Patent Application
20210109294
The invention relates in general to the field of receptacles, such as for example receptacles adapted to receive a connector for a communication cable. In the area of optical communication equipment, for example, such receptacles can include for example and without limitation optical fiber adapters, or pluggable optical transponders or transceivers, or other receptacles that serve to receive a connector to optically couple the end of a first optical fiber cable to another optical path or component, such as for example a second optical fiber cable or other optical device.
In the example of optical fiber adapters, optical fiber adapters of the prior art for example can be a rectangular device wherein a first end of the adapter serves to removably receive an optical fiber connector, including a first optical fiber cable end ferrule, or a first pair of ferrules such as can be the case for example with a LC or SC connector, while a second opposing end of the adapter may serve to receive another optical fiber connector including a second ferrule, or pair of ferrules, associated with one or more other optical fiber cable ends that is/are to be optically coupled with the optical fiber cable end(s) associated with the first ferrule or ferrule pair. In this way, this example prior art adapter receives into a first end of the adapter at least one connector including one or more ferrules and respectively aligns, along a common axis within the adapter, each respective optical fiber end with a corresponding optical fiber end received into the adapter from the opposing end of the adapter. Accordingly, such a prior art adapter serves to facilitate an optical coupling for the communication of one or more optical communication signals between one optical fiber cable or cable pair and another optical fiber cable or cable pair.
Other forms of known receptacles include by way of example other configurations of optical adapters and electrical adapters, as well as receptacles that receive an optical or electrical communication cable connector so as to operatively couple the communication cable with a device other than another communication cable, in a way that facilitates optical or electrical communication therebetween.
Communication system modules or cards of the prior art for example have incorporated adapters such as these within their front panels or faceplates. In the example of an optical communication system module, when such a module is placed within a shelf of a communication system, such adapters serve to establish the locations of optical ports of the optical communication system to which communication system operators can, from a system operator side of the module front panel or faceplate, removably couple one or more optical fibers using one or more optical fiber connectors. Such modules of the prior art sometimes further provide a separate indicator, such as a light-emitting diode (LED) indication, located on the module panel for example to indicate to a system operator one or more mode(s), state(s), status, and/or other operational characteristic(s) of a given communication port or ports, including for example at a location on the panel that is at least near, if not immediately next to, the adapter that corresponds to the port(s) to which the indicator relates.
While many of the above examples are drawn from the field of optical communications, it will be understood that similar approaches as those described above have also been used with respect to adapters and other forms of receptacles that support electrical ports or connections. It is known for example that many personal computers include a RJ-45 jack to interface with a RJ-45 connector of an Ethernet network cable, and that many of such computers use one or more LED indicators located on or immediately adjacent the RJ-45 jack to provide information relating to the Ethernet connection/communications supported by the jack.
In addition to enabling the coupling of for example one or more communication cable(s), connector(s), and/or other path(s) and/or device(s), through which for example optical or electrical network communication traffic communicates in conventional manners known to those skilled in the art, the apparatus and methods of the present invention further enables light, such as indicator light for example, to pass through at least a portion of the structure of the apparatus itself such that the communicated light in turn illuminates, or emits, from a surface of the apparatus, preferably to provide one or more indications regarding the status and/or operation of the associated connection or communication equipment.
In a preferred example application of the present invention, the light that communicates through the receptacle itself is indicator light representing, for the benefit of an installer, test engineer, or system operator, one or more mode(s), state(s), status, and/or other operational characteristic(s) of the port(s) or connection(s) associated with the receptacle, or the module or other communication system device within which the receptacle is placed or is located, or more generally the communication system to which the module or device belongs. In one such example application, such indicator light that communicates through a receptacle body portion originates from a light source that is external to the receptacle, while in another example application such indicator light originates from a light source within the receptacle.
