EP2614394A1

EP2614394A1 - Electro-optical plug-in connection, especially electro-optical usb connection

Info

Publication number: EP2614394A1
Application number: EP11770045.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Wojciech Piotr Giziewicz; Thomas Albert Hall; Hank Daniel Ching
Original assignee: Amphenol Tuchel Electronics GmbH
Current assignee: Amphenol Tuchel Electronics GmbH
Priority date: 2010-09-12
Filing date: 2011-09-12
Publication date: 2013-07-17
Also published as: WO2012031779A1; US20140056587A1; CN103299226A; DE102011113213A1; JP2014501017A

Abstract

The invention relates to a plug-in connection for connecting a first appliance to a second appliance or device via a cable having electrical connections and optical connections, the first appliance having an appliance socket and the device having a device socket for accommodating the plugs of the cable, characterized in that the appliance socket and the device socket have means for converting preferably a part of the electric signal applied to the appliance socket on the input side into optical signals only if a controller/transceiver which is provided in the appliance socket establishes that the connected cable comprises optical lines and that the device socket is configured for the reception of optical and electric signals.

Description

Electrical / optical connector,

In particular electro-optical USB plug-in connection In general, the invention relates to an electro-optical device plug connection between several, for example two devices,

an electro-optical connector between a device and an electro-optical cable (hybrid cable), an electro-optical socket and an electro-optical connector. Preferably, the invention relates to a USB 3.5 socket, in particular for installation in a device, e.g. the first and second device.

The electro-optical socket according to the invention, in particular the USB 3.5 socket according to the invention allows the data transmission by means of electrical signals, but is also able to transmit optical data signals if the appropriate conditions exist, for example to achieve a higher data transmission speed.

There are already known connectors that work in accordance with the USB 3.0 regulations and that can work together with connectors according to the USB 2.0 standard. So, these USB 3.0 compliant connectors are downwards compatible, that is, towards a USB 2.0 connector. The invention has for its object to provide an electro-optical connector, in particular a USB connector that allows data transmission by means of electrical and / or optical signals.

According to the invention the following is provided: a plug connection for connecting a first device via a cable containing electrical connections and optical connections with a second device or a device, wherein the first device is a device socket and the device is a device or device socket in each case for Pick up the plug of the cable wherein the device socket and also the device socket have means for converting preferably a part of the electrical signals applied on the input side to the device socket into optical signals when a controller / transceiver determines that the connected cable has optical lines and that the device or Device socket for receiving optical and electrical signals is formed.

The inventively designed USB3 socket is referred to here as a USB 3.x socket, which also allows data transmission by means of optical signals in addition to data transmission by means of electrical signals in accordance with the USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 regulations.

According to the invention, the USB 3.x socket which can be installed in a (first) device, for example a computer, has means for converting electrical signals applied to the USB 3.x socket into optical signals and the optical signals at the corresponding outputs of the USB 3. x socket for forwarding available.

Preferably, the conversion means comprises means for determining whether the conditions necessary for the transmission of optical signals are met, i. Whether, for example, a cable transmitting optical signals is connected and this is also connected to a (second) device suitable for receiving optical signals.

In particular, the invention provides a miniaturized optoelectronic transceiver, which is built into the USB 3.x socket and which can be connected to a device-typical circuit of the (first or second) device in which the USB 3.x socket is installed ,

According to the invention, a controller / transceiver is installed in the USB 3.x socket. The transceiver has intelligence-based driver and receiver ICs. The transceivers detect if a USB 3.x cable is plugged into the socket. This is also done with a corresponding USB 3.x socket on the other end of a USB 3.x optical cable.

The means provided according to the invention in the USB 3.x socket of the first device, in particular the controller and transceiver operating means of the controller transceiver, determine whether both a USB 3.x cable and also a USB 3.x socket (hybrid socket) is provided in the second device at the other end of the cable and cause the optical data transmission. The inventive USB 3.x socket thus has the described "link-aware" transceiver, that is to say a transceiver, which can determine whether the conditions for an optical connection are present.

Further advantages, objects and details of the invention will become apparent from the description of embodiments with reference to the drawing; in the drawing shows:

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of two USB 3.0 sockets built into two devices connected by a USB 3.0 cable assembly.

