The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 20, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 22, 1997
Robert M Scharf, Melbourne, FL (US);
Randal B Lord, Melbourne, FL (US);
Derek Imschweiler, Dallastown, PA (US);
Stewart Connector Systems, Inc., Glen Rock, PA (US);
Abstract
An opto-electric jack is provided which can be used as a drop-in replacement for a standard electrical jack such as an RJ-type or D-subminiature type jack. The opto-electric jack includes housing having a receptacle for receiving an optical plug which is coupled to a fiber optic cable, and a plurality of electrical terminals for connection to an electrical circuit. Preferably, the terminals are arranged in a predetermined array which corresponds to the terminal array (or footprint) of a standard electrical jack. An opto-electric conversion circuit is disposed within the housing, and is operable to convert optical signals received from the optical plug into electrical signals for transmission to the electrical circuit via the terminals, and to convert electrical signals received from the electrical circuit via the terminals into optical signals which are transmitted to the optical plug. The opto-electric conversion circuit preferably includes a light emitting diode or diode laser for converting electrical signals to optical signals for transmission along the fiber optic cable, as well as a photo diode or photo transistor for receiving optical signals sent along the optical cable and converting the same to electrical impulses for transmission to the electrical circuit.