JPH07336306A - Optical input/output interface - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an optical input/output interface capable of easily performing live-line insertion and removal operations at the time of fault countermeasures. CONSTITUTION:A transceiver module 100 connected to a wiring board 120 provided with a processor 130 is provided with a switch 50 and an optical fiber module 110 connected to the transceiver module 100 is provided with a contact 90. Thus, corresponding to the connection state of the fiber module, the switch is switched by the contact.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical input / output interface for data transfer of a processor, and more particularly to an interface suitable for hot plugging and unplugging of optical signal wiring.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an optical input / output interface,
For example, the IBM Journal of Research
And Development, Vol. 36, No. 4, 55
Pages 3 to 576, 1992 (IBM Journal of Res
earch & Development, vol.36, no.4, pp.553-576, 1992)
Known examples are described in.

The optical input / output interface of this known example is used for a data link of a computer system, for example, an interconnection between a central processing unit and a disk device. The interface consists of a transmitter-receiver subassembly and a jumper cable assembly, with a total of two data channels, one for each input and output.

The transmitter-receiver subassembly consists of a transmitter, a receiver and a connector receptacle housing that houses them. The transmitter consists of a light emitting diode and a driver circuit, and the receiver consists of a photodiode, an amplifier circuit and a comparator circuit, each mounted in a metal package.

The jumper cable assembly consists of a two-fiber optical fiber cable and a connector plug housing. The two fibers are terminated by two connector ferrules. The fiber and the light emitting diode or photodiode are optically coupled by inserting a ferrule into a connector sleeve provided on the package.

The plug housing includes a jumper cable from the transmitter-receiver subassembly.
A spring is provided for ejecting the plug housing from the receptacle housing when the assembly is removed. It also has a spring to keep the ferrule pressed against the sleeve and a latch key to keep the plug housing locked in the receptacle housing when connecting the jumper cable assembly to the transmitter-receiver subassembly. There is. Correspondingly, the receptacle housing has
There is a latch window for hooking the latch key.

[0007]

In high performance processors such as high speed parallel computers and wide band exchanges, there is a strong demand for improvement in data transfer throughput. This is because the bottleneck occurs in the conventional coaxial cable particularly in the rack-to-rack level or board-to-board level interconnection.

Also, as a measure against processor failure, a demand for a hot-plugging / unplugging function of wiring connection has become remarkable.
In order to take countermeasures against failures while operating the normal part, it is necessary to partially disconnect only the wiring related to the failure part. Furthermore, in order to save energy in the processor,
There is also a demand for measures to reduce the power consumption of the non-operating part.

The data link interface using the optical fiber cable as described in the prior art has been developed mainly for high throughput transfer. However, there is a lack of support for hot-swap function and power saving.

In the prior art, the electrical connection between the processor and the transmitter-receiver subassembly and the transmitter-receiver subassembly and jumper
Independent of the optical connection of the cable assembly. Therefore, the jumper cable assembly is free to be disconnected from the transmitter-receiver subassembly whether or not the interface is in the process of transferring data. However, there is a possibility that data will be lost when hot-plugging and unplugging.
The signal indicating disconnection of the interface must be provided to the processor in advance of the disconnection operation.

Also, when the jumper cable assembly is disconnected, the transmitter-receiver subassembly remains connected to the power supply. The current switching circuit of the transmitter, the differential amplifier circuit of the receiver, the differential output buffer circuit, etc. continue to operate, resulting in wasted power consumption.

As described above, in the conventional optical input / output interface, there is a lack of consideration for the hot-swap function and energy saving. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a means for simplifying the hot-plugging and unplugging work of the processor and reducing the power.

A first object of the present invention is to, when performing hot plugging / unplugging work of an optical input / output interface, automatically supply a signal indicating a connection status of the interface to the processor in parallel with the work. It is in.

A second object of the present invention is, in addition to the first object, to supply a disconnection notice signal to the processor before the optical signal wiring is disconnected, and to send a connection end signal after the optical signal wiring is connected. To supply to the processor.

A third object of the present invention is, in addition to the second object, to supply a disconnection advance notice signal to the processor while maintaining the state where the optical signal wiring is connected.

A fourth object of the present invention is to cut off the power supply to the interface when the optical input / output interface is not connected to the processor.

[0017]

In order to achieve the first object, the optical input / output interface of the present invention includes a transceiver module in which a transmitter or receiver and a switch are mounted in a receptacle housing, a fiber cable, and Plug to switch contact
It is composed of a fiber module mounted in a housing. A transmitter or receiver is a package of an optical device chip and a circuit chip, and includes a connector sleeve for coupling an optical device and a fiber. The fibers that make up the fiber cable are terminated by a connector ferrule. When connecting the fiber module to the transceiver module, the ferrule is inserted into the sleeve,
The contact is connected to the switch.

