JP2015158616A - Optical adapter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical adapter capable of blocking an invalid signal which is generated by influence externally exerted upon optical fibers and/or the optical adapter and transmitted in the reverse direction.SOLUTION: An optical adapter for connecting two optical plugs 400 comprises a housing 100 provided with insertion ports 102 in which to insert the optical plugs 400 respectively. Inside the housing 100, the optical adapter further comprises a light emitting/receiving element 202 as a unidirectional transmission member for transmitting light in only one direction at a position that faces an end of each of the optical plugs 400 when the optical plugs 400 are inserted, thereby enabling a transmission direction of an optical signal to be restricted to a single direction.

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical adapter for an optical fiber cable used mainly in short-distance communication applications in the fields of digital equipment and automobiles. In particular, the present invention relates to an optical adapter having an internal structure for restricting transmission of light from an optical fiber in one direction.

  In short-distance communication inside electronic devices and short-distance communication between electronic devices in homes or automobiles, it is generally not necessary to take into account transmission loss of optical signals. Is used. The optical fiber made of plastic is larger in diameter than the optical fiber made of glass, and is characterized in that it is light and strong against bending and is not easily broken, and is manufactured using a plastic material, so that the cost can be reduced. Therefore, in addition to short-range communication, it is used for various purposes such as lighting and decoration.

  The tip of a plastic optical fiber used for short-distance communication is held by an optical plug, and the optical plug holding the tip of the optical fiber is an optical adapter (or optical receptacle) on the substrate of an electronic device. Connected to. In the prior art, for example, the duplex adapter 32 described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-242134 (Patent Document 1) inserts the optical connector 20 and the optical connector 40 at both ends thereof, so that each of the optical connector 20 and the optical connector 40 is inserted. A plastic optical fiber 11 can be connected. Thereby, an optical signal is transmitted / received between apparatuses via the plastic optical fiber 11 connected by the duplex adapter 32. That is, the optical signal can be transmitted bidirectionally.

  Conventionally, as described in Patent Document 1, an optical adapter for connecting optical fibers to each other requires a light receiving element and a light emitting element to transmit an optical signal with the front ends of the optical fibers facing each other. And not. On the other hand, an optical receptacle (optical transmission module) described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-86940 (Patent Document 2) transmits an optical signal from an optical fiber as an electrical signal to an internal circuit or an internal mechanism of an electronic device. Alternatively, a light receiving element or a light emitting element is provided to transmit an electrical signal from the internal circuit of the electronic device to the optical fiber as an optical signal. These light receiving elements or light emitting elements can transmit an optical signal only in one direction.

  The transmission direction of the optical signal transmitted in the optical fiber is usually controlled by the internal circuit of the electronic device, and the optical signal is not transmitted in the reverse direction. For example, an illegal optical signal that can be transmitted in the reverse direction in the optical fiber may be generated due to the influence of an external signal, disturbance, noise, or the like. Even in such a case, for example, in an optical receptacle as described in Patent Document 2, an illegal optical signal transmitted in the reverse direction in an optical fiber is received by a light receiving element or a light emitting element provided therein. Can be blocked.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-242134 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-86940

  However, the optical adapter as described in Patent Document 1 cannot block unauthorized signals transmitted in the reverse direction by itself. Basically, an optical adapter transmits optical signals in both directions using optical fibers connected to both ends of the optical adapter. Therefore, the optical adapter and the optical adapter are affected by external influences on the optical fiber and the optical adapter. Unauthorized signals transmitted in the direction) cannot be blocked. In addition, an erroneous optical signal may be transmitted in the reverse direction due to a human error such as a mistake in inserting an optical plug inserted into the optical adapter. Even if an unauthorized optical signal is transmitted, the internal circuit of the electronic device is normally designed not to accept the reverse optical signal, but it may adversely affect the operation of the electronic device. Cannot be completely denied. For this reason, it is necessary to prevent unauthorized transmission of signals that cause malfunction of electronic devices.

