CONNECTOR

RELATED PATENT APPLICATION:

This application claims the priority to and benefit of Indian Patent Application No. 202041014663 filed on April 02, 2020; the disclosure of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION:

The present invention relates to computer technology domain. Generally, the invention relates to server, server architecture, networking, signal, switching, and data processing using optical connector. More specifically, the invention relates to systems and methods for enabling an opto-electric connector for achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity and further enables dynamic switching. Also relates to an opto-electric connector, used in the above said system, method, lens holder and optical assembly of the invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:

The current data center architectures based on blade servers and electronic packet switches face several problems, e.g., limited resource utilization, high power consumption and cost. Data centers are attracting more and more interest, offering a large variety of services such as online gaming, data storage, data processing, and online office products. However, there are still a lot of challenges to be solved, e.g., overall performance, energy efficiency, resilience, scalability, and how to transport the data to the consumer. However, most data center providers currently focus on building their data centers only with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware to reduce the cost and to be easily maintainable.

Since more data centers switch to higher density server form factors, the power consumption will increase at a faster rate. The “U" value identifies the form factor. Most common are 1U and 2U servers. Power use varies by server form factor due to the individual configuration, the heat and thermal environment related to that configuration, and the workload being processed. Hence power factor is a variable with respect to servers. Due to above mentioned problems and disadvantages in existing technologies in the functions of server(s), server architecture(s), networking, signal(s), signal(s) switching, and signal and/or data processing; an effective and efficient system for the same functions and enhanced-bandwidth connectivity are not achieved. Hence, there is a need of an advanced system and a method therefor which is effective, efficient, high performance, provide enhanced-bandwidth connectivity, cost effective and simple, at the same time meet the desired need as below.

Further, there is a need for connectors which have (1) bit rates independent of distance, (2) achieve higher bandwidth without multiplexing of wavelengths, (3) achieve larger bandwidth density by non-multiplexing wavelengths on the same waveguide/fiber, (4) lower power by dissipating only at the endpoints of the communication channel, (5) an improvement in transfer of rate of data per square area, (6) reduced space requirement, and many more.

Existing connectors (e.g., Optical fibers) occupy more space and due to this reason, the processor and other physical layer Integrated Circuits (ICs) are distributed. For an effective performance of a system and enhancing the performance of the system, space occupied by the connectors has to be reduced. Hence there is a need for development of an optical connector and/or an electric connector for achieving enhanced connectivity and performance and also meet the other desired needs as mentioned above. Further switching of signals between one or more nodes needs a technical advancement, technically advanced connectors, and advanced signal switching to improve current high performance computing domain.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION:

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a system for enabling an opto-electric connector.

Another main objective of the present invention is to provide a method for enabling an opto-electric connector.

Another main objective of the present invention is to design and provide an opto- electric connector. Opto-electric connector; and system and method using same opto-electric connector for achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity and enabling dynamic switching. Opto- electric connector; and system and method using same opto-electric connector which are effective, efficient, high performance, provide enhanced-bandwidth connectivity, cost effective and simple.

Opto-electric connector; and system and method using same opto-electric connector wherein there is an improvement in transfer of rate of data per square area, and reduced space requirement in the server and computing environment. Connector device, system and method using the device in the network wherein the connector device enables free space communications and increase the coupling efficiency with high accuracy.

A further objective is to provide a module with integral lens assembly to achieve higher optical power coupling for board level communications.

An Optical Sub-Assembly design that can be directly integrated on a circuit board which includes a substrate with VCSEL/PD mounted on top of the substrate, a lens, optical fiber, a fiber/lens holder to align the fiber and lens, and a casing that is used to guide the alignment between VCSEL/PD substrate and fiber/lens holder.

Another objective is to provide a holder for fiber and lens and its implementation in the system of present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

The present invention provides a system and method for enabling an opto-electric connector for achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity. Functions of the opto electronic connector comprises (a) receiving opto -electronic signals as input from one or more sources, (b) configuring transmission of the opto -electronic signal based on at least one coupled lens assembly, and (c) providing the configured opto-electronic signal as output to one or more destinations.

The network environment (100) comprises compute systems (M), peripheral equipments (105), optionally remote device (111), all interconnected in a network (109) through the opto-electronic connector (107). The invention also discloses an unique opto-electric connector (107) for achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity. The said opto-electric connector (107) is used in the said system and the said method is performed by using said opto-electric connector. The method includes receiving opto electronic signals as input from one or more sources, configuring transmission of the opto-electronic signal based on at least one coupled lens assembly and providing the configured opto-electronic signal as output to one or more destinations. The invention also discloses a holder for fiber and lens.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

In one aspect, the present invention discloses and provides a “system” for enabling an “opto-electric connector” for achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity and enabling dynamic switching. In another aspect, the present invention discloses and provides a “method” for enabling an “opto-electric connector”.

In another aspect, the present invention discloses and provides a “opto-electric connector” or “opto-electronic connector”. Throughout the specification herein below, the phrase “ opto-electric connector" and “ opto-electronic connector ” are used interchangeably and can be considered as same. Functions of the opto-electronic connector comprises (a) receiving opto-electronic signals, (b) configuring transmission of the signals, and (c) providing the configured signals as outputs to destinations.

A system and method for enabling dynamic switching of signals in a network comparing of multiple nodes i.e. two or more number of nodes.

Thus, the above said aspects of the invention comprises systems and methods for enabling an opto-electric connector for achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity and further enables dynamic switching.

In one embodiment the network environment (100) comprises a module assembly with integral lens to achieve higher optical power coupling for board level communications, wherein the connector (107) enables achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity, enables modular connections between network nodes, and relaxes connector accuracies by use of optics. In one aspect, the present invention discloses and provides a system for enabling an opto-electric connector (107) in a network environment (100), wherein the system comprises components: one or more computing systems (M), one or more peripheral equipments (105), one or more opto-electric connectors (107), interlinking the computing systems (M), and connecting peripheral equipments (105) with the computing systems (M), a network (109), and optionally, one or more remote device (111) connected to the network (109), the said opto-electric connector (107) facilitating remote device (111) connections with the network (109); wherein,

- the said components: computing systems (M), peripheral equipments (105), and optionally remote device (111) are communicatively coupled together in the network (109) for signal communication, wherein the system incorporates free space collimating and focusing optics for optical interconnections and signal communications using said one or more opto-electric connectors (107), wherein the signal communication comprises communication via the communication interface (205) of the computing systems (M) through a transceiving lens assembly (207) for optical signal communications, wherein,

- input signal from one or more source computing systems (M) are received and configured by the transceiving lens assembly (207) and configured signal is transmitted from the transceiving lens assembly (207) to other one or more destination computing systems (M) via free space optical communication, wherein,

- the system increases the coupling efficiency of the connector by using free space collimating and focusing optics; and also enables achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity, enables modular connections between network nodes, and relaxes connector accuracies by use of optics.

