Optical switch capable of realizing reconfigurable topological structure and working method thereof

Abstract

The invention provides an optical switch capable of realizing topological structure reconfiguration and a working method thereof, the optical switch comprises at least three optical switch units, and each optical switch unit is provided with a common port and at least two interconnection ports. Each interconnection port of each optical switch unit is connected to one interconnection port of another optical switch unit through an interconnection optical fiber; the public port of each optical switch unit is only in optical path communication with one interconnection port of the optical switch unit at one moment, and the public port of one optical switch unit is configured to be switched to be in optical path communication with the other interconnection port of the optical switch unit according to the optical path requirement of the optical switch; the common port of each optical switch unit can be set as an input port or an output port of the optical switch. The invention further provides a working method of the optical switch. The topological structure of the optical switch can be reconfigured at will, and an optical communication system can change a communication optical path conveniently.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of optical fiber communication, and in particular to an optical switch for realizing reconfigurable topological structure and a working method of the optical switch. Background Art

[0002] With the development of optical communication technology, optical devices are increasingly used. Among them, optical switches are a common type of optical device. Existing optical switches have one or more input ports and are provided with one or more output ports. An optical signal can be input from one of the input ports and output from one of the output ports. In addition, an optical switch can switch the optical path of an optical signal. For example, an optical signal incident from an input port can be switched from being output from the first output port to being output from the second output port.

[0003] Existing optical switches are provided with optical path switching devices, such as changing the optical path through devices such as a Faraday rotator, or providing a reflector driven by a micromotor to switch the input and output optical paths by changing the angle of the reflector.

[0004] However, the topology of existing optical switches is fixed and cannot be changed. For example, when a port is set as an input port, it can only be used as an input port and cannot be used as an output port. In addition, the optical path of the optical switch is also pre-set. For example, the optical signal can only be incident from a specific input port and can only be emitted from one or more specific output ports.

[0005] In practical applications, this type of optical switch with a fixed topology can no longer meet the needs of optical communications. For example, some optical fiber interfaces have been connected to the input port or output port of the optical switch, but as the application environment changes, the functions of these optical fiber interfaces change. The port that was originally used as the input port of the optical signal needs to be changed to the port for the output port of the optical signal, or the incident optical signal needs to be output from other optical fiber interfaces, but the new optical fiber interface may be an interface originally connected to the input port of the optical switch.

[0006] Since the topology of the existing optical switch cannot be changed, the only way to replace the optical switch is to replace it according to the new optical path requirements. This requires dismantling the original optical switch and installing a new one, which increases the maintenance cost of the optical communication system. In addition, the dismantled optical switch still has good performance, but it cannot be used because the topology is not suitable, resulting in a waste of resources. Summary of the invention

[0007] The first object of the present invention is to provide an optical switch capable of flexibly changing the topology structure and realizing a reconfigurable topology structure.

[0008] The second object of the present invention is to provide a working method of the optical switch realizing the reconfigurable topology structure.

[0009] In order to achieve the above-mentioned first purpose, the present invention provides an optical switch with reconfigurable topology structure, including at least three optical switch units, each optical switch unit having a common port and at least two interconnection ports, each interconnection port of each optical switch unit being connected to an interconnection port of another optical switch unit through an interconnection optical fiber; the common port of the optical switch unit is optically connected to only one interconnection port of the optical switch unit at a time, and the common port of an optical switch unit is configured as follows: according to the optical path requirements of the optical switch, it is switched to be optically connected to another interconnection port of the optical switch unit; the common port of each optical switch unit can be set as an input port or an output port of the optical switch.

[0010] It can be seen from the above scheme that each optical switch unit is connected to the interconnection port of another optical switch unit through an interconnection port and an interconnection optical fiber, and the optical path connection relationship between the common port and any interconnection port of the optical switch is switchable. In this way, by switching the optical path connection relationship between the common port and the interconnection port, the optical path connection relationship between the current optical switch unit and other optical switch units can be changed, so that the connection relationship between each optical switch and other optical switches is not fixed, thereby realizing the reconstruction of the topological structure of the optical switch.

[0011] In this way, when the optical path structure of the optical communication system changes, it is only necessary to adjust the optical path connectivity between the common port and the interconnection port of the optical switch device, without replacing the optical switch. The maintenance cost of the optical communication system is very low, and the original optical switch can still be used, without causing waste of resources.

[0012] A preferred solution is that the number of interconnection ports of each optical switch unit is equal; the number of optical switch units is less than or equal to the sum of the number of common ports and interconnection ports of each optical switch unit.

[0013] It can be seen that by setting a suitable number of optical switches, each optical switch unit and each interconnection port of each optical switch unit can be fully utilized, which will not lead to waste of optical switch units and reduce the use cost of optical switches.

[0014] A further solution is that each optical switch unit is optically connected to any other optical switch unit through one of its own interconnection ports.

[0015] It can be seen that since each optical switch is optically connected to any other optical switch, when the topology of the optical switch is reconstructed, the common ports of each optical switch can be fully utilized, making the topology of the optical switch reconstructed very flexible.

