Optical waveguides – With disengagable mechanical connector – Optical fiber to a nonfiber optical device connector
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-27
2004-08-03
Lee, John R. (Department: 2881)
Optical waveguides
With disengagable mechanical connector
Optical fiber to a nonfiber optical device connector
C385S088000, C398S139000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06769821
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an optical transmitter-receiver module and an electronic device for use in a single-core bidirectional optical transmitter-receiver system capable of performing transmission and reception with a single-core optical fiber. The present invention relates, in particular, to a digital communication system, which is able to perform high-speed transmission, such as IEEE1394 (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers 1394) and USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0.
Conventionally, as a first optical transmitter-receiver module, there is a one as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-116961. In this optical transmitter-receiver module, full-duplex communications are achieved by reducing electric crosstalk by employing a shield plate while reducing optical crosstalk by employing a light-tight partition plate that abuts against the end surface of the optical fiber so as to separate the light-emitting device and the light-receiving device from each other.
FIG.
35
A and
FIG. 36A
are plan views of a partition plate
1019
, while FIG.
35
B and
FIG. 36B
are side views showing the positional relationship of the partition plate
1019
with respect to an optical plug
1030
. With regard to this first optical transmitter-receiver module,
FIGS. 35A and 35B
shows a state in which the optical plug
1030
provided internally with a single-core optical fiber
1032
is partway inserted in an optical transmitter-receiver module (overall view is not shown) and starts coming in contact with the partition plate
1019
.
FIGS. 36A and 36B
show a state in which the optical plug
1030
is completely inserted in the optical transmitter-receiver module and fully put in contact with the partition plate
1019
.
FIG. 37A
shows a side view of an essential part of an optical cable, which has the plug
1030
and constitutes an optical transmitter-receiver system with the aforementioned optical transmitter-receiver module, while
FIG. 37B
shows a rear view of the optical cable that has the optical plug
1030
. As shown in
FIGS. 37A and 37B
, the optical plug
1030
(including the optical fiber) is provided at each end portion (only one end portion is shown) of the optical cable, and a front end of the optical plug
1030
, which includes a tip of the optical fiber, has an inclined surface
1030
a
inclined forward in the lengthwise direction of the optical fiber (i.e., toward the other optical transmitter-receiver module side not shown). Moreover, the optical plug
1030
is provided with a anti-rotation key
1031
extended in the horizontal direction, and the optical transmitter-receiver module is internally provided with a keyway (not shown) that cooperates with the key
1031
, for preventing possible changes in the optical input and characteristics in accordance with the rotation of the optical plug
1030
.
Moreover, as a second conventional optical transmitter-receiver module, there is a one as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-147349. As shown in
FIG. 38
, this second optical transmitter-receiver module employs a partition plate
1111
similar to that of the aforementioned first conventional optical transmitter-receiver module that has an optical system employing a Foucault prism
1104
. According to this, in the second optical transmitter-receiver module, the end surface of the optical fiber
1102
of the optical plug
1101
abuts against the partition plate
1111
, and a light-emitting element
1103
and a light-receiving element
1105
are molded or encapsulated with a molding resin
1106
. Lens portions
1106
a
and
1106
b
are integrally formed in the plastic molding stage of the molding resin.
In the aforementioned first conventional optical transmitter-receiver module, the optical plug
1030
has the anti-rotation key
1031
. Therefore, the optical plug
1030
cannot be inserted into the optical transmitter-receiver module unless the key
1031
is aligned with the keyway of the optical transmitter-receiver module when fitting the optical plug
1030
, and this disadvantageously causes inconvenience to the user. However, if the anti-rotation key
1031
of the optical plug
1030
is removed to improve the convenience at the time of insertion of the optical plug, then the optical plug
1030
becomes rotatable. Therefore, if the optical plug
1030
rotates with an optical fiber end surface
1030
a
being in contact with the partition plate
1019
, then there occurs a problem that the inclined end surface
1030
a
of the optical fiber and/or the partition plate
1019
is damaged.
Moreover, the second conventional optical transmitter-receiver module, which employs the Foucault prism optical system having the partition plate
1111
similar to that of the first conventional optical transmitter-receiver module, has the structure in which the partition plate
1111
abuts against the end surface of the optical fiber
1102
. Therefore, similarly to the first conventional optical transmitter-receiver module, there occurs a problem that the end surface of the optical fiber
1102
and/or the partition plate
1111
is damaged. Furthermore, the light-emitting element
1103
and the light-receiving element
1105
are mounted on an identical substrate
1109
in this second optical transmitter-receiver module, but the optical positions of the light-emitting element
1103
and the light-receiving element
1105
are not optimized with regard to the optical system that has the partition plate
1111
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide an optical transmitter-receiver module and an electronic device using the same, which module is able to perform high-quality optical transmission by full-duplex communication scheme by using a light-tight partition plate and able to prevent the optical fiber end surface and the partition plate from being damaged even if the inserted optical plug is rotated in the module.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides an optical transmitter-receiver module having a light-emitting element for emitting transmission signal light and a light-receiving element for receiving reception signal light, said module being able to perform both transmission of the transmission signal light and reception of the reception signal light by means of a single-core optical fiber, said module comprising:
a jack section for detachably holding an optical plug provided at an end portion of the optical fiber;
a light emitting/receiving unit having the light-emitting element and light-receiving element positioned and fixed in place and molded in one piece; and
a light-tight partition plate unit for separating an optical path of the transmission signal light and an optical path of the reception signal light from each other, said light-tight partition plate being arranged so as to be held between the jack section and the light emitting/receiving unit,
the light-tight partition plate unit having spring means for urging this unit toward the optical fiber.
According to the optical transmitter-receiver module of the above construction, by arranging the light-tight partition plate unit for separation between the optical path of the transmission signal light and the optical path of the reception signal light so that the plate is held between the jack section and the light emitting/receiving unit, the coupling of the transmission signal light directly with the light-receiving element is restrained, so that high-quality optical transmission by the full-duplex communication method is achieved. Further, because the partition plate unit is always urged toward the optical fiber by the spring means, the positional relation between the end surface of the optical plug and the partition plate unit is kept constant. Therefore, high-quality optical transmission by the full-duplex communication scheme can be performed, and the optical fiber end surface and the partition plate are prevented from being damaged even if the inserted optical plug is rotated in the
Nagura Kazuhito
Ohe Nobuyuki
Sone Motoki
Hughes James P.
Lee John R.
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
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