Optical communication system having tunable sources
Granted: August 16, 2016
Patent Number:
9419742
Consistent with one example of the disclosed implementations, a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) may be provided that includes s group of lasers and an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) disposed on a substrate. Each laser in the group may supply an optical signal, such that each optical signal has a different wavelength. Each laser may be tunable to at least two designated wavelengths, which are separated from one another by a free spectral range (FSR) of the AWG. As a result, the optical…
Broadband waveguide based optical coupler
Granted: August 9, 2016
Patent Number:
9411104
An apparatus having a first waveguide, a second waveguide, a third waveguide, a fourth waveguide, and a fifth waveguide is described. A symmetric coupler has a proximal end and a distal end. The proximal end of the symmetric coupler is coupled to and in optical communication with the first waveguide and the second waveguide. The distal end of the symmetric coupler is coupled to and in optical communication with the fourth waveguide. An asymmetric coupler has a proximal end and a distal…
Optical transfer linearity using test tones
Granted: August 2, 2016
Patent Number:
9407375
An optical system may have an optical transmitter including a digital signal processor to receive a signal channel, determine a digital signal associated with the signal channel based on information in a look-up table and based on a test tone, and output the digital signal. The optical system may further have a digital-to-analog converter to convert the digital signal to an analog signal, a laser to provide an optical signal, and a modulator to receive the optical signal and the analog…
Digital link viewer
Granted: July 19, 2016
Patent Number:
9397898
A system may receive a user input that identifies an optical route in an optical network, and may receive a user input that identifies a view type, where the view type includes a data channel view or a control channel view. The system may provide, based on the user input, a user interface that displays a representation of network entities associated with the optical route, a representation of an amplification capability associated with a network entity, a representation of a first…
Interconnect bridge assembly for photonic integrated circuits
Granted: July 12, 2016
Patent Number:
9389441
A photonic transmitter, comprises a modulator driver having a first and second output ports, a photonic integrated transmitter circuit having a modulator having a first and a second input line, and a first input port electrically coupled with the first input line and a second input port electrically coupled with the second input line, and an interconnect bridge assembly, including a first termination resistor, a second termination resistor, and a substrate. An impedance-controlled…
Encoding and processing of signaling messages for ODU SMP
Granted: July 5, 2016
Patent Number:
9385943
Methods and nodes are disclosed for the support of traffic protection and recovery in mesh networks having multiple nodes communicating via communication links. The problem of timely and reliable Shared Mesh Protection message delivery is addressed through creation of protocols and encoding of Shared Mesh Protection messages within an overhead of the optical data unit container, and by processing the Shared Mesh Protection messages by intermediate nodes of the mesh network. Thus, the…
Light absorption and scattering devices in a photonic integrated circuit that minimize optical feedback and noise
Granted: July 5, 2016
Patent Number:
9383512
A photonic integrated circuit is provided that may include a substrate; one or more optical sources, on the substrate, to output light associated with a corresponding one or more optical signals; one or more waveguides connected to the one or more optical sources; a multiplexer connected to the one or more waveguides; and one or more light absorptive structures, located on the substrate adjacent to one of the one or more optical sources, one of the one or more waveguides, and/or the…
Digital link viewer
Granted: June 28, 2016
Patent Number:
9377921
A system may receive first user input that identifies an optical route in an optical network, may receive a second user input that identifies a view type, and may provide, based on the first user input and the second user input, a user interface. The user interface may display, based on the identified view type, a representation of components associated with the optical route, a representation of ports on each of the components, a representation of a first parameter associated with each…
Optical communication system having tunable sources
Granted: June 28, 2016
Patent Number:
9379838
Pairs of distributed feedback (DFB) lasers are provided on a substrate. An arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) is also provided on the substrate having input waveguides, each of which being connected to a corresponding pair of DFB lasers. The wavelengths of optical signals supplied from each pair of DFB lasers may be spectrally spaced from one another by a free spectral range (FSR) of the AWG. By selecting either a first or second DFB laser in a pair and temperature tuning to adjust the…
Rapid recovery in packet and optical networks
Granted: June 28, 2016
Patent Number:
9379810
A node may determine a failure in a first path for routing first optical network traffic between a first set of networking devices, where the first path includes a first set of optical transport nodes. The node may determine a second path for routing the first optical network traffic between the first set of networking devices, where the second path includes a second set of optical transport nodes that route second optical network traffic between a second set of networking devices. The…
Method of achieving acceptable performance in and fabrication of a monolithic photonic integrated circuit (PIC) with integrated arrays of laser sources and modulators employing an extended identical active layer (EIAL)
