comprises at least one active optical fiber and one back-up optical fiber.

11. An optical network according to claim 10 , further comprises optical means for switching between said active fiber and said back-up fiber to protect traffic.

12. An optical network according to claim 11 , wherein the stations are coupled to said active fiber and to said back-up fiber.

13. A ring optical network comprising:

at least one optical fiber;

an access node; and

at least two stations coupled to said optical fiber by optical couplers, both ends of said optical fiber being connected to the access node of said optical network,

wherein said access node comprises:

at least one optical sender for sending a downlink optical signal having at least a first, downlink wavelength into one end of said fiber,

at least one optical receiver at the other end of said fiber and receiving an uplink optical signal having at least one second, uplink wavelength different from said first, downlink wavelength, and

means for providing communication between said optical receiver and said optical sender,

wherein said optical network further comprises medium access control means for allowing a plurality of stations to share at least one uplink wavelength for sending said uplink optical signal having said uplink wavelength in a collision-free manner to said optical receiver, and

wherein the medium access control is positioned in the access node and wherein the medium access control allocates time slots to the plurality of stations and wherein each of the plurality of stations transmit data to the access node in a respective allocated time slot in same wavelength.

14. An optical network according to claim 13 , wherein the plurality of stations do not have an optical-electrical-optical converter and wherein only the access node has the optical-electrical-optical converter.

15. A ring optical network comprising:

an access node;

at least two stations;

at least one optical fiber connected in a downlink direction with respect to the access node and providing data to the two stations from the access node; and

at least one optical fiber connected in an uplink direction with respect to the access node and providing data from the two stations to the access node,

wherein the downlink optical fiber and the uplink optical fiber form a ring configuration,

wherein said access node comprises:

at least one optical sender for sending a downlink optical signal having a first predetermined wavelength on the downlink optical fiber to the two stations,

at least one optical receiver receiving an uplink optical signal having a second predetermined wavelength different from said first predetermined wavelength, and

a unit which provides communication between said optical receiver and said optical sender of the access node, and

further comprising medium access control means for allowing the two stations to share the second predetermined wavelength in the uplink direction to transmit the data to the access node in a collision-free manner,

wherein the second predetermined wavelength is dedicated to transmitting signals in the uplink direction.

16. The ring optical network according to claim 15 , wherein the access node transmits the data to the two stations at the first predetermined wavelength in the downlink direction.

17. The ring optical network according to claim 15 , wherein the medium access control means comprises a photodiode and a control unit positioned in each of the two stations for detecting that the second predetermined wavelength is available for the station to send uplink traffic.

18. The ring optical network according to claim 17 , wherein the control unit detects the presence of a sufficient gap on the second predetermined wavelength for the station to send an optical packet.

19. A ring optical network comprising:

an access node;

at least two stations;

at least one optical fiber connected in a downlink direction with respect to the access node and providing data to the two stations from the access node; and

at least one optical fiber connected in an uplink direction with respect to the access node and providing data from the two stations to the access node,

wherein the downlink optical fiber and the uplink optical fiber form a ring configuration,

wherein said access node comprises:

at least one optical sender for sending a downlink optical signal having a first predetermined wavelength on the downlink optical fiber to the two stations,

at least one optical receiver receiving an uplink optical signal having a second predetermined wavelength different from said first predetermined wavelength, and

a unit which provides communication between said optical receiver and said optical sender of the access node, and

further comprising medium access control means for allowing the two stations to share the second predetermined wavelength in the uplink direction to transmit the data to the access node in a collision-free manner, and

further comprising a first termination end positioned after the two stations in the downlink direction, which terminates the transmission of the data on the downlink fiber and a second termination end positioned before the two stations in the downlink direction, which staffs the fiber in the uplink direction.

20. A ring optical network comprising:

an access node;

at least two stations;

at least one optical fiber connected in a downlink direction with respect to the access node and providing data to the two stations from the access node; and

at least one optical fiber connected in an uplink direction with respect to the access node and providing data from the two stations to the access node,

wherein the downlink optical fiber and the uplink optical fiber form a ring configuration,

wherein said access node comprises:

at least one optical sender for sending a downlink optical signal having a first predetermined wavelength on the downlink optical fiber to the two stations,

at least one optical receiver receiving an uplink optical signal having a second predetermined wavelength different from said first predetermined wavelength, and

a unit which provides communication between said optical receiver and said optical sender of the access node, and

further comprising medium access control means for allowing the two stations to share the second predetermined wavelength in the uplink direction to transmit the data to the access node in a collision-free manner,

wherein the unit which provides communication between said optical receiver and said optical sender of the access node is a concentrator that operates in an electrical domain and comprises a memory for temporarily storing data, and

wherein said optical receiver and said optical sender of the access node comprise an optical-electrical converter and an electrical-optical converter, respectively.

21. An optical network according to claim 7 , wherein the control unit detects the presence of a sufficient gap on the shared uplink wavelength for the station to send an optical packet.

22. A ring optical network comprising:

an access node;

at least two stations;

at least one optical fiber connected in a downlink direction with respect to the access node and providing data to the two stations from the access node; and

at least one optical fiber connected in an uplink direction with respect to the access node and providing data from the two stations to the access node,

wherein the downlink optical fiber and the uplink optical fiber form a ring configuration,

wherein said access node comprises:

at least one optical sender for sending a downlink optical signal having a first predetermined wavelength on the downlink optical fiber to the two stations,

at least one optical receiver receiving an uplink optical signal having a second predetermined wavelength different from said first predetermined wavelength, and

a unit which provides communication between said optical receiver and said optical sender of the access node, and

further comprising medium access control means for allowing the two stations to share the second predetermined wavelength in the uplink direction to transmit the data to the access node in a collision-free manner, and

wherein the medium access control means comprises a control unit positioned in the access node for allocating time slots to the two stations and wherein each of the two stations transmit data to the access node in a respective allocated time slot on the second predetermined wavelength.

Assignments (11)