US 8,798,411 B1Granted

Switching system for optical fiber connection

AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.

InventorsKevin Christopher Miller, Christopher I. Hendrie

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Abstract

A fiber optic connection system includes a fiber optic switching device, a first optical fiber holder, and a second optical fiber holder. The fiber optic switching device includes optical waveguides and an optical waveguide carrier that carries the optical waveguides. The first optical fiber holder holds a first set of optical fibers at a first location relative to the optical waveguide carrier. A second optical fiber holder holds a second set of optical fibers at a second location relative to the optical waveguide carrier. The optical waveguide carrier is movable to position the one or more optical waveguides such that the optical waveguides optically couple the optical fibers in the first set of optical fibers to optical fibers in the second set of optical fibers.

Claims37

Dependent claims

A system for rolling over a fiber optic connection, comprising:

a fiber optic switching device, comprising:
a first pair of non-intersecting optical waveguides;
a second pair of non-intersecting optical waveguides;
an optical waveguide carrier configured to carry the first pair of non-intersecting optical waveguides and the second pair of non-intersecting optical waveguides;
a first optical fiber holder configured to hold a first pair of optical fibers at a first location relative to the optical waveguide carrier;
and
a second optical fiber holder configured to hold a second pair of optical fibers at a second location relative to the optical waveguide carrier;
wherein the optical waveguide carrier is movable at least between a first position and a second position,
wherein, when the optical waveguide carrier is in the first position, the first pair of non-intersecting optical waveguides is configured to optically couple the first pair of optical fibers to the second pair of optical fibers in a first combination,
wherein, when the optical waveguide carrier is in the second position, the second pair of non-intersecting optical waveguides is configured to optically couple the first pair of optical fibers to the second pair of optical fibers in a second combination, wherein the second combination crosses the connection of the optical fibers relative to the first combination.

7 more elements

A fiber optic connection system, comprising:

a fiber optic switching device, comprising:
one or more non-intersecting optical waveguides;
and
an optical waveguide carrier configured to carry the one or more non-intersecting optical waveguides;
a first optical fiber holder configured to hold a first set of one or more optical fibers at a first location relative to the optical waveguide carrier;
and
a second optical fiber holder configured to hold a second set of one or more optical fibers at a second location relative to the optical waveguide carrier;
wherein the optical waveguide carrier is movable to position at least one of the one or more non-intersecting optical waveguides such that the at least one of the one or more non-intersecting optical waveguides optically couples at least one of the one or more optical fibers in the first set of optical fibers to at least one of the one or more optical fibers in the second set of optical fibers;
wherein the one or more non-intersecting optical waveguides are positionable to reverse a connection between a pair of fibers in the first set of one or more optical fibers and a pair of fibers in the second set of one or more optical fibers.

6 more elements

A fiber optic connection panel system, comprising:

two or more receptacles configured to receive one or more optical fibers;
and
one or more fiber optic switching devices, wherein each of at least one of the one or more fiber optic switching devices comprises:
two or more non-intersecting optical waveguides;
and
an optical waveguide carrier configured to carry the two or more non-intersecting optical waveguides,
wherein at least one of the optical waveguide carriers is movable to position at least one of the two or more non-intersecting optical waveguides to optically couple at least one optical fiber received in a first one of the two or more receptacles with at least one optical fiber received in a second one of the two or more receptacles in a first coupling combination;
and
wherein the at least one of the optical waveguide carriers is movable to position at least another of the two or more non-intersecting optical waveguides to optically couple the at least one optical fiber received in the first one of the two or more receptacles with the at least one optical fiber received in the second one of the two or more receptacles in a second coupling combination, wherein the second coupling combination crosses the coupling of the optical fibers relative to the first coupling combination.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.