Optical submarine branching apparatus, optical submarine cable system, switching method, non-transitory computer-readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11942991-B2
Application number	US-201917439914-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 12, 2019
Priority date	Mar 27, 2019
Publication date	Mar 26, 2024
Grant date	Mar 26, 2024

Abstract

An optical submarine branching apparatus 1 includes a control unit and a switching unit. The switching unit connects to a plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines connecting to a first terminal station, a plurality of second optical fiber transmission lines connecting to a second terminal station, and a third optical fiber transmission line connecting to a third terminal station, and switches a transmission route of a wavelength-multiplexed optical signal. The control unit controls the switching of the transmission route by the switching unit. The switching unit is configured to be capable of connecting each of the plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines to one of the plurality of second optical fiber transmission lines. The switching unit further is configured to be capable of switching any one of the plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines to connect to the third optical fiber transmission line.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical submarine branching apparatus comprising:
switching unit configured to connect to a plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines connecting to a first terminal station, a plurality of second optical fiber transmission lines connecting to a second terminal station, and a third optical fiber transmission line connecting to a third terminal station and to switch a transmission route of a wavelength-multiplexed optical signal; and
control unit configured to control switching of the transmission route by the switching unit,
wherein the switching unit is configured to connect each of the plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines to a preset one of the plurality of second optical fiber transmission lines and of switching any one of the plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines to connect to the third optical fiber transmission line,
wherein each optical fiber transmission line in the plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines, the plurality of second optical fiber transmission lines, and the third optical fiber transmission line includes a fiber pair comprising an optical fiber for optically transmitting information from the first terminal station side and an optical fiber for optically transmitting information to the first terminal station side, and
wherein the switching unit includes a configuration in which a first optical switch including an input path and two output paths and a second optical switch including two input paths and two output paths are connected in multi-stages, and the first optical switch and the second optical switch connected in the multi-stages each have a different one of the first optical fiber transmissions lines as an input.

2. The optical submarine branching apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein control of the switching unit by the control unit is performed based on a control signal extractable from a wavelength-multiplexed optical signal having been optically transmitted through at least two or more optical fiber transmission lines out of respective optical fiber transmission lines of the plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines, the plurality of second optical fiber transmission lines, and the third optical fiber transmission line.

3. The optical submarine branching apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, in the third optical fiber transmission line, a submarine apparatus is connected between the optical submarine branching apparatus and the third terminal station, the submarine apparatus being an apparatus for submarine installation.

4. The optical submarine branching apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the submarine apparatus is a multiplexing/demultiplexing apparatus being configured to select a wavelength to be output to a succeeding stage.

5. The optical submarine branching apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein, to the third optical fiber transmission line, a multiplexing/demultiplexing apparatus being configured to select a wavelength to be output to a succeeding stage and a repeating apparatus arranged on the third terminal station side of the multiplexing/demultiplexing apparatus are connected as the submarine apparatuses.

6. The optical submarine branching apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the switching unit is further connected to a fourth optical fiber transmission line connected to the third terminal station and is configured to switch any one of the plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines to connect to the fourth optical fiber transmission line.

7. The optical submarine branching apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the switching unit includes a first switching apparatus, the first switching apparatus being provided on the first terminal station side as a separate housing from a main body of the optical submarine branching apparatus, and a second switching apparatus, the second switching apparatus being provided on the second terminal station side as a separate housing from the main body of the optical submarine branching apparatus and the first switching apparatus.

8. An optical submarine cable system comprising:
a first terminal station;
a second terminal station;
a third terminal station; and
an optical submarine branching apparatus according to claim 1 .

9. The optical submarine cable system according to claim 8 comprising a submarine apparatus, the submarine apparatus being an apparatus for submarine installation and being connected between the optical submarine branching apparatus and the third terminal station in the third optical fiber transmission line.

10. The optical submarine cable system according to claim 9 , wherein the submarine apparatus is a multiplexing/demultiplexing apparatus being configured to select a wavelength to be output to a succeeding stage.

11. The optical submarine cable system according to claim 9 comprising a multiplexing/demultiplexing apparatus being configured to select a wavelength to be output to a succeeding stage and a repeating apparatus connected on the third terminal station side of the multiplexing/demultiplexing apparatus, as the submarine apparatuses connected to the third optical fiber transmission line.

12. The optical submarine cable system according to claim 8 , wherein the switching unit is further connected to a fourth optical fiber transmission line connected to the third terminal station and is configured to switch any one of the plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines to connect to the fourth optical fiber transmission line.

13. The optical submarine cable system according to claim 8 , wherein the switching unit includes a first switching apparatus, the first switching apparatus being provided on the first terminal station side as a separate housing from a main body of the optical submarine branching apparatus, and a second switching apparatus, the second switching apparatus being provided on the second terminal station side as a separate housing from the main body of the optical submarine branching apparatus and the first switching apparatus.

14. A switching method comprising
controlling switching unit in an optical submarine branching apparatus, the switching unit being connected to a plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines connecting the optical submarine branching apparatus to a first terminal station, a plurality of second optical fiber transmission lines connecting the optical submarine branching apparatus to a second terminal station, and a third optical fiber transmission line connecting the optical submarine branching apparatus to a third terminal station, to switch a transmission route of a wavelength-multiplexed optical signal,
wherein the controlling includes connecting each of the plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines to a preset one of the plurality of second optical fiber transmission lines and a switching any one of the plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines to connect to the third optical fiber transmission line,
wherein each optical fiber transmission line in the plurality of first optical fiber transmission lines, the plurality of second optical fiber transmission lines, and the third optical fiber transmission line includes a fiber pair comprising an optical fiber for optically transmitting information from the first terminal station side and an optical fiber for optically transmitting information to the first terminal station side, and
wherein the switching unit includes a configuration in which a first optical switch including an input path and two output paths and a second optical switch including two input paths and two output paths are connected in multi-stag

Assignees

• Nec Corp

Inventors

• Abe Ryota

Classifications

• H04J14/0212 Primary

  using optical switches or wavelength selective switches [WSS] · CPC title

• H04B10/25 Primary

  Arrangements specific to fibre transmission · CPC title

• H04Q11/0005

  Switch and router aspects · CPC title

• H04Q2011/0037

  Operation · CPC title

• H04J14/0217

  Multi-degree architectures, e.g. having a connection degree greater than two · CPC title