Patent ID: 8229261

Claim:
An assembly, comprising: a housing containing optical components, said components including an input adapter, an optical splitter and an optical fanout element, said housing having a housing input end and a housing output end defined by direction of optical signal transmission into said housing input end and out from said housing output end, said components oriented, aligned and supported by said housing in a manner to constrain said signal transmission between said components within said housing to a substantially linear transmission path or to one or more other transmission paths substantially parallel to said substantially linear transmission path; wherein an optical signal is received at said housing input end by an input end of said input adapter and output from an output end of said input adapter into an input end of said optical splitter; wherein an optical signal split from said optical splitter is output from an output end of said optical splitter into an input end of said optical fanout element and output from an output end of said optical fanout element to, and exiting from, said housing output end; and wherein said direction of said optical signal transmission in said housing from said housing input end to said input end of said input adapter, and from said output end of said input adapter to said input end of said optical splitter, and from said output end of said optical splitter to said input end of said fanout element, and from said output end of said fanout element to, and exiting from, said housing output end is either a substantially linear direction or a direction substantially parallel to said substantially linear direction.