As a result, example embodiments of the invention can be used to obviate the need for placement of a separate indicator at another location on a panel or enclosure distinct from the receptacle, such as for example on a portion of the panel or enclosure that is near or next to the receptacle. In this way, the limited surface area that is typically available on a panel of a communication system module, or on the front end of a pluggable device, or on another enclosure surface, for example can be used in a more streamlined, efficient, and/or effective manner, as just one example among the various benefits that those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate can be realized through the present invention.
The foregoing will be apparent from the following more particular description of example embodiments, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, so as to more clearly depict and allow emphasis to instead be placed upon various elements of the illustrated example embodiments that are described in further detail below.
A description of example embodiments of the invention follows.
A first example embodiment of the present invention is illustrated schematically beginning with
Except for those instances herein where it is otherwise specified, however, generally speaking the term “port” as used herein is not intended to set forth a narrower definition of the term as compared to what is ordinarily understood by those of skill in the art, and thus for example by itself the term “port” as used herein does not describe only applications that are optical, nor is it limited to those applications having a Tx subsection associated with a first cavity and a separate Rx subsection associated with a second cavity, nor is it limited to those applications having both Tx and Rx functionality.
In this regard, in this particular example embodiment an optical fiber connector can be received through one of the two openings in the first end 210 of adapter 200 and into a cavity, such as for example one of cavities 212 and 214. Adapter 200 for example could support an optical communication port wherein cavities 212 and 214 each relate to a respective subsection (either Tx or Rx) of the optical communication port. Each cavity 212 and 214 is defined at least in part by one or more interior walls that extend into the adapter from the opening, such as for example walls 216, 218 and 220 of cavity 212, and at least walls 224, 226 and 228 of cavity 214, and serve at least in part to position a received connector within adapter 200 to facilitate a coupling, in this example an optical coupling, with an optical fiber terminated by the received optical fiber connector. In this example, a given optical fiber connector is received into cavity 212 or 214 through an opening in an exterior surface at the first, or front, end 210 of adapter 200, the opening being formed at least in part by and along the exterior edges of at least walls 216, 218 and 220, in the case of the opening associated with cavity 212, or the exterior edges of at least walls 224, 226 and 228, in the case of the opening associated with cavity 214.
While those skilled in the art will appreciate that different wall form factors than that shown for example in
Depending on the particular design and application for this particular example embodiment, a top portion 222 or 230 of respective body portions 250 or 260 might serve to also help position a received connector, and/or to help retain a received connector within its respective cavity by means of, for example, a deformable connector latch on a connector that engages and cooperates with such top portion 222 or 230.
Importantly, and to ensure clarity, uses of the terms “body” and “body portion” as used throughout this disclosure are not intended to herein set forth new definitions for or ascribe particular limitations to the terms, neither with reference to the example embodiments disclosed herein nor otherwise. Accordingly, except as may be more narrowly specified herein in a particular given context, the term “body” as used herein in the context of a receptacle should at minimum be generally understood to include a given portion, and/or the whole, of either one structure that alone represents, and/or plural structures that together represent, a given portion and/or the whole of the receptacle device, in a traditional sense as is known to those skilled in the art. Moreover, the term “body portion” in the context of a receptacle device as described herein likewise generally should at minimum be understood to include a structural portion of the receptacle, regardless of whether such portion itself comprises a given portion, and/or the whole, of only one structure or plural structures of which a portion and/or the whole of the receptacle devices is comprised. Accordingly, the example embodiments set forth herein shall not operate to limit the scope of the invention to the extent the claims set forth below use the terms “body” and/or “body portion.” The same is true with respect to other terms that may be used in the claims set forth below, such as for example and without limitation the terms “opening,” “cavity,” and “interior wall.”