  In order to solve such a problem, it is possible to regulate the transmission direction of the optical signal in one direction by providing the light receiving element and the light emitting element or the light receiving / emitting element integrated with them inside the housing of the optical adapter. A simple optical adapter.

As one embodiment of the optical adapter according to the present invention, an optical adapter for connecting two optical plugs is:
Including a housing having an insertion port for inserting the optical plug;
The housing includes a unidirectional transmission member that transmits light in one direction at a position facing the tip of the optical plug when the optical plug is inserted.

As a preferred embodiment of the optical adapter according to the present invention, the optical adapter further includes a substrate on which the one-way transmission member is mounted,
The housing is characterized in that a space for accommodating the substrate is formed.

  As a preferred embodiment of the optical adapter according to the present invention, the one-way transmission member includes a light receiving element and a light emitting element.

  As a preferred embodiment of the optical adapter according to the present invention, a relay circuit for supplying electric power to the one-way transmission member and relaying light using the one-way transmission member is wired on the substrate. It is characterized by.

  As a preferred embodiment of the optical adapter according to the present invention, the insertion ports have different shapes.

As a preferred embodiment of the optical adapter according to the present invention, the optical adapter further includes a base member having a plurality of legs for fixing the optical adapter to an installation position,
The base member is fitted into the housing and fixes the substrate accommodated in the housing.

As one embodiment of the housing used in the optical adapter according to the present invention, the housing includes a housing portion for housing the one-way transmission member,
The accommodating portion is formed at a position where the one-way transmission member and the tip of the optical plug inserted from the insertion port can be brought close to each other.

As one embodiment of the substrate housed in the optical adapter according to the present invention, the substrate comprises the unidirectional transmission member,
The one-way transmission member is arranged at a position close to the tip of the optical plug inserted from the insertion opening when it is accommodated in the housing.

  The optical adapter according to the present invention provides a unidirectional transmission member composed of a light receiving element and a light emitting element at a position facing the tip of the optical plug inside the housing, thereby connecting two optical plugs with the optical adapter. The optical signal emitted from one optical plug is transmitted to the other optical plug via the one-way transmission member in the housing of the optical adapter, but the transmission of the optical signal in the reverse direction is performed in the housing. Can be blocked by a one-way transmission member. Since the optical adapter according to the present invention has a function of blocking an unauthorized signal transmitted in the reverse direction (unintended direction), which is not found in the prior art, malfunction of an electronic device or the like due to the unauthorized signal is prevented. It can be prevented in advance.

It is a figure which shows the structure of an optical adapter. It is a figure which shows the state which connected the optical plug of the optical fiber to the optical adapter. It is sectional drawing which cut | disconnected the optical adapter in the orthogonal | vertical direction along the line of AA in FIG. It is a front view from the optical plug insertion direction of an optical adapter. It is the figure which simplified the circuit on the board | substrate inside an optical adapter. It is a top view which shows the modification of the shape of an optical adapter.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that components having the same function are denoted by the same reference symbols throughout the drawings for describing the embodiment, and the repetitive description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an optical adapter according to an embodiment of the present invention. The optical adapter includes a housing 100, a substrate 200, and a base 300. The housing 100 includes a rectangular upper portion for connecting the optical plug 400 and a rectangular lower portion for accommodating the substrate 200. The optical plug 400 is provided at both ends of the upper portion. Insertion ports 102 for inserting and connecting the optical fibers 402 are respectively provided, and an accommodation space for accommodating the substrate 200 is provided inside the lower portion. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6 to be described later, the shape of the optical adapter can adopt a shape different from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 according to the installation position, space, application, and the like. .