[0016] A further solution is that the plurality of optical switch units are divided into two or more groups, and in each group of optical switch units, the common port of at least one optical switch unit is set as an input port, and the common port of at least another optical switch unit is set as an output port.

[0017] It can be seen that when there are a large number of optical switch units, the optical switch units can be flexibly grouped, and multiple optical switch units in each group can work independently without interfering with each other. In addition, the grouping of each optical switch unit can also be flexibly adjusted to improve the flexibility of optical switch topology reconstruction.

[0018] A further solution is that the number of optical switch units whose common ports are set as input ports is equal to the number of optical switch units whose common ports are set as output ports; or the number of optical switch units whose common ports are set as input ports is not equal to the number of optical switch units whose common ports are set as output ports.

[0019] It can be seen that the number of input ports and the number of output ports of the optical switch can be equal or unequal, and can be flexibly adjusted according to actual usage.

[0020] A further solution is that the optical switch unit has a pigtail with multiple transmission optical fibers arranged in the pigtail, one of the transmission optical fibers forming a common port, and at least two transmission optical fibers forming an interconnected port; a collimating lens is arranged at one end of the pigtail, and a reflector is arranged at the end of the collimating lens away from the pigtail, and the inclination angle of the reflector relative to the axis of the collimating lens is adjustable.

[0021] It can be seen that the structure of the optical switch unit is simple and can be implemented by using a traditional micro-motor structure optical switch unit. The selection and switching of the optical path of the optical switch unit can be achieved by only adjusting the angle of the reflector through the micro-motor.

[0022] In order to achieve the above-mentioned second purpose, the working method of the optical switch with reconfigurable topology provided by the present invention includes: setting the common port of at least one optical switch unit among multiple optical switch units as the input port of the optical switch according to the optical path of the optical switch, and setting the common port of at least another optical switch unit among the multiple optical switch units as the output port of the optical switch; based on the set input port and output port, the common port of the optical switch unit is optically connected with the corresponding interconnected port, so that the optical path between the input port and the output port is optically connected.

[0023] It can be seen from the above scheme that when the optical path structure of the optical communication system changes, the topological structure of the optical switch unit can be reconstructed by changing the optical path connectivity relationship between the common port of the optical switch unit and the corresponding interconnected port, without the need to dismantle the optical switch and install a new one, which can reduce the maintenance cost of the optical communication system.

[0024] A preferred solution is to obtain information about changes in the optical path of the optical switch, and adjust the configuration of the input ports and output ports in multiple optical switch units based on the information about the changes in the optical path: based on the information about the changes in the optical path, the common port of the optical switch unit is switched to be connected to the optical path of another interconnected port of the optical switch unit.

[0025] A further solution is that the optical switch unit has a pigtail with multiple transmission optical fibers arranged in the pigtail, a collimating lens is arranged at one end of the pigtail, and a reflector is arranged at the end of the collimating lens away from the pigtail; when the common port of the optical switch unit is switched to be connected to the optical path of another interconnected port of the optical switch unit, the inclination angle of the reflector relative to the axis of the collimating lens is changed.

[0026] It can be seen that the optical path of the optical switch unit can be changed by changing the tilt angle of the reflector, and thus the topological structure of the optical switch can be changed. The topological structure reconstruction operation of the optical switch is very flexible and convenient.

[0027] A further solution is that the reflector is driven by a micromotor; when changing the inclination angle of the reflector relative to the axis of the collimating lens, the controller sends a control signal to the micromotor of each optical switch unit, and the micromotor adjusts the angle of the reflector according to the received control signal.

[0028] It can be seen that the tilt angles of the reflectors of the multiple optical switch units can be adjusted by the controller, so the optical paths of the multiple optical switch units can be synchronously adjusted to meet the requirements of optical switch topology reconstruction.

[0029] Another optical switch for realizing reconfigurable topology provided by the present invention comprises at least three optical switch units, each optical switch unit having a first common port and at least two first interconnected ports; at least one optical switch is provided with a splitter, the splitter having a second common port and at least two second interconnected ports; each first interconnected port of each optical switch unit is connected to a first interconnected port or a second interconnected port of another optical switch unit through an interconnected optical fiber; each second interconnected port is connected to a first interconnected port or a second interconnected port of another optical switch unit through an interconnected optical fiber; the first common port of the optical switch unit is optically connected to only one first interconnected port or a second common port of the optical switch unit at a time, and the common port of an optical switch unit is configured as: according to the optical path requirement of the optical switch, it is switched to be optically connected to another first interconnected port or a second common port of the optical switch unit; the first common port of each optical switch unit can be set as an input port or an output port of the optical switch.

[0030] It can be seen from the above scheme that each optical switch unit is connected to the first interconnection port or the second interconnection port of another optical switch unit through a first interconnection port or a second interconnection port and an interconnection optical fiber, and the optical path connection relationship between the first common port and any first interconnection port of the optical switch is switchable. In this way, by switching the optical path connection relationship between the first common port and the first interconnection port and the second interconnection port, the optical path connection relationship between the current optical switch unit and other optical switch units can be changed, so that the connection relationship between each optical switch and other optical switches is not fixed, thereby realizing the reconstruction of the topological structure of the optical switch.