In
To this end, one or more LEDs could be controlled independently of one or more other LEDs, or instead or additionally for an even wider array of indications, controlled in combination with control of the other LED(s) so as to allow for the further provision of pairs or sets of color codes wherein for example one pair or set of color codes conveys a different indication to a system operator about the optical port (in this example a two-subsection port) than another pair or set, much like different binary number strings can each represent and convey different information. If/when not controlled together in tandem, each LED 310 and 320 could instead convey information relating to only a respective subsection of the optical port in the example of a two-subsection port application of adapter 200, or relating to only an individual one of two ports of adapter 200 in the example of a single-cavity port application of adapter 200. This same sort of indicator light capability and diversity similarly can find application within the context of other example embodiments of the present invention described herein.
Moreover, instead of or in addition to the color capability described above, LEDs 310 and 320 could be controlled to illuminate in a plurality of other different manners, such as for example different light intensities and/or different static/flash patterns, so as to have the alternative or additional means for conveying a wider variety of information with fewer devices. Once again, this same sort of alternative or additional indicator light diversity, whether illumination intensity and/or pattern, similarly can find application within the context of other example embodiments of the present invention.
In the example embodiment shown in
As can be understood by
In a similar manner as described above, in this example embodiment light generated by LED 510 can communicate at least along a bottom length 462 of body portion 460 from end 464 so as to in turn illuminate at least some portion of body portion 460 that is visible, for example to a system installer or system operator, when the module in which the adapter 400 is positioned is situated in an installed position in a communication system. Similarly, light generated by LED 520 can communicate at least along a corresponding bottom length of body portion 450 so as to in turn illuminate at least some portion of body portion 450 that is visible when the module is in the installed position. In this way, light generated by LED 520 communicates through at least a portion of the adapter 400 that serves at least in part as an interior wall portion of the cavity 412—such as for example at least one or both of interior walls 416 and 418, and similarly light generated by LED 510 communicates through at least a portion of the adapter 400 that serves at least in part as an interior wall portion of the cavity 414—such as for example at least one or both of interior walls 416 and 418. The example communication system module enables and controls each of LEDs 510 and 520, either individually and/or in tandem, so as to for example provide light representing or signaling (i.e., indicating), for the benefit of an installer, test engineer, or system operator, one or more mode(s), state(s), status, and/or other operational characteristic(s) of the respective port subsections or other communication connection(s) associated with the adapter, or the module within which the adapter is placed, or more generally the communication system to which the module belongs.
Example adapter embodiments 200 and 400 can each illuminate to the extent necessary or desired to provide mode/state/status/operational information about the corresponding port subsections or other communication connection(s) that the respective adapter serves to establish. For a given application, these adapters can be used in a manner whereby they illuminate in one or a plurality of different manners, such as for example different colors, different light intensities, and/or different static/flash patterns, so as to have the capacity to convey a variety of information using only the adapter itself. Moreover, because it is the adapter itself that is capable of illuminating in this way, the present invention can for example in certain applications provide for a more streamlined, efficient, and/or effective use of any limited surface area that may otherwise be available on a panel of a communication system module.
Now with parallel reference to each of example adapters 200 and 400, these adapters are each adapted to receive up to two optical fiber connectors on the respective front end 210, 410 of the adapter, for example a connector pair not unlike connector pair 120 illustrated in
More specifically, a given one optical fiber connector is removably received through one of the two openings in a front end of the example adapter and into a cavity defined at least in part by one or more interior walls that extend into the adapter from the opening. The adapter comprises a body portion, wherein a first surface of the body portion is at least a portion of a surface of the one or more interior walls of the cavity. At least a portion of the body portion is at least semitransparent if not transparent, including in particular at least a portion that is also at least a portion of one or more of the interior walls that define the cavity. To the extent the body portion, including for example and without limitation the first surface, is at least semitransparent if not transparent, the example adapter is adapted for example to communicate, through the first surface and into the cavity, light generated by an adjacent external or integrated internal LED that passes through the body portion. As a result, when this example adapter is placed in a communication system module panel, or another device enclosure, the adapter can be viewed from the operator side of the panel or enclosure as illuminating at least in part from within the cavity that is accessible on the operator side.
