Patent ID: 8767064

Claim:
A combination of an optical connector inspection apparatus and an optical connector inspecting in cooperation with each other a held posture of an optical fiber in the optical connector, the optical connector having a fitting hole portion formed at a front end in an axial direction thereof to be fitted with a mating connector in the axial direction, an optical fiber holding portion penetrating in the axial direction and holding the optical fiber so that the optical fiber extends in the axial direction, and a rear end portion from which the optical fiber leads out in the axial direction; wherein the optical connector further has four reference hole portions formed at corners of an inside of the fitting hole portion, each reference hole portion penetrating in the axial direction and opening at the rear end portion; wherein the optical connector inspection apparatus comprises: an optical connector holder holding the optical connector with the optical fiber held by the optical fiber holding portion; a light source disposed rearward of the optical connector held on the optical connector holder, emitting inspection light in a direction traversing the axial direction of the optical connector; an inspection light reflecting portion, formed on the optical connector holder, serving to reflect the inspection light emitted from the light source and deflect the inspection light thereby into the axial direction so that the inspection light enters the four reference hole portions from the rear end portion of the optical connector; and an image pickup device disposed forward of the optical connector held on the optical connector holder, the image pickup device picking up images of transmitted light beams obtained by transmission of the inspection light through the four reference hole portions and an image of a front end face of the optical fiber held by the optical fiber holding portion; wherein the optical connector inspection apparatus inspects the held posture of the optical fiber held by the optical fiber holding portion of the optical connector based on an image pickup result by the image pickup device.