Tether assembly having individual connector ports
First Claim
1. A tether assembly for a fiber optic cable, comprising:
- a tether cable having a first end adapted to be attached to the fiber optic cable and a second end, the tether cable containing a plurality of optical fibers optically connected to a corresponding plurality of optical fibers accessed and terminated from the fiber optic cable;
a furcation at the second end of the tether cable for separating the optical fibers of the tether cable and transitioning the optical fibers into at least one furcation leg, the furcation leg having a first end attached to the furcation and a second end;
at least one individual connector port at the second end of the furcation leg for providing access to at least one of the plurality of optical fibers of the tether cable optically connected to the plurality of optical fibers accessed and terminated from the fiber optic cable.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A tether assembly includes a tether cable containing optical fibers and adapted to be attached to a fiber optic distribution cable at a mid-span access location. A furcation at the end of the tether cable separates and transitions the optical fibers into furcation legs terminating in individual connector ports. Each connector port may be a receptacle for receiving a connector mounted upon one of the optical fibers and a mating connector of a drop cable, a plug mounted upon one of the optical fibers that is received within a plug alignment member operable to align the plug with a mating plug of a drop cable, or a connector that is routed to a receptacle disposed within an external wall of a network connection terminal from within the enclosure. The tether assembly provides a distribution cable assembly and method for mitigating a span length measurement difference in a pre-engineered communications network.
148 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A tether assembly for a fiber optic cable, comprising:
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a tether cable having a first end adapted to be attached to the fiber optic cable and a second end, the tether cable containing a plurality of optical fibers optically connected to a corresponding plurality of optical fibers accessed and terminated from the fiber optic cable;
a furcation at the second end of the tether cable for separating the optical fibers of the tether cable and transitioning the optical fibers into at least one furcation leg, the furcation leg having a first end attached to the furcation and a second end;
at least one individual connector port at the second end of the furcation leg for providing access to at least one of the plurality of optical fibers of the tether cable optically connected to the plurality of optical fibers accessed and terminated from the fiber optic cable. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A tether assembly adapted to be attached to a fiber optic distribution cable at a mid-span access location to interconnect a plurality of optical fibers accessed and terminated from the distribution cable at the mid-span access location to at least one optical fiber of a connectorized fiber optic drop cable, comprising:
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a tether cable containing a plurality of optical fibers and having a first end and a second end;
a furcation at the second end of the tether cable at which the plurality of optical fibers of the tether cable are separated;
at least one furcation leg containing at least one of the optical fibers of the tether cable separated by the furcation at the second end of the tether cable, the furcation leg having a first end adjacent the furcation and a second end; and
at least one individual connector port at the second end of the furcation leg for optically connecting the at least one of the plurality of optical fibers of the tether cable with the at least one optical fiber of the connectorized fiber optic drop cable. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A fiber optic distribution cable assembly, comprising:
- p1 a distribution cable containing a plurality of optical fibers and at least one mid-span access location positioned along the length of the distribution cable, at least one optical fiber of the plurality of optical fibers being accessed and terminated from the distribution cable at the mid-span access location;
a tether cable containing at least one optical fiber and having a first end adapted to be attached to the distribution cable at the mid-span access location and a second end, the at least one optical fiber being optically connected to the at least one optical fiber accessed and terminated from the distribution cable;
a furcation at the second end of the tether cable at which the at least one optical fiber of the tether cable is transitioned into at least one furcation leg having a first end adjacent the furcation and a second end; and
at least one individual connector port at the second end of the furcation leg for providing access to optically connect the at least one optical fiber of the tether cable with at least one optical fiber of a fiber optic drop cable. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
- p1 a distribution cable containing a plurality of optical fibers and at least one mid-span access location positioned along the length of the distribution cable, at least one optical fiber of the plurality of optical fibers being accessed and terminated from the distribution cable at the mid-span access location;
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25. A method for mitigating a span length measurement difference in a pre-engineered fiber optic communications network employing a fiber optic distribution cable assembly comprising a distribution cable having a plurality of optical fibers and at least one mid-span access location along the length of the distribution cable at which at least one of the plurality of optical fibers is terminated from the distribution cable, the method comprising:
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optically connecting a tether assembly to the distribution cable, the tether assembly comprising a tether cable adapted to be attached to the distribution cable at the mid-span access location and containing at least one optical fiber optically connected to the at least one optical fiber terminated from the distribution cable, the tether cable having a first end and a second end terminating in at least one individual connector port for providing access to the at least one optical fiber of the tether cable optically connected to the terminated optical fiber of the distribution cable; and
positioning the at least one connector port at a desired location in the fiber optic communications network to compensate for the span length measurement difference. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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Specification