[0031] In addition, since an optical splitter is provided, the optical signal output from one port of the optical switch unit can be divided into multiple optical signals through the optical splitter and sent to multiple other optical switch units in the form of broadcast, thus realizing the signal broadcast function. Moreover, since the optical path interconnection relationship of each optical switch unit is not fixed, the broadcast topology is also not fixed, thus realizing the reconstruction of the optical switch topology with broadcast function.

[0032] In addition, since the optical switch unit can flexibly switch the port for outputting the optical signal, including the first interconnection port or the second common port, the broadcast function will be started or not according to actual needs, so that the optical switch can operate in three modes: broadcast mode, non-broadcast mode or mixed mode.

[0033] A preferred solution is that the optical powers of the optical signals passing through the second interconnected ports of the optical splitter are equal or unequal.

[0034] It can be seen that the splitting powers of the splitters can be equal or unequal, so that the splitters of different optical switch units can be selected according to actual needs to transmit optical signals to meet the usage requirements of different scenarios.

[0035] Another working method of an optical switch with reconfigurable topology provided by the present invention includes: setting the first common port of at least one optical switch unit among multiple optical switch units as the input port of the optical switch according to the optical path of the optical switch, and setting the first common port of at least another optical switch unit among the multiple optical switch units as the output port of the optical switch; based on the set input port and output port, the first common port of the optical switch unit is optically connected to the corresponding first interconnection port or the second common port, so that the optical path between the input port and the output port is connected; wherein the optical signal is incident on the second interconnection port of the splitter through the second common port, and is incident on a first interconnection port or a second interconnection port of another optical switch unit from the second interconnection port of the splitter.

[0036] It can be seen from the above scheme that when the optical path structure of the optical communication system changes, the topological structure of the optical switch unit can be reconstructed by changing the optical path connection relationship between the first common port of the optical switch unit and the corresponding interconnection port. In addition, since the optical splitter is set, the optical signal can be broadcasted through the optical splitter, meeting the use requirements in the scenario where the optical signal broadcasting is required. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] Figure 1 It is a schematic structural diagram of the first embodiment of the optical switch realizing topology reconfiguration of the present invention.

[0038] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the partial structure of the first embodiment of the optical switch realizing the reconfigurable topology structure of the present invention.

[0039] Figure 3 It is a schematic structural diagram of an optical switch unit in the first embodiment of the optical switch realizing topologically reconfigurable structure of the present invention.

[0040] Figure 4 It is a flow chart of the first embodiment of the working method of the optical switch with reconfigurable topology structure of the present invention.

[0041] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the second embodiment of the optical switch realizing topology reconfiguration of the present invention.

[0042] Figure 6 It is a partial structural diagram of the second embodiment of the optical switch realizing topology reconfiguration of the present invention.

[0043] The present invention is further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] The optical switch of the present invention that realizes reconfigurable topology is applied in an optical communication system. For example, the optical communication system has multiple optical fiber interfaces, and different optical fiber interfaces realize the transmission of optical signals through the optical switch. The optical switch of the present invention can simply and flexibly change its topology. When the optical path of the optical communication system changes, it is not necessary to dismantle the original optical switch and reinstall a new optical switch. It is only necessary to adjust the topology of the optical switch, that is, the optical path adjustment requirement of the optical communication system can be met.

[0045] First embodiment:

[0046] See also Figure 1 The optical switch of this embodiment has multiple optical switch units, for example, eight optical switch units, namely optical switch units 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80. The structure of each optical switch unit is the same. Taking the optical switch unit 10 as an example, it has a common port 11 and seven interconnection ports, for example, one of the interconnection ports is the interconnection port 12, and the common port 11 can be selectively optically connected to any one of the interconnection ports 12. Therefore, the optical switch unit 10 is actually a 1×7 optical switch unit.

[0047] Each optical switch unit is optically connected to another optical switch unit. For example, the optical switch unit 10 has 7 interconnection ports, each of which is connected to an interconnection port of another optical switch unit through an interconnection optical fiber 91. Figure 2 , taking the four optical switch units 10, 20, 30, and 40 as an example, an interconnection port 12 of the optical switch unit 10 is connected to the interconnection port 22 of the optical switch unit 20 through an interconnection optical fiber 91, the interconnection port 13 of the optical switch unit 10 is connected to the interconnection port 32 of the optical switch unit 30 through an interconnection optical fiber, the interconnection port 14 of the optical switch unit 10 is connected to the interconnection port 42 of the optical switch unit 40 through an interconnection optical fiber, and so on. Similarly, an interconnection port 23 of the optical switch unit 20 is connected to the interconnection port 32 of the optical switch unit 30 through an interconnection optical fiber, another interconnection port 24 of the optical switch unit 20 is connected to the interconnection port 43 of the optical switch unit 40 through an interconnection optical fiber, and another interconnection port 34 of the optical switch unit 30 is connected to the interconnection port 44 of the optical switch unit 40 through an interconnection optical fiber. The connection conditions of the interconnection ports of other optical switch units are also connected to each other in the above manner, which will not be repeated.