Fig. 2 is a detail of the USB 3.0 socket of Fig. 1;

3 schematically shows the construction according to the invention of a device plug connection between a first device and a second device via an optical hybrid cable;

4 shows a hybrid computer socket or USB 3 socket installed in a first apparatus with means according to the invention for providing optical signals for determining whether a transmission possibility for optical signals is present; Fig. 5 shows details of the means for selective transmission of electrical or optical signals, in particular depending on the transmission possibilities; 6 shows the connection between two USB 3.x sockets, in which no optical signal transmission is possible as a consequence of the USB 3.0 cable;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a socket to be installed in a device from the output side.

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a known connector (device connector) 10 using a conductor 7.1; 7.2; Cable 12 between a first device 1 (for example a computer, hereinafter the first device is referred to as computer 1) and a second device 2 (for example a hard disk, hereinafter referred to as the second device) using the term hard disk 2). The second device is also referred to as a receiving device or device 2.

The device connector 10 comprises: a plurality of inputs, 1; 8.2; 8,3; ... having a socket 1 1, preferably a USB 3 socket (hereinafter referred to the socket 1 with the term computer socket 1 reference) and another USB 3 socket 13 (on the below as a hard disk drive socket 13 reference), between the two sockets 1 1 and 13, the cable 12, for example, a USB 3 cable (USB3 cable assembly) 12, the electrical connection produces, ie the electrical transmission paths.

In the following, the invention will be described in particular with reference to the computer jack 1 1, but analogous versions also apply to the hard disk drive socket 13. It should be pointed out that the description uses terms such as "input-side" and "output-side" as well as "input" or "output" as if an information transmission always consists of a computer circuit 4 present in the computer 1 only to one in the hard disk 10 Hard disk switching takes place. The computer circuit 4 has output terminals 5.0 - 5.8. Of course, an information transmission can also take place in the opposite direction, as is the case, for example, with an opto-electrical converter 61 of FIG. 5.

The computer socket 1 1 has - see. Fig. 2 - numerous input terminals 6.0 to 6.8, which are connected to corresponding output terminals 6.0a to 6.8a of the computer jack 1 1. The input terminals 6.0 to 6.8 communicate with corresponding output terminals 5.0 to 5.8 of the electric computer circuit 4. This electrical circuit is also referred to below as computer electronics 4 reference. In the case of a USB 3.0 computer socket, the input terminals 6.2 and 6.3 for D and D + connection of a USB 2.0 socket may be present, wherein the corresponding output terminals 6,2a and 6,3a of the computer jack 1 1 with the two conductors or conductor terminals 7,2 and 7,3 of the cable 12 are in communication to make the connection with the input terminals 8,3 and 8,2. The input terminals 8,2 and 8,3 have respective output terminals D + and D-. Similarly, cf. Fig. 1 - the USB 3 connection made by the input terminals 6.4 to 6.8 of the computer jack 1 1, wherein the SSTX connection and the SSTX + connection are assigned to the terminals 6,5 and 6,7, then connect to the corresponding two conductors of the cable 12 and with the corresponding terminals 9,5 and 9,7 of the hard disk connector 13 via the wire connection of the cable 12. The connection path just described is the one connection path of the USB 3 connection, while the other The connection path of the USB connection is the connection path arranged above it in FIG. 1, from which the computer book senanschluss 6.6, the conductor terminal 7.6 and the hard disk socket connection 9.6 is shown.

The invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 as well as FIGS. 7 and 6. Fig. 6 illustrates a case where a non-inventively designed cable is used together with the sockets according to the invention.

In Fig. 3, there is shown a hybrid socket 111 associated with the first apparatus (e.g., computer) 1 constructed in accordance with the present invention. The hybrid jack 111 of the first device 1 is also referred to as a computer jack or hybrid computer jack or hybrid jack 111, and a hybrid jack 113 of the second apparatus 2 is called a hard disk jack, hybrid hard disk jack, or hybrid jack 113. A special cable 112, which may also be referred to as a "hybrid optical cable assembly", connects the computer jack 111 (which may also be referred to as a hybrid receptacle 111) to the hard disk jack 113 (which may also be referred to as a hybrid receptacle). In addition to the wires characteristic of USB 2, the cable 112 also has two optical conductors 864 and 857 which replace the electrical wires of the cable 12 of the first and second USB3 connections.

Thus, in addition to the USB2 connection, the hybrid computer jack 111 optionally provides a USB3 connection through corresponding wires of the cable 112 in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1 or else - cf. Fig. 3 - via the optical connections or conductors 864 and 857 ago.

To enable this, both the hybrid computer jack 111 and the hybrid hard disk jack 113 are connected to a controller / transceiver, i. a control device / transmitting and receiving device 50 equipped.

