Optical transmitter, optical receiver, optical cable and light transmission method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9927587-B2
Application number	US-201515314244-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2015
Priority date	Jun 24, 2014
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

There is provided an optical transmitter including an optical connector port and a light emitter. The optical connector port is configured to connect to a connector of an optical cable in a first orientation or a second orientation. The light emitter is configured to transmit the optical signal toward a first region of the connector that reflects the optical signal into an optical transmission line of an optical cable when the connector is connected in the first orientation, and transmit the optical signal toward a second region of the connector that reflects the optical signal into the optical transmission line of the optical cable when the connector is connected in the second orientation different from the first orientation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An optical transmitter comprising:
an optical connector port configured to connect to a connector of an optical cable in a first orientation or a second orientation; and
at least one light emitter configured to
transmit an optical signal toward a first region of the connector that reflects the optical signal into an optical transmission line of the optical cable when the connector is connected in the first orientation, and
transmit the optical signal toward a second region of the connector that reflects the optical signal into the optical transmission line of the optical cable when the connector is connected in the second orientation different from the first orientation,
wherein
the optical cable includes a plurality of optical transmission lines for transmitting optical signals,
the optical transmitter includes a different light emitter for each the plurality of optical transmission lines,
one of the plurality of light emitters is configured to emit an identifying signal for identifying one of a plurality of optical transmission lines, and
an optical receiver detects the identifying signal to respectively match the plurality of optical transmission lines of the optical transmitter and a plurality of optical transmission lines of the optical receiver, and switches respective connection states between the plurality of optical transmission lines of the optical transmitter and the plurality of optical transmission lines of the optical receiver based on the matching result.

2. The optical transmitter according to claim 1 , wherein the second orientation is an orientation in which the connector is rotated by 180 degrees with respect to the first orientation when a connection direction of the connector is used as a rotation axis.

3. The optical transmitter according to Claim 1 , further comprising:
a substrate on which an electronic component is mounted,
wherein the plurality of light emitters are arranged along a surface of the substrate.

4. The optical transmitter according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one light emitter is configured to transmit the optical signal toward the first or second region in a direction perpendicular to a connection direction of the connector.

5. The optical transmitter according to claim 1 , wherein
the first region includes a first reflecting surface configured to reflect the optical signal transmitted by the light emitter into the optical transmission line of the optical cable when the connector is connected in the first orientation, and
the second region includes a second reflecting surface configured to reflect the optical signal transmitted by the light emitter into the optical transmission line of the optical cable when the connector is connected in the second orientation.

6. An optical receiver comprising:
an optical connector port configured to connect to a connector of an optical cable in a first orientation or a second orientation; and
at least one light receiver configured to
receive via a first region of the connector an optical signal transmitted through the optical cable when the connector is attached in the first orientation, and
receive the optical signal via a second region of the connector when the connector is connected in the second orientation different from the first orientation,
wherein
the optical cable includes a plurality of optical transmission lines for transmitting optical signals,
the optical receiver includes a different light receiver for each of the plurality of optical transmission lines,
one of the plurality of light receivers is configured to receive an identifying signal for identifying one of a plurality of optical transmission lines of a transmission device, and

the optical receiver further includes
circuitry configured to detect the identifying signal to respectively match the plurality of optical transmission lines of the transmission device and a plurality of optical transmission lines of the optical receiver; and
a switch configured to switch respective connection states between the plurality of optical transmission lines of the transmission device and the plurality of optical transmission lines of the optical receiver based on the matching result.

7. The optical receiver according to claim 6 , wherein the second orientation is an orientation in which the connector is rotated by 180 degrees with respect to the first orientation with the connection direction of the connector as a rotation axis.

8. The optical receiver according to Claim 6 , further comprising:
a substrate on which an electronic component is mounted,
wherein the plurality of light receivers is arranged along a surface of the substrate.

9. The optical receiver according to claim 6 , wherein the at least one light receiver is configured to receive the optical signal in a direction perpendicular to a connection direction of the connector.

10. The optical receiver according to claim 6 , wherein
the first region includes a first reflecting surface that is configured to reflect the optical signal transmitted through the optical transmission line of the optical cable toward the light receiver when the connector is connected in the first orientation, and
the second region includes a second reflecting surface that is configured to reflect the optical signal transmitted through the optical transmission line of the optical cable toward the light receiver when the connector is connected in the second orientation.

11. The optical receiver according to claim 6 , further comprising:
a display configured to display an image based on the received optical signal.

12. The optical receiver according to claim 6 , further comprising:
speaker configured to output a voice based on the received optical signal.

13. An optical cable comprising:
a plurality of optical transmission lines configured to transmit optical signals;
a connector that is attached to an end of the optical transmission line, and is configured to connect to an optical connector port of an optical receiver;
a first reflector formed at the connector and configured to reflect an optical signal transmitted by a light emitter into the optical transmission line or toward a light receiver when the connector is connected to the optical receiver in a first orientation; and
a second reflector formed at the connector and configured to reflect the optical signal transmitted by the light emitter into the optical transmission line or toward the light receiver when the connector is connected to the optical receiver in a second orientation,
wherein
the optical receiver includes a different light receiver for each of the plurality of optical transmission lines,
one of the plurality of light receivers is configured to receive an identifying signal for identifying one of a plurality of optical transmission lines of a transmission device, and

the optical receiver further includes
circuitry configured to detect the identifying signal to respectively match the plurality of optical transmission lines of the transmission device and a plurality of optical transmission lines of the optical receiver; and
a switch configured to switch respective connection states between the plurality of optical transmission lines of the transmission device and the plurality of optical transmission lines of the optical receiver based on the matching result.

14. The optical cable according to claim 13 , further comprising:
a plurality of optical transmission lines;
a different first reflector for each of the plurality of optical transmission lines; and
a different second reflector for each of the plurality of

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Yamamoto Masanari
• Toba Kazuaki
• Kondo Kazumoto
• Suzuki Kazuyoshi
• Miyazaki Satoshi
• Nakajima Yasuhisa

Classifications

• G02B6/4292 Primary

  the light guide being disconnectable from the opto-electronic element, e.g. mutually self aligning arrangements · CPC title

• H04B10/25891

  Transmission components (H04B10/40 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B6/35 Primary

  having switching means (by changing the optical properties of the medium G02F1/00) · CPC title

• H04B10/12

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04B10/25

  Arrangements specific to fibre transmission · CPC title