[0048] Since each optical switch unit is optically connected through an interconnection optical fiber, in order to make full use of each interconnection port of each optical switch unit, the interconnection ports of each optical switch unit are equal. For example, in this embodiment, each optical switch unit has 7 interconnection ports. In addition, the number of optical switch units is equal to the sum of the number of common ports and interconnection ports of each optical switch unit. For example, in this embodiment, the number of optical switch units is 8, and the number of common ports of each optical switch unit is 1, and the number of interconnection ports is 7. Such a design can ensure that each interconnection port of each optical switch unit is connected to an interconnection port of any other optical switch unit through an interconnection optical fiber 91, and an interconnection port of each optical switch unit is only connected to an interconnection port of another optical switch unit.

[0049] In this way, there will be no situation where a certain interconnection port of a certain optical switch unit is not connected to the interconnection port of other optical switches, and the interconnection port resources of the optical switch unit are fully utilized to avoid the waste of hardware resources. In addition, since each optical switch unit can be optically connected to another optical switch unit, when the topology of the optical switch is adjusted, it can be ensured that any optical switch unit can be connected to another optical switch unit, so that the topology of the optical switch can be reconfigured very flexibly and conveniently.

[0050] Of course, in other embodiments, the number of switch units may be greater than or less than the sum of the number of common ports and interconnection ports of each optical switch unit, or the numbers of interconnection ports of different optical switch units may be unequal.

[0051] In this embodiment, the common port of each optical switch unit can be optically connected to any interconnection port, and at a time, the common port can only be optically connected to one of the interconnection ports. In addition, the common port of the optical switch unit needs to be able to flexibly switch to connect to another interconnection port.

[0052] See also Figure 3A pigtail 101 is arranged in an optical switch unit, and a plurality of transmission optical fibers 104 are arranged in the pigtail 101, wherein one transmission optical fiber 104 constitutes a common port of the optical switch unit, and the other seven transmission optical fibers 104 constitute an interconnection port of the optical switch unit, that is, each of the other transmission optical fibers 104 is an interconnection port. A collimating lens 102 is arranged on one side of the pigtail 104, and the optical signal emitted from the transmission optical fiber 104 can be incident on the collimating lens 102, and the collimating lens 102 is used to collimate the transmission path of the optical signal. A reflector 103 is arranged at the end of the collimating lens 102 away from the pigtail 101. Preferably, the reflector 103 is driven by a micromotor, and the inclination angle of the reflector 103 relative to the axis of the collimating lens 102 is adjustable, such as along Figure 3 Rotate in the direction of the arrow shown.

[0053] When the reflector 103 is at a certain angle, the optical signal incident from one transmission optical fiber 104 passes through the collimating lens 102, is incident on the reflector 103 and is reflected by the reflector 103, and then returns to the other transmission optical fiber 104 through the collimating lens 102, so that the optical switch unit is in the first optical path connection state. Taking the optical switch unit 10 as an example, in the first optical path connection state, the common port 11 and the interconnection port 12 are in the optical path connection state, that is, the optical signal incident from the common port 11 can be emitted from the interconnection port 12.

[0054] After the inclination angle of the reflector 103 is adjusted by the micromotor, the optical signal incident from the original transmission optical fiber 104 passes through the collimating lens 102, is incident on the reflector 103, and is reflected by the reflector 103, and then returns to another transmission optical fiber 104 through the collimating lens 102. At this time, the optical switch unit is in the second optical path connection state. For example, in the second optical path connection state, the optical signal incident from the common port 11 is emitted from the interconnection port 13 instead of from the interconnection port 12. At this time, the common port 11 and the interconnection port 13 are in an optical path connection state.

[0055] It can be seen that the optical path connection relationship between the common port 11 and the different interconnection ports 12, 13, 14 of the optical switch unit 10 can be changed by adjusting the inclination angle of the reflector 103. Since the interconnection port 12 is connected to the optical switch unit 20, and the interconnection port is connected to the optical switch unit 30, when the common port 10 switches from optical path connection with the interconnection port 12 to optical path connection with the interconnection port 13, in fact, the optical switch unit 10 switches from optical path connection with the optical switch unit 20 to optical path connection with the optical switch unit 30.

[0056] Of course, when the optical switch unit 10 switches from being optically connected with the optical switch unit 20 to being optically connected with the optical switch unit 30, it is necessary not only to adjust the inclination angle of the reflector of the optical switch unit 10, but also to adjust the inclination angle of the reflector of the optical switch unit 30, so that the common port 31 of the optical switch unit 30 is connected with the interconnection port 32, so as to ensure that the optical signal is incident from the common port 11 of the optical switch unit 10 and then emitted from the interconnection port 13, and then passes through the interconnection optical fiber 91 and is incident on the interconnection port 32 of the optical switch unit 30, and finally emitted from the common port 31 of the optical switch unit 30.

