Active optical cable with an additional power connector, and electronic device using the same
AssigneeVIA Technologies, Inc.
InventorSheng-Yuan Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An active optical cable has a connector containing an electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical (EO/OE) conversion processing chip. The EO/OE conversion processing chip has a TXin+ pin and a TXin− pin to be coupled to a TX+ terminal and a TX− terminal of an USB connector of an apparatus. The pair of pins TXin+ and TXin−, for a differential transmission signal, are provided base on a common mode impedance structure, to charge capacitors carried by the TX+ and TX− terminals and, according to the charging status of the capacitors, it is determined whether the active optical cable is connected to the apparatus.
Claims18
An active optical cable, comprising:
- a first connector, operative to connect to a first apparatus;
- a second connector, operative to connect to a second apparatus;
- and
- an optical cable, connected between the first connector and the second connector,
- wherein:
- the first connector has a first electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversion processing chip, the first electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversion processing chip has a first non-inverted transmit input-pin and a first inverted transmit input-pin for coupling to a first non-inverted transmit terminal and a first inverted transmit terminal of the first apparatus, respectively;
- a connection between the active optical cable and the first apparatus is recognized by charging a first capacitor carried by the first non-inverted transmit terminal and charging a second capacitor carried by the first inverted transmit terminal in a common mode impedance measurement;
- the first electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversion processing chip further including a first resistor and a second resistor for the common mode impedance measurement;
- wherein the first resistor is directly connected between the first non-inverted transmit input-pin and a ground terminal;
- and
- wherein the second resistor is directly connected between the first inverted transmit input-pin and the ground terminal.
An electronic device, comprising:
- a first apparatus;
- and
- an active optical cable for connecting to a second apparatus external to the electronic device, the active optical cable comprising:
- a first connector, operative to connect to the first apparatus;
- a second connector, operative to connect to the second apparatus;
- and
- an optical cable, connected between the first connector and the second connector,
- wherein:
- the first connector has a first electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversion processing chip, the first electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversion processing chip has a first non-inverted transmit input-pin and a first inverted transmit input-pin for coupling to a first non-inverted transmit terminal and a first inverted transmit terminal of the first apparatus, respectively;
- a connection between the active optical cable and the first apparatus is recognized by charging a first capacitor carried by the first non-inverted transmit terminal and charging a second capacitor carried by the first inverted transmit terminal in a common mode impedance measurement;
- the first electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversion processing chip further including a first resistor and a second resistor for the common mode impedance measurement;
- wherein the first resistor is directly connected between the first non-inverted transmit input-pin and a ground terminal;
- and
- wherein the second resistor is directly connected between the first inverted transmit input-pin and the ground terminal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.