Data bus-in-a-box (BiB) system design and implementation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9791644-B2
Application number	US-201414533865-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 5, 2014
Priority date	Nov 5, 2014
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatus for a data bus-in-a-box (BiB) are disclosed. The system involves an electrical box, and at least one optical connector located on the box. The system further involves at least one mother board housed inside of the box, and comprising a transmit side comprising at least one transmit optical media converter (OMC) tile, and a receive side comprising at least one receive OMC tile. Also, the system involves first receive optical fibers that are each connected from at least one receive OMC tile to a receive coupler; and a second receive optical fiber connected from the receive coupler to one of the optical connectors. Further, the system involves first transmit optical fibers that are each connected from at least one transmit OMC tile to a transmit coupler; and a second transmit optical fiber connected from the transmit coupler to at least one of the optical connectors.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system for a data bus-in-a-box (BiB), the system comprising:
an electrical box;
at least one optical connector located on at least one side of the box;
at least one mother board housed inside of the box, and comprising a transmit side and a receive side, wherein the transmit side comprises at least one transmit optical media converter (OMC) tile to perform electrical to optical conversion, and the receive side comprises at least one receive OMC tile to perform optical to electrical conversion;
a plurality of first receive optical fibers, wherein each of the first receive optical fibers is connected from one of the at least one receive OMC tile to a receive coupler, which is a star coupler;
a second receive optical fiber, wherein the second receive optical fiber is connected from the receive coupler to one of the at least one optical connector;
a plurality of first transmit optical fibers, wherein each of the first transmit optical fibers is connected from one of the at least one transmit OMC tile to a transmit coupler, which is a star coupler; and
a second transmit optical fiber, wherein the second transmit optical fiber is connected from the transmit coupler to one of the at least one optical connector.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system further comprises:
at least one electrical connector located on at least one of the sides of the box; and
at least one electrical wire connected from the mother board to one of the at least one electrical connector.

3. A data bus-in-a-box (BiB), the data BiB comprising:
at least one optical connector located on at least one side of the data BiB;
at least one mother board housed inside of the data BiB, and comprising a

transmit side and a receive side, wherein the transmit side comprises at least one transmit optical media converter (OMC) tile to perform electrical to optical conversion, and the receive side comprises at least one receive OMC tile to perform optical to electrical conversion;
a plurality of first receive optical fibers, wherein each of the first receive optical fibers is connected from one of the at least one receive OMC tile to a receive coupler, which is a star coupler;
a second receive optical fiber, wherein the second receive optical fiber is connected from the receive coupler to one of the at least one optical connector;
a plurality of first transmit optical fibers, wherein each of the first transmit optical fibers is connected from one of the at least one transmit OMC tile to a transmit coupler, which is a star coupler; and
a second transmit optical fiber, wherein the second transmit optical fiber is connected from the transmit coupler to one of the at least one optical connector.

4. The data BiB of claim 3 , wherein the data BiB further comprises:
at least one electrical connector located on at least one of the sides of the data BiB; and
at least one electrical wire connected from the mother board to one of the at least one electrical connector.

5. The data BiB of claim 4 , wherein the at least one electrical connector and the at least one optical connector are located on a same side of the data BiB.

6. The data BiB of claim 4 , wherein the at least one electrical connector and the at least one optical connector are located on different sides of the data BiB.

7. The data BiB of claim 4 , wherein the at least one transmit OMC tile comprises at least one spare transmit OMC tile,
wherein the at least one receive OMC tile comprises at least one spare receive OMC tile,
wherein the at least one electrical connector comprises at least one spare electrical connector,
wherein when at least one of the at least one transmit OMC tile and at least one receive OMC tile fails, at least one of the at least one spare transmit OMC tile and the at least one spare receive OMC tile is connected to at least one of the at least one spare electrical connector.

8. The data BiB of claim 3 , wherein at least a portion of an interior of the data BiB comprises thermally conductive foam.

9. The data BiB of claim 3 , wherein each of the at least one transmit OMC tile comprises an optical sub-assembly (OSA).

10. The data BiB of claim 9 , wherein the OSA is a tilted OSA.

11. The data BiB of claim 3 , wherein each of the at least one receive OMC tile comprises an optical sub-assembly (OSA).

12. The data BiB of claim 11 , wherein the OSA is a tilted OSA.

13. The data BiB of claim 3 , wherein the data BiB is one of a 3 MCU sized box and a 4 MCU sized box.

14. The data BiB of claim 3 , wherein the mother board is a double-sided printed circuit board (PCB).

15. The data BiB of claim 3 , wherein the data BiB further comprises light emitting diode (LED) failure indicator lighting located on at least one side of the data BiB.

16. The data BiB of claim 3 , wherein the mother board is a copper core board.

17. The data BiB of claim 3 , wherein the mother board comprises an aluminum back plate.

18. A method for communication using a data bus-in-a-box (BiB), the method comprising:
sending, at least one first receive signal, from at least one optical connector located on at least one side of the data BiB to a receive coupler,
sending, at least one second receive signal, from the receive coupler to at least one receive optical media converter (OMC) tile located on a receive side of a mother board housed within the data BiB;
sending, at least one first transmit signal, from at least one transmit OMC tile located on a transmit side of the mother board housed within the data BiB to a transmit coupler; and
sending, at least one second transmit signal, from the transmit coupler to at least one of the at least one optical connector.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Chan Eric Y
• Truong Tuong K
• Koshinz Dennis G
• Pang Henry B
• Lawrence William E
• Boldrin Clete M

Classifications

• G02B6/4255

  Moulded or casted packages · CPC title

• G02B6/4293

  hybrid electrical and optical connections for transmitting electrical and optical signals · CPC title

• B32B38/10

  Removing layers, or parts of layers, mechanically or chemically · CPC title

• G02B6/43

  Arrangements comprising a plurality of opto-electronic elements and associated optical interconnections · CPC title

• G02B6/4441

  Boxes · CPC title