Referring again only to the hybrid computer jack 111, the structure of the hybrid computer jack 111 will be explained with reference to Figs. On the input side, the hybrid computer socket 111 (FIG. 3) is designed in the same way as the conventional USB3 computer socket 11. On the output side, the hybrid computer socket 11 1 is additionally provided with two optical outputs C01 and C02. The hybrid computer socket 111 can thus optionally continue to transmit the electrical signals supplied via the input terminals 6, 4 to 6, 7 electrically via electrical conductors, if there are no optical lines 857 and 864 in the cable 12 and also no hybrid hard disk socket 113 on the side of the hard disk 2 are available.

According to the invention, the hybrid computer socket 111 (and of course also the hybrid hard disk socket 113) is equipped with a controller / transceiver 50, which is shown in detail in FIG. The controller transceiver 50 has a controller section 51 and a transceiver section 52 and also controller and transceiver resources 53. These components are also referred to as converter means.

The transceiver section 52 comprises in particular two electro-optical converters 60, 61, namely an electro-optical converter 60 and an optical-electrical converter 61. The electro-optical converter 60 can convert electrical signals at its input into optical signals and deliver them to the output C01.

The optical-electrical converter 61 receives optical signals applied on the input side to the connection C02 and converts these, if desired, into electrical signals. The electrical signals are then supplied via switches 62, 63 to the terminals 6, 4, 6, 6.

The electrical signals at the input terminals 6, 5, 6, 7 are then connected to the electro-optical converter 60 when the switches 64 and 65 are in the optical transmission position shown. Accordingly, the electrical output signals of the optical / electrical wall 61 in the optical transmission position position of the switches 63, 64 connected to the terminals 6,4 and 6,6.

The controller and transceiver resources 53 contain all the hardware and software components to perform the required transceiver and controller operations.

For example, the controller and transceiver resources 53 may be provided with a "link-aware chip" that switches between the electrical and optical connections.

The transceivers 50 used in the transceiver section 52 may include some driver and receiver IC with some intelligence. The transceivers 50 themselves can detect if a USB optical cable 1 12 is available, along with a hybrid hard disk socket 113 on the other end. If so, then the USB3 transfer is performed optically, while otherwise the IC serves as a repeater of the USB electrical signal. This feature also offers some advantages compared to the simple passive USB 2.3 jacks.

It is important that the transceiver 50 detects if there is a USB optical cable 1 12 and a hybrid socket on the other end.

It is also possible that the control section 51 in Fig. 5, represented by the control and transceiver resources 53, is capable of determining which cable connection is present and, depending thereon, either the electrical signal on a standard USB cable to the electrical terminals or pins or to the internal opto-electronic transceiver, which is here represented by the electro-optical transducer 60 and optical / electrical transducer 61. FIGS. 7 and 8 show the mechanical structure of a socket 11, 13 according to the invention, which can be used both as a computer socket 11 and as a hard disk socket 13. It can be seen five in-line output terminals 6,4a, 6,6a, 6,8a, 6,5a, 6,7a corresponding contact arms respectively in input terminals 6,4, 6,6, 6,8, 6,5, 6, 7 ehden to the device-typical circuit, here, for example, the computer circuit 4, to be connected. The controller / receiver 50 is housed in the illustration of FIG. 8 in the insulating body 95.

1 first device, e.g. computer

2 second device, device, receiving device, e.g. hard disk

3 housing

4 device-typical circuit, e.g. computer circuit

5 outputs, output contacts, electrical output contacts

6.0-6.8 input terminals of Buchsel 1

6,0a-6,8a output terminals of the socket 11

7, 1; 7.2; 7.6 conductor connection

8.1; 8.2; 8.3, inputs of the socket 13

9, 1; 9.2; ... hard drive input connectors

10 plug connection, e.g. USB3 connector

11 jack, e.g. USB3 socket, e.g. computer socket

12 cables, e.g. USB3 cable

12A cable, e.g. USB3,5 cable

13 jack, device jack, hard disk jack, e.g. USB3 socket

13A socket, device socket, hard disk socket, e.g. USB3A-

Rifle

50 controller / transceiver (control device / transceiver)

51 controller section

52 transceiver section

53 controller and transceiver resources

60 electro-optical converter

61 optical-electrical converter

62-65 switch

95 bodies

101 optical / electrical connector

110 computers

1 11 Hybrid socket, hybrid device socket, computer socket

112 cables

113 hybrid jack, hybrid jack, hard disk jack Hard disk optical conductor optical conductor

Claims

claims

1. plug connection for connecting a first device (1) via a electrical connections and optical connections containing cable (1 12) with a second device or device (210), wherein the first device (1) a device socket (1 1) and the device (210) a device socket (1 13) each for receiving the plug of the cable (1 2), characterized in that the device socket (1 11) and the device socket (1 13) have means to preferably a part of the input side to convert the device socket (1 1 1) electrical signals into optical signals when a controller / transceiver (50), which is provided in the device socket (1 1 1), determines that the connected cable (1 12) optical cables ( 864, 857) and that the device socket (1 13) is adapted to receive optical and electrical signals.