The system comprises the processors, memories and peripherals which are networked using said opto-electric connectors. In one embodiment said one or more computing systems (M) comprises one or more processor (201), one or more memory (203) and communication interface (205), joined together to form the network by the opto-electric connector (107) which connector interlinks the components. The above system, wherein the network environment (100) comprises the environment wherein the computing is performed and/or data and/or information and/or signals are handled and/or stored, processed and/or transmitted, wherein plurality of computers and/or computing systems communicatively interconnected for data/information processing and signaling and other functions; and wherein the network environment (100) comprises plurality of nodes for communication.

The above system wherein said one or more computing systems (M) comprises one or more processor (201), one or more memory (203) and communication interface (205). Said one or more computing systems (M) comprises compute systems (Ml,

M2, . Mn) wherein “n” is an integer number of counting system such as n =

(1,2, . n}; and wherein said one or more compute systems (Ml, M2, . Mn) are modular computes capable of sending and receiving optical signals for free space communication.

Said one or more peripheral equipments are one or more of equipments/components/devices to receive and/or send data/information and communicate with said one or more compute systems (M) which may include keyboard, mouse, touch screen, pen tablet, joystick, Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) keyboard, scanner, digital, camera, video camera, microphone monitor, projector, TV screen, printer, plotter, speakers, external hard drives, media card readers, digital, camcorders, digital mixers, MIDI equipment and combinations thereof; and said the network (109) comprises network communication selected from physical networking communications, wireless networking communications and free space communications.

The above system comprises hardware implementations including application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices, and computer programs and instructions, wherein the computer program and instructions may be a program, software, software application, script, or code that can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a standalone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment.

The said remote device (111) may include mobile phone, smart phone, laptops, desktops, computers, hand-held device, palmtop or other dedicated remote device which may receive a plurality notifications based on one or more functions associated with the compute systems (M). The said remote device (111) may be connected to the network via the opto-electric connector (107).

The said transceiving lens assembly (207), comprises: platform (301), lens assembly (305) forming either a single or multiple channels (307) for transmission of signals (303) through the channel (307), and connector pins (309) for enabling connection of one or more compute systems (M) and/or peripheral equipments (105) which are the sources and/or destinations of signals;

- wherein the connector (107) enables free space collimating and focusing optics for optical interconnections and signal communications for optical signal communications.

In another aspect, the present invention discloses and provides an opto-electronic connector (107) to be connected in a network environment (100) interlinking one or more computing systems (M), and connecting one or more peripheral equipments (105) with the computing systems (M) for optical signal communications, which comprises:

- a transceiving lens assembly (207), which comprises: platform (301), lens assembly (305) forming channel (307) for transmission of signals (303) through the channel (307), and connector pins (309) for enabling connection of one or more compute systems (M) and/or peripheral equipments (105) which are the sources and/or destinations of signals; - wherein the connector (107) enables free space collimating and focusing optics for optical interconnections and signal communications for optical signal communications.

The above opto-electronic connector (107), wherein

- the signals (303) are generated and/or received at one or more sources and/or destinations computing systems (M) and one or more peripheral equipments (105) connected in a network (109) of the network environment (100);

- the transceiving lens assembly (207) of the connector (107) comprises a single channel transceiver or a multi channels transceiver; said single channel transceiver comprises platform (301), lens assembly (305), a single channel (307) for signals (303), and connector pins (309); said platform (301) of single channel transceiver comprises transmission platform (301a) and reception platform (301b), wherein transmission platform (301a) emits or transmits a signal (303) to a reception platform (301b); and the transmitted signals (303) of platform (301a) may be light signals, forming first beam of signals (303a).

The above said opto-electric connector (107) wherein the first beam of signals (303a) may be configured based on said lens assembly (305) comprising a first lens (305a) and a second lens (305b); and wherein the first lens (305a) is the first configuration where a diverging beam (i.e. first beam of signals (303a)) is converted into a set of parallel signals or beams (303c); and the second lens (305b) enables a second configuration where the set of parallel signals or beams (303c) is converted into a converging second beam of signals (303b).

The above said opto-electric connector (107) wherein the said multiple channel transceiver comprises: platform (301), lens assemblies (305), channel (307) for signals (303), and connector pins (309); wherein the channel (307) comprises: a channel (307a) exclusively for transmission of signals and a channel (307b) exclusively for reception of signals.

The signals (303) transmitted from the transmission platform (301a) may be configured and delivered to the reception platform (301b) by the transmission channel (307a); or the transmission may be performed by the platform (301b) and in that case channel (307b) works as reception channel for the platform (301a).

The said transmission platform (301) may transmit one or more signals (303) which may include analog or digital signals; wherein the signals (303) to be transmitted are converted into optical form and received in optical form, and wherein the optical form may include light rays which may be performed using at least one laser and at least one photo detectors, wherein said one or more lasers may include Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), Edge emitting laser diodes like Fabry Perot Lasers (FP), Distributed Feedback Lasers (DFB), Multiple Quantum Well lasers (MQW) and Quantum dot Lasers (QDL), Light emitting Diodes (LEDs) including Resonant Cavity LEDs, Photodiodes (PDs) and combinations. In one embodiment said one or more lasers may include Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), Photodiodes (PDs) and combinations of VCSELs and PDs.

The said opto-electric connector (107) may be connected to one or more compute systems (Ml, M2,...Mn) using connector pins (309) present on transmission platform (301a) and reception platform (301b) of the platform (301).

In another aspect, the present invention discloses and provides an assembly module of an opto-electric connector (107) for achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity and for enabling dynamic switching between one or more nodes which assembly module comprises: blocks (321) which comprising first block (321a), second block (321b), and third block (321c); claddings comprising first claddings (323) and second claddings (333); optical fiber comprising first optical fiber with first fiber core (325), and second optical fiber with second fiber core (335); axis (331) comprising horizontal axis (331a) and vertical axis (331b); lens assembly (337) with a series of lens; profiler (339); and transceiver (341) comparing first transceiver (341a) and second transceiver (341b). The assembly module, wherein the series of lens in lens assembly (337) comprises four lens A, A’, B, and B’, placed on axis (341); and wherein the axis comprises horizontal axis (331a) comprising transceiver (341a) with set of lenses A and A’ arranged and aligned in line with horizontal axis (331a) and vertical axis (331b) comprising transceiver (341b) with set of lenses B and B’ arranged and aligned in line with vertical axis (331b).

The assembly module of opto-electric connector (107), wherein the series of lens may comprise convex lens, concave lens, or combination thereof; and wherein transceiver (341a) is transmitter and lenses A and A’ are transmitting lenses; transceiver (341b) is receiver and lenses B and B’ are receiving lenses; lens B’ is a power monitoring tap to ensure emitter power is constant, and both transmit channel and receiver channel go through the same fiber.

The assembly module of opto-electric connector (107), wherein the first block (321a) and the second block (321b) comprise an optical fiber, wherein the first block (321a) comprises a first optical fiber having a first cladding (323) and a first core (325); and the second block (321b) comprises a second optical fiber having a second cladding (333) and a second core (335).

The assembly module, wherein the core may comprise a cylinder of glass or plastic that runs along the fiber's length; and wherein the radius of the core may vary based on application. The said cladding may comprise elements which complement the core to perform certain operations, wherein the complement action between the core and the cladding may be configured based on reflective and refractive indices. The said optical fiber may be aligned with a horizontal axis (331a), and the optical fiber may further be configured to obtain signals from a third block (321c) and deliver the signal to external systems through the first block (321a).