  The optical plug 400 holds the tip portion of the optical fiber 402 inside, and a lever-like latch 404 for maintaining the connection when the optical plug 400 is inserted into the insertion port 102 of the optical adapter housing 100 and connected. At the top. In the upper portion of the housing 100, a latch accommodating portion 104 having an opening for accommodating the latch 404 and locking the protruding portion of the latch 404 is formed at a position corresponding to the latch 404 of the optical plug 400. . As the optical fiber 402, plastic is generally used for short-distance communication, but an optical fiber made of a different material can be used depending on the purpose of use or application.

  The substrate 200 includes a light receiving / emitting element 202 on the top. The light emitting / receiving element 202 is a unidirectional transmission member for restricting transmission of an optical signal (or light) in one direction. The light receiving / emitting element 202 shown in FIG. 1 includes the light receiving element 204 and the light emitting element 206, but may be a single element in which the light receiving element 204 and the light emitting element 206 are integrated.

  A relay circuit for transferring an optical signal between the light receiving element 204 and the light emitting element 206 is wired on the substrate 200, and a light receiving / emitting element 202 (light receiving element 204, light emitting element 206) and a relay circuit are provided below the substrate 200. A power supply terminal 208 for supplying power is provided. The light emitting / receiving element 202 is mounted at a predetermined position on the substrate 200 so as to face and face the tip of the optical plug 400 inserted from the insertion port 102 when housed in the housing 100. .

  The base 300 includes a wall-like support portion 302 for accommodating the substrate 200 and supporting the bottom surface of the substrate 200, and a terminal insertion hole 304 for exposing the power supply terminal 208 below the substrate 200 to the outside. . In addition, the base 300 includes legs 306 for fixing the optical adapter to an internal board of an electronic device or the like where the optical adapter is installed.

  The optical adapter according to the embodiment of the present invention is assembled by housing the substrate 200 in the housing 100 and fitting the base 300 to the housing 100. When fitted, the protruding locking portion 308 on the side surface of the base 300 is fitted into the locking port 106 on the side surface of the housing 100. The slits 108 around the locking port 106 are provided to make the locking port 106 flexible so that the locking portion 308 can be easily fitted. The appearance of the assembled optical adapter is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 2 shows a state in which the optical fiber 400 is connected by inserting the optical plug 400 into each of the two insertion ports 102 of the housing 100 of the optical adapter according to the embodiment of the present invention. The protrusion of the latch 404 is locked in the opening of the latch housing 104, and the connection between the optical adapter and the optical plug 400 is fixed. The triangle mark 110 on the upper surface of the latch housing portion 104 indicates the light transmission direction in the direction of the apex of the triangle. In FIG. 2, light is transmitted from the front optical fiber 402 to the back optical fiber 402. Represents. As described above, the insertion of the optical plug into the optical adapter can be prevented by the mark such as the triangular mark 110.

  Since the optical adapter shown in FIG. 2 is symmetrical, the shapes of the two insertion ports 102 of the housing 100 are the same, and the shapes of the two optical plugs 400 corresponding to these shapes are also the same. Therefore, the two optical plugs 400 can be reversely inserted into the optical adapter regardless of the mark of the triangular mark 110. Even if the optical plug 400 is reversely inserted, the light emitting / receiving element 202 in the housing 100 is a unidirectional transmission member that allows light to pass only in one direction, and thus prevents light transmission in the reverse direction. Can do.

  However, it is also possible to intentionally change the transmission direction of the optical signal by inserting the two optical plugs 400 into the optical adapter in the reverse direction. In this case, an unexpected optical signal is generated in the internal circuit of the electronic device. It is conceivable to be transmitted. Therefore, the shapes of the two insertion openings 102 of the housing 100 are different from each other, and the shapes of the two optical plugs 400 are also made different from each other, so that the optical plug 400 is reversed to the optical adapter. Insertion can be physically prevented.

