Patent ID: 7651277

Claim:
A connector system comprising: a set of different optical plugs, each plug of said set of different optical plugs having a small factor housing having a front face defining an opening and a ferrule disposed in said opening, said opening adapted to receive a ferrule-receiving portion of a receptacle, said front face defining r number of first keying elements in a combination of n number of possible positions about said opening of each plug, said combination for each of said different optical plugs being unique, wherein r=n/2 if n is an even number, or r=(n±1)/2 if n is an odd number; a set of different optical receptacles, each receptacle of said set of different optical receptacles having a cavity and a ferrule receiving portion defining a passage, and having said r number of second keying elements in a combination of said n number of possible positions, said combination for said each receptacle being unique and adapted to cooperate with one and only one combination of positions of said first keying element, wherein a plug of said set of different optical plugs and a receptacle of said set of different optical receptacles having cooperating said first and second keying elements are a mating pair such that said cavity of said receptacle receives said plug and said passage of said receptacle receives said ferrule of said plug; and a secondary key extending from the housing of said each plug to prevent mating of said each plug to a receptacle not having a secondary slot to accommodate said secondary key; wherein each of said set of different optical receptacles has said second keying element; and wherein each mating pair corresponds to a particular color.