Granted: June 21, 2016
Patent Number:
9372306
A method provides acceptable performance from a semiconductor transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TxPIC) that contains a plurality of modulated sources each comprising a laser source and an external modulator where each laser source provides a different emission wavelength and each modulated source forms a separate signal channel, comprising the steps of providing at least some of the signal channels with an extended identical active layer (EIAL) so that the modulated sources each…
Contention handling in SMP based networks
Granted: May 31, 2016
Patent Number:
9356870
Nodes and methods are disclosed for protection and restoration in the event of multiple failures for multiple paths involved for the same service in shared mesh networks, including, a method comprising the steps of storing, in non-transitory memory of a first node in a shared mesh network having a plurality of connections through the shared mesh network, records of global contention handling priority values of the plurality of connections; detecting a first signal from a second node…
Power-efficient maximum likelihood decoding for 5 bits per dual-pol-symbol modulation
Granted: May 24, 2016
Patent Number:
9350457
A digital signal processor (DSP), may identify symbol values associated with a 5 quadrature amplitude modulation (5QAM) signal. The DSP may determine a first bit set based on the symbol values and a first particular bit value. The DSP may determine a second bit set based on the symbol values and a second particular bit value. The DSP may compute a first distance based on the first bit set and the symbol values. The DSP may compute a second distance based on the second bit set and the…
Partitioning forward error correction decoding iterations to accommodate multiple data streams
Granted: April 19, 2016
Patent Number:
9319180
An optical receiver may receive a data stream, and may decode the data stream using a first iterative forward error correction (FEC) decoder. The optical receiver may determine whether to further decode the data stream using the first iterative FEC decoder or a second iterative FEC decoder that is different from the first iterative FEC decoder. The optical receiver may selectively perform a first action or a section action based on determining whether to further decode the data stream.…
Pluggable module housing assembly
Granted: April 12, 2016
Patent Number:
9313925
A pluggable module housing assembly comprises a base at least partially surrounding a socket having an entrance sized and dimensioned to receive a pluggable module. At least one guide extends adjacent to the socket. A heat sink assembly includes a riding heat sink having a module-contacting surface facing the socket, and an actuating assembly coupled to the base and to the riding heat sink. The actuating assembly is configured to move the riding heat sink relative to the base between a…
Intensity-based modulator
Granted: April 12, 2016
Patent Number:
9312962
An optical modulator includes a splitter, phase modulators, amplitude modulators, intensity modulators, and a combiner. The splitter is configured to receive light, and split the light into portions of the light. Each of the phase modulators is configured to receive a corresponding one of the portions of the light, and modulate a phase of the portion of the light to provide a phase-modulated signal. Each of the amplitude modulators is configured to receive a corresponding one of the…
Use of switching for optimizing transport costs for bandwidth services
Granted: March 22, 2016
Patent Number:
9294406
Methods and systems are disclosed for receiving, with circuitry of a network controller, information indicative of characteristics of incoming data traffic in an information transport network, the network comprising at least one packet switched layer and at least one transport layer; determining to transport the incoming data traffic through at least one determined layer being at least one of the packet switched layer and the transport layer, based on the characteristics of the incoming…
System for translating instructions in a switch node
Granted: March 15, 2016
Patent Number:
9288558
A control module for an optical switch node, comprising a TIM having a plurality of operating modes in which a first mode is identified by a first byte sequence; a communication interface unit transmitting a second byte sequence for placing the TIM in the first mode, the first byte sequence different from the second byte sequence, and a gate array receiving the second byte sequence, storing a list of predetermined unique values, each value indicative of a particular operating mode…
Estimating phase using test phases and interpolation for modulation formats using multiple sub-carriers
Granted: March 1, 2016
Patent Number:
9276674
An optical receiver may receive input signals carried by sub-carriers, and may apply test phases to each input signal. The optical receiver may determine error values, associated with test phases, for each input signal. The optical receiver may calculate updated metric values, associated with the test phases, for a particular input signal, based on a first error value and a second error value. The first error value may be associated with a first sub-carrier, and the second error value…
Frequency and phase compensation for modulation formats using multiple sub-carriers
Granted: February 23, 2016
Patent Number:
9270383
An optical receiver may receive input signals carried by respective sub-carriers. The optical receiver may determine, based on the input signals, a compensation value to be used to modify an input signal. The optical receiver may use the compensation value to adjust the input signal to form a modified input signal. The compensation value may be used to modify a frequency or a phase of the input signal. The optical receiver may determine, based on the modified input signal, a phase…