The said third block (321c) comprises a lens assembly (337), a profiler (339), a first transceiver (341a), and a second transceiver (341b); and wherein the first transceiver (341a) may transmit a plurality of signals to one or more nodes present in a network, which comprises a signal transmitted by the first transceiver (341a) is configured by the lens assembly (337) and the profiler (339) associated with the lens assembly.

The said assembly module, wherein a signal passed through a first lens of the lens assembly (337) and further the signal is passed through the profiler (339) and signal emerging out from the profiler (339) is further passed through a second lens of the lens assembly (337). The first lens and the second lens of the lens assembly (337) can be placed in any configurations, and wherein additional configuration is provided by the profiler (339).

Signal transmitted from a first transceiver (341a) (i.e. source) may primarily be configured the first lens (A); and further the signal is configured to achieve a certain intensity and angle by the profiler (339); and later intensity modulated and phase modulated signal (i.e. signal with a certain intensity and angle) is passed through a second lens (B) towards another transceiver (341b) (i.e. destination).

The said profiler (339) may direct the transmitted signal to an optical cable along with the horizontal axis (331a) via the lens (A’) or the second transceiver (341b), via the lens (B), based on phase shift configuration.

The first transceiver (341a) and the second transceiver (341b) may include Transmitter Optical Sub Assembly (TOSA), Receiver Optical Sub Assembly (ROSA), Bi- Directional Optical Sub Assembly (BOSA) and the combination of thereof.

The dynamic switching enabled by the profiler (339) provides higher performance and efficiency in a network due to reduced number of heads in processing; and wherein the profiler (339) may be controlled by the processor (201) and/or the profiler (339) may be controlled externally based on one or more inputs provided a user. The connector may be configured to connect to I/O ports which may include Video Graphics Array (VGA), Digital Visual Interface (DVI), High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Universal Serial Bus (USB) and combinations thereof.

In another aspect, the present invention discloses and provides a method for achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity and enabling dynamic switching using opto-electric connectors (107) and lens assemblies (305) wherein the method comprises the steps of: Step 401: receiving opto-electronic signals as input from one or more sources;

Step 403: configuring transmission and/or reception of the opto-electronic signal based on at least one coupled lens assembly.

Step 405: providing the configured opto-electronic signal as output to one or more destinations; wherein the sources and destinations comprise one or more compute systems (M) and/or the peripheral equipments (105). The said method, wherein step 401 the method includes receiving opto-electronic signals as input from one or more sources which may be a plurality of compute systems (M) (e.g. compute system Ml and/or compute system M2); step 403 the method includes configuring transmission and/or reception of the opto electronic signal for example signal (303) based on at least one coupled lens assembly (207); and step 405 the method includes providing the configured opto-electronic signal as output to one or more destinations wherein destinations may be the plurality of compute systems (M) for example the compute systems (Ml) and/or the compute systems (M2).

In another aspect, the present invention discloses and provides a lens holder (500) for the coupling and placement of lens and/or fiber with source (transmitter) and/or destination (receiver) in an environment for optical signal transmission and free space communication, which comprises: bottom housing (501), upper lens housing (502), optionally, spacer (503) to maintain the stand-off distance, cavity (504) for the lens, a stopper (502b) for lens, and optionally, an optical coupler (508); wherein, the lens holder (500) comprises a lens focus adjustment mechanism, wherein upper lens housing (502) and bottom housing (501) are adjustably connected allowing proper positioning and alignment of lenses; the bottom housing (501) comprises two parts which are bottom half part (501a) of Bottom housing (501) and top half part (501b) of Bottom housing (501); and the upper lens housing (502) comprises two parts which are bottom lens housing part (502a) of upper lens housing (502) and top lens housing part (502b) of upper lens housing (502).

The said bottom lens housing part (502a) of upper lens housing (502) comprises the internal threading (502aa) which is threaded over the external threading (501bb) of the bottom housing (501), which allows the lens focus adjustment by screwing to reduce the focal length and unscrewing to increase the focal length; and also ensures the entire assembly is accurately placed and optically aligned.

The spacer (503) fits snugly in the lens housing (502) and ensures that the entire assembly is properly secured. The source may be either VCSEL, Laser Diode or LED (collectively referred as 506a) which is packaged in its house and is excited by the modulated electrical signal through the pins (506b) provided; and wherein the receiver may be photodiodes.

In one embodiment the lens holder (500) is used for making optical packages to be used in communication line for optical communication, wherein the said packages comprise: optical source package comprising optical source (506) which comprises source (506a) with pins (506b) and a collimating lens (505) housed together in a package; and optical receiver package comprising optical receiver (506) which comprises receiver (506a) with pins (506b) and a focusing lens (505) housed together in a package.

The lens holder (500) forming the optical packages, wherein the said optical source package and optical receiver package can be housed in a single housing (507) which can be used for optical communication via free space, wherein the integrated single housing assembly comprises optical interconnections using micro lenses (505, 505) between the source (506) and the receiver (506).

In one embodiment, the invention provides a method of incorporating free space collimating and focusing optics for optical interconnections. In one embodiment, the invention provides a method of increasing the coupling efficiency by using free space collimating and focusing optics.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a method producing optical coupling repeatedly with high accuracies.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a module with integral lens to achieve higher optical power coupling for board level communications.

In one embodiment, the invention provides an Optical Sub-Assembly (OSA) design that can be directly integrated on a circuit board which includes a substrate with VCSEL/PD mounted on top of the substrate, a lens, optical fiber, a fiber/lens holder to align the fiber and lens, and a casing that is used to guide the alignment between VCSEL/PD substrate and fiber/lens holder.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a fiber holder with central cavity as described above and shown in figures 5-9, in which the fiber and the lens can be of the same size so that the optical axis of the fiber and the lens can be aligned when they are assembled in the fiber holder in a single fabrication step. The only adjustment need to be done during assembly is for the lens and fiber coupling distance to be varied. In one embodiment, the invention provides a fiber holder with a central cavity that can also be fabricated and assembled easily even if the lens and fiber dimensions are different. The said fiber holder in which the height of fiber holder is controlled and aligned to VCSEL/PD active area on the substrate with pre-determined dimensions which has metal contacts on the under side for providing contacts with electronics.

In one embodiment, the invention provides the fiber holder casing to control lateral optical alignment for the fiber in which the dimensions of this casing is slightly larger than that of VCSEL/PD submount and fiber holder.

In one embodiment, the invention provides an OSA package which facilitates proper micro optical components assembly.

In one embodiment, the method of invention provides miniaturizing the OSA package by preventing the bulky optics. In one embodiment, the invention provides a method of packaging optical transmitter/receiver elements in a package that can be assembled on a PCB through normal component attach process.

System, connector, lens assembly, method using same, holder for fiber and lens as described above and further as shown in accompanying figures 1-9.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:

The foregoing and other features of embodiments will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like elements.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the invention. It is apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details or with an equivalent arrangement. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for network environment (100), for enabling an opto-electric connector (107), in accordance with a general example embodiment.