[0057] In the above example, the common port 11 of the optical switch unit 10 is set as an input port, and the common ports 21 and 31 of the optical switch units 20 and 30 are set as output ports. In actual application, the input port and the output port of the optical switch can be set according to actual conditions. In this embodiment, since eight optical switch units are provided, the common port of each optical switch unit can be set as an input port or an output port, and the number of input ports and output ports can be equal or unequal.

[0058] For example, the common ports of the optical switch units 10, 20, 30, and 40 are set as input ports, and the common ports of the optical switch units 50, 60, 70, and 80 are set as output ports. Alternatively, the common ports of the optical switch units 10 and 20 are set as input ports, and the common ports of the optical switch units 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 are set as output ports. The settings of the input ports and output ports can be flexibly set according to the optical path requirements of the optical communication system.

[0059] Combine the following Figure 2 The reconstruction operation of the topology of the optical switch is introduced. Assume that the initial topology of the optical switch is: the common port 11 of the optical switch unit 10 and the common port 21 of the optical switch 20 are used as input ports, and the common port 31 of the optical switch unit 30 and the common port 41 of the optical switch unit 40 are used as output ports. At this time, the optical switch is a 2×2 optical switch. When the optical signal needs to be incident from the common port 11 and emitted from the common port 31, by adjusting the tilt angle of the reflector in the optical switch units 10 and 30, the common port 11 is optically connected to the interconnection port 13, and the common port 31 is optically connected to the interconnection port 32.

[0060] When the topology of the optical switch needs to be reconstructed, for example, the reconstructed topology is: the common port 11 of the optical switch unit 10 is used as the input port, and the common port 21 of the optical switch 20, the common port 31 of the optical switch unit 30, and the common port 41 of the optical switch unit 40 are used as output ports. At this time, the optical switch is a 1×3 optical switch, that is, the common port 21 of the optical switch unit 20 is transformed from an input port to an output port. When the optical signal needs to be incident from the common port 11 and emitted from the common port 21, by adjusting the inclination angle of the reflector in the optical switch units 10 and 20, the common port 11 is connected to the interconnection port 12 optically, and the common port 21 is connected to the interconnection port 22 optically, that is, the optical path can be changed. In this way, there is no need to make any adjustments to the hardware structure of the optical switch, and only the inclination angle of the reflector in the optical switch units 10 and 20 needs to be changed.

[0061] In order to facilitate the synchronous adjustment of the inclination angle of the reflector of each optical switch unit, the present embodiment is provided with a controller, which can send a control signal to the micro motor of each optical switch unit, and the micro motor of each optical switch adjusts the inclination angle of the reflector according to the received control signal. Preferably, since the number of interconnection ports of each optical switch unit is preset, and the position of each transmission optical fiber 104 is also preset, the inclination angle of the corresponding reflector when the common port is connected to each interconnection port optical path is also fixed, that is, the rotation angle of the micro motor is also preset. In order to accurately adjust the angle of the reflector 103, the rotation angle of the reflector corresponding to each interconnection port can be preset, and the rotation stroke of the micro motor at the rotation angle can be set, such as the number of steps of movement. The controller can output the number of steps of movement of each micro motor to accurately control the rotation angle of each reflector.

[0062] certainly, Figure 3 What is shown is only one structure of the optical switch unit. In practical applications, the optical switch unit can also be implemented in other ways. For example, a Faraday rotator is provided in the optical switch unit. By loading different magnetic fields on the Faraday rotator to change the transmission direction of the optical signal, the optical signal can also be switched between the common port and different interconnected ports.

[0063] In addition, since there are a large number of optical switch units in the optical switch, the optical switch units can also be grouped, such as dividing multiple optical switch units into two or three groups, and in each group of optical switch units, the common port of at least one optical switch unit is set as an input port, and the common port of at least another optical switch unit is set as an output port. For example, optical switch units 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 are set as the first group, and optical switch units 60, 70, and 80 are set as the second group. In the first group of optical switch units, the common ports of optical switches 10 and 20 are set as input ports, and the common ports of optical switches 30, 40, and 50 are set as output ports. In addition, the two groups of optical switch units work independently of each other, that is, the optical signals transmitted by the two groups of optical switch units will not interfere with each other, such as the optical signal of optical switch unit 10 cannot be transmitted to optical switch 60, which can be achieved by setting the inclination angle of the reflector.

[0064] Of course, each group of optical switch units can be flexibly adjusted. For example, at a first moment, multiple optical switch units are divided into two groups, and at another moment, multiple optical switch units are divided into three groups. In different groups, the common port of each optical switch unit can be set as an input port or an output port.

[0065] In addition, assuming that the common ports 11 and 21 of the optical switch units 10 and 20 are both set as input ports, the optical switch units 10 and 20 can still be optically connected. For example, in a short period of time, the optical signal incident from the common port 11 of the optical switch unit 10 needs to be emitted from the common port 21 of the optical switch 20. At this time, the above function can be achieved by simply adjusting the angle of the reflector in the optical switch units 10 and 20. In other words, multiple input ports can also be optically connected, and multiple output ports can also be optically connected. This adjustment of optical connection can be very conveniently achieved by adjusting the tilt angle of the reflector in each optical switch unit.