Alternatively or additionally, to the extent the body portion is at least semitransparent if not transparent, including for example and without limitation a second surface of the body portion that is at least a portion of an exterior surface of the example adapter, the adapter is adapted for example to communicate, out the second surface, light generated by the LED (whether that LED is located adjacent the adapter or integrated internal to the adapter, as both are described above) that passes through the body portion. Such second surface can be for example at least a portion of a front-end surface of the adapter immediately adjacent the opening, or it can be for example another exterior surface of the adapter. Of course, it will also be understood by those skilled in the art that the scope of the invention also includes without limitation embodiments whereby more than just one exterior surface of the adapter illuminates. With respect to example adapter embodiments 200 and 400, preferably the entirety of body portions 250, 260, 450 and 460 are capable of illuminating.
By way of further illustration, with respect to adapter 200 light generated by LED 310 enters body portion 260 at end 264 and passes through bottom length 262 of body portion 260, and thereafter illuminates at least a portion of adapter 200 that extends on the operator side (e.g., left-hand side, in
In a similar manner light generated by LED 320 separately communicates through body portion 250 and out of at least adapter exterior surface 256, while in the context of adapter 400, light generated by LED 510 communicates through a bottom length 462 of body portion 460 and out of at least adapter exterior surface 466, and light generated by LED 520 communicates through a bottom length of body portion 450 and out of at least adapter exterior surface 456. Light may also exit, and thus illuminate, other exterior surfaces of these adapters, including other outer surfaces of the body portions 250, 260, 450 and 460 that are exterior surfaces of the respective adapters. By illuminating example adapter 200 in this way using multiple exterior surfaces, including for example surfaces that lie at least in part in different planes from one another, can serve to allow the illumination of the adapter to be more readily viewed from multiple angles of perspective. Further, as noted above, if desired the adapter cavities might also be illuminated in this way by the illumination of body portions 250, 260, 450 and 460. Moreover, the two body portions 250 and 260 as disposed within fully assembled example adapter 200 are separated by an opaque portion of adapter 200, and more specifically, that portion of body portion 270 that establishes walls 220 and 224. As a result of the isolation thus created by this opaque portion of body portion 270, the light that passes through the body portion 260 does so without a substantial amount of such light passing into body portion 250. Similarly, the light that passes through the body portion 250 does so without a substantial amount of such light passing into body portion 260. A similar isolation is present in adapter 400, as a result of opaque body portion 470 situated between body portions 450 and 460.
With respect to further example embodiments and applications, the light from an LED that causes adapter 200, as well as the other example embodiment receptacles described herein, to illuminate can be a first color in a first state of operation of the associated port, port subsection, connection, module, and/or system, and a second color in a second state of operation of the port, port subsection, connection, module, and/or system, so as to indicate to a system installer, tester and/or operator for example, the current state of the port, module, and/or system. The light can operate to distinguish one communication port, port subsection, and/or other connection from another one or more port(s), port subsection(s), and/or other connection(s), whether on the same pluggable, module, or elsewhere. The light can operate to provide an indication relating to at least one of identification, enablement, disablement, status, capability, commissioning, and debugging, of the associated optical communication port, module, and/or system.