FIG 2 illustrates a block diagram of a scenario of application of lens assembly (207), according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 3a-3c: illustrate diagrams of an opto-electric connector, in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 3a: illustrates a diagram of an opto-electric connector comprising a single channel transceiver.

FIG. 3b: illustrates a diagram of a opto-electric connector comprising a multiple channels transceiver.

Fig. 3c: illustrates an example embodiment for enabling dynamic switching between one or more nodes. FIG. 4: illustrates a flowchart for enabling an opto-electric connector (107) for achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity, in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 5: Shows the construction of the lens holder for both the transmitter and the receiver.

Fig. 5a: Shows an outer line diagram view of the lens holder.

Fig. 5b: Shows a cross-sectional view of the lens holder.

FIG. 6: Shows attachment of lens and lens housing to VCSEL.

Fig. 6a: Shows an outer 3D view of attachment of lens and lens housing to VCSEL.

Fig. 6b: Shows another line diagram view of attachment of lens and lens housing to VCSEL.

FIG. 7: Shows the Cross-sectional View of Fig. 6a or 6b.

Fig. 7a: Shows Cross-sectional View of Transmitter and collimator lens in a housing.

Fig. 7b: Shows Cross-sectional View of Receiver and focusing lens in a housing.

FIG. 8: shows implementation of transmitter and receiver lens in a single housing (507).

Fig. 8a: Shows an outer 3D view of implementation.

Fig. 8b: Shows another line diagram view of implementation.

FIG. 9: further shows the lens housing design with focus adjustment for transmitter/ receiver assembly of present invention as shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 above.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:

Reference will now be made in detail to the description of the present subject matter, one or more examples of which are shown in figures. Each example is provided to explain the subject matter and not a limitation. Various changes and modifications obvious to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains are deemed to be within the limit, scope and contemplation of the invention. As used in the specification of the present invention, the term ‘circuitry’ or ‘circuit’ refers to all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and (b) tcombinations of circuits and software (and/or firmware), such as (as applicable): (i) to a combination of processor(s) or (ii) to portions of processor(s)/software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and (c) to circuits, such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that require software or firmware for operation, even if the software or firmware is not physically present.

This definition of ‘circuitry’ applies to all uses of this term in this specification, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this specification, the term “circuitry” would also cover an implementation of merely a processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term “circuitry” would also cover, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or applications processor integrated circuit for a mobile phone or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other network device.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects.

In this description, the term “application” may also include files having executable content, such as: object code, scripts, byte code, markup language files, and patches. In addition, an “application” referred to herein, may also include files that are not executable in nature, such as documents that may need to be opened or other data files that need to be accessed. Further, in this description “ application” may include files with executable content created based on Hardware description language (HDL), where HDL is a specialized computer language used to program electronic and digital logic circuits. The structure, operation and design of the circuits are programmable using HDL. HDL includes a textual description consisting of operators, expressions, statements, inputs, and outputs. The term “content” may also include files having executable content, such as: object code, scripts, byte code, markup language files, and patches. In addition, “content” referred to herein, may also include files that are not executable in nature, such as documents that may need to be opened or other data files that need to be accessed.

As used in this description, the terms “component,” “database,” “module,” “system,” and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device may be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution, and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components may execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the Internet with other systems by way of the signal).

The invention mainly provides an unique and technically advanced connector and/or connector assembly/module, which is/are used and enabled in the system and the method of the present invention, wherein the system and method using and enabling said connector and/or connector assembly/module in a network provides effective and efficient signaling and data processing; and thereby achieve enhanced -bandwidth connectivity and high-performance computing in the network. Further lens and/or fiber holder is provided, which enables flexible connection for optical communications in the above said system and method.

In one aspect, the invention provides and discloses a system for enabling an opto- electric connector in a network.

The above said system enables achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity and further enables dynamic switching in the said network. In one embodiment, the above said system employing the novel opto-electric connector of present invention in the network of an environment (100) comprises following system components:

(A) One or more computing systems (M),

(B) One or more peripheral equipments (105),

(C) One or more opto-electric connectors (107),

(D) a network (109), and

(E) Optionally, one or more remote user device (111).

In another aspect, the invention provides and discloses an opto-electric connector. The opto-electric connector of this aspect and embodiments are the same one or more opto- electric connectors (107) as employed and enabled in the system of first aspect above. Therefore, the structure, design, components, features, function, operation of one or more opto-electric connectors (107) as described in the specification for the system of the first aspect is same as to the opto-electric connector (107) of third aspect. The above said system employing the novel and unique opto-electric connector (107) of present invention can be better understood by the system outline showing above said system components forming the whole system as shown in Fig. 1.

FIG. 1 illustrates network environment, for enabling an opto-electric connector as disclosed in the present invention. The opto-electric connector is disclosed in Fig. 3 and described in detail in paragraphs below. Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an environment (100) within which for enabling an opto-electric connector may be implemented. The environment (100) may include compute systems (M) which may comprise one or more compute systems (Mn) wherein “n” is an integer number of counting system such as n = (1,2, . n}, for example in one embodiment the system comprises two compute systems such as a first compute system (Ml), a second compute system (M2), one or more peripheral equipments (105), one or more opto electronic connectors (107), a network (109), and optionally a remote user device (111).

NETWORK ENVIRONMENT (100):

The network environment (100) generally means an environment where the computing is performed and/or data and/or information and/or signals are handled and/or stored, processed and/or transmitted. The network environment may be a computing environment including plurality of computers and/or computing systems communicatively interconnected for data/information processing and signaling and other functions.

The network environment may be server environment having plurality of computers and/or computing systems for data and/or information processing and signaling. The computer and/or computing system comprises one or more storage device such as memory for storing data/information/instruction and one or more processor which execute the data/information/instruction of the memory to perform various functions of the server and/or the network environment as desired.

In one embodiment, the network environment (100) may be a network environment of a data center (100a). One or more of the elements of a data center (100a) can be used in data and/or information handling in the data center environment. A data center (100a) environment may comprise one or more of components such as: premises/facility with floors, sub-floors with server self and server racks that provides usable space for keeping and housing equipments within specific thermal conditions such as controlled temperature/humidity in establishment of the data center; core components such as computing equipments and systems, computers and programs, controllers, processors, software, codes, storage devices such as memory, servers, routers, network infrastructure, communicating elements, switches, nodes for technical operations and storage of information and/or data and processing thereof; supporting components such as power supply including uninterrupted power supply (UPS), generators, battery; air conditioning systems for temperature and humidity control such as fan, exhaust, HVAC etc;

The said data and/or information handling means functions and/or tasks such as to send, receive, transmit, retrieve, create, switch, store, display, identify, detect, compute, record, produce, reproduce, convert any kind and/or form of part or complete data and/or information for various purposes such as office, business, research, gamming, scientific, , or any other purposes wherein such data storage and processing is required.

The network environment (100) and/or the data center (100a) may include said one or more compute systems (Mn) such as a first compute system (Ml), a second compute system (M2) upto “n” compute system (Mn), one or more peripheral equipments (105), one or more opto-electronic connectors (107), a network (109), and optionally a remote user device (111).