[0066] In the grouping method described above, each group of optical switch units has an input port and an output port. In other grouping methods, multiple optical switch units can be divided into two groups. The number of optical switch units in the two groups can be equal or unequal, and one group of optical switch units is used as input ports, while the other group of optical switch units is used as output ports. For example, the number of input ports is 2 and the number of output ports is 6, so a 2×6 optical switch can be formed.

[0067] Next, combine Figure 4The process of the working method of the above optical switch is introduced. First, step S11 is executed to obtain the information of the initial optical path setting of the optical switch, that is, to obtain the information of which common ports of the optical switch units need to be used as input ports and which common ports of the optical switch units need to be used as output ports. Then, step S12 is executed to set the common ports of each optical switch unit so that the common ports of each optical switch unit are set as the corresponding input port or output port.

[0068] Next, step S13 is executed, in which the controller sends a control signal to the micromotor of each optical switch unit to adjust the inclination angle of the reflector of each optical switch unit, so that the common port of each optical switch is optically connected with the corresponding interconnection port according to the topological structure of the optical switch. For example, the common port 11 of the optical switch unit 10 is optically connected with the interconnection port 12, and the common port 21 of the optical switch unit 20 is optically connected with the interconnection port 22.

[0069] Then, step S14 is executed, the controller determines whether the information of the optical path change is received, if not, the topology of the optical switch is maintained, if the information of the optical path change is received, the topology of the optical switch needs to be reconstructed, and step S15 is executed, the configuration of the input port and the output port in each optical switch unit is adjusted according to the information of the optical path change, specifically, the common port of each optical switch unit is switched to be connected to the optical path of another interconnected port of the optical switch unit according to the information of the optical path change. Preferably, if the tilt angle of the reflector of multiple optical switch units needs to be adjusted, it is necessary to send a control signal to the micro-motor of each optical switch unit synchronously so that the reflector of each optical switch unit can be adjusted synchronously.

[0070] In the first embodiment, the optical signal output by each optical switch unit can only be transmitted to another optical switch unit, that is, the optical signal cannot be broadcast. However, in actual application scenarios, some optical signals are output to multiple different devices at the same time, and the optical signals need to be transmitted in the form of broadcast. Therefore, the first embodiment needs to be improved.

[0071] Second embodiment:

[0072] See also Figure 5 The optical switch of this embodiment has multiple optical switch units, for example, including seven optical switch units, namely optical switch units 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, and 170. The structure of each optical switch unit is the same. Taking the optical switch unit 110 as an example, it has a first common port 111 and twelve first interconnected ports 112.

[0073] In this embodiment, each optical switch unit is provided with an optical splitter. For example, the optical switch unit 110 is provided with an optical splitter 113. The optical splitter 113 has a second common port 114 and six second interconnection ports 116. The second common port 114 is connected to a connection port 114, so that the optical splitter 113 can receive an optical signal output from the connection port 118. In addition, the first common port 111 can be selectively connected to any one of the first interconnection ports 112 or the connection port 118 in an optical path, that is, the connection port 118 and all the first interconnection ports 112 are equivalent, and can receive optical signals from the first common port 111, or can send optical signals to the first common port 111. Therefore, the optical switch unit 110 is actually a 1×13 optical switch unit.

[0074] Each optical switch unit is optically connected to another optical switch unit. Specifically, the optical switch unit has multiple first interconnection ports and multiple second interconnection ports. The first interconnection port of each optical switch unit is connected to a first interconnection port or a second interconnection port of another optical switch unit through an interconnection optical fiber 117, and the second interconnection port of each optical switch unit is connected to a first interconnection port or a second interconnection port of another optical switch unit through an interconnection optical fiber 117.

[0075] See also Figure 6 , the three optical switch units 110, 120, and 130 are taken as an example for explanation. It should be noted that, Figure 6 The partial optical path connection relationship of the three optical switch units 110, 120, and 130 is only schematically shown. The optical switch unit 110 has an optical splitter 113, and the connection port 118 of the optical switch 110 is connected to the second common port 114 of the optical splitter 113. A second interconnection port 1161 of the optical splitter 113 is connected to a first interconnection port 1322 of the optical switch unit 130 through an interconnection optical fiber, and another second interconnection port 1162 of the optical splitter 113 is connected to a first interconnection port 1223 of the optical switch unit 120 through an interconnection optical fiber. In addition, a first interconnection port 1122 of the optical switch unit 110 is connected to a first interconnection port 1222 of the optical switch unit 120 through an interconnection optical fiber, and another first interconnection port 1123 of the optical switch unit 110 is connected to a second interconnection port 1261 of the optical switch unit 120 through an interconnection optical fiber. A first interconnection port 1224 of the optical switch unit 120 is connected to a second interconnection port 1361 of the optical switch unit 130 through an interconnection optical fiber. The connection conditions of the interconnection ports of other optical switch units are also connected to each other in the above manner, which will not be described in detail.

