Fiber optic transceiver employing clock and data phase aligner

An optical receiver, comprising:

• a photo-detector for receiving an input modulated light beam and providing as an output a modulated electrical signal;
• a front end coupled to the photo-detector output and providing a digital signal;
• and
• a back end coupled to the front end and receiving the digital signal and a clock signal and outputting a phase aligned signal derived from the digital signal, the back end comprising:
• a data delay circuit receiving the digital signal and delaying the digital signal to provide plural delayed digital signals from said digital signal;
• a data recognition circuit for comparing the plural delayed digital signals to a reference data pattern and providing plural comparison signals;
• a control logic circuit coupled to the data recognition circuit for providing a control signal based on the plural comparison signals;
• and
• a selection circuit selecting one of said plural delayed digital signals in response to said control signal.

A burst mode optical data transmission system, comprising:

• a plurality of transmitters providing burst mode modulated optical signals;
• at least one optical fiber optically coupled to the transmitters;
• and
• a receiver optically coupled to the fiber and receiving the burst mode modulated optical signals, the receiver comprising:
• means for receiving the modulated light from the optical fiber at the receive location;
• means for converting the received modulated light to a digital electrical signal;
• means for aligning the phase of the digital signal to the phase of a clock signal on a burst to burst basis;
• and
• means for providing a clock aligned digital signal as an output.

A method for transmitting data between transmit and receive locations over an optical network in a burst mode, comprising:

• providing modulated light to an optical fiber at the transmit location in bursts, the bursts comprising a plurality of data bits;
• receiving the modulated light from the optical fiber at the receive location;
• converting the received modulated light to a digital electrical signal;
• aligning the phase of the digital signal to the phase of a clock signal on a burst to burst basis;
• and
• providing the clock aligned digital signal as an output.