COMPUTE SYSTEMS (M):

Compute systems (M) are the source of signals and/or information that is to be transmitted in the network from one compute system to another compute system via the opto-electric connector. Said compute systems (M) may comprise one or more compute systems (Mn) wherein “n” is an integer number of counting system such as n =

(1,2, . n}. In one non-limiting example, in one embodiment the said compute systems (M) of the system comprises two compute systems (Ml, M2) viz. a first compute system (Ml) and a second compute system (M2). Plurality of compute systems can be added in the network environment (100).

Further two or more compute systems (M) such as Ml + M2 + M3, . + Mn may be communicatively coupled together via a network and can be communicatively added in the network environment (100) for both sending and receiving data and/or information. In one example embodiment Fig. 1 shows a complete system of the present invention involving two compute systems such as Ml and M2, wherein the first compute system (Ml) is communicatively coupled to the second compute system (M2) through the opto-electronic connector (107). In some example embodiments, the first compute system (Ml) and the second compute system (M2) may also be referred as compute system (M). The said compute system (M) may be modular compute systems. Further details regarding the modular compute systems may be found in the later part of the disclosure.

PERIPHERAF EQUIPMENTS (105):

Peripheral equipments are one or more of equipments/components/ devices to receive and/or send data/information and communicate with above said one or more compute systems (M). In an example embodiment one or more peripheral equipments (105) may receive and/or send data and/or information through the network (107) and thus communicate with the one or more compute systems (M). In some example embodiments input/output ports (I O ports) on the compute systems (M) such as in compute systems (Ml, M2) I/O ports are present which enables communication via the network (109) and/or the opto-electronic connector (107). Peripheral equipments/devices (105) may include but not limited to keyboard, mouse, touch screen, pen tablet, joystick, Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) keyboard, scanner, digital, camera, video camera, microphone monitor, projector, TV screen, printer, plotter, speakers, external hard drives, media card readers, digital, camcorders, digital mixers, MIDI equipment and the like.

NETWORK (109):

The network (109) may include the Internet or any other network capable of communicating data between equipments/devices/compute systems and other components communicatively attached in the network environment. The non-limiting suitable networks (109) may include or interface with any one or more of, for instance, a local intranet, a Personal Area Network (PAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a virtual private network (VPN), a storage area network (SAN), a frame relay connection, an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) connection, a synchronous optical network (SONET) connection, a digital Tl, T3, El or E3 line, Digital Data Service (DDS) connection, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connection, an Ethernet connection, an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) line, a dial-up port such as a V.90, V.34 or V.34bis analog modem connection, a cable modem, an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) connection, or an Liber Distributed Data Interface (LDDI) or Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI) connection. Lurthermore, communications may also include links to any of a variety of wireless networks, including Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), cellular phone networks, Global Positioning System (GPS), cellular digital packet data (CDPD), Research in Motion, Limited (RIM) duplex paging network, Bluetooth radio, or an IEEE 802.11 -based radio frequency network. The network (109) can further include or interface with any one or more of an RS-232 serial connection, an IEEE- 1394 (Firewire) connection, a Fiber Channel connection, an IrDA (infrared) port, a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) connection, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection or other wired or wireless, digital or analog interface or connection, mesh or Digi® networking. In some example embodiments, network (109) may further include free space communications. In one embodiment, the system and method of the invention uses free space communications i.e. communicate incorporating free space collimating and focusing optics for optical interconnections.

In one embodiment, the system and method of the invention increase the coupling efficiency in communication network environment by using free space collimating and focusing optics, wherein the system and method produce optical coupling repeatedly with high accuracies.

For this purpose, the invention comprises a module assembly with integral lens to achieve higher optical power coupling for board level communications.

In an alternative embodiment, dedicated hardware implementations, such as application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices, can be constructed to implement one or more of the systems and methods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatus of various embodiments can broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodiments described herein may implement functions using two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals that can be communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application- specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, the present system encompasses software, firmware, and hardware implementations.

REMOTE DEVICE :

The one or more remote device (111) is/are connected to the network (109), and the said opto-electric connector (107) facilitates remote device (111) connections with the network (109). In an example embodiment, a remote device (111) may be communicatively coupled to the compute systems (M). Remote device (111) is optional and may be or may not be coupled with the network of the system. In one preferred embodiment a remote device (111) is communicatively coupled to the compute systems (M) to send and receive data and/or information. As shown in Fig.l, one or more remote device (111) is/are communicatively coupled to the compute systems (Ml and/or M2) via the opto-electronic connector (107) and/or the network (109). The user device (111) may include mobile phone, laptops, desktops and the like. In some example embodiment, the remote device (111) may receive a plurality notifications based on one or more functions associated with the compute systems (M) such as compute systems (Ml and/or M2).

FIG 2 illustrates a block diagram of the system comprising computing systems (M) and opto-electronic connector (107) of present invention. The computing system (M) comprises at least one processor (201), at least one memory (203) and at least one communication interface (205). Further, the at least one communication interface (205) may comprise a transceiving assembly (207).

Processor (201) and Memory (203):

The processors, memories and peripherals are networked using opto-electric connectors. In accordance with an embodiment, the processor (201) may be of any type of processor, such as “n-bit processors”. Where value of n may be 2 x, whereas values of x may range from 4 to 8. Processor types other than these, as well as processors that may be developed in the future, are also suitable. The processor may include general processor such as x86, x86-64, ARM, RISC-V, ISA based processors, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), microcontroller firmware, boot loader or a combination thereof.

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, by way of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, and anyone or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, a processor receives instructions and data from a read only memory or a random-access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer are a processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer also includes, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer data to, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g., magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computer need not have such devices. Moreover, a computer can be embedded in another device, e.g., a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile audio player, a GPS receiver, to name just a few. Computer readable media suitable for storing computer program instructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory, media, and memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The memory may be a non-transitory medium such as a ROM, RAM, flash memory, etc. The processor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

The processes and logic flows described in the specification can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one or more computer programs or instructions or codes and/or algorithm to perform functions by operating on input data and generating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performed by, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit).

In accordance with an embodiment, the memory (203) includes both dynamic memory (e.g., RAM, magnetic disk, writable optical disk, NVMe, SSD etc.) and static memory (e.g., ROM, CD-ROM, etc.) for storing executable instructions that when executed perform the inventive steps described further in the document.

In accordance with an embodiment, network includes one or more networks such as a data network, a wireless network, a telephony network, or any combination thereof. It is contemplated that the data network may be any local area network (LAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), wide area network (WAN), a public data network (e.g., the Internet), short range wireless network, or any other suitable packet- switched network, such as a commercially owned, proprietary packet- switched network, e.g., a proprietary cable or fiber-optic network, and the like, or any combination thereof. In addition, the wireless network may be, for example, a cellular network and may employ various technologies including enhanced data rates for global evolution (EDGE), general packet radio service (GPRS), global system for mobile communications (GSM), Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), etc., as well as any other suitable wireless medium, e.g., worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), wireless LAN (WLAN), Bluetooth®, Internet Protocol (IP) data casting, ZigBee satellite, mobile ad-hoc network (MANET), Free space communication and the like, or any combination thereof. Although the present specification describes components and functions that may be implemented in particular embodiments with reference to particular standards and protocols, the invention is not limited to such standards and protocols. For example, The ZigBee or ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 protocol is a specification created for wireless networking. It includes hardware and software standard design for WSN (Wireless sensor network) requiring high reliability, low cost, low power, scalability and low data rate.. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocols having the same or similar functions as those disclosed herein are considered equivalents thereof.

