Optical apparatus with multiple transmission power levels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9608733-B2
Application number	US-201414300038-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 9, 2014
Priority date	Jun 9, 2014
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed toward techniques and configurations for an optical apparatus to control optical power of the light source. In one embodiment, the apparatus may include a transmitter and receiver to transmit and receive optical signals over an optical communication channel, and a controller to cause the transmitter to transmit pulse signals at a first power level and detect a change in optical power in the channel, indicating a presence of a signal from another optical apparatus. The controller may confirm that the detected apparatus is capable of communications at a second power level (greater than the first level) and initiate data transmission at the second level. Upon detection of a failure in the channel, the controller may cause the transmitter to halt the data transmission and restart the pulse signals at the first power level. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical apparatus comprising:
a transmitter having a light source to transmit first optical signals over a transmission link of at least one optical communication channel;
a receiver to receive second optical signals over a reception link of the at least one optical communication channel; and
a controller coupled with the transmitter and the receiver to:
prior to initiation of transmission of the first optical signals over the transmission link of the at least one optical communication channel, cause the transmitter to transmit over the transmission link a first set of first pulse signals at a first power level;
detect a change in optical power in the reception link, wherein the change indicates a presence of an optical signal from another optical apparatus on the optical communication channel;
cause the transmitter to transmit a first set of second pulse signals at the first power level over the transmission link to the another optical apparatus, wherein the second pulse signals are different than the first pulse signals in length or frequency, wherein the first and second pulse signals are independent of data to be provided in the first optical signals;
detect a reception of a second set of the second pulse signals in the reception link in response to the transmission of the first set of the second pulse signals, wherein the reception of the second set of the second pulse signals indicates a confirmation of an ability of the another optical apparatus to communicate at a second power level; and
initiate transmission of the first optical signals at the second power level over the transmission link by the transmitter to the other optical apparatus, wherein the second power level is greater than the first power level.

2. The optical apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the change in optical power in the reception link occurs in response to the transmission of the first pulse signals.

3. The optical apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to further:
detect at least one failure condition in the optical communication channel; and
cause the transmitter to transmit a second set of the first pulse signals at the first power level over the transmission link.

4. The optical apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the controller is to cause the first and second pulse signals to be transmitted through the transmitter during a transmission time period allocated for the optical communication channel.

5. The optical apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the failure condition comprises one of: voltage above a first threshold, voltage below a second threshold, temperature above a third threshold, or ambient condition above a fourth threshold.

6. The optical apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the light source is a laser.

7. The optical apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first power level corresponds to a Class 1 American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Laser Safety Standard and the second power level corresponds to a Class 3R ANSI Laser Safety Standard.

8. The optical apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to further:
detect at least one failure condition in the optical communication channel during the transmission of the first set of first pulse signals; and
cause the transmission to be disabled or restarted.

9. A network interface card, comprising the optical apparatus of claim 1 .

10. A computing system, comprising:
a processor;
a memory coupled with the processor; and
a communication interface device coupled with the processor and memory, to connect the computing system with a network, wherein the communication interface device includes a network interface card having the optical apparatus of claim 1 .

11. A method, comprising:
initiating, by an optical apparatus, prior to initiating data transmission over a transmission link of an optical communication channel of the optical apparatus, a transmission over the transmission link of the optical communication channel of a first set of first pulse signals at a first power level;
detecting, by the optical apparatus, a change in optical power in a reception link of the optical communication channel, the change occurring in response to the transmission of the first pulse signals and indicating a presence of an optical signal of another optical apparatus on the optical communication channel;
transmitting, by the optical apparatus, a first set of second pulse signals at the first power level over the transmission link to the another optical apparatus, wherein the second pulse signals are different than the first pulse signals in length or frequency, wherein the first and second pulse signals are independent of the data to be transmitted over the transmission link;
detecting, by the optical apparatus, a reception of a second set of the second pulse signals in the reception link in response to the transmission of the first set of the second pulse signals, wherein the reception of the second set of the second pulse signals indicates a confirmation of an ability of the another optical apparatus to communicate at a second power level; and
initiating, by the optical apparatus, data transmission at the second power level over the transmission link to the other optical apparatus, wherein the second power level is greater than the first power level.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
detecting, by the optical apparatus, at least one failure condition in the optical communication channel; and
initiating, by the optical apparatus, a transmission of a second set of the first pulse signals at the first power level over the transmission link.

13. An optical arrangement to transmit and receive optical signals over an optical communication channel to a network, the optical arrangement including:
a transmitter having a laser to transmit first optical signals over the optical communication channel;
a receiver to receive second optical signals over the optical communication channel;
a cage to receive an optical fiber cable that provides the optical communication channel; and
circuitry to power on the laser, the circuitry including a breaker disposed inside the cage in a normally open state to provide a normally open circuit, wherein the laser is powered off, wherein insertion of a fiber optics connector of the optical fiber cable into the cage is to pivot the breaker to close the normally open circuit and to provide power to the laser,
wherein the transmitter, prior to initiation of transmission of the first optical signals over the optical communication channel, transmit over a transmission link of the optical communication channel a first set of first pulse signals at a first power level to another optical apparatus; transmit a first set of second pulse signals at the first power level over the transmission link to the other optical apparatus; and transmit the first optical signals at a second power level over the transmission link to the other optical apparatus, wherein the second power level is greater than the first power level, wherein the second pulse signals are different than the first pulse signals in length or frequency, wherein the first and second pulse signals are independent of data to be provided in the first optical signals.

14. The optical arrangement of claim 13 , further comprising a printed circuit board (PCB), wherein the cage is connected to the PCB.

15. The optical arrangement of claim 14 , wherein the circuit grounds a laser power line of the circuitry to a common ground of the PCB.

16. The optical arrangement of claim 13 , further comprising a network interface card (NIC) coupled with the optical

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Pavlas Chris
• Liu Guobin
• Machnikowski Maciej
• Krause Christine M
• Dubal Scott P

Classifications

• H04B10/508

  Pulse generation, e.g. generation of solitons · CPC title

• H04B10/40 Primary

  Transceivers · CPC title

• H04B10/564 Primary

  Power control · CPC title