Multiple level signaling for passive optical networks

1. An apparatus to transmit optical signals comprising:

first circuitry configured to generate at least a first outgoing signal that is encoded to have multiple signal levels, in which respective signal levels are indicative of different signal states of more than one bit;

second circuitry configured to generate at least a second outgoing signal that is encoded to have multiple signal levels, in which respective signal levels are indicative of different signal states of one or more bits;

a first optical transmitter, configured to operate with the first circuitry, to receive the first outgoing signal and to drive a first light source by modulating the first light source, based on the outgoing signal, to generate a first modulated light signal having the multiple signal levels for optical transmission;

a second optical transmitter, configured to operate with the second circuitry, to receive the second outgoing signal and to drive a second light source by modulating the second light source, based on the outgoing signal, to generate a second modulated light signal having the multiple signal levels for optical transmission together with the first modulated light signal; and

an optical interface configured to operate with the first and second optical transmitters, in which the optical interface is configured to couple the first and second modulated light signals for the optical transmission onto a passive optical network (PON), which has passive splitters to split modulated light, and to transmit the first and second modulated light signals having multiple signal levels to a plurality of destinations via the PON.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the PON forms an Ethernet compatible network.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first circuitry is configured to utilize pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) to generate the first modulated light signal that has more than two signal levels.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first circuitry is configured to utilize pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) to generate the first modulated light signal having 2 N signal levels, in which N is an integer greater than 1.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first circuitry is configured to utilize pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) to generate the first modulated light signal that has more than two signal levels and the second circuitry is configured to utilize pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) to generate a non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signal having two signal states, in which the first and second optical transmitters are configured to operate as a hybrid transmitter to send PAM and NRZ signals to the plurality of destinations via the PON.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the first and second optical transmitters are configured to transmit the PAM signal utilizing light having a first color and to transmit the NRZ signal having a second color.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second circuitry is configured to utilize a diagnostic routine to determine a topology of the PON to map the plurality of destinations, to determine active optical devices at the plurality of destinations and to determine capabilities of the active optical devices in receiving the multiple signal levels.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second circuitry is configured to utilize a training signal to train a receiving device at one of the plurality of destinations of the PON to receive a particular number of signal levels.

9. An apparatus to receive optical signals comprising:

an optical interface configured to couple to a passive optical network (PON), in which the PON has passive splitters to split a plurality of modulated light signals transmitted from a plurality of optical light sources located at a head end of the PON, and to communicate with the plurality of optical light sources via the PON to receive a first of the plurality of modulated light signals having multiple signal levels from the optical light source, wherein respective signal levels correspond to different signal states of more than one bit and to also receive at least a second of the plurality of modulated light signals having multiple signal levels from at least a second one of the plurality of optical light sources, wherein respective signal levels correspond to different signal states of one or more bits;

a first optical receiver configured to receive at least one of the plurality of modulated light signals from the optical interface and to operate on the modulated light to determine the multiple signal levels;

a second optical receiver configured to receive at least a second one of the plurality of modulated light signals from the optical interface and to operate on the modulated light to determine the multiple signal levels; and

circuitry configured to determine the different signal states based on the multiple signal levels to recover the different signal states of multiple level signaling transmitted from the first and second optical light sources.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the PON forms an Ethernet compatible network.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of modulated light signals utilize pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) to designate the different signal states and in which the modulated light has more than two signal levels.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of optical light sources transmit the first of the plurality of modulated light signals that utilizes pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) to designate more than two different signal levels and transmits the second of the plurality of modulated light signals that utilizes a non-return-to-zero (NRZ) light signal having two signal states, in which the PON operates as a hybrid transmission medium to send both PAM and NRZ signals together to the apparatus, in which the optical receiver is configured to receive the PAM and NRZ signals and the circuitry is configured to process at least one of the PAM and NRZ signals.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the PAM signal is transmitted utilizing light having a first color and the NRZ signal is transmitted utilizing light having a second color.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the circuitry is configured to respond to a diagnostic routine transmitted from at least one of the plurality of optical light sources, in which the diagnostic routine is used to determine a topology of the PON to map the apparatus and to determine capabilities of the apparatus when in an active mode to receive at least one of the plurality of modulated light signals having the multiple signal levels.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the circuitry is configured to respond to a diagnostic routine transmitted from the at least one of the plurality of optical light sources, in which the diagnostic routine is used to determine a topology of the PON to map the apparatus and to determine a signal level of at least one of the plurality of modulated light signals that is to be transmitted to the apparatus.

16. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the circuitry is configured to respond to a training signal from the at least one of the plurality of optical light sources for training the circuitry to process a particular number of signal levels.