[0076] Since each optical switch unit is optically connected via an interconnecting optical fiber, in order to fully utilize the first interconnection ports and the second interconnection ports of each optical switch unit, the number of the first interconnection ports and the second interconnection ports of each optical switch unit is equal. For example, in this embodiment, the number of the first interconnection ports of each optical switch unit is twelve, and the number of the second interconnection ports is six.

[0077] The first common port of each optical switch unit can be optically connected to any first interconnection port or connection port, and at a time, the first common port can only be optically connected to one of the interconnection ports or connection ports. In addition, the first common port of the optical switch unit needs to be able to flexibly switch to be connected to another first interconnection port or connection port.

[0078] Therefore, a configuration such as Figure 3 Compared with the first embodiment, the present embodiment only uses one of the optical fibers as a connection port 118 to output an optical signal to the second common port 114 of the optical splitter 113. The structures such as the pigtail, multiple transmission optical fibers, the reflector, and the micro-motor provided in the optical switch unit 110 are the same as those in the first embodiment and are not described in detail. As in the first embodiment, the optical switch unit 110 can change the optical path connection relationship between the first common port 111 and different first interconnection ports 112 or connection ports 118 of the optical switch unit 110 by adjusting the inclination angle of the reflector.

[0079] The optical splitter 113 is used to split the optical signal incident from the second common port 114. The optical splitter 113 can be implemented by an existing optical splitter. The optical splitter 113 can evenly distribute the optical power of the optical signal incident to the second common port 114, and then divide it into six optical signals and emit them from each second interconnected port 116 respectively. In this way, the power of the optical signal emitted from each second interconnected port 116 is equal, that is, it is only 1 / 6 of the optical power of the optical signal incident to the second common port 114. Of course, the optical splitter 113 can also be an unequal optical splitter, that is, the optical power of the optical signal emitted from each second interconnected port 116 is not completely equal. Therefore, once the optical signal is incident on the second common port 114 of the optical splitter 113, each second interconnected port 116 has an optical signal emitted, and the optical power of the optical signal emitted from each second interconnected port 116 may be equal or unequal.

[0080] Since the plurality of second interconnection ports 116 are respectively connected to different optical switch units, and some of the second interconnection ports 116 are connected to the first interconnection port of another optical switch unit, and some of the second interconnection ports 116 are connected to the second interconnection port of another optical switch unit, once the optical switch unit 110 chooses to emit the optical signal from the connection port 118, the optical signal emitted from the connection port 118 will be transmitted to a plurality of different optical switch units in the form of broadcast after passing through the optical splitter 113, for example, it will be transmitted to the optical switch unit 120 or 130. At this time, the first common port 111 of the optical switch unit 110 can be set as an input port, and the first common port 121 of the optical switch unit 120 and the first common port 131 of the optical switch unit 130 can be set as output ports, that is, the optical signal can be input from one input port and output from two output ports at the same time, thus realizing the broadcast of the optical signal. When the optical switch works in this mode, it is called broadcast mode.

[0081] It should be noted that, based on the principle of reversibility of the optical path, in the broadcast mode, the first common ports of multiple optical switch units can be set as input ports, and the first common port of one of the optical switch units can be set as an output port, thereby realizing the function of multiple optical signals being emitted from one output port.

[0082] Of course, since the optical switch unit 110 can choose to emit the optical signal incident from the first common port 111 from the first interconnection port 112, for example, from the interconnection port 1122, the optical signal will not pass through the splitter. At this time, the optical signal can only be input from one input port and output from one output port. At this time, the optical switch operates in non-broadcast mode, and the working principle is the same as that of the first embodiment, which will not be repeated.

[0083] The optical switch can also work in a mixed mode. Specifically, multiple optical switch units are divided into multiple groups, so that the optical switch units in one group work in a broadcast mode, and the optical switch units in another group work in a non-broadcast mode. For example, seven optical switch units are divided into three groups. The first group of optical switch units 110, 120, and 130 work in a broadcast mode, such as the first common port 111 of the optical switch unit 110 is used as an input port, and the first common port 121 of the optical switch unit 120 and the first common port 131 of the optical switch unit 130 are set as output ports; the second group of optical switch units 140 and 150 work in a non-broadcast mode, such as the first common port of the optical switch unit 140 is set as an input port, and the first common port of the optical switch unit 150 is set as an output port; the third group of optical switch units 160 and 170 work in a non-broadcast mode, such as the first common port of the optical switch unit 160 is set as an input port, and the first common port of the optical switch unit 170 is set as an output port.

[0084] Since the optical path connection relationship between each optical switch unit can be flexibly adjusted, the grouping relationship between each optical switch unit can also be reconstructed. In this way, the working mode of the optical switch can be flexibly adjusted, so that the optical switch can be flexibly switched between broadcast mode, non-broadcast mode and mixed mode, and the signal transmission is very flexible.

