Wavelength division multiplexing serial video signals over optical interfaces using the XFP form factor
AssigneeSemtech Canada Corporation
InventorsGareth M. Heywood, Ryan S. Latchman
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Abstract
Certain pins of an XFP connector are re-purposed to enable the connector to receive, for example, four 11.88 Gb/s serial data streams (for a receiver), or output four 11.88 Gb/s serial data streams (for a transmitter). The four data streams are wavelength division multiplexed inside the XFP module for transmission over a single optical fiber, providing a total interface capacity of 47.52 Gb/s. An XFP receiver module is defined to convert the WDM signal back to four 11.88 Gb/s serial data streams.
Claims16
An optical transmitter module for transmitting high bandwidth video signals over a single optical fibre using wavelength division multiplexing, comprising:
- a device housing having an XFP connector, wherein certain pins of the XFP connector are re-purposed for receiving a plurality of serial differential input (SDI) signals;
- a plurality of optical transmitter circuits contained within said device housing for converting said SDI signals into serial optical signals;
- and
- a wavelength division multiplexer contained within said device housing for combining said serial optical signals into an optically multiplexed signal for transmission over a single optical fibre.
An optical receiver module for receiving high bandwidth video signals that are transmitted over a single optical fibre, comprising:
- a device housing having an XFP connector, wherein certain pins of the XFP connector are re-purposed for outputting a plurality of serial differential input (SDI) signals;
- a wavelength division multiplexer contained within said device housing for receiving a high bandwidth video signal from a single optical fiber and for separating the high bandwidth video signal into a plurality of serial optical signals;
- and
- a plurality of optical receiver circuits contained within said device housing for converting said plurality of serial optical signals into a plurality of SDI signals to be output.
A method of optically transmitting high bandwidth video signals over a single optical fibre using wavelength division multiplexing, comprising:
- receiving a plurality of serial differential input (SDI) signals at a device housing having an XFP connector, wherein certain pins of the XFP connector are re-purposed for receiving certain of said plurality of SDI signals;
- converting said SDI signals into serial optical signals;
- and
- combining said serial optical signals into an optically multiplexed signal for transmission over a single optical fibre using a wavelength division multiplexer.
A method of optically receiving high bandwidth video signals that are transmitted over a single optical fibre, comprising:
- receiving a high bandwidth video signal from a single optical fibre;
- separating the high bandwidth video signal into a plurality of serial optical signals;
- converting said plurality of serial optical signals into a plurality of serial differential input (SDI) signals;
- and
- outputting said plurality of SDI signals using an XFP connector, wherein certain pins of the XFP connector are re-purposed for outputting certain of said plurality of SDI signals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.