  For example, convex portions are provided at different positions on the side surfaces of the two optical plugs 400, and concave portions are provided at different positions on the inner surfaces of the two insertion ports 102 in correspondence with the positions of the convex portions. Accordingly, the optical plug 400 having a shape that does not correspond to the shape of the insertion slot 102 cannot be inserted because the positions of the convex portion and the concave portion are not aligned, and the optical plug 400 is inserted incorrectly or intentionally. Can be prevented from being inserted in reverse.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the optical adapter cut in the vertical direction along the line AA in FIG. The upper portion of the housing 100 has an element accommodating portion 112 for accommodating the light emitting / receiving element 202 therein. The light emitting / receiving element 202 accommodated in the element accommodating portion 112 is a state where the optical fiber 402 is exposed from the distal end of the optical plug 400 (that is, from the coating of the optical fiber) in a state where the optical plug 400 is inserted into the housing 100. It is fixed at a position close to the exposed bare fiber) and the tip portion and the light receiving portion or light emitting portion of the light emitting / receiving element 202 face each other. The lower part of the housing 100 accommodates the substrate 200 in the space inside.

  In the optical adapter according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 3, the light receiving / emitting element 202 is composed of the light receiving element 204 and the light emitting element 206, so that the element accommodating portion 112 for accommodating each element is a wall. Are provided independently. The light receiving part of the light receiving element 204 and the light emitting part of the light emitting element 206 are disposed at positions facing the tip part of the optical fiber 402 close to each other. The substrate 200 is fixed by the support portion 302 of the base 300 supporting the bottom surface of the substrate 200.

  FIG. 4 is a front view of the optical adapter viewed from the insertion direction of the optical plug. The base 300 is housed in the lower part of the housing 100 together with the substrate 200, and the leg portion 306 extends to the outside. The tip portion of the leg portion 306 is gradually thickened from the tip to form a protrusion. The protrusions of the leg portions 306 are fitted into locking holes (not shown) provided in the internal substrate of an electronic device or the like, so that the optical connector can be fixed to the internal substrate. The power supply terminal 208 extends to the outside of the optical adapter through the terminal insertion hole 304 of the base 300 shown in FIG. 1, and when the optical adapter is attached to the internal board of an electronic device or the like, Electrically connected. The relay circuit wired to the substrate 200 in the optical adapter and the light emitting / receiving element 202 provided in the substrate 200 can be supplied with power from an internal substrate such as an electronic device via the power supply terminal 208.

  FIG. 5 is a simplified diagram of a circuit wired to a substrate inside an optical adapter according to an embodiment of the present invention. The substrate 200 includes a light receiving element 204, a light emitting element 206, and a relay circuit 210. The light receiving element 204 receives an optical signal from the optical fiber 402 and converts it into an electrical signal, and the light emitting element 206 is based on the electrical signal. Emits light to restore the optical signal. The relay circuit 210 can accurately restore the optical signal by the light emitting element 206 by amplifying the electrical signal converted from the optical signal by the light receiving element 204. Since the light emitting element 206 cannot receive light and the light receiving element 204 cannot emit light, the configuration on the substrate 200 can restrict transmission of an optical signal in one direction. As a result, it is clear that an electronic device in which the optical adapter according to the present invention is installed transmits an illegal optical signal in the reverse direction and does not adversely affect the internal circuit or the like. Will improve.

  As an example of the substrate 200, a photo IC diode can be used for the light receiving element 204, a light emitting diode (LED) can be used for the light emitting element 206, and a plastic optical fiber (POF) can be used for the optical fiber 402. The relay circuit 210 simply relays transmission of an optical signal in one direction, and may have any configuration as long as it can accurately relay an optical signal. If the light-receiving element 204 and the light-emitting element 206 have conversion characteristics that do not require signal amplification in the conversion from an optical signal to an electric signal and in the conversion from an electric signal to an optical signal, a relay circuit is provided. It can be omitted. For example, when the conversion efficiency of at least one of the light receiving element 204 and the light emitting element 206 is good or when the intensity of the optical signal is high, the electrical signal itself converted from the optical signal by the light receiving element 204 is converted into light by the light emitting element 206. The signal can be sufficient to recover the signal. In such a case, no relay circuit is necessary.