In order to achieve the second object of the present invention, in addition to the means for achieving the first object, the plug housing is provided with a spring for pressing the ferrule against the sleeve. Is. The tip of the contact is arranged so as to be behind the end surface of the ferrule when the spring is released.

Also, in order to achieve the third object, in addition to the means for achieving the second object, a spring for locking the plug housing to the receptacle housing and a first and A second latch key is provided.

Further, in order to achieve the fourth object, the first
In addition to the means for achieving the purpose of
A power switch for the transceiver module is provided.

[0021]

According to the first means, the contact is connected to the switch by connecting or disconnecting the fiber module to the transceiver module.
Or disconnected from the switch. Therefore, the connection status signal is output from the switch to the processor. The processor starts or stops input / output to / from the transceiver module based on the connection status signal.

In the second means, when the fiber module is detached from the transceiver module, the ferrule is detached from the sleeve before the fiber module is detached from the transceiver module.
The contact is disconnected from the switch and the status signal alerts the processor to remove. fiber·
When the module is connected to a transceiver module, the ferrule is connected to the sleeve before the contacts are connected to the switch and the status signal tells the processor that the connection is complete.

In the third means, the ferrule is connected to the sleeve and the contact is connected to the switch by locking the first key to the window. By locking the second key to the window,
The ferrule connects to the sleeve, but the contact disconnects from the switch.

Further, in the fourth means, the power switch starts or stops the power supply to the transceiver module based on the connection status signal.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of an optical input / output interface.

The optical input / output interface of this embodiment comprises the transceiver module 100 shown in FIG. 1 and the optical fiber module 110 shown in FIG.
Here, FIG. 1 shows a state in which the optical fiber module 110 is connected to the transceiver module 100. The transceiver module 100 is also electrically connected to the wiring board 120 including the processor 130. An arrow 111 in FIG. 2 indicates a direction in which the fiber module 110 is inserted into and removed from the transceiver module 100.

The transceiver module 100 includes either a transmitter or a receiver (10), a wiring substrate 20, input / output pins 30, and a switch 5.
0, and a receptacle housing 40 that houses them
It consists of The transmitter is the processor 1
The electric signal input from 30 is converted into an optical signal and output. The receiver converts the optical signal input from the fiber module 110 into an electric signal and outputs the electric signal. The transmitter or receiver (10) comprises an optical device chip 12, a circuit chip 11, input / output leads 13, a package 14, and an optical connector sleeve 15.

The optical device chip 12 is composed of a semiconductor chip in which a light emitting element for emitting an optical signal or a light receiving element for detecting an optical signal is integrated. The light emitting element is a laser diode and the light receiving element is a photodiode. In the transmitter circuit chip 11,
A driver circuit and the like for driving the light emitting elements of the optical device 12 are formed. On the circuit chip 11 of the receiver, an amplifier circuit for the detection current of the light receiving element, a comparator circuit for discriminating the signal, and the like are formed.

The package 14 containing the optical device 12 and the circuit chip 11 is a metal package. The package 14 is connected to the substrate 20 by the leads 13. A micro lens 16 and a connector sleeve 15 are fixed to the side surface of the package 14 for coupling an optical fiber to the optical device 12.

The substrate 20 is composed of a small printed wiring board, and has signal wiring and power wiring to either the transmitter (10) or the receiver (10) and wiring 21 to the switch 50. Substrate 20
Are connected to the board 120 by input / output pins 30.

The receptacle housing 40 is mainly formed by resin molding, and has an intermediate plate portion 41 and a fixed portion 4.
2, a latch window part 43 and a radiator part 44 are provided. A transmitter, a receiver, a substrate 20, and a switch 50 are mounted on both surfaces of the middle plate portion 41. Receptacle housing 40 is fixed portion 42
It is attached to the board 120 with screws or the like. The hole of the latch window portion 43 is machined on the side surface.
The radiator section 44 is a fin for radiating heat from the transmitter and the receiver.

The switch 50 is composed of two metal plates, and passes through the wiring 21, the pin 31, and the wiring 121 of the board 120,
It is connected to the processor 130. When the fiber module 110 is not connected to the transceiver module 100, the metal plates are in contact with each other.

A power switch 131 is mounted on the board 120 in addition to the processor 130. The power switch 131 is connected to the processor 130 by the wiring 122, and the power pin of the transceiver module 100 is connected to the power source through the wiring 123, the power switch 131, and the wiring 124.