In accordance with an embodiment, the one or more compute systems (M) comprising

Ml, M2, M3, . Mn such as in an exemplary system (as shown in Fig.l) the compute system systems (Ml and/or M2) may be connected based on the opto-electric connector (107). In some example embodiments, the opto-electric connector (107) may be used to connect a plurality of compute systems (Ml, M2, M3, . Mn) simultaneously.

Accordingly, other multiple compute systems (M3, M4, . Mn) can be added in the system shown of Fig. 1. The processor (201), the memory (203) and the communication interface (205) comprising the transceiving assembly (207) configures the inter system communication between the plurality of compute systems (Ml to Mn). In one embodiment the transceiving assembly (207) configures the inter system communication between the plurality of compute systems (Ml to Mn) and also with peripheral equipments (105). The structural and functional configuration of the opto- electric connector (107) is further explained using Fig. 3a and Fig. 3b.

Optical connector:

The opto-electric connector (107) may be comprised of a single channel transceiver or a multi channels transceiver.

Single channel transceiver:

FIG. 3a illustrates a diagram of an opto-electric connector (107) comprising a single channel transceiver which comprises platform (301), signals (303), lens assembly (305), channel (307) and connector pins (309).

The said platform (301) comprises transmission platform (301a) and reception platform (301b). A transmission platform (301a) emits or transmits a signal (303) to a reception platform (301b). The transmitted signals (303) may be light signals, forming first beam of signals (303a). The first beam of signals (303a) may be configured based on a lens assembly (305) comprising a first lens (305a) and a second lens (305b).

The first lens (305a) is the first configuration where a diverging beam (i.e. first beam of signals (303a)) is converted into a set of parallel signals or beams (303c) as shown in the Fig. 3a. Further, the second lens (305b) enables a second configuration where the set of parallel signals or beams (303c) is converted into a converging second beam of signals (303b).

In some example embodiments, the transmission platform (301) may be certain systems which transmit one or more signals. The signals to be transmitted may include analog or digital signals. In some preferred embodiments, the signals to be transmitted are converted into optical form and received in optical form. In some example embodiments, optical form may include but not limited to light rays. The transmission and reception of the light rays may be performed using at least one laser and at least one photo detectors respectively. In one embodiment one or more lasers are used. The lasers may include Semiconductor Diode Lasers, Excimer Lasers, ND:YAG Laser Systems, Carbon Dioxide Laser, Argon, Krypton, and Xenon Ion Lasers, Helium Neon Laser and the like. In one embodiment the laser may be Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL). In one embodiment one or more photo detectors are used. Further, the photo detectors may further comprise Photodiodes (PDs), PIN Photodiode, Avalanche Photodiode, Phototransistor and the like. In one embodiment the photo detector comprises PDs. In one embodiment one or more lasers may include Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), Edge emitting laser diodes like Fabry Perot Lasers (FP), Distributed Feedback Lasers (DFB), Multiple Quantum Well lasers (MQW) and Quantum dot Lasers (QDL), Light emitting Diodes (LEDs) including Resonant Cavity LEDs, Photodiodes (PDs) and combinations. In one embodiment said one or more lasers may include Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), Photodiodes (PDs) and combinations of VCSELs and PDs. In one preferred embodiment VCSEL and PD are used in the present invention.

Further, the opto-electric connector (107) may be connected to one or more compute systems (Ml, M2,...Mn) using connector pins (309). The one or more compute systems (M) may include but not limited to various communication interfaces of a communication interface associated with a compute and/or a communication device. Since the single channel (307) works as a common channel for transmission and reception, latency involved in operations would be minimal. In some example embodiments, the processor present in the connector (i.e. shown in the Fig. 3a) may have complete control over transmission and reception of the signals (303) via the channel (307).

FIG. 3b illustrates a diagram of an opto-electric connector comprising a multiple channel transceiver. In one example embodiments, a channel exclusively for transmission (307a) and a channel exclusively for reception (307b) are provided as shown in Fig. 3b.

The signal transmitted from the transmission platform (301a) may be configured and delivered to the reception platform (301b) by the transmission channel (307a). In some example embodiments, the transmission may be performed by the platform (301b) and in that case channel (307b) works as reception channel for the platform (301a). Dual channels transmissions and receptions processes may be provided for communication including but not limited to systems configured in a heterogeneous network. The processor may individually control the respective channels.

Dynamic Switching:

In another aspect the present invention provides Opto-electric connector; and system and method using same opto-electric connector for achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity and enabling dynamic switching.

Fig. 3c illustrates an example embodiment for enabling dynamic switching between one or more nodes. A node is a data point via which transmission and/or receiving of data and/or information in the network enabled. In one embodiment, a node is a connection point. In one embodiment, a communication endpoint. A node has the capability which enables the node to recognize, process, receive transmissions from other nodes or forward transmissions to other nodes. In one embodiment, each compute system (M) and other equipments (105) and device (111) may comprise one or more nodes.

Throughout the disclosure the connectors as shown in the Fig. 3a, the Fig. 3b and the Fig. 3c may be referred as connector (107). In some example embodiments, a network consisting a plurality of nodes may be connected effectively based on dynamic switching enabled by the connector (107) shown in Fig. 3c. The connector (107) of Fig. 3c comprises blocks (321) - (321a), (321b), (321c); first claddings (323), second claddings (333), first optical fiber with first fiber core (325), second optical fiber with second fiber core (335); axis (331) [Horizontal axis (331a) - set of lenses A and A’ and Vertical axis (331b) - set of lenses B and B’]; lens assembly (337), profiler (339), transceiver (341) [first transceiver (341a) and second transceiver (341b)].

In one example embodiment, the connector (107) shown in Fig. 3c comprises block (321) which further comprises three blocks viz. a first block (321a), a second block (321b) and a third block (321c). The first block (321a) and the second block (321b) may comprise an optical fiber. For example, the first block (321a) comprises a first optical fiber having a first cladding (323) and a first core (325).

Similarly, the second block (321b) comprises a second optical fiber having a second cladding (333) and a second core (335).

Throughout the disclosure the first cladding (323) and the second cladding (333) may be referred as cladding. Similarly, the first core (325) and the second core (335) may be referred as core. In some example embodiment the core may comprise a cylinder of glass or plastic that runs along the fiber's length. The radius of the core may vary based on application. In some example embodiment the cladding may comprise elements which complement the core to perform certain operations. The complement action between the core and the cladding may be configured based on reflective and refractive indices.

The optical fiber may be aligned with a horizontal axis (331a), and the optical fiber may further be configured to obtain signals from a third block (321c) and deliver the signal to external systems through the first block (321a). The third block (321c) comprises a lens assembly (337), a profiler (339), a first transceiver (341a), and a second transceiver (341b).

