Optical base layer

• US 9,465,179 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2012
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Leigh, Kevin B., Megason, George D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sanghavi, Hemang
• Application Number:
  US14/391,352
• Publication Number:
  US 20150323754A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,625 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3608 Fibre wiring boards, i.e. where fibres are embedded or attached in a pattern on or to a substrate, e.g. flexible sheets optical ribbon cables in support members G02B6/4401
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3897 Connectors fixed to housings, casing, frames or circuit boards G02B6/44528 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4231 with intermediate elements, e.g. rods and balls, between the elements
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4293 hybrid electrical and optical connections for transmitting electrical and optical signals
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/43 Arrangements comprising a plurality of opto-electronic elements and associated optical interconnections

Abstract

An optical base layer (OBL) (102) comprises a number of waveguides (124) disposed inside the OBL (102), and a number of socket connectors (116, 120) formed on the optical base layer and extending through a motherboard (104) to optically couple the OBL (102) to a number of components disposed on the motherboard (104). An optical base layer (OBL) (102) comprises a number of adjustable arms (1105), and a number of waveguides disposed within the adjustable arms (1105), in which the position of the adjustable arms (1105) are altered to accommodate different motherboard (104) configurations.

Claims

1. An optical base layer (OBL), comprising:

a number of waveguides disposed inside the OBL;

a number of socket connectors formed on the OBL and extending through a motherboard to optically couple the OBL to a number of components disposed on the motherboard; and

a memory device embedded within the OBL, in which the memory device stores data associated with the OBL.

2. The OBL of claim 1, further comprising:

a number of position referencing posts formed on the OBL, and

a number of position referencing voids defined in the motherboard,

in which the engagement of the position referencing posts with the position referencing voids align a number of components disposed on the OBL with a number of components disposed on the motherboard.

3. The OBL of claim 2, in which the position referencing posts and the position referencing voids align a number of electrical connectors on the motherboard with a number of optical connectors on the OBL to optically couple to the OBL and electrically couple to the motherboard a number of components.

4. The OBL of claim 3, in which the components comprise mezzanine cards, pluggable modules, processing device packages, or combinations thereof.

5. The OBL of claim 1, in which the socket connectors align a number of components disposed on the OBL with a number of components disposed on the motherboard.

6. The OBL of claim 1, in which the number of waveguides are hollow metallic waveguides, planar waveguides, channel waveguides, ridge waveguides, dielectric waveguides, optical glass fibers, optical plastic fibers, optical buses, polymer waveguides, rigid waveguides, flexible waveguides, molded waveguides, or combinations thereof.

7. The OBL of claim 1, in which the data associated with the OBL comprises data describing the number of optical connectors in the OBL, data describing the types of optical connectors in the OBL, data describing the number of waveguides within the OBL, data describing the routing of the waveguides within the OBL, data describing the types of waveguides within the OBL, data describing waveguide topologies, data describing model numbers associated with the OBL, data describing model numbers associated with components within the OBL, data describing serial numbers associated with the OBL, data describing serial numbers associated with components within the OBL, data describing the manufacturer of the OBL, data describing the manufacture of components within the OBL, data describing the date of manufacturing of the OBL, data describing the date of manufacture of components within the OBL, data describing the location of manufacturing of the OBL, data describing the location of manufacturing of components within the OBL, or combinations thereof.

8. The OBL of claim 1, further comprising a controller disposed on the motherboard to obtain the data associated with the OBL stored on the memory device and use the data associated with the OBL to control the transmission of electrical and optical signals between the OBL and motherboard.

9. The OBL of claim 1, further comprising an electrical interface within the OBL to electrically couple the memory device in the OBL to the controller on the motherboard.

10. The OBL of claim 1, further comprising a number of channels defined within the OBL to cool a number of components within the OBL.

11. The OBL of claim 1, further comprising a number of conductive pathways embedded within the OBL to provide power to a number of components within the OBL.

12. The OBL of claim 1, in which the OBL comprises a rigid material, a semi-flexible material, a flexible material, or combinations thereof.

13. A computing device comprising:

a main optical base layer (OBL) comprising;

a number of waveguides disposed inside the main OBL;

a number of socket connectors formed on the main OBL and extending through a motherboard to optically couple the main OBL to a number of components disposed on the motherboard; and

a memory device embedded within the main OBL, in which the memory device stores data associated with the main OBL; and

a number of OBL segments optically coupled to the main OBL.

14. An optical base layer (OBL), comprising:

a number of adjustable arms,

a number of waveguides disposed within the adjustable arms, in which the position of the adjustable arms are altered to accommodate different motherboard configurations; and

a memory device embedded within the OBL, in which the memory device stores data associated with the OBL.