Patent ID: 8781267

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a circuit board; an integrated circuit connected to the circuit board and operable to process electrical signals; an optical engine connected to the circuit board and operable to convert between electrical signals toward the integrated circuit and optical signals toward an edge of the circuit board; an optical physical interface module connected at the edge of the circuit board, the optical physical interface module comprising a first optical interface operable to communicate optical signals with the optical engine and a second optical interface operable to receive an optical connector and communicate optical signals with the optical connector so that the edge of the circuit board has an optical interface for external communication; and a connector attached to the edge of the circuit board, and wherein the optical physical interface module is inserted in the connector, wherein the first optical interface is configured to receive one or more pins protruding from the connector attached to the edge of the circuit board, and the optical physical interface module is operable to receive at least one of power and control signals via the one or more pins.