Optical high speed bus for a modular computer network

A computer system backplane, comprising:

• a plurality of interconnected network backplane modules including a first module coupled to an interface module, the interface module coupled to a second module, the interconnected modules forming an electrical bus and an optical bus;
• the modules each comprise:
• a local electrical bus coupled to a circuit card;
• a plurality of bidirectional optical-electrical converters coupled to the optical bus for converting an optical signal transmitted on the optical bus into an electrical signal and vice versa;
• an optical link interface coupled between the local electrical bus and the bidirectional optical-electrical converters to select data and route selected data between the local electrical bus and the optical bus;
• and
• a controller coupled to the optical link interface for locally controlling the selected data routing between the local electrical bus and the optical bus;
• and
• the first module generating, transmitting and receiving optical signals of a first predetermined wavelength, and the second module generating, transmitting and receiving optical signals of a second predetermined wavelength, the interface module isolating the optical signals of the first and second modules, the interface module generating, transmitting and receiving optical signals of both the first and second predetermined wavelengths to and from the first and second sets of modules.

A data transmission network, comprising:

• a global electrical bus;
• a local electrical bus;
• an input optical bus;
• an output optical bus;
• a plurality of network backplane modules, each module comprising:
• a bus bridge coupled to the local electrical bus and the global electrical bus for routing data therebetween;
• a plurality of bidirectional optical-electrical converters coupled to the input optical bus for converting an optical signal transmitted on the input optical bus into an electrical signal and vice versa;
• a plurality of bidirectional electrical-optical converters coupled to the output optical bus for converting an optical signal transmitted on the output optical bus into an electrical signal and vice versa;
• an optical link interface coupled to the local electrical bus and the plurality of bidirectional optical electrical converters coupled to the input optical bus and the plurality of bidirectional electrical-optical converters coupled to the output optical bus for selecting data and routing the selected data between the local electrical bus and the input optical bus or the output optical bus or between the input optical bus and the output optical bus;
• and
• a controller coupled to the optical link interface for locally controlling the selected data routing between the local electrical bus, the input optical bus and the output optical bus.