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:
Nov. 01, 2016
Filed:
Sep. 16, 2013
3m Innovative Properties Company, St. Paul, MN (US);
Michael A. Haase, St. Paul, MN (US);
Terry L. Smith, Roseville, MN (US);
Barry J. Koch, Florence, TX (US);
Ding Wang, Austin, TX (US);
Alexander R. Mathews, Austin, TX (US);
3M Innovative Properties Company, St. Paul, MN (US);
Abstract
Optical connectors are provided for connecting sets of optical waveguides (), such as optical fiber ribbons to each other, to printed circuit boards, or to backplanes. The provided connectors () include a housing () that has an attachment area () for receiving and permanently attaching a plurality of optical waveguides. Additionally, the provided connectors include a light coupling unit () disposed in and configured to move with the housing. The provided connectors also include a second attachment area () for receiving and permanently attaching to the plurality of optical waveguides that causes each optical waveguide to be bent between the two attachment areas. The provided connectors utilize expanded beam optics with non-contact optical mating resulting in relaxed mechanical precision requirements. The provided connectors can have low optical loss, are easily scalable to high channel count (optical fibers per connector) and can be compatible with low insertion force blind mating.