Patent ID: 7581891

Claim:
An integrated optical fiber and optoelectronic module for optically coupling a pair of information system devices having an electrical input/output interface comprising: a plurality of optical fibers for communicating data between the pair of information system devices; an integral terminal housing with a top housing shell and a bottom housing shell and located at one end of the optical fiber including: an electrical connector for coupling with one of said information system devices and for transmitting information-containing electrical signals over said connector, said connector having a plurality of terminals with at least some terminals assigned to each of a plurality of communication channels, where the sets of terminals of the communication channels are noncoincident and where the electrical connector is adapted to detachably mate with a corresponding electrical receptacle on an external information system unit for transferring an information signal on each of the plurality of channels between the optical fibers and the external information system unit, an electro-optic subassembly disposed in said housing for converting the electrical signal to and from a modulated optical signal corresponding to the electrical signals at a predetermined wavelength, said subassembly being integrally coupled and attached to said optical fiber for transmitting or receiving an optical signal to or from a remote device, a power detection circuit disposed in said housing for detecting the power level of the optical signal received over the optical fiber from a remote transmitter, and a communications interface disposed in said housing for communicating the magnitude of said received power level through any one of said plurality of optical fibers to allow setting of operational parameters in the remote device; a circuit board disposed between the top and bottom housing shells; and a multi-channel signal converter having a plurality of channels, each with a respective optical transmitter and optical receiver disposed on the circuit board and wherein each channel of the plurality of channels of the signal converter is connected to a respective channel of the electrical connector for converting the information signal on each of the plurality of channels between an electrical signal and a corresponding optical signal, wherein the plurality of optical fibers include a first end integrated into said signal converter and extending from the terminal housing for transmitting the information signals.