[0085] It can be seen that the topological structure of the optical switch of the present invention can be redefined, the common port of each optical switch unit can be set as an input port or an output port, and the optical path connection relationship between each optical switch unit and other optical switch units can be adjusted arbitrarily. When the optical path transmission of the optical communication system changes, the tilt correction of the reflector can be changed by sending a control signal to each micromotor through the controller, thereby flexibly and simply realizing the adjustment of the topological structure of the optical switch.

[0086] It should be noted that the above scheme is only a preferred implementation mode of the present invention. There are more changes in actual application, such as changes in the number of optical switch units, or changes in the internal structure of the optical switch units, etc. These changes should also be included in the protection scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An optical switch with reconfigurable topology, characterized in that: include: At least three optical switch units, each of which has a common port and at least two interconnection ports, and each of the interconnection ports of each optical switch unit is connected to one of the interconnection ports of another optical switch unit through an interconnection optical fiber; The common port of the optical switch unit is optically connected to only one of the interconnection ports of the optical switch unit at a time, and the common port of one of the optical switch units is configured to: switch to optically connect to another interconnection port of the optical switch unit according to the optical path requirement of the optical switch; The common port of each optical switch unit may be set as an input port or an output port of the optical switch.

2. The optical switch with reconfigurable topology according to claim 1, characterized in that: The number of the interconnection ports of each of the optical switch units is equal; The number of the optical switch units is less than or equal to the sum of the number of the common ports and the interconnection ports of each of the optical switch units.

3. The optical switch with reconfigurable topology according to claim 2, characterized in that: Each of the optical switch units is optically connected to any other optical switch unit through one of its own interconnection ports.

4. The optical switch with reconfigurable topology according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The optical switch unit has a pigtail, in which a plurality of transmission optical fibers are arranged, one of the transmission optical fibers forms the common port, and at least two of the transmission optical fibers form the interconnection port; A collimating lens is arranged at one end of the pigtail, and a reflecting mirror is arranged at one end of the collimating lens away from the pigtail. The inclination angle of the reflecting mirror relative to the axis of the collimating lens is adjustable.

5. The method for realizing a topology reconfigurable optical switch according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: According to the optical path of the optical switch, a common port of at least one optical switch unit among the plurality of optical switch units is set as an input port of the optical switch, and a common port of at least another optical switch unit among the plurality of optical switch units is set as an output port of the optical switch; According to the set input port and output port, the common port of the optical switch unit is optically connected to the corresponding interconnection port, so that the input port is optically connected to the output port.

6. The working method of realizing a topology reconfigurable optical switch according to claim 5, characterized in that: Also includes: Obtain information about changes in the optical path of the optical switch, and adjust the configuration of the input ports and output ports in the plurality of optical switch units according to the information about the changes in the optical path: switch the common port of the optical switch unit to be optically connected to another interconnected port of the optical switch unit according to the information about the changes in the optical path.

7. The method for realizing a topology reconfigurable optical switch according to claim 6, characterized in that: The optical switch unit has a pigtail, a plurality of transmission optical fibers are arranged in the pigtail, a collimating lens is arranged at one end of the pigtail, and a reflector is arranged at one end of the collimating lens away from the pigtail; When the common port of the optical switch unit is switched to be optically connected to another interconnected port of the optical switch unit, the inclination angle of the reflector relative to the axis of the collimating lens is changed.

8. An optical switch with reconfigurable topology, characterized in that: include: At least three optical switch units, each of which has a first common port and at least two first interconnection ports; At least one of the optical switches is provided with an optical splitter, the optical splitter having a second common port and at least two second interconnected ports; Each of the first interconnection ports of each of the optical switch units is connected to one of the first interconnection ports or the second interconnection port of another optical switch unit through an interconnection optical fiber; Each of the second interconnection ports is connected to one of the first interconnection ports or the second interconnection port of another optical switch unit through an interconnection optical fiber; The first common port of the optical switch unit is connected to only one of the first interconnected port optical paths or the second common port of the optical switch unit at a time, and the common port of one of the optical switch units is configured to: switch to connect to another of the first interconnected port optical paths or the second common port of the optical switch unit according to the optical path requirements of the optical switch; The first common port of each of the optical switch units may be set as an input port or an output port of the optical switch.

9. The optical switch with reconfigurable topology according to claim 8, characterized in that: The optical powers of the optical signals passing through the second interconnected ports of the optical splitter are equal or unequal.

10. The working method of realizing a topology reconfigurable optical switch according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: According to the optical path of the optical switch, a first common port of at least one optical switch unit among the plurality of optical switch units is set as an input port of the optical switch, and a first common port of at least another optical switch unit among the plurality of optical switch units is set as an output port of the optical switch; According to the set input port and output port, the first common port of the optical switch unit is optically connected to the corresponding first interconnected port or the second common port, so that the input port is optically connected to the output port; The optical signal is incident on the second interconnection port of the optical splitter through the second common port, and is incident from the second interconnection port of the optical splitter to one of the first interconnection port or the second interconnection port of another optical switch unit.

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