Optical transceiver with off-transceiver logging mechanism

• US 20060051099A1
• Filed: 09/07/2005
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: II-VI Delaware, Inc. (Coherent Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Finisar Corporation (II-VI Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hahin, Jayne C., Dybsetter, Gerald L., Ekkisogloy, Luke M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,705,973 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/135
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/40 Transceivers

Abstract

A mechanism for an optical transceiver to log information about its operational parameters to an off transceiver host computing system (hereinafter referred to simply as a “host”). The optical transceiver may be communicatively coupled to the host. The optical transceiver is configured to identify operational information regarding itself. The operational information may include statistical data about operation, or may include measured parameters. The optical transceiver may log the information to the memory of the host in an off transceiver logging operation.

Claims

1. In an optical transceiver that is communicatively coupled to a host computing system, the optical transceiver including a system memory and at least one processor, a method for the optical transceiver to log information regarding its operational circumstances to the host computing system, the method comprising the following:

an act of executing microcode from the system memory, wherein the microcode is structured such that when executed by the at least one processor, causes the optical transceiver to perform the following;

an act of identifying operational information to be logged in a memory of the host computing system; and

an act of providing the logged operational information to the host computing system.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the operational information represents one or more of a total operation time for the optical transceiver, a number of times the optical transceiver has been booted, an average operational time between boots, a total number of error conditions encountered, an identification of one or more error conditions encountered, a categorization of the number of error conditions encountered for a plurality of different error types, a laser wavelength approximation, a laser temperature measurement, a supply voltage measurement, a transceiver temperature measurement, a laser bias current measurement, a TEC current measurement, a transmit power measurement, a receive power measurement, an acceleration measurement, and an end of life calculation.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the optical transceiver also includes a persistent memory that is provided with the logged operational information.

4. A method in accordance with claim 3, wherein the persistent memory is provided a portion of the logged operational information while the host computing system is provided the entire logged operational information.

5. A method in accordance with claim 3, wherein the logged operational information is used to diagnose operational failures in the optical transceiver.

6. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the logged information is uploaded from the host computing system to a remote evaluation center, the remote evaluation center being coupled to the host computing system using a network protocol.

7. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the logged information is sent from the host computing system to a remote evaluation center using traditional mail service.

8. A method for an optical transceiver to log operational data, the method comprising the following:

an act of the optical transceiver identifying first operational information regarding the optical transceiver;

after the act of identifying the first operational information, an act of the optical transceiver writing first log information representing the first operational information to a memory within a host computing system coupled to the optical transceiver;

an act of the optical transceiver identifying second operational information regarding the optical transceiver; and

after the act of identifying the second operational information, an act of the optical transceiver writing second log information representing the second operational information to a memory within the host computing system coupled to the optical transceiver.

9. A method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the optical transceiver also includes a persistent memory that is provided with at least a portion of the first and second logged operational information.

10. A method in accordance with claim 9, wherein the method is performed by a control module within the optical transceiver, wherein the control module and the persistent memory are integrated on the same chip.

11. A method in accordance with claim 9, wherein the method is performed by a control module within the optical transceiver, wherein the control module and the persistent memory are on separate chips.

12. A method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the first operational information represents one or more of a total operation time for the optical transceiver, a number of times the optical transceiver has been booted, an average operational time between boots, a total number of error conditions encountered, an identification of one or more error conditions encountered, a categorization of the number of error conditions encountered for a plurality of different error types, a laser wavelength approximation, a laser temperature measurement, a supply voltage measurement, a transceiver temperature measurement, a laser bias current measurement, a TEC current measurement, a transmit power measurement, a receive power measurement an acceleration measurement, and an end of life calculation.

13. A method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the second operational information comprises one or more measured operational parameters of the optical transceiver.

14. An optical transceiver comprising the following:

at least one processor; and

a system memory configurable to contain microcode;

wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the microcode in the system memory, the microcode configured such that when executed to cause the optical transceiver to identify operational information regarding the optical transceiver, and record log information representing the operational information to a host computing system coupled to the optical transceiver.

15. An optical transceiver in accordance with claim 14 further comprising an on optical transceiver persistent memory configured to have the log information representing the optical transceiver written to it.

16. An optical transceiver in accordance with claim 15, wherein the persistent memory is provided a portion of the log information representing the operational information while the host computing system is provided the entire log information representing the operational information.

17. An optical transceiver in accordance with claim 14, wherein the operational information represents one or more of a total operation time for the optical transceiver, a number of times the optical transceiver has been booted, an average operational time between boots, a total number of error conditions encountered, an identification of one or more error conditions encountered, a categorization of the number of error conditions encountered for a plurality of different error types, a laser wavelength approximation, a laser temperature measurement, a supply voltage measurement, a transceiver temperature measurement, a laser bias current measurement, a TEC current measurement, a transmit power measurement, a receive power measurement, an acceleration measurement, and an end of life calculation.

18. An optical transceiver in accordance with claim 14, wherein the log information representing the operational information is uploaded from the host computing system to a remote evaluation center, the remote evaluation center being coupled to the host computing system using a network protocol.

19. An optical transceiver in accordance with claim 14, wherein the log information representing the operational information is sent from the host computing system to a remote evaluation center using traditional mail service.

20. An optical transceiver in accordance with claim 14, wherein the optical transceiver is one of a 1G laser transceiver, a 2G laser transceiver, a 4G laser transceiver, a 8G laser transceiver, or a 10G laser transceiver.

21. An optical transceiver in accordance with claim 14, wherein the optical transceiver is a laser transceiver suitable for fiber optic links greater than 10G.

22. An optical transceiver in accordance with claim 14, wherein the optical transceiver is one of a XFP laser transceiver, a SFP laser transceiver, or a SFF laser transceiver.