Broadband information communications network system with coherent optical data transmission lines

Claim 2

Apparatus according to Claim 1, in which said signal exchange means (24) comprises: demultiplexer means (46) for decoding said electrical signals supplied from said signal input means (20) using a demultiplexing scheme; switching means (44) connected to said demultiplexer means (46), for executing a data exchanging operation; and multiplexer means (48) connected to said switching means (44), for coding output signals of said switching means (44) by again using a multiplexing scheme.

Claim 3

Apparatus according to Claim 2, in which said bypass means includes direct connection lines (30, 42) which have a larger data transmission rate than said switching means (44).

Claim 4

Apparatus according to Claim 3, further comprising controller means (26), connected to said signal input means (20), said switching means (44), and said signal output means (22), for extracting said selected signals from all the input signals being externally supplied to said apparatus, for supplying said switching means (44) with said selected signals, and for supplying simultaneously said bypass means with the remaining signals of said input signal.

Claim 5

Apparatus according to Claim 4, in which said signal input means (20) comprises signal extracting means (36) for extracting a network control signal containing a destination data from said input information signals, and for sending said network control signal to said controller means (26).

Claim 6

Apparatus according to Claim 5, in which said controller means (26) controls the signal exchanging operation of said switching means (44) in response to said network control signal (Snc).

Claim 7

A signal processing method applied to an optical information communications system (10) including a selected number of terminal stations (12) which bidirectionally communicate with one another by optical data transmission lines, comprising the steps of: disassembling optical information signals, which are time-division multiplexed when transmitted to a certain terminal station (12i) from some of the other associating terminal stations (12), into a number of electrical time-division multiplexed information signals; supplying specific signals to a signal exchange section (24) provided inside said certain terminal station, which executes a line exchanging operation for said specific signals thereby to generate exchanged electrical time-division multiplexed information signals which are then supplied to corresponding ones of external signal transmission lines provided for said certain terminal station (12i); and directly sending outward from said certain terminal station (12i) the remaining ones of said time-division multiplexed information signals to said signal output means (22) without passing through said signal exchange section (24) in said certain terminal station (12i); characterized in that the optical information signals received by the certain terminal station (12i) are optical frequency-division multiplexed, and the disassembled electrical time-division multiplexed information signals are of a wavelength which is changeable in accordance with their destination; in that the method includes detecting in the received signals a specific optical signal component having a predetermined frequency and selecting specific signals from among said electrical time-division multiplexed information signals in accordance with their destinations; and further includes optical frequency-division multiplexing the exchanged electrical time-division multiplexed information signals to produce optical frequency-division and time-division multiplexed information signals for supply to the external signal transmission lines; and in that the said remaining ones of the information signals which have the specific optical signal component are sent directly as electrical signals to the signal output means (22).

Claim 8

A method according to Claim 7, in which a predetermined kind of information signal of said electrical time-division multiplexed information signals are prevented from being transferred to said signal exchange section (24), said certain signals being externally transmitted in such a form as they are disassembled.

Claim 9

A method according to Claim 8, in which the signals of said predetermined kind of information signal have a larger transmission rate than said specific information signals being moved through said line exchange section (24) inside said certain terminal station (12i).

Claim 10

A method according to Claim 9, in which the amount of signals of said predetermined kind of information signal is more than half the total amount of input information signals of said certain terminal station (12i).

Claim 11

A method according to Claim 10, in which a control signal (Snc) is generated to represent the destination data of each of said information signals, said control signal being externally transmitted in a predetermined optical frequency to a target terminal station prior to the transmission of said information signals.