US Patent 7130540 Optical transmission systems, devices, and methods

Optical systems and devices for processing spectral groups, and optical methods for forming spectral groups, the optical system including at least one sub-network including at least one spectral group router configurable to route a plurality of optical signal channels within a spectral group, when contained within said sub-network and terminate optical channels within a spectral group, when bounding said sub-network, each optical signal channel being transmitted from one node within said sub-network to another node in said sub-network.