Patent ID: 8905647

Claim:
A connector system comprising: a set of optical plugs having plug housings of substantially a same size, each plug housing having a front face, said each plug housing defining a first keying configuration defined at least in part by an outer periphery of said each plug housing, said first keying configuration of said each plug housing in said set of optical plugs being different, each plug of said set of optical plugs comprising a ferrule having a shape; at least one adapter to connect at least two optical plugs together, said at least one adapter comprising two receptacles, at least one of said two receptacles from a set of optical receptacles having substantially a same size, each receptacle of said set of optical receptacles having a front opening, a back wall defining a second opening having a shape that corresponds to said shape of said ferrule and spaced rearward from the front opening, and an interior space between the front opening and the second opening to receive one of said plug housings, said each receptacle of said set of optical receptacles defining a second keying configuration having at least one keying element in a position that blocks insertion of a non-keyed plug housing into said receptacle, wherein the at least one keying element extends along at least a portion of a distance between the back wall and the front opening, said second keying configuration of said each receptacle of said set of receptacles being different and being adapted to cooperate with said first keying configuration of one and only one plug housing of said set of optical plugs such that said each receptacle of said set of optical receptacles mates with only one plug housing of said set of optical plugs, wherein said each plug housing and said each receptacle having first and second keying configurations that cooperate is a mating pair; and wherein said each plug housing and said each receptacle of said mating pair is marked with a matching visual identification different from plug housings and receptacles having different first and second keying configurations.