The connector of claim 1, wherein controller / transceiver resources (53) are provided having a link-aware chip in the device socket and the device socket for making the switch between electrical and optical transmission.

3. Connector according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the device socket (1 1 1) applied electrical signals are USB 3 signals, wherein the device socket can convert the electrical USB 3 signals into optical USB 3 signals, wherein the USB3 optical signals transmitted by the cable (112) are convertible by the device socket into USB3 electrical signals for use in the device (210).

4. Modified USB device connector, in particular hybrid socket with a connection side for connecting a device (1) and with a connection side for connection to an optical and / or electrical signal transmission permitting cable (1 12) connected to a USB port of a Receiving device (2) is connected, wherein the device (1) output, referred to as electrical USB signals electrical device signals in the connector (1 1 1) into optical USB signals are convertible when the connected cable is the optical USB 3 signal transmission gestattendes cable,

and the receiving device (2) itself or preferably by using a hybrid socket (1 13) is also designed for receiving optical USB 3 signals.

5. Modified USB device connector according to claim 5, wherein in the hybrid socket (1 1 1) converter means are included, which, when electrical USB 3 signals from the device (1) are applied, converts them to optical USB 3 signals and to the cable (1 12) applies.

Modified USB device connector according to claim 4 or 5, wherein in the hybrid socket (13) converter means are included which, when optical USB 3 signals from the cable (1 12) are applied, convert them into electrical USB3 signals and to create the receiver (2).

7. Modified USB device connector according to one or more of the preceding claims, wherein the conversion means are selected such that they decide whether a conversion of the electrical USB 3 is due to the characteristics of the cable (12; 1 12) and the receiving device (2). Signals should take place in optical USB 3 signals.

8. Modified USB device connector according to one or more of the preceding claims, wherein the means are designed such that they decide whether the USB 3 signals as electrical signals or optical signals at the output of the due to the electrical properties of the connected cable and the receiving device Appliance plug appear.

9. Hybrid socket for connection to a device (1) in order to convert the signals supplied by the device (1), in particular USB 3 signals, into the USB 3 signals representing optical signals for transmission via a optical transmission allowing cable (1 12) to a second device or receiving device (2) which is able to receive optical USB 3 signals or a hybrid socket receiving the optical signals and converted into electrical USB 3 signals (13 13 ) owns.

The hybrid jack of claim 9, wherein the jack comprises a controller / transceiver (50) capable of converting one of USB 3 electrical signals into USB 3 optical signals and being capable of receiving to convert USB 3 optical signals to USB 3 electrical signals.

1 1. Hybrid jack according to claim 10, wherein the controller / transceiver (50) comprises a controller section (51) and a transceiver section (52), wherein in the controller section (51) switches (62, 63, 64, 65) are included, which are controlled by controller and transceiver resources (53) are controlled depending on whether electrical USB 3 signals coming from the device (4) are to be converted to optical USB 3 signals and whether optical USB 3 signals transmitted via the cable (1 12) into electrical USB 3 - Signals are to be converted.

12. Hybrid socket according to claim 10 or 1 1, wherein the transceiver section (52) comprises two transducers (60, 61), namely an electro-optical converter (60) and an opto-electronic converter (61).

13. Hybrid socket according to one or more of the preceding claims, wherein in addition to the USB 3 signal transmission, the socket also provides an electrical USB 2 signal transmission.

14. Active hybrid socket for electrical and optical USB connections, which is pluggable with normal USB 3 cables, but there is a "left-aware chip" in the socket, which switches between electrical and optical connection.

15. An active hybrid socket according to claim 14, wherein miniaturized optoelectronic transceivers are built into the USB socket. The hybrid active jack of claim 15, wherein the transceivers include driver and receiver ICs capable of detecting if a USB cable is connected to a hybrid jack on the other end of the cable, if so Case is, the transmission is optically performed, whereas otherwise the IC will operate on its "repeater" of the USB electrical signal.