In one example embodiment, the first transceiver (341a) may be aligned with the horizontal axis (331a) and the second transceiver (341b) may be aligned with the vertical axis (331b). In one example embodiment, the first transceiver (341a) may transmit a plurality of signals to one or more nodes present in a network. For example, a signal transmitted by the first transceiver (341a) is configured by the lens assembly (337) and the profiler (339) associated with the lens assembly. The lens assembly (337) may comprise a series of lens. In one embodiment the series of lenses in the lens assembly (337) comprises four lens A, A’, B, and B\ For example, set of lenses A and A’ along with the horizontal axis (331a) and another set of lens B and B’ along with the vertical axis (331b). The series of lens may comprise convex lens, concave lens, any combination of thereof and the like. More than four leans can also be used in the lens assembly (337) which depends on the requirements. In one embodiment, transceiver (341a) is transmitter and lenses A and A’ are transmitting lenses; transceiver (341b) is receiver and lenses B and B’ are receiving lenses; lens B’ is a power monitoring tap to ensure emitter power is constant, and both transmit channel and receiver channel go through the same fiber.

In one example embodiment, a signal passed through a first lens of the lens assembly (337). Further the signal is passed through the profiler (339). The signal emerging out from the profiler (339) is further passed through a second lens of the lens assembly (337). The first lens and the second lens of the lens assembly (337) provides configurations as discussed in the Fig. 3a and the Fig. 3b. In a preferred embodiment, an additional configuration is provided by the profiler (339).

The profiler (339) in some example embodiment may also be referred as a beam splitter. In one embodiment profiler (339) is a beam splitter. A signal transmitted from a first transceiver (341a) (i.e. source) may primarily be configured the first lens (A). Further the signal is configured to achieve a certain intensity and angle by the profiler (339). Later intensity modulated and phase modulated signal (i.e. signal with a certain intensity and angle) is passed through a second lens (B) towards another transceiver (341b) (i.e. destination).

In one example embodiment, the profiler (339) may configure a signal transmitted by the first transceiver (341a) which may obtain a primary coupling by a first lens (A). The profiler (339) may direct the transmitted signal to an optical cable along with the horizontal axis (331a) via the lens (A’) or the second transceiver (341b), via the lens (B), based on phase shift configuration. The intensity of the signals might also be varied by the profiler (339) based on one or moire conditions. Further, liner motion of the profiler (339) may be employed to configure the intensity of the signal and angular motion of the profiler (339) may be employed to configure the phase of the signal.

In some examples the first transceiver (341a) and the second transceiver (341b) may include Transmitter Optical Sub Assembly (TOSA), Receiver Optical Sub Assembly (ROSA), Bi-Directional Optical Sub Assembly (BOSA) and the combination of thereof. The dynamic switching enabled by the profiler (339) performance and efficiency in a network due to reduced number of heads in processing. The profiler (339) may be controlled by the processor (201). In other example embodiments, the profiler (339) may be controlled externally based on one or more inputs provided a user.

Further, the connector may be configured to connect to some I/O ports. In one example embodiment the connector may comprises explicit I/O ports (i.e. VGA port and USB port). In some example embodiments connectors enable higher bandwidth communication with including but not limited to externals device and peripheral devices. The I/O ports may further include Video Graphics Array (VGA), Digital Visual Interface (DVI), High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Universal Serial Bus (USB) and the like.

Further, a computer program (also known as a program, software, software application, script, or code) can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a standalone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to a file in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store one or more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers that are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network. Further, in this description “ application” may include files with executable content created based on Hardware description language (HDL), where HDL is a specialized computer language used to program electronic and digital logic circuits. The structure, operation and design of the circuits are programmable using HDL. HDL includes a textual description consisting of operators, expressions, statements, inputs and outputs.

In another aspect the present invention provides a method for achieving enhanced- bandwidth connectivity and enabling dynamic switching using above described opto- electric connectors and lens assemblies of present invention.

The method of the invention is shown in flow-chart in Fig.4.

In one embodiment the method (Fig. 4) comprises the steps of:

Step 401: receiving opto-electronic signals as input from one or more sources;

Step 403: configuring transmission and/or reception of the opto-electronic signal based on at least one coupled lens assembly.

Step 405: providing the configured opto-electronic signal as output to one or more destinations.

One or more compute systems (M) may be the sources and destinations.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart for a method of enabling an opto-electric connector for achieving enhanced-bandwidth connectivity. In accordance with an embodiment, at step 401 the method includes receiving opto-electronic signals as input from one or more sources. The one or more sources may be a plurality of compute systems (M) (e.g. compute system Ml and/or compute system M2)

In accordance with an embodiment, at step 403 the method includes configuring transmission and/or reception of the opto-electronic signal for example signal (303) (as shown in Fig 3a/3b) based on at least one coupled lens assembly (207).

In accordance with an embodiment, at step 405 the method includes providing the configured opto-electronic signal as output to one or more destinations. In some example embodiments, one or more destinations may be the plurality of compute systems (M) for example the compute systems (Ml) and/or the compute systems (M2).

The processors, memories and peripherals of the system and the method are networked using opto-electric connectors.

In some example embodiments, opto-electronic signal to be configured may include signal (303a), which may be configured using the lens assembly (305) and the configured signal (303b) may be obtained based on the dual lens configuration process. Further, transmission to one more destinations may further be decided by the processor (201). In some example embodiments, the processor may execute operations related to a degree of configuration associated with the lens assembly (305).

The method of incorporating free space collimating and focusing optics for optical interconnections provide advantage of increasing the coupling efficiency by using free space collimating and focusing optics. The method produce optical coupling repeatedly with high accuracies. The module with integral lens achieve higher optical power coupling for board level communications.

In another aspect, the invention provides a holder for fiber and/or lens. The present invention provides a lens holder (500) for the coupling and placement of lens and/or fiber with source and/or destination, and/or transmitter and the receiver in an environment for optical signal transmission.

Fig. 5: Shows the construction of the lens holder for both the transmitter and the receiver. Fig. 5a: Shows an outer line diagram view of the lens holder. Fig. 5b: Shows a cross-sectional view of the lens holder. As shown in Figs. 5a and 5b, the lens holder

(500) consists of three parts:

Bottom housing (501)

Upper lens housing (502)

Spacer (503)

The bottom housing (501) mates with the source or receiver electrical component [for example such as the compute systems (M) and/or the peripheral equipments (105) of present invention] and provides optical axis reference for the lens. The Bottom housing

(501) comprises two parts viz. bottom half part (501a) of Bottom housing (501) and top half part (501b) of Bottom housing (501).

The upper lens housing (502) comprises two parts viz. bottom lens housing part (502a) of upper lens housing (502) and top lens housing part (502b) of upper lens housing

(502). The bottom lens housing part (502a) of upper lens housing (502) comprises the internal thread (502aa) which is threaded over the external threading (501bb) of the bottom housing (501). The top half part (501b) of the bottom housing (501) has an external threading (501bb) that connects the lens housing (502) through the internal threading (502aa) of the lens housing (502) and ensures the entire assembly is accurately placed and optically aligned.

