Patent ID: 7123802

Claim:
A piping unit for efficiently arranging a plurality of optical fibers in a communication system, said piping unit comprising: an elongate tube having an approximately square transverse cross-section and having a plurality of parallel longitudinal cavities extending the length of the tube, said longitudinal cavities having a circular cross-section; and a coupling device mounted on an end of the elongate tube to provide access to individual optical fibers mounted within the longitudinal cavities, said coupling device including: a plurality of micro-ducts aligned with the longitudinal cavities at a first end of the coupling device adjacent to the end of the elongate tube; and a coupler for each micro-duct at a second end of the coupling device, each coupler being sized to couple with conventionally sized micro-ducts; wherein each of the longitudinal cavities is sized to mount within the cavity, an optical fiber extending the length of the elongate tube, and the longitudinal cavities are arranged to maximize the number of optical fibers that are mounted within the approximately square transverse cross-section of the elongate tube.