US 12,284,467 B2
Optical network configuration
Catherine White, London (GB); and Neil Parkin, London (GB)
Assigned to British Telecommunications Public Limited Company, London (GB)
Appl. No. 18/006,468
Filed by BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY, London (GB)
PCT Filed Jun. 29, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/067800
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 23, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/017735, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 27, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2011384 (GB), filed on Jul. 23, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0353911 A1, Nov. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. H04Q 11/00 (2006.01); H04B 10/25 (2013.01)
CPC H04Q 11/0062 (2013.01) [H04B 10/25 (2013.01); H04Q 2011/0079 (2013.01)] 27 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An optical network comprising:
an optical splitter configured to split an optical signal incident on the optical splitter into at least a control signal and a data signal;
an optical switch;
a first optical path configured to carry the control signal between the optical splitter and the optical switch;
a second optical path, separate from the first optical path, configured to carry the data signal between the optical splitter and the optical switch; and
a third optical path, separate from the first optical path and the second optical path, configured to carry a duplicate of the data signal between the optical splitter and the optical switch,
wherein:
the optical network is configured to transmit the control signal and the data signal such that the data signal is incident on the optical switch after the control signal by at least one of:
the first optical path having a lower latency than the second optical path,
the second optical path being longer than the first optical path, or
the second optical path including a delay loop; and
the optical switch is configured to selectively switch the optical network between a first configuration and a second configuration in accordance with the control signal, wherein:
in the first configuration, a data transmission path for transmission of data from the optical splitter to a remote location in the optical network comprises the second optical path; and
in the second configuration, the data transmission path comprises the third optical path instead of the second optical path.