Dynamic digital diagnostic alerts

• US 7,881,615 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2007
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: II-VI Delaware, Inc. (Coherent Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Finisar Corporation (II-VI Incorporated)
• Inventors: Mei, Suohai
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan; Hanh
• Application Number:
  US11/828,976
• Publication Number:
  US 20090028551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,286 Days
• Field of Search: 398/135, 398/136, 398/137, 398/138, 398/139, 398/128, 398/130, 398/158, 398/159, 398/192, 398/193, 398/194, 398/195, 398/196, 398/197, 398/198, 398/182, 398/183, 398/25, 398/26, 398/27, 398/33, 398/22, 398/23, 398/24, 398/164, 398/202, 398/208, 398/209, 398/200, 398/214, 372/32, 372/34, 372/36, 372/38, 372/38.02, 385/88, 385/89, 385/90, 385/92, 385/93
• US Class Current: 398/136
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/40 Transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/23 Indication means, e.g. displays, alarms, audible means

Abstract

Alerts, such as laser driver current alarms, are triggered in an optoelectronic device based on dynamic digital diagnostics, such as operating temperature. Optoelectronic devices may execute microcode structured to represent a formulaic relation between a first parameter (e.g., temperature) and an indicator value for a second parameter (e.g., laser driver current). The microcode may further be structured to cause the optoelectronic device to access the first parameter, calculate an indicator value for the second parameter based on the accessed first parameter using the formulaic relation, access the second parameter, and compare the indicator value with the second parameter to determine whether to trigger an alert. If the second parameter exceeds the indicator value, the alert may be triggered, and may be indicative of potentially imminent optoelectronic device failure.

Claims

1. In an optical transceiver, a method for the optical transceiver to trigger an alert based on dynamic digital diagnostic information, the method comprising:

executing microcode using at least one processor in an optical transceiver, wherein the microcode is structured to represent a formulaic relation between a first parameter and an indicator value for a second parameter, wherein the microcode is further structured such that the optical transceiver performs the following when the microcode is executed by the at least one processor;

accessing the first parameter as measured by a first parameter sensor;

calculating an indicator value for the second parameter given the accessed first parameter using the formulaic relation;

accessing the second parameter as measured by a second parameter sensor; and

comparing the indicator value with the second parameter to determine whether to trigger an alert;

when the alert is triggered, providing the alert to a host or presenting the alert to a user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to executing the microcode, loading the microcode from a persistent memory of the optical transceiver to a system memory of the optical transceiver.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the microcode is executed by the at least one processor, the optical transceiver further performs the following:

in response to determining that the second parameter exceeds the indicator value, triggering an alert indicative of the second parameter exceeding the indicator value.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second parameter exceeding the indicator value indicates potentially imminent failure of the optical transceiver and the alert comprises an early warning of potentially imminent failure of the optical transceiver.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first parameter comprises temperature and the first parameter sensor comprises a temperature sensor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second parameter comprises laser driver current and the second parameter sensor comprises a laser driver current sensor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the formulaic relation is one or more of:

a linear approximation, a polynomial approximation, and a non-polynomial approximation.

8. A method of triggering a laser driver current alarm in an optoelectronic device based on dynamic operating temperatures, the method comprising:

retrieving a temperature as measured by a temperature sensor of an optoelectronic device;

determining a laser driver current indicator value based on the retrieved temperature, wherein the indicator value is dependent on the retrieved temperature;

retrieving a laser driver current as measured by a laser driver current sensor of the optoelectronic device; and

comparing the indicator value with the laser driver current to determine whether to trigger a laser driver current alarm;

in response to determining that the laser driver current exceeds the indicator value, triggering the laser driver current alarm, wherein triggering the laser driver current alarm comprises providing an alert indicative of potentially imminent optoelectronic device failure to a host communicably connected to the optoelectronic device or to a user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method is performed by the optoelectronic device when microcode structured to cause the optoelectronic device to perform the method is executed using at least one processor in the optoelectronic device, wherein the microcode is further structured to represent a formulaic relation between the temperature and the indicator value.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, prior to executing the microcode using the at least one processor, loading the microcode from a persistent memory of the optoelectronic device to a system memory of the optoelectronic device accessible by the at least one processor.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the indicator value for the laser driver current based on the retrieved temperature comprises calculating the indicator value given the retrieved temperature using the formulaic relation.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the formulaic relation is one or more of:

a linear approximation, a polynomial approximation, and a non-polynomial approximation.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein a first indicator value at a first temperature is different than a second indicator value at a second temperature.

14. An optoelectronic device comprising:

at least one processor;

a system memory; and

a persistent memory, wherein the persistent memory contains microcode that is structured to represent a formulaic relation between an independent parameter and indicator values for a dependent parameter, wherein the microcode is further structured such that the optoelectronic device performs the following when executed by the at least one processor;

accessing the independent parameter as measured by an independent parameter sensor;

calculating an indicator value for the dependent parameter using the formulaic relation given the accessed independent parameter;

accessing the dependent parameter as measured by a dependent parameter sensor; and

triggering an alert in response to determining that the dependent parameter exceeds the indicator value, wherein the alert is indicative of a potentially imminent optoelectronic device failure.

15. The optoelectronic device of claim 14, wherein the persistent memory comprises electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory.

16. The optoelectronic device of claim 14, wherein the system memory comprises random access memory.

17. The optoelectronic device of claim 14, wherein the independent parameter comprises optoelectronic device operating temperature and the dependent parameter comprises laser driver current.