Optical waveguides – With disengagable mechanical connector – Structure surrounding optical fiber-to-fiber connection
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-14
2001-04-17
Spyrou, Cassandra (Department: 2874)
Optical waveguides
With disengagable mechanical connector
Structure surrounding optical fiber-to-fiber connection
C359S016000, C359S016000, C359S199200, C359S199200, C359S199200, C359S199200, C174S034000, C361S806000, C438S138000, C438S752000, C439S101000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06217228
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a fibre channel drive, and in particular, to the pluggability of that drive.
BACKGROUND
Fibre Channel is the name of an integrated set of standards developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) which defines new protocols for flexible information transfer. Fibre channel is an open industry standard serial interface for high speed systems. One can view fibre channel simply as a transport vehicle for the supported command set (usually SCSI commands). In fact, fibre channel is unaware of the content of the information being transported. It simply packs data in frames, transports them to the appropriate devices, and provides error checking. It is also called Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL).
One popular connector interface is a single connector attachment SCA. The SCA interface was designed to provide a standard connection for systems using hot-swappable drives. The original SCA was followed by a second version called the SCA2, which includes alignment posts for grounding on the SCA2 plug and cavities on the SCA2 receptacle for receiving those posts. Unless otherwise specified, the use of the term SCA2 here includes both the original SCA as well as its descendant, the SCA2. Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) is the current high end CPU-to-drive interface. SCA2 interface drives connect to a SCSI backplane that provides power, configuration settings such as SCSI ID, and termination of the SCSI bus. An SCA2 adapter is necessary to attach an SCA2 interface drive to a standard SCSI host adapter. An SCA2 adapter should provide power and termination as well as jumper settings for SCSI ID and other drive features. Some drive models may offer configuration options on the drive.
State-of-the-art fibre channel drives come with a single connector adapter. This SCA2 has 40 connections. Other numbers of contacts are also common: 80, 120, etc.
There is no adapter which allows one to connect a fibre channel drive to anything but an SCA2 receptacle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Objects of the present invention include providing an interface to a fibre channel drive, the interface having at least two form factors—one for interfacing to a connector on a fibre channel drive and one or more others for interfacing to one or more other styles of connectors.
Another object is to provide an interface having a first form factor on a first side of a printed circuit board and one or more other form factors on an opposite side of the printed circuit board for allowing the first to interface to a connector on a fibre channel drive and the others to interface to other styles of connector.
Another object is to provide an interface between a DB9 receptacle and a fibre channel drive.
Another object is to provide an interface having an SCA style form factor on a first part of a printed circuit board which can mate to a fibre channel drive and a DB9 style receptacle on another part of said printed circuit board for connecting to a DB9 connector on a fibre channel cable.
According to the present invention, an interface is provided, the interface having at least two form factors—one for interfacing to a connector on a fibre channel drive and one or more other form factors for interfacing to one or more other styles of connectors. In further accord with the present invention, the first form factor is on a first part of the printed circuit board and the others are on a second part of the printed circuit board. In further accord with the present invention, the first part of the printed circuit board is on one side of the printed circuit board and the other part of the printed circuit board is on an opposite side. In further accord with the present invention, one or more non-SCA connectors are mounted on a front side of a substrate for receiving one or more non-SCA style connectors and an SCA2 receptacle is mounted on the back side of the substrate for interfacing the non-SCA connector an SCA connector on a fibre channel drive. In still further accord with the present invention, the non-SCA2 connector is a DB9 receptacle. In still further accord with the present invention, that non-SCA2 connector is a high speed serial data connector (HSSDC). In still further accord with the present invention, that fibre channel drive of the present invention receives a media interface adapter (MIA). In still further accord with the present invention, the non-SCA connector is an RJ-45 connector.
An advantage is that fibre channel drives are no longer restricted to interfacing to SCA style receptacles.
Another advantage is that fibre channel drives, normally adapted to interfacing to copper media, can interface to optical media without using an SCA receptacle.
Another advantage of the present invention is that an SCA style connector on a fibre channel drive can use a single interface to mate with one or more connectors having form factors other than an SCA style form factor including high speed serial data connectors (HSSDC), media interface adapter (MIA) style connectors, RJ-45 style connectors or DB9 style connectors.
Other advantages include a direct interface from a copper link to a fibre channel drive, a direct interface from an optical link to a fibre channel drive, configurability by means of the programmable header of the interface between the drive and non-SCA2 receptacle, and the provision of power to the fibre channel drive through a power plug.
These and other objects, features and advantages will become more apparent in light of the drawings and accompanying text.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5356300 (1994-10-01), Costello et al.
patent: 5547385 (1996-08-01), Spangler et al.
patent: 5717533 (1998-02-01), Poplawski et al.
patent: 5778121 (1998-07-01), Hyzin
patent: 5879173 (1999-03-01), Poplawski et al.
Samela Francis M.
Skepnek Robert
Curtis Craig
Evans Steven M.
Newman David L.
Spyrou Cassandra
Stratos Lightwave, Inc.
LandOfFree
Fiber channel drive adapter does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Fiber channel drive adapter, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Fiber channel drive adapter will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2492878