The fiber module 110 comprises an optical fiber cable 60, an optical connector ferrule 70,
It is composed of a contact 90 and a plug housing 80 that accommodates these. The optical fibers 61 forming the fiber cable 60 are divided into a number corresponding to the number of elements of the optical device 12, and are arranged and terminated by the ferrule 70. The optical device 12 and the optical fiber 61 are optically coupled by inserting the ferrule 70 into the sleeve 15.

Like the receptacle housing 40, the plug housing 80 is formed by resin molding, and the middle plate portion 81, the stopper portion 82, the plate spring portion 83, the latch key portions 84 and 85, and the slider portion 86 are formed. It is provided. The ferrules 70 are housed on both sides of the intermediate plate portion 81 corresponding to the arrangement of the transmitter 10 and the receiver 10 in the receptacle housing 40. A coil spring 71 is provided between the ferrule 70 and the stopper portion 82.

The plate spring portion 83 has an arrow 112.
Work in the direction of. The plate spring portion 83 catches the latch key portion 84 or 85 on the latch window portion 43, and the plug housing 80 is locked to the receptacle housing 40. Slider part 86
Slides in the direction of arrow 111. When the fiber module 110 is not connected to the transceiver module 100, the slider portion 86 protects the tip of the ferrule 70.

The contact 90 is provided so as to protrude from the middle plate portion 81 in a convex shape, and is made of an insulator. The tip of the contact 90 is located rearward of the end surface of the ferrule 70 when the coil spring 71 is in the open state. When fiber module 110 is connected to transceiver module 100, contact 90 is inserted between the two metal plates of switch 50.

The configuration of each part of this embodiment has been described above. Next, the overall function will be summarized.

When the fiber module 110 is connected to the transceiver module 100, the plug housing 80 is inserted into the receptacle housing 110 and the latch key 85 is a plate, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. The spring 83 locks the latch window 43. The slider 86 moves in the direction of arrow 111 in FIG.
It protrudes from and is inserted in the sleeve 15. The coil spring 71 is compressed and the ferrule 70 is pressed against the sleeve 15. Contact 90 is switch 50
It is connected to the. Switch 50 is open, indicating that fiber module 110 and transceiver module 100 are connected. This connection status signal is output from the switch 50 to the processor 130.

When the fiber module 110 is removed from the state where it is connected to the transceiver module 100, the plate spring portions 83 are pinched toward each other to unlock the latch key 85,
The latch key 84 is locked in the latch window 43. At this time, the ferrule 70 is still connected to the sleeve 15 by the coil spring 71, but the contact 90 is disconnected from the switch 50, and the switch 50 is switched from the disconnection state to the conduction state. Therefore, a connection status signal is sent to the processor 130 to inform the removal of the fiber module 110. In response to the notice signal, the processor 130 stops the input / output to / from the transceiver module 100 and stops the power supply by the power switch 131.

To completely remove the fiber module 110 from the transceiver module 100, the plate spring portion 83 should be pinched again to unlock the latch key 84. The ferrule 70 is pulled out of the sleeve 15 and the plug housing 80 is removed from the receptacle housing 40. The connection status signal, i.e. switch 50 remains conductive, indicating that fiber module 110 has been removed from transceiver module 100.

When the fiber module 110 is to be connected from the transceiver module 100 in a detached state, the latch key 84 is first locked before the latch key 85. At this point, ferrule 70 is connected to sleeve 15 by coil spring 71, but contact 90 is still disconnected from switch 50. After this, the plate spring portion 83 is again pinched, and the plug housing 80 is pushed into the receptacle housing 40. Latch key 8
Since 5 is locked in the latch window 43, the contact 90 is connected to the switch 50 and the connection status signal switches from conducting to open. That is,
A signal is sent to the processor 130 indicating that the fiber module 110 connection is terminated. Upon receiving this connection end signal, the processor 130 starts input / output and power supply to the transceiver module 100.

According to the configuration and function of the present embodiment described above, the switch 50 is provided in the transceiver module 100 of the optical input / output interface 1 and the contact 90 is provided in the fiber module 110, so that the transceiver module 100 is provided. A signal indicating the connection status of the fiber module 110 to the can be automatically supplied to the processor 130 together with the connection work.

A coil spring 71 for pressing the ferrule 70 against the sleeve 15 is provided, and the ferrule 70
By devising the arrangement of the contact 90 to
A disconnection notice signal can be supplied to the processor 130 before the fiber module 110 is disconnected from the transceiver module 100, and a connection completion signal can be supplied to the processor 130 after the fiber module 110 is connected to the transceiver module 100. can do.

In addition to the plate spring 83 and the latch key 84 in the plug housing 80, the latch
By providing the key 85 and the latch window 43 on the receptacle housing 40, the ferrule 70 is kept connected to the sleeve 15,
It becomes possible to supply a disconnection notice signal to the processor 130.

