Abstract:
A connection module of optical transceiver is provided for interconnection between an optical transceiver and different types of fiber optic connectors. It consists of a housing and various types of receptacles. A first cover and a second cover are combined to form the housing. Each receptacle has a connector port for a specific type connector to plug in. All of the receptacles have a common connection structure to attach onto the housing.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of Invention  
           [0002]    The invention relates to a fiber optic connection module and, in particular, to a connection structure between an optical transceiver and different types of fiber connectors.  
           [0003]    2. Related Art  
           [0004]    Currently, the standards of optical transceivers and fiber connectors on the market are established by each manufacturer. Therefore, they are often incompatible with one another. In other words, the optical transceivers and fiber connectors made by each manufacturer have one-to-one correspondence. Such examples include the Lucent connect (LC) developed by Bell Laboratory, the former Lucent Tech., Inc, the miniature unit (MU) of NTT, Inc., and the SC commonly used in North America. Any of the above-mentioned fiber connector cannot be connected with other types of optical transceiver. This problem results from market competition. In order to increase their market occupancy, the manufacturers are forced to design the connection ports of their optical transceivers in such a way to comply with the connector standards of their own. However, this results in great troubles for manufacturers that make optical communication devices and optic fiber networks.  
           [0005]    Therefore, there are adapters for connecting different types of optical devices. For example, the MU/SC adapter made by Bullwill, Inc. is designed for connecting MU and SC connectors. However, it is still inconvenient to use the adapters. For instance, one has to purchase optical cables with MU connectors on both ends and an adapter in order to connect an SC connector and an MU optical transceiver. Even a professional optic fiber network engineer can only remove the SC connectors and put in an MU connector at each optic cable terminal. This requires one to have all the elements and installation tools for the MU connector. Therefore, adaptors are obviously ineffective for the installation of a local optic fiber network or even achieving the goal of fiber to the desk (FTTD). Moreover, they often increase the cost.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    The invention solves the problem that the optical transceiver and different types of optic fiber connectors are incompatible.  
           [0007]    In view of the foregoing, the connection module for optical transceivers provided by the invention includes a receptacle and a housing. The receptacle has an input terminal and an output terminal. The input terminal is connected with an optic cable connector, and the output terminal has two parallel connection parts. The housing encloses an optical transceiver. It is consisted of a first cover and a second cover. Two connection parts are provided on the same side of the first cover and the second cover for them to be embedded into the corresponding connection parts on the output terminal of the receptacle. Therefore, the optical transceiver can be connected with different types of connectors.  
           [0008]    The invention can achieve the goal of connecting an optical transceiver with different types of connectors through the disclosed connection module. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional view of the first embodiment of the disclosed connection module for optical transceivers with LC receptacles;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of connection parts of the LC receptacle and the housing depicted in FIG. 1;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a three-dimensional view of the second embodiment of the disclosed connection module for optical transceivers with SC receptacles;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional view of the third embodiment of the disclosed connection module for optical transceivers with MU receptacles; and  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is a three-dimensional view of the fourth embodiment of the disclosed connection module for optical transceivers. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]    With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the optical transceiver connection module  100  in the first embodiment has a receptacle  200  and a housing  300  for accommodating an optical transceiver (now shown).  
         [0016]    The receptacle  200  is of the LC type. Its input terminal  210  is for the connection of the connector  410  of an optic cable  400 . The connector  410  is also an LC-type fiber connector compatible with the receptacle. The output terminal  220  has two parallel trapezoid grooves  221 , two stop parts  222 , and a through hole  223 . The two grooves  221  and the two stop parts  222  roughly form a rectangle. The through hole  223  allows multiple optic fibers  420  wrapped inside the optic cable  400  to pass through. It is connected to the photo sensor on the circuit board in the optical transceiver.  
