Receivers and transceivers for optical multibus systems

A fan-in integrated circuit of a node comprising:

• an arbiter/multiplexer;
• a plurality of receivers, each receiver electronically connected to the arbiter/multiplexer, wherein each receiver is configured to receive optical signals over a corresponding optical broadcast bus and convert the optical signals into a data stream encoded in electronic signals, and each receiver comprises an array of photodetectors, where each photodetector receives and converts one of the optical signals into analog electronic signals, and
• wherein the arbiter/multiplexer selects one receiver at a time to send the electronic signals to the arbiter/multiplexer which outputs the electronic signals to the node for processing;
• the integrated circuit further comprising:
• a transmitter optically coupled to an optical broadcast bus;
• and
• a control/data multiplexer electronically connected to the receivers, the node, and the transmitter, wherein the control/data multiplexer receives buffer status information from each of the receivers and a data stream encoded in electronic signals generated by the node and transmits the electronic signals to the transmitter based on the status information.

A fan-in integrated circuit of a node comprising:

• an arbiter/multiplexer;
• a plurality of receivers, each receiver electronically connected to the arbiter/multiplexer, wherein each receiver is configured to receive optical signals over a corresponding optical broadcast bus and convert the optical signals into a data stream encoded in electronic signals, and each receiver comprises an array of photodetectors, where each photodetector receives and converts one of the optical signals into analog electronic signals, and
• wherein the arbiter/multiplexer selects one receiver at a time to send the electronic signals to the arbiter/multiplexer which outputs the electronic signals to the node for processing;
• the integrated circuit further comprising:
• a multiplexer including:
• a first input electronically connected to the output of the arbiter/multiplexer;
• a second input electronically connected to a second optical fan-in integrated circuit of the node;
• and
• an output, wherein the multiplexer combines electronic signals received from the arbiter multiplexer and the second integrated circuit into electronic signals that are sent to the node for processing.

An optical bus fan-in integrated circuit for a node comprising:

• the integrated circuit comprising therein:
• an arbiter/multiplexer;
• and
• a plurality of receivers, each receiver for connection to an optical bus carrying multiple data channels, each receiver having an output electronically connected to the arbiter/multiplexer,
• wherein each receiver comprises:
• an array of photodetectors, each photodetector receives and converts one channel from a corresponding optical bus into an analog electronic signal;
• a trans-impedance amplifier (“TIA”) array, each TIA being electronically connected to a corresponding photodetector;
• a sampler array, each sampler electronically connected to a corresponding TIA of the TIA array to convert a corresponding amplified analog electronic signal into a digital electronic signal;
• and
• an address filter, electronically connected to the sampler array, that checks a destination address of packets encoded in the digital electronic signals and discards packets not addressed to the node.