Importance

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Abstract

In an optical network, data is sent from a source to a destination over a plurality of wavelengths of light transmitted over optical fibers and switched at a number of optical packet switches. In periodic optical packet switching (POPS), a network management system divides each wavelength into time-slots. In response to a request from a source to transmit variable length data packets to a destination, the network management system allocates an inter-packet interval for the connection. The inter-packet interval is the number of time slots allocated for transmission of a data packet. The source may only begin transmitting a data packet at the first time-slot in the inter-packet interval. In this way, the optical packet switch knows when to expect each new data packet from the source for routing to the destination.

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First Claim