The top lens housing part (502b) at the top is the lens stopper (502b). Further the upper lens housing (502) comprises a cavity (504) to keep the lens (505) in place, a washer (506) [not shown in figure] to hold the lens in position within the lens housing.

The third component is a spacer (503) that fits snugly in the lens housing (502) and ensures that the entire assembly is properly secured.

The assembly of the above holder (500) comprises the sequence of components i.e. placing bottom housing (501) on the source, placing the lens (505) in its lens housing (502), adding the spacer (503), threading the lens housing (502) with bottom housing (501) and securing the assembly with adhesive.

The lens holder (500) is used for the coupling and placement of lens and/or fiber with source and/or destination (506), and/or transmitter and the receiver in an environment for optical signal transmission. In one example embodiment, the source may be either VCSEL, Laser Diode or LED (collectively referred as 506a) which is packaged in its house and is excited by the modulated electrical signal through the pins (506b) provided. A representative assembly of above coupling is shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6: Shows attachment of lens and lens housing to VCSEL. Fig. 6a: Shows an outer 3D view of attachment of lens and lens housing to VCSEL. Fig. 6b: Shows another line diagram view of attachment of lens and lens housing to VCSEL. Referring now to Fig. 6b, it shows and describes the assembly of lens to the source or the receiver. The source, either VCSEL, Laser Diode or LED is packaged in its house and is excited by the modulated electrical signal through the pins provided. The holder assembly also optionally comprises an optical coupler (508), which provides fiber connection to the source and receiver.

The source emission is made into a parallel beam by a micro lens which needs to be aligned accurately to the source/receiver. This is achieved by a mechanical lens housing comprising of a focus adjustment mechanism, optional spacer to maintain the stand-off distance, cavity for the lens and a stopper at the other end. The structure of Fig.5 shows the lens holder (500) with housings (501, 502) which describes and shows the mechanical lens arrangement of the one embodiment of present invention, which is same as to the said mechanical lens housing comprising of a focus adjustment mechanism as sated above for Fig. 6b. The lens housing (500) attaches to the fiber coupler and/or packaged source. The focus adjustment mechanism gives flexibility and proper focusing of optical signal. The focal length of the lens can be adjusted as per requirement. The adjustment of focal length can be achieved by the screw and unscrew of the upper lens housing (502) over the bottom housing (501).

Fig. 9 further shows the lens housing design with focus adjustment for transmitter/ receiver assembly of present invention as shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 above. The structural features and elements of Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 are similarly can be referred and applies for Fig. 9.

The source and/or destination assembly (506) for transmitter and the receiver in an environment for optical signal transmission comprises source/destination (506a) and pins (506b). In one example embodiment, the source may be either VCSEL, Laser Diode or LED (collectively referred as 506a) which is packaged in its house and is excited by the modulated electrical signal through the pins (506b) provided. A representative assembly of above coupling is shown in Fig. 6a and 6b.

Fig. 7: Shows the Cross-sectional View of Fig. 6a or 6b. Fig. 7a: Shows Cross- sectional View of Transmitter and collimator lens in a housing. Fig. 7b: Shows Cross- sectional View of Receiver and focusing lens in a housing. Referring Fig. 7a, it shows the cross-sectional view of an optical source (506) which comprises source (506a) with pins (506b) and a collimating lens (505) housed together in a package. Referring Fig. 7b, it shows the cross sectional view of an optical receiver (506) which comprises receiver (506a) with pins (506b) and a focusing lens (505) housed together in a package.

In application, the lens assembly module of Fig 7a converts electrical signal of pins (506b) into optical signal via the source (506a) and focus the optical signal through the lens (505) of Fig. 7a. The focused optical signal of Fig. 7a is then received by another receiver assembly as shown in Fig. 7b wherein the lens (505) of Fig. 7b receives the optical signal and focus it to receiver (506a) of Fig. 7b (may be a photodetector such as Photo Diode (PD)) which receives the optical signal and convert it to electrical signal which is further received by the pin (506b) of Fig. 7b.

In one embodiment, the assembly of Fig. 7a and assembly of Fig. 7b can be placed in a single housing (507) as shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 8 shows implementation of transmitter and receiver lens in a single housing (507). Referring Fig. 8a and 8b, they show the optical interconnections using micro lenses (505, 505) between the source (506) and the receiver (506). The source emission is modulated by the electrical signal and is coupled through the lens arrangement mentioned in the figure 6 to propagate the signal optically in the free space. The transmitted signal is collected by the receiver lens and focus on the photo detector to regenerate the input electrical signal. Referring figure 8 a- 8b, the lens (505, 505) of source (506) and receiver (506) each, all are arranged in a single axil arrangement and housed in a single housing (507) as shown in Figures 8a-8b.

The source emission at source (506) is modulated by the electrical signal and is coupled through the lens arrangement mentioned in the figure 6 to generate optical signal at one end and propagate the generated signal optically in the free space to the receiver assembly at other end. The transmitted optical signal is collected by the receiver lens and focus on the photo detector at receiver (506) to regenerate the input electrical signal. Thus electrical signal is converted to optical signal, which is transmitted in free space and then again optical signal is converted to electrical signal. The design ensures variable stand-off distance between source and receiver. The lens is so arranged that the relative placement accuracies are relaxed resulting in a more tolerant assembly process. In one embodiment of Fig. 8, the source (506a) is transmitter, which is VCSEL, and the destination (506a) is receiver, which is Photodetector. In one embodiment, the invention provides an Optical Sub-Assembly (OSA) design as described above, which can be directly integrated on a circuit board which includes a substrate with VCSEL/PD mounted on top of the substrate, a lens, optical fiber, a fiber/lens holder to align the fiber and lens, and a casing that is used to guide the alignment between VCSEL/PD substrate and fiber/lens holder.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a fiber holder as described above with central cavity in which the fiber and the lens can be of the same size so that the optical axis of the fiber and the lens can be aligned when they are assembled in the fiber holder in a single fabrication step. The only adjustment need to be done during assembly is for the lens and fiber coupling distance to be varied. In one embodiment, the invention provides a fiber holder with a central cavity that can also be fabricated and assembled easily even if the lens and fiber dimensions are different.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a fiber holder in which the height of fiber holder is controlled and aligned to VCSEL/PD active area on the substrate with pre determined dimensions which has metal contacts on the under side for providing contacts with electronics.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a fiber holder casing to control lateral optical alignment for the fiber in which the dimensions of this casing is slightly larger than that of VCSEL/PD sub-mount and fiber holder. In one embodiment, the invention provides an OSA package which facilitates proper micro-optical components assembly. In one embodiment, the invention provides a method of miniaturizing the OSA package by preventing the bulky optics. In one embodiment, the invention provides a method of packaging optical transmitter/receiver elements in a package that can be assembled on a PCB through normal component attach process.

The above aspects and embodiments are achieved by the system, connector, lens assemblies, holder, holder assembly, integrated coupling and the method as described above and as shown in one or more of designs and structures of Figs 1-9.

The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification, and thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and variations will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.