Patent ID: 7551453

Claim:
An optically connectable circuit board comprising: a printed circuit card with a plurality of component attach locations; a plurality of electronic components mounted in said component attach locations; and at least one electronic component of said plurality of electronic components including a plurality of optical transceivers, one electronic component of said at least one electronic component being an optical connection to said printed circuit card and comprising: a first surface matable to a multi-signal optical connector, said optical connection being through said first surface, and a plurality of optical transceivers at said first surface; and said one electronic component being attached to a component attach location at a second surface; and wherein said printed circuit card further comprises: a plurality of wiring layers; a plurality of optical channels in a surface layer; and said one electronic component is directly connected optically to said printed circuit board, and wherein said one electronic component further comprises: a plurality of second optical transceivers at said second chip surface, said plurality of second transceivers optically connected to a corresponding optical channel.