Enhanced Status Monitoring, Storage and Reporting for Optical Transceivers

• US 20130251361A1
• Filed: 03/22/2012
• Published: 09/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Source Photonics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Mohammad Azadeh
• Inventors: AZADEH, Mohammad
• Granted Patent: US 8,886,033 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/075 using an in-service signal H04B10/071 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/40 Transceivers

Abstract

An optical transceiver and methods for using the same are disclosed. The optical transceiver and methods may be useful for providing more accurate information regarding trends in operation of the optical transceiver, predicting an impending failure of the optical transceiver, and providing details of the optical transceiver prior to failure. The optical transceiver generally includes (1) at least one of (i) a receiver configured to receive optical information and (ii) a transmitter configured to transmit optical information, (2) circuitry configured to sample data for one or more operational parameters of the receiver and/or transmitter, (3) logic configured to perform one or more statistical calculations on the sampled data to generate statistical information, and (iv) one or more memories configured to store the sampled data and the statistical information.

Claims

1. An optical transceiver, comprising:

a) at least one of (i) a receiver configured to receive optical information, or (ii) a transmitter configured to transmit optical information;

b) circuitry configured to sample data for one or more operational parameters of the receiver and/or transmitter;

c) logic configured to perform one or more statistical calculations on the sampled data to generate statistical information; and

d) one or more memories configured to store the sampled data and the statistical information.

2. The optical transceiver of claim 1, further comprising clock circuitry configured to enable periodic sampling of the data.

3. The optical transceiver of claim 2, further comprising a battery configured to provide power to the clock circuitry when the optical transceiver does not receive power.

4. The optical transceiver of claim 1, wherein the one or more memories are configured to overwrite at least part of (i) the stored sampled data with current sampled data and/or (ii) the stored statistical information with current statistical information.

5. The optical transceiver of claim 1, wherein the one or more operational parameters comprise at least one member of the group consisting of a temperature, a voltage, a current, an optical power, an output power, a modulation amplitude, a frequency, an amplifier gain, a channel spacing, and a wavelength.

6. The optical transceiver of claim 1, wherein the statistical information comprises a maximum value, a minimum value, an average value, a rate, and/or one or more standard deviations of at least one of the one or more operational parameters.

7. The optical transceiver of claim 1, wherein the one or more memories are configured to store multiple instances of the sampled data (and optionally, the statistical information) over a predetermined period of time.

8. The optical transceiver of claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to compare the statistical information to one or more thresholds stored in the one or more memories to generate a status indication or flag.

9. The optical transceiver of claim 8, further comprising an interface configured to (i) receive a request from an external device, optical line termination (OLT) system, or host and (ii) provide the sampled data, the statistical information, and/or status indication or flag in response to the request.

10. The optical transceiver of claim 2, further comprising a counter coupled to the clock circuitry.

11. The optical transceiver of claim 1, wherein the one or more memories comprises a first group of registers storing parametric data, a second group of registers storing thresholds, and a third group of registers storing the statistical information.

12. A method for monitoring one or more parameters in an electronic device, the method comprising:

a) monitoring one or more operating parameters related to operation of the electronic device over time to determine a plurality of parameter values;

b) storing the plurality of parameter values in one or more memories;

c) calculating statistical information on the plurality of parameter values;

d) comparing the statistical information to one or more corresponding thresholds; and

e) generating a status indication or flag when the statistical information crosses one or more of the corresponding threshold(s).

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more operational parameters comprise at least one member of the group consisting of a temperature, a voltage, a current, an optical power, an output power, a modulation amplitude, a frequency, an amplifier gain, a channel spacing, and a wavelength.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the statistical information comprises a maximum value, a minimum value, an average value, a rate, and/or one or more standard deviations of the one or more operating parameters.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising overwriting (i) at least one previously stored parameter value with a most recent or current parameter value and/or (ii) previously stored statistical information with most recent or current statistical information.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising storing at least one of the plurality of parameter values for a given operating parameter at a plurality of different rates.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising evaluating a status and/or state of the operating parameter and/or performing a failure analysis using the statistical information.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising evaluating a status indication and/or flag.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising identifying a failure mechanism from said failure analysis.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the thresholds comprise at least two of a low threshold, a high threshold, a warning threshold, and an alarm threshold.