Optical circuit board, an optical backplane and an optical communication system
AssigneeXyratex Technology Limited
InventorRichard Charles Alexander Pitwon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention provides an optical circuit board, the circuit board comprising: a rigid support layer; a flexible support layer formed on the rigid support layer; and, an optical layer formed on the flexible support layer. The optical layer includes one or more optical waveguides extending from a first area of the optical circuit board to an edge of the circuit board wherein the flexible support layer extends beyond the edges of the rigid support layer thereby defining a flexible passive optical connector for the circuit board.
Claims14
An optical circuit board, the circuit board comprising:
- a rigid support layer;
- a flexible support layer formed on the rigid support layer;
- and,
- an optical layer formed on the flexible support layer, the optical layer including one or more optical waveguides extending from a first area of the optical circuit board to an edge of the circuit board wherein the flexible support layer extends beyond the edges of the rigid support layer, an optical interface being defined at the edge of the circuit board by the optical waveguide;
- and
- a support structure comprising a rigid member and a spring buffer arranged to provide flexible support to the optical interface, thereby defining a flexible passive optical connector for the optical circuit board.
An optical backplane, comprising:
- a rigid support layer;
- a flexible support layer formed on the rigid support layer;
- an optical layer formed on the flexible support layer, the optical layer including one or more optical waveguides;
- and,
- one or more openings defined within the rigid support layer forming sockets for receiving a pluggable optical circuit board, wherein the flexible support layer extends partly into the or each of the sockets and being supported by a support structure comprising a rigid member and a spring buffer to thereby define a flexible passive optical connector within the or each socket.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.