Optical delay line and electronic buffer merged-type optical packet buffer control device

摘要

[Problem] To provide an optical packet buffer control device, without making device construction large in scale, that is capable of dynamically responding to traffic and suppressing power consumption.;[Solution] An optical delay line and electronic buffer merged-type optical packet buffer control device having N number of input terminals (11), an optical packet information acquisition unit (13), a plurality of switches (15), a plurality of delay lines (17), an electronic buffer (19), an output terminal (21), and a buffer control unit (23), wherein the buffer control unit (23) receives packet information and analyzes packet traffic, and exerts control so as not to use the electronic buffer (19) when the packet traffic is equal to or less than a first threshold, or receives information pertaining to the use state of the delay lines and exerts control so as not to use the electronic buffer (19) when the use rate of the delay lines (the percentage of the number of used delay lines relative to the total number of delay lines) is equal to or less than a first threshold pertaining to the use rate. This device can expand capacity by utilizing the electronic buffer at the time of congestion, and can dynamically respond to changes in traffic.