Detecting presence of active optical cables in peripheral component interconnect-express links

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9838116-B2
Application number	US-201614991348-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 8, 2016
Priority date	Jul 21, 2015
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

A peripheral component interconnect-express (PCIe) link with presence of an active optical cable (AOC) that couples between an electrical PCIe (E-PCIe) transmitter and an E-PCIe receiver may include the AOC. The AOC may include an electrical-to-optical PCIe (EO-PCIe) transceiver coupled to the E-PCIe transmitter. The EO-PCIe transceiver may include a laser diode driver that includes a common mode voltage output terminal. The EO-PCIe transceiver may include a detection condition circuit that includes a decoupling capacitor. The decoupling capacitor may be referenced to a ground level and may connect to the common mode voltage output terminal of the laser diode driver. The detection condition circuit may create a receiver detection condition for a receiver detection circuit of the E-PCIe transmitter to detect presence of the AOC.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A peripheral component interconnect-express (PCIe) link with presence of an active optical cable (AOC) that couples between an electrical PCIe (E-PCIe) transmitter and an E-PCIe receiver, the PCIe link comprising:
the AOC that includes an electrical-to-optical PCIe (EO-PCIe) transceiver coupled to the E-PCIe transmitter, wherein the EO-PCIe transceiver includes a laser diode driver that includes a common mode voltage output terminal; and
a detection condition circuit that includes a decoupling capacitor, the detection condition circuit included in the EO-PCIe transceiver, wherein the decoupling capacitor is referenced to a ground level and connects to the common mode voltage output terminal of the laser diode driver,
wherein the detection condition circuit creates a receiver detection condition for a receiver detection circuit of the E-PCIe transmitter to detect presence of the AOC.

2. The PCIe link of claim 1 , wherein the AOC further comprises:
an optical-to-electrical PCIe (OE-PCIe) transceiver coupled to the E-PCIe receiver; and
an optical fiber coupled between the EO-PCIe transceiver and the OE-PCIe transceiver.

3. The PCIe link of claim 2 , further comprising:
the E-PCIe transmitter that includes the receiver detection circuit, a first output terminal, and a second output terminal;
a first AC coupling capacitor that couples between the first output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter and a first input terminal of the laser diode driver;
a second AC coupling capacitor that couples between the second output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter and a second input terminal of the laser diode driver; and
the E-PCIe receiver that couples to the OE-PCIe transceiver.

4. The PCIe link of claim 3 , wherein the receiver detection circuit is configured to detect presence of the AOC by measuring a voltage changing rate at the first output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter.

5. The PCIe link of claim 3 , wherein the receiver detection circuit is configured to detect presence of the AOC by measuring a voltage changing rate at the second output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter.

6. The PCIe link of claim 1 , wherein the receiver detection condition includes a formation of an equivalent terminal referenced to the ground level with a single-end direct current (DC) impedance.

7. The PCIe link of claim 1 , wherein the laser diode driver includes a differential input impedance of about 100 ohms, and the decoupling capacitor enables a formation of an equivalent terminal referenced to the ground level with a single-end direct current (DC) impedance of about 50 ohms.

8. A peripheral component interconnect-express (PCIe) link with presence of an active optical cable (AOC) that couples between an electrical PCIe (E-PCIe) transmitter and an E-PCIe receiver, the PCIe link comprising:
the E-PCIe transmitter that includes a receiver detection circuit, a first output terminal, and a second output terminal;
a first alternating current (AC) coupling capacitor that couples to the first output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter;
a second AC coupling capacitor that couples to the second output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter;
the E-PCIe receiver;
the AOC that includes:
an electrical-to-optical PCIe (EO-PCIe) transceiver coupled to the E-PCIe transmitter, wherein the EO-PCIe transceiver includes a laser diode driver that includes:
a common mode voltage output terminal;
a first input terminal that couples to the first AC coupling capacitor; and
a second input terminal that couples to the second AC coupling capacitor;

an optical-to-electrical PCIe (OE-PCIe) transmitter coupled to the E-PCIe receiver; and
an optical fiber coupled between the EO-PCIe transceiver and the OE-PCIe transceiver; and

a decoupling capacitor that is referenced to a ground level and connects to the common mode voltage output terminal of the laser diode driver, wherein the decoupling capacitor is included in the EO-PCIe transceiver and the decoupling capacitor creates a receiver detection condition for the receiver detection circuit of the E-PCIe transmitter to detect presence of the AOC.

9. The PCIe link of claim 8 , wherein the receiver detection circuit is configured to detect presence of the AOC by measuring a voltage changing rate at the first output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter.

10. The PCIe link of claim 8 , wherein the receiver detection circuit is configured to detect presence of the AOC by measuring a voltage changing rate at the second output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter.

11. The PCIe link of claim 8 , wherein the receiver detection condition includes a formation of an equivalent terminal referenced to the ground level with a single-end direct current (DC) impedance.

12. A peripheral component interconnect-express (PCIe) link with presence of an active optical cable (AOC) that couples between an electrical PCIe (E-PCIe) transmitter and an E-PCIe receiver, the PCIe link comprising:
a first alternating current (AC) coupling capacitor that couples to a first output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter;
a second AC coupling capacitor that couples to a second output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter;
the AOC that includes an electrical-to-optical PCIe (EO-PCIe) transceiver that includes a laser diode driver, wherein the laser diode driver includes:
a first input terminal that couples to the first output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter via the first AC coupling capacitor; and
a second input terminal that couples to the second output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter via the second AC coupling capacitor; and a detection condition circuit that includes:
a first direct current (DC) blocking capacitor that couples between the first AC coupling capacitor and the first input terminal of the laser diode driver;
a first inductive impedance that is referenced to a ground level and connects to a point in a first signal route between the first AC coupling capacitor and the first DC blocking capacitor;
a second DC blocking capacitor that couples between the second AC coupling capacitor and the second input terminal of the laser diode driver; and
a second inductive impedance that is referenced to the ground level and connects to a point in a second signal route between the second AC coupling capacitor and the second DC blocking capacitor,
wherein a first combination of the first inductive impedance and the first DC blocking capacitor and a second combination of the second inductive impedance and the second DC blocking capacitor each create a receiver detection condition for a receiver detection circuit of the E-PCIe transmitter to detect presence of the AOC.

13. The PCI-e link of claim 12 , further comprising:
the E-PCIe transmitter that includes the receiver detection circuit, the first output terminal, and the second output terminal.

14. The PCIe link of claim 12 , wherein the receiver detection circuit is configured to detect presence of the AOC by measuring a voltage changing rate at the first output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter.

15. The PCIe link of claim 12 , wherein the receiver detection circuit is configured to detect presence of the AOC by measuring a voltage changing rate at the second output terminal of the E-PCIe transmitter.

16. The PCIe link of claim 12 , wherein the receiver detection condition includes a formation of an equivalent terminal referenced to the ground level with a single-end DC impedance.

17. The PCIe link of claim 12 , wherein the first combination of the first inductive impedance and the first DC blocking capacitor forms an equi

Assignees

• Finisar Corp

Inventors

• He Hongdang
• Chen Qin

Classifications

• G06F13/4282

  on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus (on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247) · CPC title

• G06F2213/0026

  PCI express · CPC title

• H04B10/07955 Primary

  Monitoring or measuring power · CPC title

• H04B10/801 Primary

  using optical interconnects, e.g. light coupled isolators, circuit board interconnections · CPC title

• G06F13/4086

  Bus impedance matching, e.g. termination · CPC title