Patent ID: 11953731
Assignee: TELESCENT INC.
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  B | IPC B  G

Claim 0:
1. An automated fiber optic patch-panel/cross-connect system comprised of a stacked arrangement of multiple replaceable modules, comprised of:
a first multiplicity of fiber modules, each with a second multiplicity of reconfigurable internal fiber connectors;
a common robot module shared among fiber modules, wherein any connector within a fiber module in the system can be moved to any other connector of any other fiber module in the system;
a power management module that distributes electrical power to the fiber modules and the robot module; and
a server module that generates commands that are placed on communication bus to activate robot and fiber modules,
wherein the modules are physically separated and spatially arranged to be serviced without interrupting fiber connections previously established in the system,
wherein the robot module includes a gripper, including a gripper sensor circuit including a multiplicity of photo-interrupter and/or phototransistor circuits.