  When a relay circuit is required, for example, an electrical signal converted by the light receiving element 204 from a pulse wave of an optical signal representing 0 (quenching) and 1 (light emission) is converted to 0, 1 using a comparator (comparison circuit). The relay circuit can be configured to restore (and amplify) the pulse wave representing The comparator (comparison circuit) receives power supplied from a device on which the optical adapter is installed via the power supply terminal 208, and compares the electric signal converted from the optical signal by the light receiving element 204 with a predetermined threshold voltage. Thus, the pulse wave can be restored as 1 if it is greater than or equal to the threshold and as 0 if it is less than the threshold. If necessary for causing the light emitting element 206 to emit light, the pulse wave restored as an electric signal can be amplified. The light emitting element 206 regularly emits light and extinguishes (that is, blinks) based on the pulse wave of the electric signal, thereby converting the electric signal to the optical signal, and transmits the converted optical signal to the optical fiber 402. can do.

  FIG. 6 is a top view showing a plurality of embodiments of the optical adapter. The optical adapter according to the present invention can adopt various shapes according to the installation position, space, usage, and the like. FIG. 6 (a) shows the top surface of the optical adapter of one embodiment shown in FIGS. The optical adapter shown in FIG. 6A has a linear shape, and has optical plug insertion openings at both ends thereof. As another embodiment, the insertion port of the optical plug in the optical adapter may face in any direction, up, down, left, and right.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6B, an optical adapter can be formed in an L-shape, and as shown in FIG. 6C, the optical plug insertion port is oriented in the same direction ( The optical adapter can also be formed in a U-shape. Further, as described above, the insertion port of the optical adapter may have a different shape, and the optical plug may have a different shape correspondingly. As a matter of course, the shape of the substrate inside the optical adapter is determined according to the shape of the optical adapter, the light emitting / receiving elements (light receiving elements and light emitting elements) are arranged, and the relay circuit is wired according to the shape of the substrate. The

  The optical connector according to the present invention can be used mainly in fields that require short-range communication, such as communication inside an electronic device, communication between devices in a home or an automobile, and the like.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Housing 102 Insertion slot 104 Latch accommodating part 106 Locking slot 108 Slit 110 Triangular mark 112 Element accommodating part 200 Substrate 202 Light emitting / receiving element 204 Light receiving element 206 Light emitting element 208 Power supply terminal 210 Relay circuit 300 Base 302 Support part 304 Terminal insertion hole 306 Leg part 308 Locking part 400 Optical plug 402 Optical fiber 404 Latch

Claims (8)

In an optical adapter for connecting two optical plugs,
Including a housing having an insertion port for inserting the optical plug;
An optical adapter comprising a unidirectional transmission member configured to transmit light in one direction at a position facing a tip of the optical plug when the optical plug is inserted in the housing. A board on which the one-way transmission member is mounted;
The optical adapter according to claim 1, wherein the housing is formed with a space for housing the substrate. The optical adapter according to claim 1, wherein the one-way transmission member includes a light receiving element and a light emitting element. The relay circuit for supplying electric power to the one-way transmission member and relaying light using the one-way transmission member is wired on the substrate. The optical adapter according to item.   The optical adapter according to claim 1, wherein the insertion ports have different shapes. A base member having a plurality of legs for fixing the optical adapter in an installation position;
The optical adapter according to claim 1, wherein the base member is fitted into the housing to fix the substrate accommodated in the housing. An accommodating portion for accommodating the one-way transmission member;
The said accommodating part is formed in the position which can make the said one-way transmission member and the front-end | tip of the said optical plug inserted from the said insertion port face each other closely. Housing used for optical adapters. Comprising the one-way transmission member;
The one-way transmission member is arranged at a position where the optical plug inserted from the insertion port can be faced close to each other when accommodated in the housing. The board | substrate accommodated in the optical adapter of description.

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