Further, by providing the power switch 131 for the optical input / output interface 1, the power supply to the interface 1 can be cut off when the optical input / output interface 1 is not involved in the input / output of the processor 130. it can.

In this embodiment, the switch 50 sends the connection status signal when the fiber module 110 is connected to the transceiver module 100.
Although the connection status signal of the disconnection state and the connection status signal when the switch 50 is removed are made to correspond to the conduction state of the switch 50, the configurations and materials of the switch and the contact can be changed according to the application. The functions described above are important for the latch mechanism and the spring mechanism, and the structure and material thereof are designed according to the mounting conditions, the cost, and the like.

[0048]

According to the present invention, since the connection status signal is automatically sent to the processor in the work of connecting the optical input / output interface, it is not necessary to give a separate instruction to the processor for the countermeasure against the failure, and the live line is not required. The insertion / removal work can be performed more easily.

Further, since the disconnection is notified by the connection status signal or the completion of the connection is indicated, the input / output from the processor to the optical input / output interface is stopped before the disconnection, and the input / output is started after the connection is completed.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the loss of data during hot-swap.

Further, since the state of transmitting the advance notice signal to the processor is maintained before the optical input / output interface is completely disconnected, the hot plugging / unplugging work can be safely performed.

Further, since the power supply is cut off when the optical input / output interface does not perform data transfer, wasteful power consumption is not wasted and there is an effect of energy saving.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan sectional view and a side sectional view of a transceiver module side of an optical input / output interface according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A and 2B are a plan sectional view and a side sectional view of an optical fiber module side of an optical input / output interface according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Receiver, 11 ... Circuit chip, 31 ... Pin, 41
... Middle plate part, 42 ... Fixed part, 43 ... Latch window,
44 ... Radiator part, 61 ... Optical fiber.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location G02B 6/36 26/08 F

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A transceiver module, which is an input / output interface for a processor, comprising: a transceiver module electrically connected to a wiring board including the processor; and an optical fiber module optically connected to the transceiver module. The module includes a transmitter that converts an electric signal input from the processor into an optical signal and outputs the optical signal to the fiber module, or a receiver that converts an optical signal input from the fiber module into an electric signal and outputs the electric signal to the processor. , A switch that outputs a connection status signal to the processor indicating that the fiber module is connected to or disconnected from the transceiver module, and a receiver that accommodates the transmitter or receiver and the switch. Made with a descriptor cycle housing,
The transmitter or receiver has an optical device chip for emitting or detecting an optical signal, a circuit chip for operating the optical device, and an optical connector sleeve for optically coupling an optical fiber to the optical device. Wherein the fiber module includes an optical fiber cable including an optical fiber, an optical connector ferrule that terminates the optical fiber, and is optically connected to the sleeve.
A contact that is connected to the switch when the fiber module is connected to the transceiver module and that is disconnected from the switch when removed, and a plug housing that houses the ferrule and the contact. Input / output of the processor to / from the transceiver module is initiated by the connection status signal when the contact is connected to the switch and by the connection status signal when the contact is disconnected from the switch. Optical input / output interface characterized by being stopped. 2. The plug housing according to claim 1, wherein the plug housing has a spring for pressing the ferrule against the sleeve, and when the spring is opened, the contact is located rearward of an end surface of the ferrule. Yes, the spring is compressed when the contact is connected to the switch and the contact is removed before the ferrule is disconnected from the sleeve when the fiber module is removed from the transceiver module. The ferrule was connected to the sleeve when the connection status signal was output to the processor to disconnect the fiber module and foretell the removal of the fiber module, and the fiber module was connected to the transceiver module. On, the contact is connected to said switch, said fiber module optical output interface for the connection status signal is equal to or to be output to the processor notifying a termination of the connection. 3. The plug housing according to claim 2, wherein the plug housing has a spring for locking the plug housing to the receptacle housing, and first and second latch keys, and the receptacle housing has the first and second latch keys. A latch key has a latch window for hooking, the ferrule is connected to the sleeve, the contact is connected to the switch, and the second key is connected to the switch when the first key is locked to the window. When locked to the window, the ferrule is connected to the sleeve, the contacts are disconnected from the switch, and the first and second keys are disengaged from the window, the plug housing is removed from the receptacle housing. Optical input / output characterized by being removed Interface. 4. The power supply for the transceiver module according to claim 1, wherein the board has a power switch for the transceiver module, and the connection status signal when the contact is connected to the switch starts power supply to the transceiver module. An optical input / output interface in which power supply to the transceiver module is stopped by the connection status signal when the contact is disconnected from the switch.