Another example embodiment of the present invention is illustrated schematically beginning with
Referring now again to the additional embodiment illustrated in
In this regard, in this particular example embodiment an optical fiber connector can be received through an opening in the first end 210 of the SFP 600 and into a cavity, such as for example one of cavities 212 and 214. SFP 600 for example could support an optical communication port wherein cavities 612 and 614 each relate to a respective subsection (either transmit or receive) of the optical communication port. Each cavity 612 and 614 is defined at least in part by one or more interior walls that extend into the adapter from the opening, such as for example at least walls 616, 618 and 620 of cavity 612, and at least walls 624, 626 and 628 of cavity 614, and serve at least in part to position a received connector within receptacle to facilitate a coupling with one or more communication paths, and in the example of SFP 600, more specifically an optical coupling with and between the SFP 600 and an optical fiber terminated by the received optical fiber connector. In this example, a given optical fiber connector is received into cavity 612 or 614 through one of the two openings in an exterior surface at the first, or front, end 610 of SFP 600, the opening being formed at least in part by and along the exterior edges of at least walls 616, 618 and 620, in the case of the opening associated with cavity 612, or the exterior edges of at least walls 624, 626 and 628, in the case of the opening associated with cavity 614. Depending on the particular design and application, a top portion 622 or 630 of respective bodies 650 or 660, also referred to herein as body portions 650 or 660, in this particular example embodiment might serve to also help position a received connector, and/or to help retain a received connector within its respective cavity by means of, for example, a deformable connector latch of a connector that engages and cooperates with such top portion 622 or 630.
Returning to the illustrated example SFP 600, the exterior of illustrated body portion 670 conversely is formed to be generally opaque, with the exception for example of the optical path end at each of optical connection locations 710 and 720 as well as, as will be described further below, the sources of light to supply light for passive communication through body portions 650 and 660. As will be understood with reference to both
Each of
Apertures 740 and 750 respectively in each of body portion 650 and 660 allow the optical path end at each of optical connection locations 700 and 710 to directly couple with the optical fiber of the received connector. The opaqueness of interior walls 620 and 624 situated between body portions 650 and 660 provides optical isolation between body portions 650 and 660, similar to that which is discussed above in connection with body portions 250 and 260 of adapter 200 and body portions 450 and 460 of adapter 400. For further disclosure concerning the characteristics and control of such LED(s) or other light source(s), as well as the various forms light and corresponding conveyed indications that are possible as a result, the above description relative to LEDs of the adapter 200 and 400 embodiments is similarly applicable to the SFP 600 embodiment.
By way of further illustration, with respect to SFP 600, light generated by one or more LED(s) (not illustrated) within body portion 670, or instead delivered for example by light pipes as also described above, enters body portion 660 where body portion 660 meets inner wall 730 and passively communicates through body portion 660, and thereafter illuminates at least a portion of SFP 600 that is preferably viewable from the perspective of an operator looking at front end 610. More specifically, after communicating through the body portion 660 the LED light communicates out of at least one preferably more than one of the exterior surfaces of the SFP 600 so as to illuminate the exterior of body portion 660. Moreover, the light could instead or additionally communicate out of one or more of interior walls, such as interior walls 626 and 628 for example, into cavity 614. Body portion 650 can separately communicate light and illuminate in a similar fashion, as those skilled in the art will appreciate from the disclosure and figures herein.
While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to example embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the claims set forth below. For example and without limitation, each of the example embodiments of the invention illustrated herein are depicted as having dual cavities, or in other words two side-by-side cavities, that extend from a given end of the illustrated embodiment, which for example can be suitable for an optical port application in which a given receptacle is adapted with two port subsections together capable of receiving two optical fiber connectors from the same operator side of the receptacle, wherein one of the two connectors relates to a transmit (Tx) fiber for a Tx subsection of the port while the other of the two connectors relates to a receive (Rx) fiber for a Rx subsection of the port. Nevertheless, with the benefit of the figures and other disclosure provided herein it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to optical applications, nor does the present invention necessarily require dual cavities, insofar as the apparatus and method of the present invention may instead relate for example to a receptacle adapted for electrical rather than optical coupling, and/or may instead for example employ only one cavity or more than two cavities on a given end of the receptacle.