         [0017]    The housing  300  consists of a first cover  310  and a second cover  320  to accommodate all elements (not shown) of the above-mentioned optical transceiver. The corresponding sides of the first cover  310  and the second cover  320  have a U-shape protruding tracks  330 , which also have trapezoid cross sections to match with the grooves  221  on the receptacle  220 . The two covers  310 ,  320  have an opening  340  on the inner side for the optic fibers  420  to go through. The first cover  310  has two hook arms  311  on opposite sides and extending toward the second cover  320 . The end of each of the hook arms  311  has a hook  312 . The second cover  320  is formed with hook holes  321  corresponding to the hooks  312 . The first cover  320  is further formed with pins  313  extending toward the second cover  320 . Correspondingly, the second cover  320  has a pinhole  322 . The back end of the second cover  320  also has a hook arm  323  extending toward the first cover  310 . The end of the hook arm  323  is also a hook. A hook hole  314  corresponding to the hook arm  323  is formed on the first cover  310 .  
         [0018]    The elements described in the above paragraph are combined in the following manner. The first cover  310  and the second cover  320  are combined with the receptacle  200  by aligning the U-shape protruding tracks  330  with the grooves  221  on the output terminal  220 . Finally, the inner sides of the closing ends of the two U-shape protruding tracks  330  touch the stop parts  222  of the receptacle  200 . Since the grooves  221  and the protruding tracks  330  have matching trapezoid cross sections, the first and second covers  310 ,  320  and the receptacle  200  can be tightly combined and will not depart along the axial direction of the optic fibers  420 . At the same time, the pin  313  on the first cover  310 , the hooks  312  of the hook arms  311 , and the hook holes  314  combine with the hook holes  321 , the pinhole  322 , and the hook arm  323  on the second cover  320 . In practice, one needs to finish the connection between the optic fibers  420  and the photo sensor on the circuit board of the optical transceiver inside the housing  300  before assembly. Moreover, there are many other choices for combining the first and second covers  310 ,  320  in the prior art.  
         [0019]    A connection module  500  for optical transceivers provided in the second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 3. The housing  530  is exactly the same as in the previous embodiment. The only difference is that the receptacle  510  is the SC type (the connector  520  connected with the input terminal is the same). The output terminal  511  of the receptacle  510  also has two parallel grooves  513  with trapezoid cross sections, two parallel stop parts  514 , and a through hole  515 . The two grooves  513  and the two stop parts  514  also roughly form a rectangle. Therefore, it is assembled in exactly the same way as the first embodiment. Likewise, the third embodiment of a connection module  600  for optical receptacles shown in FIG. 4 is only different from the above-mentioned ones in that the receptacle  610  (including the connector  620 ) is replaced with a MU type one. The output terminal  611  of the receptacle  610  also has two parallel grooves  612  with trapezoid cross sections, tow parallel stop parts  613 , and a through hole  614 . The two grooves  612  and the two stop parts  613  also roughly form a rectangle. Therefore, the first cover  631  and the second cover  632  can be combined into the housing  630  in the same way as the first embodiment.  
         [0020]    As disclosed in the above three embodiments, the invention utilizes the design of two separate covers and a U-shape protruding tracks to make an optical transceiver compatible with the LC, SC, and MU connectors or other small-form-factor (SFF) standards, such as MT-RJ (AMP, Inc.) and VF-45 (3M, Inc.). Moreover, both single-mode and multiple-mode optic fibers can be used with the invention.  
         [0021]    Furthermore, the positions of the protruding tracks and the grooves can be mutually interchanged. For example, the connection module  700  of the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 5 has the two parallel grooves on the housing  710 , while the parallel protruding tracks  721  are designed on the receptacle  720 . The cross sections of the grooves  711  and the protruding tracks  721  are matching trapezoids.  
         [0022]    Based upon the techniques of the invention, the connection port of a normal optical transceiver housing is singled out as a receptacle. The housing is separated into independent first cover and second cover, which have matching connection parts. The connection port of the receptacle can be of any standard, and the receptacle of any standard has the same matching part so as to combine with the first and second covers.  
         [0023]    While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements as would be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.