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:
Dec. 14, 2004
Filed:
Jul. 12, 2002
Peter Deane, Los Altos, CA (US);
Luu T. Nguyen, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
William P. Mazotti, San Martin, CA (US);
Bruce C. Roberts, San Jose, CA (US);
Christopher J. Smith, Swaffham Prior, GB;
Janet E. Townsend, Fulbourn, GB;
John P. Briant, Cambridge, GB;
Michael R. Nelson, Barhill, GB;
Stephen Jacob, Huntingdon, GB;
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
An embodiment includes a connector element that comprises a connector body and a fiber optic ferrule slidably positioned inside the connector body. The ferrule holds at least one optical fiber. The connector element carries an optical sub-assembly including a photonic device and a spacer and includes a connector sleeve for receiving the connector element. The sleeve includes a ridge that operates as a first stop for the connector body and includes an alignment projection that coarsely aligns the fiber optic ferrule. The ferrule includes a pair of openings configured to receive a pair of alignment pins to provide fine alignment of optical fibers with corresponding photonic devices. The connector element is engaged with the connector sleeve to position the ferrule with respect to the optical sub-assembly such that the optical fiber is correctly positioned relative to a corresponding photonic device. Also, the invention teaches a method of using the described apparatus to position optical fibers relative to corresponding photonic devices of an optical sub-assembly.