Patent attributes
A method of controlling optical data flow in a network is provided. The method includes: receiving, by a switch controller, a data flow including a plurality of data packets used for network management and control, the network switch including at least one wavelength tunable optical data transmission interface to a wavelength division multiplexed optical network; transmitting a control signal indicating which wavelengths are in use and which wavelengths are not in use to the network switch over a control link; receiving a return signal generated by an optical filter in the switch, the return signal indicative of an available wavelength for transmission of the data flow to the switch; allocating a data traffic flow to the available wavelength, and communicating the allocation decision to the network switch; and transmitting the data flow to the switch via an optical carrier signal having the available wavelength indicated by the return signal.
