Optical fiber connection monitoring apparatus, patch panel control system and method of using same

An optical fiber patch panel system, comprising:

• a panel having a plurality of optical fiber ports, said fiber ports being formed of an optical fiber coupling and a control coupling;
• a plurality of optical cables, said optical cables having optical fibers terminating at fiber connectors selected to operatively engage fiber couplings in fiber ports of the panel;
• said cables further having control lines terminating at control connectors selected to operatively engage control couplings at fiber ports of the panel;
• means coupled to said control couplings for establishing a signal loop that extends through a pair of fiber ports and an optical cable connected to the pair of fiber ports;
• means for sending a signal through said signal loop and detecting said signal after passage through the signal loop to monitor the connections made by the optical cable at the pair of fiber ports.

An optical fiber connection monitor comprising:

• an optical fiber having at one end an optical connector, said optical fiber connector having associated therewith a control connector, said control connector including a control signal loop;
• an optical fiber coupling selected to make operative optical contact with the optical fiber connector;
• a control coupling associated with the optical fiber coupling and selected to make operative contact with the control connector and its control signal loop;
• and
• means for sending a signal through the control coupling, the control connector and its control signal loop to monitor the operative contact between the optical fiber coupling and optical fiber connector.

An optical fiber patch panel system, comprising:

• a connector panel having a plurality of optical fiber ports, said fiber ports being formed of an optical fiber coupling and an associated electrical coupling;
• a plurality of optical patch cables, each cable having an optical fiber and at least one electrical conductor, and having at each cable end an optical fiber connector and an associated electrical connector which are respectively connectable to an optical fiber coupling and its associated electrical coupling;
• each cable, upon connection to optical fiber ports, completing the formation of at least one control signal loop which includes the electrical coupling and electrical connectors at the ports to which the optical patch cable is connected;
• and
• means coupled to the electrical couplings of the optical fiber ports for sending and detecting control signals passing through each control signal loop for determining optical fiber connections made by optical patch cables connected to couplings at the connector panel.

A method for controlling optical fiber connections, comprising the steps of:

• connecting optical fiber cables to ports in a panel;
• transmitting signals to the panel to derive indications from the ports to which optical fiber cables are connected;
• and
• deriving, from the indications, a connection map of the optical fiber cables and the ports.

A method for controlling optical fiber patch cables used to interconnect ports arranged in groups in a patch panel, comprising the steps of:

• forming optical fiber patch cables having optical fiber connectors and associated control connectors at ends thereof;
• connecting optical fiber patch cables to ports in the patch panel wherein the ports have optical fiber couplings which operatively engage optical fiber connectors and control couplings which operatively engage control connectors;
• sending signals through control couplings to control connectors to derive return signals indicative of the presence of connected optical fiber cables at respective ports;
• and
• deriving from said return signals a connection map of interconnected optical fiber couplings in the panel.