In summary, and without limiting the scope of the invention, one or more of the foregoing example embodiments illustrate an optical fiber connector receptacle comprising one or more walls that define an interior cavity of the optical fiber connector receptacle, a body shaped to establish at least a portion of at least one of the one or more walls, wherein an end of the interior cavity comprises an opening that provides access to the interior cavity from external to the optical fiber connector receptacle, and wherein the interior cavity is adapted to receive an optical fiber connector inserted into the interior cavity through the opening, and wherein the one or more walls that define the interior cavity are adapted to position within the interior cavity the received optical fiber connector to enable optical coupling of an optical fiber terminated by the received optical fiber connector, and wherein the body comprises a surface through which the body is adapted to emit at least one wavelength of visible light that passes through at least a portion of the body to the surface.
In each of these one or more example embodiments, the at least a portion of the body, if not the entirety of the body, is semitransparent or transparent so as to pass visible light, while one or more other components of at least certain ones of these example embodiments may be opaque. An opaque component, such as for example the respective component that establishes each of walls 220, 420, and/or 620 in certain of the example embodiments herein, can serve to provide a certain degree of optical isolation between a first body and a second body of the same receptacle, such as for example respectively first body 250 and second body 260, and/or first body 450 and second body 460, and/or first body 650 and second body 660, illustrated herein and described above in connection with the Figures. It will be understood to those skilled in the art, however, that the receptacle of the present invention need not be necessarily constructed from, or otherwise comprise, multiple components.
Referring back to the first body 250 and second body 260, and first body 450 and second body 460, and first body 650 and second body 660, illustrated herein and described above in connection with the Figures in the context of the respective embodiment in which each of these respective first body and second body pairs are shown and described, it is apparent in each of these example embodiments that each of these bodies serves, among other things, to define at least a portion, and as illustrated indeed as much as at least a majority, of the opening of the internal cavity with which the body is associated.
As is also demonstrated by one or more example embodiments herein, at least a portion of the surface, through which the body is adapted to emit at least one wavelength of visible light that passes through at least a portion of the body to the surface, can be for example: an interior cavity surface of at least one of the one or more walls that define the interior cavity (such as, for example and without limitation, at least each of walls 218, 226, 418, 426, 618, and 626); and/or a surface that lies outside the interior cavity—for example and without limitation, a surface outside the interior cavity associated with the body under consideration adjacent the opening of such interior cavity (such as, for example and without limitation, at least each of surfaces 256, 266, 456, and 466). The foregoing surface outside the interior cavity adjacent the opening can lie in at least substantially the same plane as a plane in which the opening lies.
One or more example embodiments herein also demonstrate an optical fiber connector receptacle that is a component of a communication system device comprising at least one optical port, wherein the at least one wavelength of visible light for example: has a first characteristic in a first state of the optical port and a second characteristic in a second state of the optical port; and/or has a first set of one or more characteristics in a first state of the communication system device, and in a second state of the communication system device, a second set of one or more characteristics that differs at least in part from the first set of one or more characteristics; and/or is visible light generated by the communication system device in a first state of the communication system device that is not generated by the communication system device in a second state of the communication system device; and/or is visible light generated by the communication system device to distinguish one optical port from another optical port; and/or is indicative of at least one operational attribute of the communication system device. Each of the above-described first and/or second states of the communication system device can relate, but need not necessarily relate, to one or more states of an optical port of the communication system device.
The communication system device of the sort described above can be, for example, a communication system module. Such a communication system device can instead be by way of illustration a pluggable communication system device, such as for example a pluggable optical transceiver, or pluggable optical transponder, or pluggable optical receiver, or pluggable optical transmitter, including without limitation FP versions of the foregoing.
As described above, certain one or more of the example embodiments set forth herein contemplate a light source that is integrated within the body and an electrical connection that extends at least through at least a portion of the body between the light source and a surface of the body, so as to enable illumination control of the light source from external to the optical fiber connector receptacle, while other of the example embodiments instead contemplate a light source that is at least external to the body, if not altogether external to the receptacle. In the example embodiments shown and described above, light from a light source that is external to the receptacle enters the semitransparent or transparent body through one surface of the body and is emitted through another surface of the body after passing through the body.
